Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey guys,
Been reading this site for a few days now and have learnt a heap.
I want to try a cornflake whisky or similar and have found out my still prob isn't the best for this type of alcohol. I have an old 25L reflux still.
I have been trying to work out how to make a pot still.
I might have a keg lined up.
Do people recommend elements or gas burner for heat?

I have stainless steel piping at work which I will try use.
Hopefully someone can tell me if I understand pot stills correctly. The vertical from the keg is straight tubing with no cooling. Do I need access into this section for addition of copper scrubbers (and would someone have a pic of what these are)?
Then 180* elbows and through a condenser.
Would stainless steel piping with a water jacket around do the job as the condenser? I have a feeling I might have some jacketed piping at work. Will have to check on Monday.
Does anyone use laboratory glass condensers? If so, how do you connect it to the stainless? I have a couple of these at work too.


From what I understand, a parrot is an open top barometric leg that holds the alcometer in to test strength? Is this just a luxury item and not needed to start with?

If there is anyone near Bunbury, I would love to pop round and check out your still.

Thanks guys.

You may find that you will need a comparatively high water flow for cooling if you managed to hook that glass condenser up to gas powered keg boiler.
Make a longer condenser out of stainless or copper

Yeah mate, you want a condenser which is a minimum of 700mm long to allow for effective cooling of your vapour.

that's my take on things anyway.

Cheers guys
I figured the glass one would be too hard to connect and use.

What about the stainless steel pipe with a water jacket?

Yep SS will work, but depending on the wall thickness may not be as effective as copper in the heat transfer

I cant see why it wouldn't work rob, stainless transferes heat quite well although parts for a copper leiberg and that size copper is easy to get/many examples here to copy. Someone here would have better knowledge of heat transfer comparisons between staino and copper than me. Im looking at making a copper pot for my T500 as its easy for me to do at home with soft solder, Is well documented here and well I'd rather not fab something at work and deal with the questions. (Either way you need some copper in the vapor path)

Copper has a better heat transfer than stainless i built my liebig out of stainless and its thirsty uses a lot of water to cool here is a pic i found when i was lookin at building one that makes it simple just make the lengths longer and you will have a great cooler

Forget the glass.

mate, head to the scrap metal yard. You will find 2" copper pipe without a worry and you'll be done and dusted for $40 bucks.

have a chat to five star distilling for the 2" furrel.

Take a look in the pot still section and build yourself one. It will only take a few hours and you have a much better rig.

I do have a build in there for one i built and I'd be happy to send you the dimensions.

FH

you want a condenser which is a minimum of 700mm long to allow for effective cooling of your vapour.

Geez well in that case I'll need to throw my three condensers out. Thanks for the accurate, detailed advice.



bt1

bt1 wrote:

you want a condenser which is a minimum of 700mm long to allow for effective cooling of your vapour.

Geez well in that case I'll need to throw my three condensers out. Thanks for the accurate, detailed advice.



bt1

Pot calling kettle?

Your post is just as helpful.

Most staino ones I have seen are shotgun style condensers so having more tubes you can get away with having it shorter. Not sure how well a staino Liebig would go as I haven't run one. Copper ones work fine, it's also not just the length but the angle, if it's closer to horizontal it will be more efficient as there will be more contact time before exiting.

If running gas some prefer an extra long condenser which helps get the output well away from the flame. I reckon crows one was 1.5m :think: but you could get away with a lot less, I reckon my old pot still was 1m. Also depends on pipe sizes used, I would either go 3/4 over 1/2 or 1 over 3/4 :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Also be aware if you buy copper from a scrap yard there is a possibility that the pipe has previously carried anything from shit to medical waste, up to you wether you are happy with how well you can clean it ;-)

Also a parrot is a handy tool to watch real time ABV but it is not a necessity, you can always take readings periodically through the run to see what is happening :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Is there a detailed pic of a copper condenser?
Is it just thin piping running through thicker piping (water jacket)?
I just assumed it would need to be a coil inside 2inch piping, but most pics I look at have thinner pipe so not sure it has cooled copper in.
Might seem like stupid questions to most, but just learning :)

I assume you are talking about a product condenser so yes a basic water jacket is what is known as a Liebig condenser :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The pic benpanda put earlier is about as detailed as your going to get

The pic of the liebig condesor i found on google i took a screen shot of it and then followed the link at the bottom

I have had a quick look at work and found a few condensers. Ill have another look in acouple days to see if I can find any more!

Not sure if this one is too small?
Its 350mm long, 1/2inch internal pipe, 1 1/2 inch external pipe


This one, not sure if its too big or not enough of a difference in pipe size.
About 750mm long, 1 1/2 inch internal pipe, 2 inch external pipe.


Cheers
Rob

That first short one might be worth a shot mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Not as a liebig it wont. If that was a shotgun though you'd be in business, it's SS as well so slightly less heat transfer.

Id be looking at the 750mm one mate.

Man its hard to decide what to do. I think a few more days trawling through the forum is in order before I make a decision.

I have stumbled across an old chiller at work that has some coper piping on it. Mainly 3" piping lengths of about 600 so might need to join a couple for height? A few lengths of 4 1/2 inch, but think that is way too big
Would 600mm be sufficient height for the column off the still?
I will have a look through for more condenser plans if I do end up going copper.

Thanks again guys. Appreciate the input

I don't mind the look of something like this. I found it in one of the still threads from Mac.
Looks simple enough to build, easy to run. I would just need power control for the element I guess?

My pot still is a 500mm 2.5" column and a 550mm 2.5" shotgun condenser, your lengths are plenty big enough to build something similar

Im goin to be making a small pot still head to go on my dads reflux boiler for xmas i was goin to keep it simple and make it like this but a lil taller (as he has a normal lid and not this big one)all out of copper it will be a easy build with standard bits of copper and bends that will push together and be soldered up