Oak Stills Jacketed Boiler w/Fluted Column - First Impressions

[KegStand]

Hey everyone,
I know I didn’t build this one but just wanted to share that after ~50 days since ordering, I finally took delivery of my Oak Stills 100-liter double-jacketed copper still, and I wanted to share some initial impressions.

Shipping & Packaging:
Overall, the packaging was excellent. Everything was very well protected and nothing arrived damaged, which is always a concern with large copper equipment. There was one box missing from the initial delivery, but Oak Stills handled it well—the remaining box showed up a couple days later with all the outstanding parts. No issues in the end.

Build Quality:
First impressions are very solid. The copper work looks clean, welds are tidy, and all the tri-clamp connections line up nicely. The double jacket, manway, and ports all look well thought out. The bubble plates and column components feel substantial and well-machined.

Control Box & Upgrades:
The control box looks decent out of the gate—clean layout and solid components—but obviously time will tell how it holds up long-term. I did opt to upgrade to two (2) 5.5 kW heating elements and added an agitator. Everything appears properly integrated so far.

Overall:
At this stage, I’m very happy with the purchase. The quality looks great, packaging was handled properly, and any small hiccup with shipping was resolved quickly. I’m excited to get through my cleaning and sacrificial runs and start dialing this thing in.

I’ll post updates once I have some runtime on it, but so far, so good.

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[PalCabral]

Looks like a real beauty. It will be very interesting to hear run details when you get there. Heating times with a double jacketed boiler would be interesting to know, for example!

How tall is the boiler from the ground, on those legs? At the point where the column connects, is what I mean. My Oakstills 50L milk can boiler is 55cm tall, if I remember correctly. Yours look a tad shorter?

[KegStand]

Looks like a real beauty. It will be very interesting to hear run details when you get there. Heating times with a double jacketed boiler would be interesting to know, for example!

How tall is the boiler from the ground, on those legs? At the point where the column connects, is what I mean. My Oakstills 50L milk can boiler is 55cm tall, if I remember correctly. Yours look a tad shorter?

Thanks Cabral! I finished wiring the agitator and control box this evening after work and tested everything. All systems are GO!

I think I may be coming down with glaucoma cuz I can’t see myself going to work the rest of the week

I’m showing 83cm from the bottom to the column port. Total height is right at 6 feet tall or ~182cm’s if my math is correct

[Threesixzero]

Looks great! I have been looking at their 13 gallon jacketed milk can boiler. Being able to distill on the grains would be a huge time saver for me. Can't wait to see what you start making with that setup

[Roo]

Control Box & Upgrades:
The control box looks decent out of the gate—clean layout and solid components—but obviously time will tell how it holds up long-term. I did opt to upgrade to two (2) 5.5 kW heating elements and added an agitator. Everything appears properly integrated so far.

I'd be keen to hear how you find the agitator as you get a chance to play with it.

[KegStand]

Control Box & Upgrades:
The control box looks decent out of the gate—clean layout and solid components—but obviously time will tell how it holds up long-term. I did opt to upgrade to two (2) 5.5 kW heating elements and added an agitator. Everything appears properly integrated so far.

I'd be keen to hear how you find the agitator as you get a chance to play with it.

I’ll keep everyone updated as I work through getting to know the new setup! Plan on doing the vinegar and the sacrificial runs tomorrow. I’ve also got all the grain milled and prepped to do a ~58 gallon all grain bourbon mash over the weekend. Gonna be a busy weekend!

[Deplorable]

Im envious. Is your plan to mash, ferment, and distill all in the boiler?

[KegStand]

Im envious. Is your plan to mash, ferment, and distill all in the boiler?

Possibly but not yet.

I went with what I knew prior to this still and currently have a 50 gallon all grain whiskey mash fermenting in a barrel. Plan to run it on the grain Saturday to see how it does! My goal is to fill 5-10 gallon barrels for aging so only doing a ~20 gallon ferment isn’t quite enough to fill a barrel.

