Home Distiller

Hey guys this is my first pot still ive built. Have some reflux stills, but wanted to get into rum and whiskey making.

Very simple Very effective

Tell me what you think, I need to add a parrot and id like to add a thermometer (just because I like to monitor things) and havent developed the full senses of being able to distinguish the distillate as I collect.

The condenser is 20 feet of 5/8 od copper tubing in a 5 gallon bucket sealed with a grommet Works Beautifully

Looks good!

Yup! Looking good.
ArkyJ

Nice and Compact... Look after it man and it'll look after you...

Thanks...

No wonder I can't find a keg. You got 'em all.

Looks like a workhorse to me. Good work.

Braz wrote:No wonder I can't find a keg. You got 'em all.

Yea I'm Homebrewer you just gotta go around to all the local party stores and offer to buy them, party stores around college campuses on sunday will have tons of kegs

Looks really good............cept it needs a humper thumper
wellllllll every thing needs a Humper......No?

Nice build dude.

Here are some more pictures, I took pictures of the entire build. and some videos of her running distilled water

looks like a well exicuted potstill.. i never had any luck monitoring anything on a potstill with a thermo.
spooky

Nice build and with a new looking keg, no dents or scrape marks, well done.

Mr.Spooky wrote:i never had any luck monitoring anything on a potstill with a thermo.

I am a noob here but I have to agree. Being a control freak, I also built my first pot still with a thermometer, but found it pretty useless, apart from telling when it starts heating up and it is perhaps a good idea to turn on the cooling water. I am going to take it off as soon as I get around to it, all it does it add a point of weakness.

some migh find a need/reason for them.... i never did.
spooky

Well I Pretty much made an amateur mistake... Being unemployed i tried to reuse the 2 inch 45 and 90 that i found cleaned em pretty good and such

I got interested and concerned and before i decide to use it to make drinkable spirits i figured i do a lead test... came up positive which doesnt surprise me... but i also did a lead test on the lead free solder i used... It also came up positive

Faulty test? should i scrap the still?

anyone have any good techniques for reusing joints?

First, buy a different kit. Re-do the test.

Second, if it has lead, go see the bloke who sold you the solder, and do what you need. At least get your money back for the solder before you wring his neck. At this point you can focus your anger on the bloke that caused it.

Third, make sure you have plenty of welding gas on hand (propane or oxy/acet).

Clamp the job. The heat you need makes this task near impossible to do in your hands. Fasion a way to grip the part to be seperated. Pliers, multi or vise grips, twitched wires (with some excess to pull on), G or F clamps, or if you can the easiest is welding gloves (the heavy gauntlet type)

Heat the joint all around and start pulling. Keep heating till the joint comes apart. Keep repeating untill you have seperated the ones you want.

Now you have a pile of fittings and pipe that have old lead (to be confirmed) solder on it. Pipes are best dealt with by cutting the end off, if you can live with the loss of length. Otherwise, its grind, file, scrape or sand the old stuff off. Bends can be scraped (with a graver) or die grind, something like a Dremell.
Tip; while the work is still hot from seperating, hit it with a wire brush. This gets a good lot off.

After all that work, you can decide weather its worth it or not. If your time is plentiful, it may well be viable. Depends on how much you can get replacements for.

Looks good, I have a reflux and am planning on building a pot still maybe I am over designing mine posted my plans yesterday with no comments

emptyglass wrote:First, buy a different kit. Re-do the test.

Second, if it has lead, go see the bloke who sold you the solder, and do what you need. At least get your money back for the solder before you wring his neck. At this point you can focus your anger on the bloke that caused it.

Third, make sure you have plenty of welding gas on hand (propane or oxy/acet).

Clamp the job. The heat you need makes this task near impossible to do in your hands. Fasion a way to grip the part to be seperated. Pliers, multi or vise grips, twitched wires (with some excess to pull on), G or F clamps, or if you can the easiest is welding gloves (the heavy gauntlet type)

Heat the joint all around and start pulling. Keep heating till the joint comes apart. Keep repeating untill you have seperated the ones you want.

Now you have a pile of fittings and pipe that have old lead (to be confirmed) solder on it. Pipes are best dealt with by cutting the end off, if you can live with the loss of length. Otherwise, its grind, file, scrape or sand the old stuff off. Bends can be scraped (with a graver) or die grind, something like a Dremell.
Tip; while the work is still hot from seperating, hit it with a wire brush. This gets a good lot off.

After all that work, you can decide weather its worth it or not. If your time is plentiful, it may well be viable. Depends on how much you can get replacements for.

