Length of Leibig

[rickyaifd]

I am hoping one of y'all can shed some light on something that seems confusing to me. In comparing Stills marketed by Brewhaus, Clawhammer, Stillz, and others.... why do the liebig condensors seem to be so short and the ones made by the DIY's seem so long and also, the premade ones seem to be so close to the pot that the main heat source would affect the output....namely causing a flammability risk? Wouldn't you want the output of your distillate to be as far away from your heat source as possible?

[Expat]

I am hoping one of y'all can shed some light on something that seems confusing to me. In comparing Stills marketed by Brewhaus, Clawhammer, Stillz, and others.... why do the liebig condensors seem to be so short and the ones made by the DIY's seem so long and also, the premade ones seem to be so close to the pot that the main heat source would affect the output....namely causing a flammability risk? Wouldn't you want the output of your distillate to be as far away from your heat source as possible?

Short answer is that a lot of what companies sell is crap, and likely insufficient to do the job.

Yes, the distillate collection container should be plenty far away from any heat sources.

[cob]

Capitalism at its finest. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

[30xs]

Excellent observation. I agree with the above replies. Build it shiny and they will buy it whether it works properly or efficiently or not.

[Deplorable]

You buy one of them, and you'll be hacking that liebig off and building your own. Ask me how I know...

[Twisted Brick]

Build it shiny and they will buy it whether it works properly or efficiently or not.

And conveniently ignore the poor performance (speed) tiny condensers give by focusing on the shiny thermometer that is more bling than anything else.

[jonnys_spirit]

They make products not product lol

[8Ball]

I added more than double additional Liebig to my Clawhammer. Works fine. Gives me good separation distance from the burner and allows for quick stripping runs. Win win.

[Deplorable]

Build it shiny and they will buy it whether it works properly or efficiently or not.

And conveniently ignore the poor performance (speed) tiny condensers give by focusing on the shiny thermometer that is more bling than anything else.

Hey, that thermometer does a bang up job of plugging that extra hole in the still head.

[OtisT]

On a pot still you want a condenser that can handle the amount of power you can apply. This is especially important when stripping, which is often done at a high power level to save you time. If your condenser is under rated, you are limited in the power you can apply and you will have to run slower. So those short Liebig technically work, but it really limits your production rate.

The reason you see a lot of long liebig condensers used by DIY folks is that they are inexpensive and easy to build, but you need length to handle the power these folks want to apply. The reason why those folks sell short liebig condensers is because they want to keep the price down and they know you will come back later and buy more stuff.

Otis

[Truckinbutch]

I am hoping one of y'all can shed some light on something that seems confusing to me. In comparing Stills marketed by Brewhaus, Clawhammer, Stillz, and others.... why do the liebig condensors seem to be so short and the ones made by the DIY's seem so long and also, the premade ones seem to be so close to the pot that the main heat source would affect the output....namely causing a flammability risk? Wouldn't you want the output of your distillate to be as far away from your heat source as possible?

Short answer is that a lot of what companies sell is crap, and likely insufficient to do the job.

Yes, the distillate collection container should be plenty far away from any heat sources.

Best answer .

[Truckinbutch]

My own is 1/2 inside 3/4 with a turbulator wrap . 54" long and it has never failed me . Set up to work on single boiler or boiler and thumper combo .

[Saltbush Bill]

As others have said , make it shiny ..stick a big arse thermometer on it and its a seller to those who don't know one still from the other. There are a lot of shit stills being sold out there and a few quite good ones.
Its also why many long term distillers learn to build their own.
The good news is that you where smart enough to ask the right questions before spending your hard earned money.......many dont.

[Yummyrum]

My own is 1/2 inside 3/4 with a turbulator wrap . 54" long and it has never failed me . Set up to work on single boiler or boiler and thumper combo .

Iff’n you can , you should build yourself something like Truckinbutch’s

Ticks all the boxes .... got me one pretty similar
.
Length is important for keeping collection far from flames and longer can handle more power . Now that might not be such a biggy when doing a spirit run ... but it sure helps when you need to strip a lot fast .

[NineInchNails]

A lot of Liebigs that attach close to the riser often point straight down in photographs. Most people prefer to attach their Liebig using a Union or Tri-Clamp which allows you to pivot the Liebig and that makes the output further away from the boiler. If you're running with electric, it shouldn't be an issue like it is with gas/flame.