[Deplorable]

No, it wouldn't be. It takes me about 4 ferments in my 30-gallon fermenters to fill a 5-gallon barrel. Each of my ferments usually nets me 1.5 gallons of barrel proof.

[Stump Lake]

Beautiful setup. I could see myself owning something like that one day.

My goal is to fill 5-10 gallon barrels for aging so only doing a ~20 gallon ferment isn’t quite enough to fill a barrel.

I just did a HBB All Grain in a 55 gallon barrel fermenter and came up with 4.5 gallon of 156 proof finished product. So proofing that down I could fill a 5 gallon oak barrel.

Edit: woops sorry, that was two runs of the 55 gallon barrel fermenter

Yeah, your gona need a bigger barrel!

[Deplorable]

Beautiful setup. I could see myself owning something like that one day.


I just did a HBB All Grain in a 55 gallon barrel fermenter and came up with 4.5 gallon of 156 proof finished product. So proofing that down I could fill a 5 gallon oak barrel.

Edit: woops sorry, that was two runs of the 55 gallon barrel fermenter

Yeah, your gona need a bigger barrel!

I was gonna say, them was some WIDE cuts
Yesterday I squeezed two 30-gallon fermenters, and recovered 42 of the ~46 gallons of water I put in the mashes. I'll lose more to the fines as it clears, and probably realize somewhere around 39 gallons of cleared beer at 9%. After cuts I don't expect more than about 3 gallons of the final blend.

[PalCabral]

No, it wouldn't be. It takes me about 4 ferments in my 30-gallon fermenters to fill a 5-gallon barrel. Each of my ferments usually nets me 1.5 gallons of barrel proof.

Either you're cutting very narrow or I am a dirty distiller, Deplorable, or you're yield is suboptimal, or you're miscalculating. I make 100L, 26 gallons, per project and get 7L, 1.85g, hearts, at distilled proof, and 2.3g at barrel proof (62% ABV).

[Deplorable]

No, it wouldn't be. It takes me about 4 ferments in my 30-gallon fermenters to fill a 5-gallon barrel. Each of my ferments usually nets me 1.5 gallons of barrel proof.

Either you're cutting very narrow or I am a dirty distiller, Deplorable, or you're yield is suboptimal, or you're miscalculating. I make 100L, 26 gallons, per project and get 7L, 1.85g, hearts, at distilled proof, and 2.3g at barrel proof (62% ABV).

Nothing is more infuriating than writing out a long reply, only to have it lost to the ether when you hit submit and the site is down.
Here's the short of it.
My fermenter holds 23 gallons of water plus 50# of grain to get 1.070 OG. Finished at .996 that's 9.5% ABV.
Squeezed and cleared, I net about 20 gallons at 9.5%
20 X .095= 1.9 gallons of potential alcohol How each distiller cuts that 1.9 gallons of potential alcohol is up to the distiller. I don't like heads, and I don't like fusel oils clouding up my 80 proof bottles.

[KegStand]

My long term goal is to likely save up multiple mashes and fill a 10 gallon barrel.

For this specific mash bill I did 85lbs of corn, 15 lbs of wheat, and 17 lbs of barley along with ~50 gallons of water. OG came out a bit over 1.070 (I used enzymes during the mash). Mash is dry dry now and much below 1.0.

I’m running this joker on the grain tomorrow fellas!

[Alzahra888]

Pulling up a seat. This is fun. Go kegstand!

[PalCabral]

Nothing is more infuriating than writing out a long reply, only to have it lost to the ether when you hit submit and the site is down.

I know, tell me about it. I tried several times yesterday, same problem.

Here's the short of it.
My fermenter holds 23 gallons of water plus 50# of grain to get 1.070 OG. Finished at .996 that's 9.5% ABV.
Squeezed and cleared, I net about 20 gallons at 9.5%
20 X .095= 1.9 gallons of potential alcohol How each distiller cuts that 1.9 gallons of potential alcohol is up to the distiller. I don't like heads, and I don't like fusel oils clouding up my 80 proof bottles.

