Moran's pot still

[Moran]

hey guys,
Well I've finished building my first still, parrot and making a boiler (retiring the airstill) :happy-partydance: . Its a 2" pot still with a graham condenser. I liked the design of a graham condenser and thought I'd give it a go (hoping it would work out). I've been extremely lucky having a plumbing mate who supplied all the copper for the job from offcuts he had and so I partially designed it to fit the offcuts, and he also lent me his oxy and other tools. Enjoyed the build and it was reasonably easy, so I look forward to learning the art of distilling for a while on a pot still and then look at upgrading later all going well.
Put it on a keg and using 2 x 2400W FSD elements. Did my cleaning runs and then my first stripping run today of MacRum. This stuff smells good (especially when I'm coming from a turbo yeast background) :D
With both elements running I got 7lt/hr, which I think is pretty good and didn't need much water running through the condenser. However once I got close to 30-35% abv the spirit came out with a slight cloudy tinge, not much but noticeable, so I then shut it down. Any thoughts on this?

Early days but overall I'm happy with how it worked on the stripping run (although I ain't got much experience to go off) and hopefully it continues.

Couldn't have done it without the information and knowledge on this site. Thanks to all :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Andy]

looks good mate. congratulations on the build!

the cloudy spirit could b tails, could also be from the water you used (unlikely), the boiler could have been over full and puking (i havnt had any experience with this so cant really comment, but im sure some rum lovers will chime in)

[Smbjk]

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft: looks good mate. Welcome and have fun

[Moran]

the cloudy spirit could b tails, could also be from the water you used (unlikely), the boiler could have been over full and puking

Thanks Andy, thinking on it more it could be puking. I had around 40L in the boiler which I thought would be enough head space, maybe not. Out of the run I collected 7L total and it was after 5L collected that the slight cloudiness began coming out.

[Dominator]

The cloudy stuff is tails, it happens to everyone when you get down near 30%. Don't stop if it is cloudy, I used to run down to 25-25% and it gets real cloudy by then. I am pretty sure the pugirum recipe recycles the 'rum oils' (cloudy stuff) as his opinion is that contains heaps of flavour. Puking on a rum wash will make your distillate yellow. 7L from a 40L strip sounds about right.

Your still looks great, I am sure you will have heaps of fun running it. :handgestures-thumbupleft: If you get a chance, have a look at mine and bt1's threads about hybrid pot stills in the pot still section. Adding a simple double helix or cold finger coil to a pot still removes the need to do strip runs on flavoured washes. Mine makes an awesome rum. :D

[Moran]

The cloudy stuff is tails, it happens to everyone when you get down near 30%. Don't stop if it is cloudy, I used to run down to 25-25% and it gets real cloudy by then

Okay thanks for that feedback, glad to hear its tails and next time I'll keep running down a little more.

I'll be sure to look at those hybrid pot still threads too

[Moran]

Seems my plumbing mate certainly keeps looking after me (almost too much and its starting to worry me :laughing-rolling: ). He dropped round and wondered if I wanted this.... :D :happy-partydance:
Been lying in his shed and thought I might be able to use it. Its a stainless hot water system, guessing around 150-200L volume.

My question is how many people have used one as a boiler before and your thoughts? It is quite tall so maybe not perfect dimesnions for a boiler due to the height and making it harder then to access the top/fill point....But I ain't complaining and it looks so damn good.
Maybe I could modify it in the future

[Kimbo]

Great score Moran,
you have a number of options there mate.
1. Lay the boiler on its side so its not so tall
2. use it as a fermenter
3. use it as an aging vessel ( would look pretty cool with a whiskey logo and a tap) ;-)

[Zak Griffin]

Aging vessel? No everyone has 100+L of grog to age!

I'd probably cut it down to about 100L and use it as a boiler...

[MacStill]

Would make a great carbon filter :teasing-tease:

[Kimbo]

Aging vessel? No everyone has 100+L of grog to age!

I'd probably cut it down to about 100L and use it as a boiler...

Ya don't have ta fill it 8-}

[NotBenStiller]

Super extra awesome score there :scared-eek:

I'd agree with Kimbo on point 1 or 2, and Zak on point 3
(but i wouldn't cut it down to 100L or anything - leave it at the volume you got it)

But what ever the case - that's sucker's gonna be used lying down sideways to be managable

[Linny]

put a tap on it , and use it as a conical fermenter

[Canadoz]

Would make a great carbon filter :teasing-tease:

:laughing-rolling: oh Mac.

[Smbjk]

Seems my plumbing mate certainly keeps looking after me (almost too much and its starting to worry me :laughing-rolling: ). He dropped round and wondered if I wanted this.... :D :happy-partydance:
Been lying in his shed and thought I might be able to use it. Its a stainless hot water system, guessing around 150-200L volume.

My question is how many people have used one as a boiler before and your thoughts? It is quite tall so maybe not perfect dimesnions for a boiler due to the height and making it harder then to access the top/fill point....But I ain't complaining and it looks so damn good.
Maybe I could modify it in the future

Might make a good shotty :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[kiwikeg]

Ageing vessel!!!!

[Moran]

Great score Moran,
you have a number of options there mate.
1. Lay the boiler on its side so its not so tall
2. use it as a fermenter
3. use it as an aging vessel ( would look pretty cool with a whiskey logo and a tap) ;-)

Some good suggestions thanks Kimbo. Hadn't thought of an aging vessel and reckon I might use it for that for a while. I just finished my first boiler build (keg) so whilst i'd like it, I'm telling myself that I really don't need a bigger boiler yet as I'm only starting out. I'll keep it intact and then I can easily change my mind later anyways. I'll set myself the dream goal of filling just half of the SS tank for aging. :smile:

Would make a great carbon filter :teasing-tease:

:laughing-rolling:

Might make a good shotty :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

:laughing-rolling: