Home Distiller

Hi all. I've been brewing beer for years and recently have become interested in trying my hand at whiskey. I've done a ton of reading online, and have perused this site extensively and learned a lot.

I'm trying to design a pot still that can utilize as much of my existing equipment as possible WITHOUT making it useless for beer brewing... for instance, instead of using a pressure cooker I'm planning on making a mixing bowl top that can be clamped to my brewpot.

Storage space is at a premium in my apartment--and copper prices are insane--so I'm trying to think of ways to use a wort chiller as a condenser. I don't actually own a chiller currently (use the ice water bath method) but if I'm going to spend the money I demand that it do both. The main difference is that an immersion chiller has the entry and exit at one end of the coil (so you can place it in a pot of wort and circulate cooling water through the coil, then let it exit at the top of the pot again).



Obviously if you used this as a condenser, you'd just end up with a copper coil full of spirits... but cutting it off at the bottom would make it useless as a wort chiller. So I'm wondering what solutions others have found?
The only idea I have so far is trying to rig something that essentially mounted the chiller upside down above the boiler, sealed inside a secondary ice bath container... but that would require somehow sealing the entry/exit in a container of some sort, in a way that's removable for when I need to use it right-side-up for brewing. Grommets might work, or it might be a leaky PITA.

I'm sure someone has invented this wheel already, so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

The only thing I can think of that would fulfill your requirements would be a counterflow chiller. It would be a kick ass condenser and one hell of a wort chiller but they cost around $100 USD. You'd have to modify the hot wort intake/distillate intake to accept tubing for wort, or copper pipe (maybe a threaded pipe section?) for distillate.

You could easily make a copper worm for about $30 USD though.

You could cut the copper at the bottom of the coil and use a compression fitting to "repair" it for brewing.

I am set up with a Phillchill counterflow chiller, although I have only done water runs with it so far. The Phillchill uses compression fittings to run a water hose outside of a 3/8" copper tube. You can get the parts to put one together from brewing supply places. I use compression fittings to match the 3/8" copper tubing on the Phillchill, and just attached lengths of 3/8" copper tubing on each end. The hot side goes down to a pressure cooker with a flour dough seal.

Check the brew supply houses. Some sell counterflow kits which have the fittings for about $15. You could then use it for both things.

I use my wort chiller to cool my backset quickly so I can add it to the fermenter

A lot of my old beer making equipment comes in handy - like the gravity fed mash tower I have and my grain mill.

I'm actually in the same boat, but I've actually already made the purchase, being a brewer gaining interest in distillation. If anyone has any ideas, please do share them! If it could just overcome this whole gravity thing I'm sure that the standard immersion chiller would make a fantastic condenser :p.

Thanks in advance!

why not just put a flare fitting on the bottom turn of the chiller? then you can have a straight up attachment or a straight out one for the condenser?

or if you recycle water like me then why not use it as a mash prewarmer? (the coil gets dropped in the next batch and the water goes through it on the way back to the main tub... i can get my washes up to about 45-50 °C this way)

You know what, that's so incredibly obvious that I never thought of it! I have the tools already, a flare connection shouldn't cost too much more. Now only if there was some type of flexible tubing I could use to connect that flare fitting with the barb I have on the interior of my mash tun, and presto! Condenser is totally taken care of. Curse plastic's curse!

On the mash pre-heat, I could see where this could be great if you direct fire your tun. I have a cooler type tun, myself, so it probably wouldn't work quite as well for me.

when i say mash prewarmer i mean the next batch you are putting into your still not the next batch you are mashing..

i think that what you ment when you said "tun"..

as for the condenser im sure you could use copper instead of plastic just make sure everything is in the right place lol