First Boka Still Build
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:09 pm
Hello all, I'm new to the forum, to distillation and still building, i know nothing about brewing, distilling.... as a matter of fact... the only thing I really know about alcohol is how to drink it... anyway that's besides the point. I'm a metalsmith/artist from Utah and love to make things, and on my long list of to-builds was a still. So I started to research, and my research led to more research... and then even more research, there is an absolutely amazing amount of information on the web about this stuff, and many great communities to support it! so far the only thing i've really learned is i still don't know anything... 
needless to say I was immediately overwhelmed. After realizing that there were so many different designs and ideas I was torn between choices, i wanted the best! ...that i could afford 
I eventually landed on the boka build, it was incredibly simple, the parts list was minimal and everyone seems to agree on its performance.
So enough of the bio, and on to designs!
I am still not set on a final design but as of now, these are the features I want:
1. The flexibility of vapor management.
2. I have half keg to donate as a boiler
3. I would prefer to have propane as a heat source but unless someone can convince me (a novice at best) that electricity is the way to go, I will stick to propane.... i do have a heating element that came out of a dishwasher, as well as a heating element that came out of a hot tub that could be donated to the cause. i would not mind having a sort of hybrid unit but the biggest advantage i see to propane is mobility, I do not want to be tied to an electrical source whenever i want to distill... maybe i wanna bring my still camping with me... never know
4. I can definitely see the advantage of having a pump to recirculate water (figured I could get better performance and efficiency from using an ice bath and pump vs. just hooking up a hose, also wanted to try antifreeze for a coolant for no other reason than to see if it worked better)
After about 3 months researching and collecting parts I finally got my feet wet and started building. taking a suggestion that I should start with the condenser coil and build around that, I did exactly that.
I figured at the very least I should document my build from start to finish to get ideas, suggestions, much needed help and at the very least to document my success (or failure) in case someone else like me wants to know how I did it.
needless to say I was immediately overwhelmed. After realizing that there were so many different designs and ideas I was torn between choices, i wanted the best! ...that i could afford I eventually landed on the boka build, it was incredibly simple, the parts list was minimal and everyone seems to agree on its performance.So enough of the bio, and on to designs!
I am still not set on a final design but as of now, these are the features I want:
1. The flexibility of vapor management.
2. I have half keg to donate as a boiler
3. I would prefer to have propane as a heat source but unless someone can convince me (a novice at best) that electricity is the way to go, I will stick to propane.... i do have a heating element that came out of a dishwasher, as well as a heating element that came out of a hot tub that could be donated to the cause. i would not mind having a sort of hybrid unit but the biggest advantage i see to propane is mobility, I do not want to be tied to an electrical source whenever i want to distill... maybe i wanna bring my still camping with me... never know
4. I can definitely see the advantage of having a pump to recirculate water (figured I could get better performance and efficiency from using an ice bath and pump vs. just hooking up a hose, also wanted to try antifreeze for a coolant for no other reason than to see if it worked better)
After about 3 months researching and collecting parts I finally got my feet wet and started building. taking a suggestion that I should start with the condenser coil and build around that, I did exactly that.
I figured at the very least I should document my build from start to finish to get ideas, suggestions, much needed help and at the very least to document my success (or failure) in case someone else like me wants to know how I did it.