Flake Stand material.

[Captn Jack]

Howdy, all. I am in the very beginning of building a 12-gal pot still. It seems I have enough copper I collected over the years to build it. I have quite a bit of 20 ga. and a 3'x4" sheet of 18 ga, The problem I seem to have I don't think I will have enough copper to do a Flake Stand without buying more.
I am looking at making a 5 gal one, what other way can I go with this? A plastic bucket maybe? I guess I am saying do you really need copper for a Flake Stand? Also, I have 25ft. of 1/2" and 25ft. of 3/8" copper tubing, which would be the best to use for the coil.
Thanks.

[NZChris]

Copper will lose more heat to the atmosphere, so would save you a little bit of cooling water. Probably only worth it if cooling water is going to be a problem.

[shadylane]

If wanted to be fancy, I'd use a wooden keg for the flake stand.
If wanting to be practical a plastic barrel.
Flack stand volume depends on if there's a garden hose or not.


On a side note.
Here's a link to videos of small copper stills used for making brandy.
These copper stills aren't like a traditional moonshine still.
But there might be an idea or two that would be helpful if you're planning to build one.

viewtopic.php?t=76359

[Yummyrum]

I’m not endorsing this still , but it shows an earthenware flake stand which look pretty cool and just shows you can use pretty much anything .
Also of interest is that it follows the rule if thumb that a flake stand should be about twice the size as the boiler ….. unless as Shady said , you have a garden hose to keep it filled with cool water .

[Setsumi]

And while you not realy hardcore traditional why not just ditch the flake stand an worm for a nice and practical Liebig?

[NZChris]

My only flake stand came with a second hand copper alembic that is a handy size for small gin runs. It might be a quarter of the volume of the still. I top up the water from the bottom and overflow the hot water from the top, (heat rises). That system works really well for me, even when off-grid.

All of my home built condensers are Liebigs. They are easy to build and are mostly built using materials from scrapyards. They also work well off-grid, as they are all oversized for the jobs they need to do.

[Captn Jack]

I was actually thinking last night. Wait a minute, I have hundreds of board feet of 1" thick cedar in my barn so I will make it out of that. Problem solved.

[Yummyrum]

Pull the worm out after run and instant Cedar hot tub

[Captn Jack]

Ok So I will make it out of the cedar I have on hand. Space and water are not a problem. As I said I have 25ft of either 3/8" or 1/2" copper tubing. I was looking at building a 2" shotgun but the cost is too much. I have everything I need to build a flake for a 12 gal pot still using a 35 or 4500 w 240V heater and my own design controller. Just now sure how big I should make it for proper cooling with no problems. I am coming up with at least 5 gals, should I go bigger or would it not make a real difference in doing so? Suggeations? Thanks.

[Yummyrum]

As mentioned before , if you just want to fill it once for the run , it needs to be a 2x the volume of your boiler .

So if your boiler is 12gal , the flake stand needs to hold about 24 gal of water .

If you make it smaller , the water in it will get too hot before you have finished the run . In which case , you need ti have a hose running inti it to keep the water cool and another hose to drain out the hot water .

Your choice .

And yeah , go the bigger size copper for the worm ….. less chance of potential plugging and , bigger size can run more effectively .

[NZChris]

1/2" tubing for a Leibig, or flake stand, for a 12 gallon still is a bit on the small side. 3/8" would be a PITA.

[Yummyrum]

1/2" tubing for a Leibig, or flake stand, for a 12 gallon still is a bit on the small side. 3/8" would be a PITA.

Agree Chris…. Especially for stripping runs . 1/2” b e fine on spirit run though