Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hello

Been a number of years since doing any distilling, I used electric back then, this time it will be propane, mainly because I was given 3 full 15kg bottles for nothing, just got to get myself a burner now , seen a 8.8kw foker burner , this one here http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/L ... _Ring.html

My Pot Still is all copper 5 gallon , Can anybody tell me how long will/should one 15kg bottle last ,how many runs should I get ?

I got these 3 bottles of propane for no cost, but I am still in a bit of uncertainty at which direction to go ,Gas or electric ?

don't really want to cut a hole in my beautiful looking still, if I had to fit a element in there, it would need to be up through the bottom, not sure if it will work right to cover the element with wash, the still is , I know it's got rivetts in there, but if I get any trouble, I will just solder it up, thats no problem.

regards
lee

Welcome buddy :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Great to see you getting back into it. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Just a tip have a read of the site rules.

That burner looks like quite a bit of overkill for a 20L pot.
So i reckon it might take about 3mins to heat up at full power, and then you could probably turn it down to its lowest setting and it will still empty that pot rather quickly.

Fill out your profile and put up a photo of what your working with.
It will help us help you.

Chiming in a little - where are you located?
That link is to the UK so, if your in Oz that would cost you more on freight than buying local, say @ the big Green shed...

NB Mods - not sure if that's acceptable, pls remove link if not!

EziTasting wrote:Chiming in a little - where are you located?
That link is to the UK so, if your in Oz that would cost you more on freight than buying local, say @ the big Green shed...

NB Mods - not sure if that's acceptable, pls remove link if not!

This is nearly the same heat output (about 6kw) and will probably allow more control once at temp. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Whiskyaugogo wrote:

EziTasting wrote:Chiming in a little - where are you located?
That link is to the UK so, if your in Oz that would cost you more on freight than buying local, say @ the big Green shed...

NB Mods - not sure if that's acceptable, pls remove link if not!

This is nearly the same heat output (about 6kw) and will probably allow more control once at temp. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The OP's link is what a lot of people call an Italian Spiral Burner
They're a much more focused flame and heat quite better
Grain and Grape sell something similar here in Aus
http://shop.beerbelly.com.au/italian-burner.html

The 3 ring burners from Bunnings put out a huge amount of heat when coupled with an adjustable regulator, but have really crappy flame nozzles and are horribly inefficient
mine gets around 5 x 23L batches of beer out of a 9kg cylinder or 3-4 stripping runs of a 45L boiler charge running around 8-10L per hour

sp0rk wrote:The OP's link is what a lot of people call an Italian Spiral Burner
They're a much more focused flame and heat quite better
Grain and Grape sell something similar here in Aus
http://shop.beerbelly.com.au/italian-burner.html

Good to know, do you have any experience with this particular burner?
I see it's unavailable at present, have you seen it anywhere else?

Hello all
Thanks for the replies most appreciated, and sorry for breaking the rules :cool:

Yes, I live in the uk, if you google' Authentic Portuguese Alembic Stills' mine is 20 liter traditional all copper, cant post picture of mine yet, only opened the box make sure it was ok, plus going to modify it a little to add a thumper , Number of years back I ran a stainless beer keg with a power controlling 4kw element with meter high packed column, producing high purity vodka, just too much of it really, gallons of it, I was a bit naive really, using turbos.
I don't want to do that again, I want to make proper spirits the proper way with a bit of patience :smile:

Going back to the burner , yes thinking about it

scythe wrote:That burner looks like quite a bit of overkill for a 20L pot.
So i reckon it might take about 3mins to heat up at full power, and then you could probably turn it down to its lowest setting and it will still empty that pot rather quickly.

Anybody have any recomendations to the wattage/power that would suite my boiler?
I did notice that the bottom of the boiler was not perfectly flat, little concave , so my reconing 1500 hot plat wont be no good, plus I got the propane shame not to use it, I do have a little concern with the thickness of the botttom of the boiler being at 1.1 mm thick, with flames constanly hitting the bottom of the boiler maybe causing damage some say hot spots
lots of questions, hope you dont mind

I have a NASA burner (AKA Turkey Burner) w/ High pressure regulator- about 150,000btu, heats 30ltrs to boiling in about 18 - 20 minutes, 9 kg bottle lasts for 3 runs ($22 to re-fill)

Wow crispy, thats a fast heat up from that burner, didnt know they would cook it up that fast, warp the copper bottom on my boilerit's only 1.1mm thick :smile:

Make shore that the burner you buy can be turned down a lot of those photographs cant
And to say I have 3 bottles of gas I may as well use it in my book is false economy when its gone how much to fill the bottles again

The copper will take the heat fine.
Copper being the excellent conductor it is will transfer the heat evenly.
The slight concave will actually help the flame heat up the pot.

Aussiedownunder01 wrote:And to say I have 3 bottles of gas I may as well use it in my book is false economy when its gone how much to fill the bottles again

This sounding like you are saying go electric ? hot plate or element?

15kg Gas bottles over here cost 28-30 uk

Element all the way
With gas a small leak and BANG

Crispy wrote:I have a NASA burner (AKA Turkey Burner) w/ High pressure regulator- about 150,000btu, heats 30ltrs to boiling in about 18 - 20 minutes, 9 kg bottle lasts for 3 runs ($22 to re-fill)

thats a beaut Crispy..... where did you get it?

See if I can squeeze bit more out of this one

Recommendations gas or electric?

Aussiedownunder01 wrote:Element all the way
With gas a small leak and BANG

I know this is a tired old question, but Ausiedownunder got a point there, I dont want to go cutting holes in my nice copper boiler but I will if I need to, element will need to be stuck vertically up through the bottom, so Really I would also need to fit some sort of safty device to tell me how much fluid left in my boiler so as not to leave the element exposed

Bet this is all old news to you lot on here :smile:

Hey Redux....

got the burner about 10 years ago...cant remember exactly where though....either Gaganis brothers wholesalers or some import/homeware/camping store in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide...paid about $50 for it.

just did a quick search and found these....a lot more expensive now though....

http://urbangriller.com.au/shop/other/crab-boiler/

Not sure if I am breaking the rules again here, I settled on gas, electric bills are High enough as my wife pointed out to me, so I went for this one, for the controlability http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/F ... _Ring.html

Sorry if I am in breach of the rules , not a link to any site selling stills, so thought it be ok

I cant seem to get my images out of photobucket on to my post? I haven't posted images on web forums for years, I maybe out of touch these days