newbie, first build. hold onto your hats.

by **imhazza** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:53 pm

Hey, new to this awesome world of brewing/distilling and after a short amount of time(week) cannot contain myself from building a still. After plenty of looking around I have decided to go with a 2" POT still, lending very similar design to Macs http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3321 . Being a bourbon boy I think this will be a great place to start.

Plan is to use a 50L CUB Keg I have acquired as the boiler and at this stage I will use gas as my heat source. I am in the process of acquiring the copper fittings but have a few questions regading the size of the condenser. In your humble experiences what would be the best diameters for the liebig. I am thinking 20mm for distiallate pipe and 40mm for water jacket. Also many people have mentioned packing the column of similar stills and running a basic sugar/yeast mix and getting half decent neutrals, wondering if this is also possible?

Cheers and please excuse my ignorance.

by **MacStill** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 11:50 pm

g'day :greetings-waveyellow:

by **Dominator** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:45 am

G'day mate and welcome to the forum.

For your Liebig, 25mm over 20mm, or 1" over 3/4" in the ild money, will be fine. A bigger water jacket will not make it any more efficient. Mine is 20/25 and it can knock down 4800W, which is more than enough for a 2" pot still.

You will not get a 'neutral' from a pot still, but like you said, if you double distill you can get a decent vodka. Putting some scrubbers in your column will help clean the spirit and may result in a bit less flavor. If your going for a vodka/neutral wash, you can go past the TPW (tomato paste wash).

by **imhazza** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:03 am

Cheers for the clarification. Heading out to pick up some fittings and my boiler now. Fun times ahead!