I see what you mean, Deplorable. I was looking at the total volume of your fermenter, gotcha! It's a difference also when fermenting on or off grain. When I mash for off grain fermenting, like I was yesterday, I get the same volume of wash as the volume water going into the mash. I don't have any losses when it comes to volume, because when I sparge the grains I can recap any lost volume. When I ferment on grain, like YLAY, there is always a loss, no matter how much I squeeze.

However, I recently invested in a brew bag with 800 microns mesh, which means it's suited for draining mashes with corn and unfermented grains. I used it for the first time this week in a 42L/11g mash. Lifted the bag up on a hook and left it to drain. Worked like a charm. Normally I manage to get 37-38L/10g out of the mash, after squeezing for the love of life. This time I got 40L/10.5g without squeezing. The grains were hard after 3 hours of hanging there.

[Stump Lake]

For this specific mash bill I did 85lbs of corn, 15 lbs of wheat, and 17 lbs of barley along with ~50 gallons of water. OG came out a bit over 1.070 (I used enzymes during the mash). Mash is dry dry now and much below 1.0.

I hear you Kegstand. One of my biggest challenges has been realizing just how much grain you need to add to a 55-gallon barrel to get a good OG. I keep upping my grain, but I still need more.

My last run of CROW was 75lbs corn, 10lbs each of Red Wheat, White Wheat and Rye, 4lbs of toasted oats with 50 gallons of water and only hit 1.050. The taste was great. I'm going to raise up the amount of grain again on my next run.

[PalCabral]

For this specific mash bill I did 85lbs of corn, 15 lbs of wheat, and 17 lbs of barley along with ~50 gallons of water. OG came out a bit over 1.070 (I used enzymes during the mash). Mash is dry dry now and much below 1.0.

I hear you Kegstand. One of my biggest challenges has been realizing just how much grain you need to add to a 55-gallon barrel to get a good OG. I keep upping my grain, but I still need more.

My last run of CROW was 75lbs corn, 10lbs each of Red Wheat, White Wheat and Rye, 4lbs of toasted oats with 50 gallons of water and only hit 1.050. The taste was great. I'm going to raise up the amount of grain again on my next run.

1.050 is perhaps a bit on the low side but you will have great tasting whiskey from it. When I mash traditionally I use 5kg/11lb of grains for 25L/6.5g water and usually land between 1.055 and 1.060.

[Stump Lake]

1.050 is perhaps a bit on the low side

Oh I agree. I will keep adjusting my recipe until I get 1.060 minimum.

[Homebrewer11777]

My long term goal is to likely save up multiple mashes and fill a 10 gallon barrel.

For this specific mash bill I did 85lbs of corn, 15 lbs of wheat, and 17 lbs of barley along with ~50 gallons of water. OG came out a bit over 1.070 (I used enzymes during the mash). Mash is dry dry now and much below 1.0.

I’m running this joker on the grain tomorrow fellas!

Hope that run goes well and interested to hear what you collect in your low wines.

I'm scratching my head on your mash calculations. I don't believe 117 pounds of grain and 50 gallons of water fits in a 55 gallon plastic barrel (actual size closer to 57 gallons). Due to grain displacement pretty sure that would be over 60 gallons. I am guessing you used more like 43 gallons of water if you gave it 3" (5 gallons) headspace (2.7 pounds per gallon mash thickness). That sounds like too thick of a mash to me to get good efficiency and if I calculated right you got something like 65% conversion efficiency. You likely could improve conversion efficiency by getting your grain to water ratio back closer to 2 pounds per gallon. My calculations could be wrong, will know better once you get your low wines collected and measured. If they are right you should get about 5.0-5.5 gallons pure ethanol in your low wines assuming you strip to near full recovery...something like 2% ABV at the spout.

