Home Distiller

I though I'd hear about people piping steam into their still to supply the heat, but nobody seems to mention it. What is the problem with using steam to boil the still?

nothing, but most folks are running very small and don't want to set up a boiler system

I would say it boils down to economics.

There are some double boilers out there. But if you are talking about a steam sparger or coil steam, I can't generate that steam at my house.

On the small scale that we work on, producing steam is not economical, unless you have a steam pipe that you can tap in to, then that is a different matter.

Producing steam is less economical then a double boiler or even just direct heating?

I just figured it would be easier then a double boiler, but with less chance of burning then direct heating. I'm thinking of a design like a thermosiphon reboiler.

There are enough dangers as is. Being blown sky high by a homemade boiler does not need to be included. More than one moonshiner has ended his career that way.

I would love to,but its just not practical for me.If I had steam heat in my house,I would be using it for sure.

I use steam at the distillery. I have a low pressure boiler, 300,000 btu min, 600,000 btu max.

Uncle Jessy you are opening a business and will I presume be doing things in a professional manner meeting codes , ect. The average do it yourselfer doesn't need the extra risk.

yeh I agree. the boiler is a serious piece of equipment, nothing to sneeze at.

I look at a steam rig as bein' no more dangerous than any other still.

Just make sure it's not a completely closed system.

I have to go to extremes with many of my mashes/washes to keep from burnin': lots of boilin' chips, SUPER LOW heat, way too long run times, difficult seperation, etc.

I've considered buildin' a nice double boiler for a 15.5 gal keg to fit into, but a home steam rig would be the ultimate.

My wife works in a drycleaners.They have a still that cleans the fluid.It is steam driven.She was burnt about a week ago from steam it fried her arm like an egg.The still runs about six hrs. a day. It cost around $1800.00 a mth to run it

if you usein a doublein keg aint you usein steam

I believe it would be so goose

The idea of the double boiler is to have the outer liquid boil at a higher temp then the inner one, otherwise you are losing the applied heat as steam.

My idea for the steam system would be a container with an element, then a pipe coming from the top, entering the still doing some downwards spirals, exiting, having a T junction, one side goes vertical to atmosphere, the other side to the bottom of the boiler.

The idea being the steam becomes water and gravity pulls it back to the boiler, the longish vertical pipe is to allow balancing of the pressure, the length is to apply a head when the liquid level increases. The pressures are low (maximum pressure is 9.81*height kPa gague, so like 9 kPa gague or 110 kPa absolute), there is no need for a pump, as the still is raised above the boiler and the head pulls the liquid back in (The water return pipe may have to have a smaller pipe diameter then the steam output to encourage the steam to leave and not just push the water out, i'll experiment and find out)

Fully insulated, it should be much more efficient then a double boiler, and almost as efficient as the direct heating from an internal element.

I guess I'll just have to give it a go.

Despite obvious cautions, I am still intrigued with an oil bath double boiler. Yesterday, being Thanksgiveing and turkey time here, we did the turkeys in peanut oil immersed at 370°. It was out 6th and by far the best turkey anyone had ever had. Its a modified beer keg, and much safer than the cheap kits. This used 4.5 gal. peanut oil in the large keg to cover the turkey, and took about 30 min. to achieve that temp. in cold temps outside.

I can see a larger pot, like this with several gallons of oil at a safe temp. watched a bit, and no evaporation. If careful, it would even be safer than the turkey frying as it does give off a lot of steam, and is very active when adding. A proper pot, with a thermostat , would make a perfect double boiler, precautions applied. Safer, and more economical than steam, i would think.

It is my intention, to try this out, whenever I can get- afford- the proper pot with a drain, and thermostat of quality. There are a few things i want to try distilling on the grains or must.

If you check with the guys and girls on the yahoo alcoholfuel group, you will find a lot of them are running a Charles 803 which is steam powered.
The Charles 803 is a complicated, somewhat continuous still with a high throughput. It was made famous by Robert Warren and is still being hosted at
http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

For safety making a homemade boiler for steam, you should only make one that runs at atmospheric pressure. It takes around 990 BTU to change state of 1 lb. of water at 212 degrees to steam, heat loss in the boiler would be very costly.
You would be far better off to make a water heater to run close to 212 and use a hot water heat circulating pump to pump hot water through your still.

walker drive a wood stalb in the ground leave enough for oiled an seasoned turkey to set on an off ground. under him put tin foil the diamater of trasn can. put metal trash can on top of him. take 20 lb of charcoal an ring outside of trash can an then put some on top. 20 lb turkey bout 2 an 1/2 hrs. you can here him split off stalb an land on tin foil.

have yall tryed distillin on grain in you doublein keg then one behind it.
all them outside wood boilers aint heatin homes only
so im tole