Home Distiller

Hi,

I am new to the distilling game, but have been homebrewing beer for about 2 years.

I have just acquired a free working Waterwise 9000 http://www.waterwise-distillers.com/wat ... l-9000.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow - it is probably not the best to start with, but it was free and a little dirty.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Is the heater too powerful? 750W. Also is there anything I need to check or modify before I start?

I know most of you will says I should get a bigger still, or make one, but I like the idea of the air cooled worm and the compact unit.

Any thoughts?

That still has a lot of plastic. Plastic is not a problem with water, I think the game changes considerably when you introduce hot ethanol. Each to their own, however I'd suggest reading some info from the parent site in the dangers of plastics in stills.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Wow - there is a lot of differing info on plastic. Who knew it was so contentious - especially since ethanol is not the healthiest substance to start with

Ill tell you right now, don't even try to distill hooch with that. It would be cool if it worked, because you got it for nothing, but it won't make anything you want to drink. No temperature control, made for water (completely different temp), lots of plastic, and probably no fun to clean. Good luck on distilling though!

Apparently they do work. One of the local brew shop sells them for distillation of spirits. Thats not really saying much. All their still are nasty, over priced, 5Lt. If i where u, Go get the cheapest wine and see if it works. Just don't offer me a drink. Way too much plastic for me. Only up side is that some of them have a built in carbon filter.

metajet wrote:Who knew it was so contentious - especially since ethanol is not the healthiest substance to start with

Ethanol in moderation (ie: you're not an alcoholic) is actually healthy for you. It reduces the chance you'll get a heart attack (the #1 killer in the US) and wine because of the antioxidants reduces your risk for cancer (#2 killer in the US).

Stuff coming out of that still will be toxic though as the ethanol steam will pull out the plastisizers from the plastic. DON'T DO IT. Plus, there will be so many fusel oils coming into your spirit that you will not want to drink anything that comes out of it.

It may take a while to figure out but stick with it and build a potstill. Then stick with it some more till you figure out how to use it, then stick with it even more while you figure out how to properly age the stuff. It's taken me 6 months to get it all figured out but it was worth it!

The EasyStill seems to be similar, but without any plastic. I have an EasyStill (http://www.easystill.com onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) which is very slightly modified from a water distil. I'm using it for the spirit run for the low wines from my clasic alembic pot still - barley and corn whisky. No plastic in it.
Any others using the EasyStill? Seems to be an excellent way to refine the usual 4 litre output from my 25 litre potstill - and retain all the taste!