2 inch joints cost roughly 20 dollars a joint
Thats why i want to reuse them... Might just have to fork the cash

Bushman wrote:Looks good, I have a reflux and am planning on building a pot still maybe I am over designing mine posted my plans yesterday with no comments

[off-topic]
I intended to reply last night in your design topic but never got the chance to do so... Your design is pretty much the same, aside form the expansion chamber in the column... I'd build it without and then decide later whether or not to add the chamber, based on performance...
[/off-topic]

Hey Rowdy,

An old fitters trick is to heat the fitting you want to clean and when the solder is hot enough to run wipe the fitting with a dry rag. You can wipe the solder right off. There will still be the residual thin layer of solder in the sanding scratches of the original prep but this can be polished out. Sometimes labor is more available than cash (smile) tim

Well good news to anyone who was worried about the livelyhood of our still... we found new fittings and soldered it back together same design but no lead solder... Looks like its good Do some good

im still curious about the "LEAD FREE" solder coming up + ..
whats the word on that??? did you retest it?
spooky

rowdybowdy wrote:Well good news to anyone who was worried about the livelyhood of our still... we found new fittings and soldered it back together same design but no lead solder... Looks like its good Do some good

Well done bloke.

Should be good for some good gear. I have been getting very satisfiying results from a similar design. No more store bought stuff.

You got the good still for flavor, now its down to mashing, running and any aging you can do.

Are you going for flavor?? if you are, dont get discouraged by the ABV figures the reflux guys get. I have got 90+% with a boka, but I like the pot better. I enjoy the fact that the take off tube is well away from the heat source.

Be safe.

Are you going for flavor?? if you are, dont get discouraged by the ABV figures the reflux guys get. I have got 90+% with a boka, but I like the pot better. I enjoy the fact that the take off tube is well away from the heat source.

Be safe.

I made it for distilling rum. use an offset head for reflux... But rums where its at

Rowdybowdy

That's a nice build. Sorry to hear about the lead solder. I worked with refrigeration pipe my whole life and learneed a few tricks. One thing you can do, undo all the soldered joints. Have a damp rag ready, not wet, less water is better. then wearing a pair of leather gloves heat the solder up until it begins to flow. When it does, quickly wipe it with the rag. The rag will burn some but thats OK. You'll need a pair of channel locks for the fitting and may have to repeat the process a few time until you get the hang of it, but it will remove all of the solder. To much water on the rag will cause the solder to solidify before you wipe it off.

Redfoot wrote:Rowdybowdy

That's a nice build. Sorry to hear about the lead solder. I worked with refrigeration pipe my whole life and learneed a few tricks. One thing you can do, undo all the soldered joints. Have a damp rag ready, not wet, less water is better. then wearing a pair of leather gloves heat the solder up until it begins to flow. When it does, quickly wipe it with the rag. The rag will burn some but thats OK. You'll need a pair of channel locks for the fitting and may have to repeat the process a few time until you get the hang of it, but it will remove all of the solder. To much water on the rag will cause the solder to solidify before you wipe it off.

Thanks for that, I have some ole pipe with leaded solder....
Now my technical expertise is close to zero, so could you tell me more about what this part of your explanation means? And how you manipulate the 'channel locks' to achieve whatever you are doing about then?

'You'll need a pair of channel locks for the fitting'

Either a channel lock is something I am completely unfamiliar with or it is something I know by another name.

Thanks for your help and your patience.

Glad to help. Channel Locks are just a trade name for adjustable pilers. After you take everthing apart your gonna need something to hold the fittings like the 90*s. Hold one end of the fitting, reach right into the fitting with the torch flame.You don't have to touch the solder with the flame, just use the heat. Heat the solder not the copper. You'll see the solder become liquid and that will be your Q to wipe it off. Happy to help. Any questions just ask or PM. Good luck, be carefull.

you can also put it in a vice... If your using oxy/act because the copper will transfer the majority of the heat... if your using 2 inch or bigger... in my experience mapp just doesn't get it hot enough / takes to much time to get it to heat

Id also put up pictures of the new still with newly soldered joints to show everyone... but its the exact same build... just imagine it with lead free joints

rowdybowdy wrote:you can also put it in a vice... If your using oxy/act because the copper will transfer the majority of the heat... if your using 2 inch or bigger... in my experience mapp just doesn't get it hot enough / takes to much time to get it to heat

Be carefull using a vice them fittings will smash easily.

Redfoot wrote:

rowdybowdy wrote:you can also put it in a vice... If your using oxy/act because the copper will transfer the majority of the heat... if your using 2 inch or bigger... in my experience mapp just doesn't get it hot enough / takes to much time to get it to heat

Be carefull using a vice them fittings will smash easily.

Yea just a tad of pressure... just enough to get it to be snug