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I've been wanting to build a new still for quite sometime and have been reading up on continuous stills. That seems to be the direction I would like to go, but I am unsure of the process behind them. I have read the article on the main site a few hundred times. How does the mash that is dripping down get past the u vapor lock and get into the column? Is the theory behind it that the heat from the water in the boiler distill the mash in the column? Does any one use one of these? If anyone could post some pictures of a small scale one that would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for such simple minded questions, just trying to grasp this idea. Thanks in advance for any help!

Why do you feel the need for a continuous still? And what is it you want to produce with it?

Don't really have a need just thought it would be fun to try, then I should be able to drink more. Planning on making neutral spirits with it.

A continuous still is not feasible for a hobby scale still. Maybe for a stripping still to later be ran in a batch still. But for a drinking product its not worth it. A batch still is much better suited for a hobbiest.

You cannot make cuts with a continuous still... More research is required before proceeding... It's been discussed here in the forums many times and very few have bothered attempting a build once they understand the inherent problems...

Continuous stills are what the big distilleries use and they make horrible likker, the continous stills do somewhat make cuts but horrible ones at that.....

Continuous stills are meant to run 24/7, right? Who, as a hobbyist, is going to sit in front of their still 24/7 for days or weeks. When you are talking continuous stills you are talking production volume over quality, that takes you out of the hobby realm and more into the sales dept. You can find diagrams of continuous stills all over but you must realize, you aren't going to easily be able to scale it down to hobby sized because at that size it's not worth running on a continuous basis. Besides the fact that if you are going to make a true continuous still it's going to need to be run for more than a few hours at a time to have it's true nature realized. Are you really going to sit in front of it all day and night to test it out? I can barely sit in front of mine for 6 hours straight doing a run.

Continuous stills are meant to run 24/7, right?

Yes and no. Some production stills do. But many are still run a a batch process. Just a rather large batch. But it being ran as a batch. This doesn't mean it produces better product. It just means they run it till that batch is done. And cuts as we know them aren't made. They are separated and removed continuously. So they aren't that great.

But yes they could run 24-7 if they had the ferments waiting to go 24-7.

4L still with 40L wash : 10 batches or 1 continuous process ? If continuous, are we really "outside" of the hobby scale ?
Continuous does not mean humongous
Continuous stills are sure an interesting subject.
Tails cut are quite easy with an inversed gatling (like the mobile pros distillers have : vapors are condensed in a plated column by fresh mash, which is pre heated and then go the boiler. Tails are simply discarded at the bottom of the column. No need for water.
Heads cuts are of little concern to the old stillers, since the booze was supposed to be aged anyway (aka evaporation of lighter fractions).
I'm myself interested by the subject, even if I probably won't go further than using the next mash as a heat buffer for the cooling system.

Rotgut wrote:I've been wanting to build a new still for quite sometime and have been reading up on continuous stills. That seems to be the direction I would like to go, but I am unsure of the process behind them. I have read the article on the main site a few hundred times. How does the mash that is dripping down get past the u vapor lock and get into the column? Is the theory behind it that the heat from the water in the boiler distill the mash in the column? Does any one use one of these? If anyone could post some pictures of a small scale one that would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for such simple minded questions, just trying to grasp this idea. Thanks in advance for any help!

The mash gets past the vapor lock because the mash is pumped with a bit of pressure.

Search the user posts, you'll find a lot of wanking and very few builds. Even fewer builds that work decently. I'd show show a video a mine but unfortunately advertising is forbidden.
It can be made but it's much more work than a boka. It also requires a deeper understanding of distillation theory. So you're in for a long ride.