Just Post a Pick of your Rig

[Bob9863]

I've got an all stainless system I put together, 58lt boiler, 20lt main thumper, 5lt second thumper and a 5 it worm.

I'm going to build a 10lt worm eventually although this one runs like a well oiled machine.
I've got two 2200w heating elements, thermometer on both the pot and the primary thumper and a 60lt water recirculation system.

[CirBeer]

3" modular build on a 16 gallon boiler, 2 4500W heating elements one running on a PID one on a variable controller. Packing is 6 litres of SPP (49" packable height) and 3lbs of copper mesh.

[Smeg]

[Chachie]

Finally got it all and put it together!!

[Desvio]

Here's my 8gal milk can with the 2" column with a 16" spool (also have a 24" spool to add), and a 240v 5500W stainless Camco. The pot and spools are covered with two layers of military wool, then a layer of black and dark red polyester upholstery custom sewn by yours truly (also do custom sewing as a hobby).

Still

Powered by an AuberIns DSPR1 with a 40A SSVR, 10ga 4-wire cords, all mounted to an old hairdressers cart I got for free.

Power

Cooling provided by a 55gal LME tank and a KEDSUM 65w 770gph submersible pump.

Cooling

I'll grab a pic of the whole thing next time it's assembled.

[equilibrium]

2" modular VM packed with SS SPP and som copper mesh just above boiler. Total packing height is almost 130 cm. Power it with 2 kW. Read temps via an raspberry pi.

Great for neutral. But time has come to explore the world of whiskey. Gonna set a batch of Odin's rye bread whiskey mash, set the still up as a pot still and give it a try.
PS, I know about the valve of the pot still mode. Parts on it's way, so it can be run without that valve when stripping.

Edit: removed picture of still in pot still mode with valve for safety reasons.

[Saltbush Bill]

Am I looking at this pot still from the wrong angle or does it have a large tap / valve on the condenser side of its column? If so it needs sorting out before the owner blows them selves up. An accident waiting to happen if you ask me.

[equilibrium]

Read the last part of my last paragraph one more time.

[Saltbush Bill]

If I had time to be reading things I would of replied to your post in a different manner......unfortunately I was somewhat busy at the time , so was simply trying to save you from yourself.

[equilibrium]

Damn phone. It was supposed to be a smiley at the end, not a dot. Did not intend to look like a wise ass. Anyhow, your input is still valid and I probably should remove the picture, so others do not take inspiration from it.

[jimmayhugh]

This is my forced-air / swamp-cooled setup that I use in the cooler months:

My forced air / swamp-cooled setup.

[Scott817]

Many nice stills out there.

Here is my 15 gallon SC Traditional setup.

[Durhommer]

Still too shy to post pics yet but ahh I can say I dont feel so bad knowing I'm not the only one running an "afro-engineered"set up!! Nice to have a gallery of designs to mimic or just strait copy once I'm completely comfortable and confident in my skills

[Kareltje]

This is my forced-air / swamp-cooled setup that I use in the cooler months:

swamp-cooled.png

I am not sure about what I see.
A glass thumper, standing on a vessel?
And a 20 spiral cooler, wound around some vessel. Isn't a cooler without a vessel in the centre more effective??

[acfixer69]

This is my forced-air / swamp-cooled setup that I use in the cooler months:

swamp-cooled.png

I am not sure about what I see.
A glass thumper, standing on a vessel?
And a 20 spiral cooler, wound around some vessel. Isn't a cooler without a vessel in the centre more effective??

Looks to be an evaporation style cooler for the worm to me. Swamp cooler is slang for the same. Dry climate folks are the most familiarize with them.

[RunRufusRun]

Here she is pumping out some rum. Got’er mostly polished up now.

[OtisT]

Lookin good RunRufasRun.

[RunRufusRun]

Thanks Otis, I’ll be adding the swivel elbows to solve my leveling issue as soon as the silver braze arrives.

[Kareltje]

This is my forced-air / swamp-cooled setup that I use in the cooler months:

swamp-cooled.png

I am not sure about what I see.
A glass thumper, standing on a vessel?
And a 20 spiral cooler, wound around some vessel. Isn't a cooler without a vessel in the centre more effective??

Looks to be an evaporation style cooler for the worm to me. Swamp cooler is slang for the same. Dry climate folks are the most familiarize with them.

That is something I understand: I use a ss spiral of about 9 m long. When I want to speed up I put some wet rags on it. Works fine!! No worry about watervalves.

[still_stirrin]

My stock pot gin still (currently stripping some expired commercial beers), a 20 quart stainless stock pot on my modified Cadco hotplate:

Gin still in operation

Another look at the still in action, this time from a different perspective.

Stock pot still

And for a “bird’s eye” view, it shows the relativly small footprint. Easy to setup and operate...positive WAF (wife approval factor).