[KegStand]

My long term goal is to likely save up multiple mashes and fill a 10 gallon barrel.

For this specific mash bill I did 85lbs of corn, 15 lbs of wheat, and 17 lbs of barley along with ~50 gallons of water. OG came out a bit over 1.070 (I used enzymes during the mash). Mash is dry dry now and much below 1.0.

I’m running this joker on the grain tomorrow fellas!

Hope that run goes well and interested to hear what you collect in your low wines.

I'm scratching my head on your mash calculations. I don't believe 117 pounds of grain and 50 gallons of water fits in a 55 gallon plastic barrel (actual size closer to 57 gallons). Due to grain displacement pretty sure that would be over 60 gallons. I am guessing you used more like 43 gallons of water if you gave it 3" (5 gallons) headspace (2.7 pounds per gallon mash thickness). That sounds like too thick of a mash to me to get good efficiency and if I calculated right you got something like 65% conversion efficiency. You likely could improve conversion efficiency by getting your grain to water ratio back closer to 2 pounds per gallon. My calculations could be wrong, will know better once you get your low wines collected and measured. If they are right you should get about 5.0-5.5 gallons pure ethanol in your low wines assuming you strip to near full recovery...something like 2% ABV at the spout.

I’ll need to check my logbook to confirm how much corn I’ve been using in recent mashes, but I do know I’ve been steadily increasing the corn percentage in an effort to push my OG higher before pitching yeast.

You’re also spot on with the headspace calculations. Total water volume was right around 47–48 gallons, and the HDPE mash barrel is 58 gallons, so headspace hasn’t been an issue.

Full transparency: as I get more familiar with the new still, I’ve been experimenting with “one-and-done” runs. I’m still running all four plates, but I only use the dephlegmator at the beginning to compress the heads—roughly 20–30 minutes—then I shut it off completely for the remainder of the run.

Heat-up time this morning was about 50 minutes using two 5.5 kW elements, with the agitator running at roughly half speed. Once the still came up to temp, I shut one element off entirely (and turned off the agitator as well) and ran the rest of the session on a single element so I could fine-tune the heat input.

I’ve got the distillate airing out now and pulled roughly 2.5 gallons from a single full charge, though I haven’t made any final cuts yet.

I’ve got another run planned for this weekend, but honestly—holy cow—I love this still. Being able to distill on the grain without any fear of scorching is an absolute game changer.

[Deplorable]

1.050 is perhaps a bit on the low side

Oh I agree. I will keep adjusting my recipe until I get 1.060 minimum.

At 2 pounds per gallon you should be able to get at least an 8% ABV wash if it finishes dry. If you're not getting great conversion, before you just keep adding grains to get the OG you're chasing, figure out why you arent getting good starch conversion and address that.
109 pounds of those grains in 50G of water is 2.18 pounds per gallon. Essentially the same as my 50# in 23 gallons. with decent conversion, you should be getting 1.065 to 1.072.
Are you using enzymes, adding them at them proper temperature?
Are you milling your grains adequately, or gelling your corn long enough at a high enough temp?

[KegStand]

1.050 is perhaps a bit on the low side

Oh I agree. I will keep adjusting my recipe until I get 1.060 minimum.

At 2 pounds per gallon you should be able to get at least an 8% ABV wash if it finishes dry. If you're not getting great conversion, before you just keep adding grains to get the OG you're chasing, figure out why you arent getting good starch conversion and address that.
109 pounds of those grains in 50G of water is 2.18 pounds per gallon. Essentially the same as my 50# in 23 gallons. with decent conversion, you should be getting 1.065 to 1.072.
Are you using enzymes, adding them at them proper temperature?
Are you milling your grains adequately, or gelling your corn long enough at a high enough temp?

I achieved a little over 1.070 OG on this mash by using alpha amylase and glucoamylase at their recommended temperature additions. I don’t believe there were any major issues with the mash process that would raise red flags, but I’m absolutely open to feedback or suggestions if you see anything worth adjusting. I’ve since picked up a high-temperature alpha amylase and plan to incorporate that into my next mash.

