Home Distiller

I spent a lot of time rolling over in my head what exactly to build and how for my first still. I went with a basic pot and wanted to use as much materials I already had available. Had to buy the 16qt SS pot, the burner, the 10' of 1/2" for my worm, and a few small stuff. Spent about $95. I wrap teflon tape around the inside lip of the lid to form a seal with a little added weight by truck hitch balls. On top the lid is a SS dog bowl turned upside down for some head room and bolted to the lid with SS hardware. Made a gasket wrapped in teflon tape to seal. On top of that is a SS cocktail mixer turned upside down. I can pack this with scrubbers and it seperates easy for cleaning. Circulating water from my garden hose through the worm bucket controlled by a ball valve. First real run was nice. Worm did great, had a small steady stream most of the run. Product was pretty good. Im sticking with running some Gerber batches for now so I can learn more about tunning this thing. Loving this hobby!
Helpful notes:
- I got the SSpot from Sears online for $12
- I picked up free food grade 5gal buckets with lids from the deli/cake section in wal-mart and local grocery store.

Sonnofabitch. I think I have the perfect plan for my first still and then this guy shows up, guns blazin and makes me think I should give up all together... So I'm about to pull the trigger on a 20 qt stock pot at the local kitchen supply store for $75. Now I'm pulling the E-brake on that program... so hows this $12 pot gonna hold up? I'm just concerned about the life of a $12 boiler, but I guess worst case scenario, I throw it out and buy a new one.

Nice work!! how did you join the copper pipe to the cocktail shaker?

Im not sure how it will hold up. So far so good. I got it for $12 because I went to my local store and had them ship it to me for free.
I used a threaded 3/4" fitting to join the copper to the stainless. Got the hole snug and threaded the fitting on then put some solder around it.

and how did you attach the cocktail shaker to the dog bowl? I think I'm going to bypass the dog bowl and go straight to the shaker.

lownslow wrote:and how did you attach the cocktail shaker to the dog bowl? I think I'm going to bypass the dog bowl and go straight to the shaker.

1.5"hole saw, then soldered together. The cocktail mixer top part is tappered so it makes a nice snug fit.
The bowl makes it easy because you can cut a big hole in the lid rather than finding a good flat spot on the lid for the 2" hole. The lid had a handle and was not all the same contour.

awesome. Nice work Doctor. How hard is it to solder stainless?

This was the first time I ever tried soldering anything other than copper and found it to be a bit of a pain in the azz. But was able to get enough to stick for a seal. Welding would be the way to go I guess but I dont have that at my use.
Again, the fit between the bowl and shaker top was good and tight before soldering.

looks awesome

Thanks. Ran two batches through it last weekend and was able to learn more about heat control. I ran it low and slow, and was able to get a better outcome. Ive noticed with this pot still to keep feeling the copper pipe between the column and worm. When it heats up and the pot starts boiling, I turn the heat down just a bit. It maintaned a small steady stream through the runs. I let the product air for a couple days and now its soaking in an apple pie recipe.