View from the top

Elsewhere on the HD website, I’ve addressed the modified hotplate and what I did. I don’t want to go into it here (if interested, here’s a hotlink to that thread: viewtopic.php?f=85&t=71687), but I wanted you to see the hotplate in action. As you can see, I couldn’t fit the ammeter inside the stainless base, so I added an externally mounted project case to the base and wired the ammeter inside.

Also, the lighted power switch is the one included with the hotplate but I rewired the rest of the internals, replacing the thermostatic control with my custom made triac regulation circuit. I also added a switched 120VAC cooling fan to help remove heat build up from the case interior. The amber peanut light shows power to the fan.

Ammeter for control regulation

During the run, heat removed in the product shotgun must be eliminated from the system. So, I use a sink reservoir to recycle the water until it is too warm to maintain efficient heat transfer from the product condenser. Then, I drain the basin and refill with cold water. The complete turnover uses about 1-1/2 to 2 gallons of water. And during this run, which held about 3-1/2 gallons of beers, needed 5 reservoir turnovers to strip in the 2 hours of operation.

Renewable water reservoir

After the strip, from which I collected roughly 3/4 gallon of low wines, I ran the spirit run. From the spirit run, I collected about 1 liter of white whiskey at 90 proof. And it turned out quite nice, although not as tasty as a bourbon/corn mash, but very consumable considering the expired beers were destined for the drain.

Not bad for a few hours and a little investment in the equipment.
ss

[Twisted Brick]

Tidy rig, s_s. Must be a joy to run, especially with the wife's approval. Every household should have a unit like this.

[jimmayhugh]

This is my forced-air / swamp-cooled setup that I use in the cooler months:

swamp-cooled.png

I am not sure about what I see.
A glass thumper, standing on a vessel?
And a 20 spiral cooler, wound around some vessel. Isn't a cooler without a vessel in the centre more effective??

The cooler is a 50' spiral of 1/2" tubing, inside the coil is a single layer of 36" X 24' Spin Roll Cooler Pad, about 2' of soaker hose coiled against the Pad, and an 8" 420 CFM Inline Ducting Booster Fan mounted on top.

The whole shebang sits in a 3" deep cake pan, with an aquarium pump pushing distilled water up into the soaker hose.

During an average run of 10 gallons of 10% ABV wash, I use about a gallon of water to keep things cool. I've run this in up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit ambient conditions, and I'm looking forward to this summer to see how it works in 100+ weather.

[Just 4 Fun]

Finally got a keg, bought it off an old guy that used it for home brewing beer.
Not sure how long he’s had it but I’m confident I have nothing to worry about as far as owning it.
Finished up the copper and just need a burner to do some cleaning runs.

[Twisted Brick]

Finally got a keg, bought it off an old guy that used it for home brewing beer.
Not sure how long he’s had it but I’m confident I have nothing to worry about as far as owning it.
Finished up the copper and just need a burner to do some cleaning runs.

Yours has to be the most straightforward, inexpensive, easy-to-build, effective design ever. Especially for a first rig.

Great job. Happy stilling with it.

TB

[Kareltje]

This is my forced-air / swamp-cooled setup that I use in the cooler months:

swamp-cooled.png

I am not sure about what I see.
A glass thumper, standing on a vessel?
And a 20 spiral cooler, wound around some vessel. Isn't a cooler without a vessel in the centre more effective??

The cooler is a 50' spiral of 1/2" tubing, inside the coil is a single layer of 36" X 24' Spin Roll Cooler Pad, about 2' of soaker hose coiled against the Pad, and an 8" 420 CFM Inline Ducting Booster Fan mounted on top.

The whole shebang sits in a 3" deep cake pan, with an aquarium pump pushing distilled water up into the soaker hose.

During an average run of 10 gallons of 10% ABV wash, I use about a gallon of water to keep things cool. I've run this in up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit ambient conditions, and I'm looking forward to this summer to see how it works in 100+ weather.

Don't know what a Spin Roll Cooler Pad is, but I think I get the idea. Smart!

Edit: The distilled water is a smart, fine touch, especially as you can make it yourself. Non-distilled water would leave residu on the Spin Roll Cooler Pad.

[Oldvine Zin]

Finally got a keg, bought it off an old guy that used it for home brewing beer.
Not sure how long he’s had it but I’m confident I have nothing to worry about as far as owning it.

Not sure what the statute of limitations in Canada is but... HaHa just joking, that's a nice simple rig reminds me of the first one I put together. She should serve you well

Be safe
OVZ

[Scott817]

Here is a picture of my keg still project. I call this my "Personal Mini Distillation System" I designed this with a few goals in mind. 1 it have to be built with simple hand tools so pretty much anyone handy could do it , 2) It solved my issues with leveling my other stills when taken a part and moved around and put back together as I was always looking for this board or that board to get it all hooked back up since I only run outdoors. 3) reduced foot print of a triple distillation system 4) look different that what I have seen others do.

[Swedish Pride]

The thumper is stunning. Tidy set up lad

[OtisT]

That's a cool little rig there Scott.

Otis

[Celis]

love your setup, very nicely build!