I have been reading this site for a few years now and wanted to share my Garage still.
As some have mentioned running the still outside in the winter is not as much fun. So Takeing from that making a still for the garage was a worth while project during the winter months.
i looked around and read alot about eh electric cook stove stuff and decided that it would work as long as i didnt make a large still.
Based on this I didn't want to create a full copper 2 gallon still just for testing recipes during the winter. And small stills are a lot less time consuming for testing recipes. Not a lot of extra heat in the garage.
What i came up with was a 5000 glass beaker as the still and a 1000ml as the thumper. It is actually pretty cool to watch the liquid and understand what it is doing. Same rules as outlined everywhere about collecting and doing cuts. Used copper to connect the beakers and used as a cooling coil.
ABV is right on with my larger still. The thumper gave me a chance to test gin and adding fruit flavor as i was stilling versus before or after stilling.
This is a great alternative if you just want to do small batches.
Glass Beaker still
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bearriver
- Master of Distillation
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- Location: Western Washington
Re: Glass Beaker still
Your boiler is 5000ml? That is roughly 1.3 gallons in size. 5 gallons is the minimum anyone should consider because small boilers make cuts impossible to make.
Next issue is that these glass boilers aren't very safe when re-purposed for distillation. A single drop of water on a hot boiler could shatter it, and effectively make a flammable situation. That a very serious concern... These are best suited for essential oil extractors. If it breaks your only worry is how to clean up the water everywhere.
It seems you want to use this for educational purposes? If that is the case, then its a good idea as long as your aware of the dangers operating it. It won't be practical as a functioning still for palatable spirits however... If you test a recipe in this still, expect it to taste like a wet dog and be smeared with heads and tails.
My opinion is that if you want to build a still for educational research, then its best to start with the still you want. You should be spending the effort on improving the larger still you already have. If it's not good for winter, then make it electric. It seems like you are backtracking here...
Final note: I don't know what the other still is, but a 15.5 gallon SS Sanke keg is the single most important piece of equipment you can buy in this hobby. There is a reason most of use own, and use several of them.
Next issue is that these glass boilers aren't very safe when re-purposed for distillation. A single drop of water on a hot boiler could shatter it, and effectively make a flammable situation. That a very serious concern... These are best suited for essential oil extractors. If it breaks your only worry is how to clean up the water everywhere.
It seems you want to use this for educational purposes? If that is the case, then its a good idea as long as your aware of the dangers operating it. It won't be practical as a functioning still for palatable spirits however... If you test a recipe in this still, expect it to taste like a wet dog and be smeared with heads and tails.
My opinion is that if you want to build a still for educational research, then its best to start with the still you want. You should be spending the effort on improving the larger still you already have. If it's not good for winter, then make it electric. It seems like you are backtracking here...
Final note: I don't know what the other still is, but a 15.5 gallon SS Sanke keg is the single most important piece of equipment you can buy in this hobby. There is a reason most of use own, and use several of them.