For milling, I recently started using a Vevor grain mill. The corn was milled to a consistency between cracked corn and flour, and I used a similar grind for the wheat and 2-row barley.

[KegStand]

My bad Deplorable, I didn’t realize you were replying to a different person until after I responded.. cheers

[KegStand]

1.050 is perhaps a bit on the low side

Oh I agree. I will keep adjusting my recipe until I get 1.060 minimum.

Are you using high temp alpha amalyse or any other enzymes? For this past mash I bought a barrel heating belt (link below) to help hold my mash temps. Definitely seemed to have helped.

https://a.co/d/55ENIIy

[Windy City]

Hey everyone,
I know I didn’t build this one but just wanted to share that after ~50 days since ordering, I finally took delivery of my Oak Stills 100-liter double-jacketed copper still, and I wanted to share some initial impressions.

Congratulations on the new still.
Are you running this as Bain Marie or as self contained steam?
Mine was originally designed as Bain Marie but I converted it to self contained steam.
I also have a piped in chiller that really helps.
The mixer is a must for one of these.
Now that you no longer need to squeeze your ferment I would recommend bringing all your grains to flour. I use a hammermill with the smallest screen for all my grains.
Also after many runs I have found for my bourbons and rums all I need is a one and done through two (2) plates but I do reflux through the whole run. Comes out clean but still packed with flavor.
Have Fun

[PalCabral]

What’s the benefit with steam compared to a normal bain marie?

[KegStand]

Hey everyone,
I know I didn’t build this one but just wanted to share that after ~50 days since ordering, I finally took delivery of my Oak Stills 100-liter double-jacketed copper still, and I wanted to share some initial impressions.

Congratulations on the new still.
Are you running this as Bain Marie or as self contained steam?
Mine was originally designed as Bain Marie but I converted it to self contained steam.
I also have a piped in chiller that really helps.
The mixer is a must for one of these.
Now that you no longer need to squeeze your ferment I would recommend bringing all your grains to flour. I use a hammermill with the smallest screen for all my grains.
Also after many runs I have found for my bourbons and rums all I need is a one and done through two (2) plates but I do reflux through the whole run. Comes out clean but still packed with flavor.
Have Fun

I went with distilled water in the jacketed boiler instead of glycol. It kind of behaves like a steam setup, just not on the same scale or with the same punch as what you’re running.

That’s a solid tip on milling finer going forward. My electric Vevor mill should be able to take the grain down to a pretty fine, almost flour-like grind.

I’m running all four plates with zero dephleg engagement and seeing about 140–150 proof for most of the run, with proof starting to drop as I get into late hearts and then early tails.

I ran a full ~24-gallon charge on Saturday and another one today (this one included about 2 gallons of feints from the previous run plus some leftovers). I’ve made my final cuts from today’s run and I’m estimating around 3.5 gallons of hearts at roughly 65% between the two runs.

I love this thing!

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[KegStand]

I went with distilled water in the jacketed boiler instead of glycol. It kind of behaves like a steam setup, just not on the same scale or with the same punch as what you’re running.

That’s a solid tip on milling finer going forward. My electric Vevor mill should be able to take the grain down to a pretty fine, almost flour-like grind.

I’m running all four plates with zero dephleg engagement and seeing about 140–150 proof for most of the run, with proof starting to drop as I get into late hearts and then early tails.

I ran a full ~24-gallon charge on Saturday and another one today (this one included about 2 gallons of feints from the previous run plus some leftovers). I’ve made my final cuts from today’s run and I’m estimating around 3.5 gallons of hearts at roughly 65% between the 2 runs.

I love this thing!

[andystanton74]

How do you know how much water to fill the jacket with? Presumably you need to leave some room for expansion. Is there a pressure relief valve in case too much pressure builds up