Most buy 5' lengths of copper pipe so they often over-size them to use less water and handle any power input. Shotgun condensers are wonderful, a lot shorter and can handle a lot more power per inch in comparison to a liebig.

[jonnys_spirit]

I did the same and DIY'd one that could knock down full power on a strip. Completely fine with that. It would be nice if the places selling and making these were actual craft users but the fact is that they're not and as resellers they need to source a product they can move with minimal work in order to stay in business. With some research and a little DIY ethic it's not hard to get a completely adequate and flexible stilling system going. The commercial stills available now look to be much better than what was available ten years ago so maybe in another ten years they'll be even better. By that time I expect mine to still be in service making a nice drop.

Cheers!
-jonny

[Demy]

I believe that a long condenser (up to a certain point of course) has several advantages among these 1) as mentioned by Otis you can apply more heat to your still 2) for the same power applied you will consume less water or you can circulate the water in a slower. Just my opinion! In general if you can go long, it will be more versatile.

[Durhommer]

I built my first one a pot on the stove with a copper worm very simple then bought mile hi and dont like the small condenser so am wanting another Ali Express shotgun condenser those seem to work ok on a mh milk can 2000watt

[Expat]

Similar to a lot of people I built 3/4" over 1/2" with crimps and spiral wire to increase the surface area. The jacketed length is 48".

More than just, gets the job done, it's able to lower the distillate to 70f while raising the out output water to 160+f if I dared. Stripping runs on 5500w only requires a small stream of water.

Not just effective, efficient.

[Deplorable]

Similar to a lot of people I built 3/4" over 1/2" with crimps and spiral wire to increase the surface area. The jacketed length is 48".

More than just, gets the job done, it's able to lower the distillate to 70f while raising the out output water to 160+f if I dared. Stripping runs on 5500w only requires a small stream of water.

Not just effective, efficient.

+1 on this. My distillate will come out too cold on anything more than a trickle from the garden hose. Seems on mine if tje jacket is cold past about 2/3s the way up the output is below 65°f.

[BlueSasquatch]

I've a 6-gallon pot still that we made from scratch, it's worked pretty well but I started surfing pre-made options for larger capacity and was told my set-up was "to dangerous" anyways the BrewHaus 15-Gallon Pot-Still with 1 port for an electric element to be added later ($120 w/controller) is only $400 which is cheaper than we ended up paying for our 6-gallon copper pot still in the end. But this thread makes it sound like perhaps they are not all that great?

[Deplorable]

I built my first one a pot on the stove with a copper worm very simple then bought mile hi and dont like the small condenser so am wanting another Ali Express shotgun condenser those seem to work ok on a mh milk can 2000watt

You can always do what I did, and cut it off and plug the hole. Then use the 3/4" TC to add a 48" 3/4 over 1/2 liebig.
You'll get an improvement in cooling, and speed up your strips a small amount. In fact, if you want, I'll sell you my old jacketed head. PM me if you think you might be interested.
,

[Durhommer]

I built my first one a pot on the stove with a copper worm very simple then bought mile hi and dont like the small condenser so am wanting another Ali Express shotgun condenser those seem to work ok on a mh milk can 2000watt

You can always do what I did, and cut it off and plug the hole. Then use the 3/4" TC to add a 48" 3/4 over 1/2 liebig.
You'll get an improvement in cooling, and speed up your strips a small amount. In fact, if you want, I'll sell you my old jacketed head. PM me if you think you might be interested.
,

PM sent!!

[shadylane]

Bigger is better
3/4" inside a 1"

[Durhommer]

Gonna make a freaking 2inch copper head deplorable has me talked into it...so the slow parts ordering starts

[30xs]

Bigger is better
3/4" inside a 1"

I learned that just the other day playing with a couple dephlegs. One was 1” tubes the other 3/4”. Both the same length, same well feed cooling supply. To knock down 5500 watts the 3/4” took about 10 quarts per minute to full reflux. The 1” took about 4.5 quarts to get the same result. I’m guessing the longer dwell time in the larger open area was the major factor.

[30xs]

Screenshot_20201117-171345_Chrome.jpg
Gonna make a freaking 2inch copper head deplorable has me talked into it...so the slow parts ordering starts

Good luck with the build. Still Dragon has outside fit copper and brass ferrules, if you’re in an area he ships to. Twistedbrick’s preformed shotgun plates do make things a little easier for a beginner.