Home Distiller

So I've been lurking and whatnot for months and reading up on lots of info. Now with the holidays coming, I think I should start on my still. I would like to make a small pot still that I can run for 2-3 hours. I have 3 kids and too many hobbies so I can't imagine being able to devote more than 3 hours to a run. Is this out to lunch?

I am planning on running a 15 quart stainless steel stock pot with a flour and bulldog clip gasket into some copper pipes to a 3/8" OD condenser in a bucket of ice water. I'm planning to use a propane camp burner to power this still.

Please see the attached picture. See pipes "A"and "B"? What length should I make them? Also what width should I make the copper tubing before I reduce to fit the condenser?

There's going to be plenty of questions, but I wanted to post this plan in case it's way out to lunch. So far, it's all stainless steel, copper and food grade solder.

Thanks in advance.

first whatever it takes to git from point A to point B.
next,,, if you cant spend 3 hours then rethink.

Looks like your basic pot still with a worm in a bucket...

However, scrap the idea of the ice water because it'll cause shock cooling rather than gradual cooling as the vapor condenses back into liquid... Cold water at the bottom and warm to hot at the top... That can't happen when ice is floating at the top... You need an even temperature gradient from top to bottom...

As for the three hour window of time, it's possible but unlikely unless you can eventually make a run that size go like clockwork... But you'll be close with a 15 liter boiler and propane...

For your worm you'll want 1/2" if you want to even come close the the time constraint... 3/8" would be the absolute minimum but would slow the pace of each run...

EDIT: Dnderhead and I were posting at the same time...

+1 on rad. I have a 3 gal boiler with a 1/2 inch worm in a bucket. I started out floating a frozen 2L Coke bottle when I saw steam rising. Totally not necessary. Goes through the whole run in 3 hrs with no help (ice wise that is). Only need the ice if I make 2 runs and I need to cool it off in between.

Although your diagram is not to scale,,,,,,,,it looks proportionally adequate .

Just scale that up to your working size and yer fine.

Sizing is often predicated on the available work space and desired collection heights.....Build it to fit your space,,,,,,and One assumes you don't want to collect your distillate on your knees............

Thanks for the help so far! Some changes and some more info;

The burner is a stand up single burner Coleman style that runs 10,000 btu's. Is this okay for a few runs or should I just upgrade it now?

The lyne arm will come out of the pot at a 45 degree angle, run for about 12" and then another 45 degree then 12" to the some sort of threaded copper piece so I can easily remove the condenser. The condenser will now be 1/2" OD in a water bucket.

I really want to make a solid stand to hold the burner and pot. My low level fab skills should let me make a tripod out of 1.5" mild steel.

What diameter should my lyne arm be?

I don't think I ever mentioned, I'm planning to make rums, liqeurs and other flavoured stuff. I'm not really after a high alcohol vodka like a boka would give me.

So I went shopping this morning and bought some goods! 6' length of 1/2" copper pipe, some male and female connectors, two 45 degree elbows and above all, a 25 foot length of 1/2 OD flexible tubing. I'd like to have the lyne arm able to attach from the coil for easy moving around and storage. I also picked up a 17 L pail HDPE pail from Home Depot for the worm. My solder is an Oatey brand "Safe Flo" silver, lead free plumbing solder kit. The solder contains Tin, Copper, Bismuth and Silver.

After assembly and a cleaning and test run I'll try a small run and see how she goes.

So far, I'm thinking a 10,000 btu burner is WAY to small, but we'll see how long it takes to warm up the pot when I do the cleaning run.

Gonna work on my soldering skills this afternoon.

I would suggest get rid of the little Coleman burner idea. Just not worth it. I don't even know if a bottle will last long enough? It would suck having to change them out in the middle of a run. And not cheap either. Step up to a turkey fryer that already has a stand. I seen a whole setup at Lowes yesterday for $49.

Prairiepiss wrote:I would suggest get rid of the little Coleman burner idea. Just not worth it. I don't even know if a bottle will last long enough? It would suck having to change them out in the middle of a run. And not cheap either. Step up to a turkey fryer that already has a stand. I seen a whole setup at Lowes yesterday for $49.

I really should do this. I'm planning on casting my own lead bullets too so I could use a good burner with a solid stand for more than one reason. Hell, I suppose I could even fry a turkey in it one day.

Best turkey you will ever have. Take a qt jar put 3/8" salt in the bottom add 1 oz of the following. Lemon juice, garlic juice, onion juice, and hot sauce. Top up to one qt with water. Shake. Inject it into every piece of good meat in the turkey. Rub the outside of the turkey with olive oil. Cook in 350 deg f peanut oil for 3.5 min per pound. Get the oil up to 400 deg f before you drop it in. The temp will drop a lot. Good for a 10 to 15 lb turkey. You will never have any left over. Trust me. That's the only sucky part about it.

Sory about the off topic post. Couldn't help myself. Now I want to fry a turkey.

rad14701 wrote:Looks like your basic pot still with a worm in a bucket...

However, scrap the idea of the ice water because it'll cause shock cooling rather than gradual cooling as the vapor condenses back into liquid... Cold water at the bottom and warm to hot at the top... That can't happen when ice is floating at the top... You need an even temperature gradient from top to bottom...

Once again, I am constantly reminded of how little I know. I have been using ice water for the last two months, and although my UJSM seems really good, I can't wait to see the difference in not shock cooling the distillate.
Thanks Rad.

I'm completely to distilling, and I'm staggered that flour paste works as a gasket!? Why not use it in all the joints?

Okay, I have most of the materials gathered I just need to do some soldering practice and then I'm ready to start assembly after buying a better burner (most likely a turkey deep fryer).

One question is, do these fittings hold the vapour or do they need a flour gasket wrapped around them? I am planning on using two of these, one through my lid with a few copper washers and then one to make my worm detachable. I just wanted to know if these are good as is.

Thanks.

peanutaxis wrote:I'm completely to distilling, and I'm staggered that flour paste works as a gasket!? Why not use it in all the joints?

As I understand it, you replace the flour gasket each time you distill so it can be a bit of a pain to do so. Eventually, a nice solder or weld joint will be a worth while investment.

I think that flour will work fine as it will swell to fill the void and then harden as it gets heated.

You can use PTFE tape to seal pipe threads. PTFE or teflon tape is good to use.