New still - how tall for column?

[pochine]

I have a 50lt ket for a new pot still and was wondering how tall should I biuld my column. I will be attacheing a leibig to it too. I plan to use X2 2400w elements to heat it.

[bt1]

There's no golden rule for how tall a pot should be and you'll see a whole range of designs that reflect that.

realistically it based around how much copper you have, what suits your setup i.e. what height it needs to be for your collecting parrot and cut glasses under.

Measure the table/bench etc you want to use as a working surface add: burner stand height, parrot height, approximate your leibig and you'll get a rough idea. That adjustable angled leibig now makes sense I guess.

I've seen a number of pots around the 750mm to top of the elbow... also had great success with these heights.

Disadvantage of a shorter pot say 300mm is the increased risk of puking, a longer pot giving you the gurgling sound in time to save it.
On the other hand one down side to extremely tall pots say 1m or more in winter they can suffer from the cold/wind chill if outside and create a lot more passive reflux increasing your run times. No biggy for a strip run but really frustrating when doing a spirit run.

So no hard and fast rules hear just a matter of pure convenience at the end of the day.

bt1

[Yummyrum]

What bt1 said. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I've o ly got about 200mm column and its fine fore me.I strip Rum which is one of th major puckers but I don't worry.Its only a stripping run and it all gets sorted in the spirit run .
Agree that cold air refluxing with tall columns is a problem but a bit of insulation should fix.

After making mine not adjustable , I curse setup time ....again like bt1 said , make your potstill wirh an adjustable angle if you can .Many use compression couplings for this but when I finally get around to modifying mine I will use 3/4" tri-clamps.....I think Macstill sells them.