Home Distiller

Before I fully assemble everything, I want to bounce some design questions off y'all.
The still I'm currently working is a relatively small 16quart piece that uses a stock pot as a boiler. Off the top of this I'm planning on running a 18"x1" column, with a elbow at the top leading to 2' lyne arm and then descending into a 20'X3/8" condensing coil.

My thoughts on this particular design are that I can attach a bucket style tea-strainer to the base of the tower as a container to hold botanicals. The height of the column and length of the arm are to allow me to accomplish smoother tasting runs and avoid a certain harsh flavor profile.

Barring the small boiler size (I'll upgrade at a later date), does anyone see any inherent design flaws in this plan?

juniperlover wrote:The height of the column and length of the arm are to allow me to accomplish smoother tasting runs and avoid a certain harsh flavor profile.

Column size doesn't do jack in a pot still. If you want a higher purity, you angle your lyne arm upward, downward for less purity. The speed at which you run it will largely determine the flavor component, fast and hot runs will be very flavorful (for better or worse), and slow runs will be lighter and less flavorful for the most part.

I like your idea about the basket though, let us know how it works for you.

Thanks for the feedback! Also, I was perusing the faq and came across this

Second: ALL stills must be open to the atmosphere. They should NOT be closed. A closed still will build up pressure, and can blow up. An open still, will have part of the still (after the condenser) fully open to the atmosphere. You must design your still, so that there is no pressure buildup, EVER.

Any advice on how to incorporate this?

You don't plan on adding a valve do you? What you described will be open to the atmosphere if there is no way to close it.

Nope, wasn't planning on a valve. So I don't need to incorporate any sort of pressure release (ala pressure cooker style) into the lid of the stock pot?

juniperlover wrote:Nope, wasn't planning on a valve. So I don't need to incorporate any sort of pressure release (ala pressure cooker style) into the lid of the stock pot?

Nope. As long as one end of your still is open to the atmosphere you're fine

juniperlover wrote:descending into a 20'X3/8" condensing coil.

Just make sure all of this is a downward spiral to prevent pooling. You may need to incorporate spacers on your worm.

Apart from that distilling with herbs & berries in the boiler, you get a more complex flavour profile? Just one. A sorta tea bag is going to be way too small. Maybe a hops cooking bag, if you want to vapour infuse? Hang it just under your column and you will be fine.

Odin.

Odin wrote:Apart from that distilling with herbs & berries in the boiler, you get a more complex flavour profile? Just one. A sorta tea bag is going to be way too small. Maybe a hops cooking bag, if you want to vapour infuse? Hang it just under your column and you will be fine.

Odin.

Using Odin's method you could get a 3" stainless tea holder if it fits in your opening. I use the following.

Solid, thanks! Something like that mesh ball is actually exactly what I had in mind