Beer Stripper

[stillwagon]

I need to build a 500 gallon beer stripper. I need to keep the cost down. I want the kettle to be stainless and the column can either be stainless or copper. The spirit run will be through my existing still. So what I am looking for is some creative ideas.

[crow]

Ok first thing all raises my eyebrows is 500 gal boiler . Are you a commercial distiller as that is a huge volume, just under 1900 litres ( same as running 18 stnd beer kegs at a time)

[Dominator]

Being that most of the members on this forum are home hobby distillers and only a few craft distillers on here you may struggle to find anyone with any experience in a still of that size. But I digress, personally I think for a wash of that volume you would be better off with continuous still. There is a small amount of information on this forum but if you do some some googling and watch some videos on you tube and you will get the idea.

[r.c.barstud]

500 gals :scared-eek: :o holy schmoly!!! mate i think thats gonna be a custom made number for sure, most of us on here a used to small volumes, i would look around for a distillery that has shut up shop, i know a distillery at kingaroy closed down, but i have no idea if or where the equipment is.

[Dominator]

If you have a look at stillwagon's profile there is a link to his website for his distillery in Oregon USA.

[kiwikeg]

Hi Stillwagon, I had a look at your website, nice idea with the barrels.
Anyway for a stripper how about a submarine still? Built with foodsafe materials of course. Easy to fabricate and will look the part if you start doing distillery tour groups once your business is up and running.

[stillwagon]

I am not familiar with a submarine still. I have a friend that converted a used dairy tank into his beer stripper. But I haven't had much luck finding one reasonably priced and local enough to avoid outrageous shipping costs. So, I figure I will have to build it. I am just looking for good ideas, or something creative I may have not thought of yet.

[crow]

Ok well in that case you may be able to keep costs down by looking at ex dairy vats or wine tanks. I would think the vats would be better though as you might struggle to find a tank that is short enough at that copacity

[kiwikeg]

stillTypes5.jpg

Submarine still, traditional shine still made from iron sheets wrapped around wooden Sides,
Most people will recognize it from TVs Moonshiners.
If you used foodsafe materials.... Then I think one would be a showpeice.
I am.not suggesting using iron in it at all

[stillwagon]

The submarine still would be quite a "period" looking piece. I would imagine high maintenance in the long run though.

Someone mentioned a continuous operation for stripping. What do you think of that?

I actually built one a couple of years ago with a pellet stove, a couple of stainless steel heat exchangers, and a 2" column. I completely forgot about that. It put out a continuous stream of 75% from a 15% wash. The problem I had was too much build up on the heat exchangers. But maybe a more gradual heat up would prevent scorching... It was originally designed for fuel production so taste was not a consideration at the time.

[crow]

submarine stills would be a cheap option and I heard they made a really nice flavoured whiskey. I haven't ever seen the moonshiners show but the ones I've heard about are copper sheet wrapped around oak walls. From a marketing point of view I think they could work really well :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Edit There is a movie called "Lawless" about a bootleging operation during the pohabition yrs that shows some really nice examples of these. I have personally been thinking of different ways to use a wooden or semi wooden boiller for a few yrs myself expressly to replicate a Naval rum ;-)

[halfbaked]

stillwagon believe it or not ebay is full of what you are looking from. I know a guy in WV that has stuff like that also. Have you found what you are looking for?

[stillwagon]

Not yet. But thank you for the referral, I will look into it.

I am thinking about the continuous still for stripping. I could pump straight from my 500 gallon fermenter to a small boiler that would send the vapor to a column that gives me the product at a steady abv and volume, and the spent wash leaves the bottom of the column. It would be a matter of controlling feed and vapor temp. I think something along these lines would be more efficient for stripping and far less costly to build.

[kiwikeg]

Alexander polianski (spelling? ) from ferromit.com sell a contunous stripper. I havnt seen it myself or used one but he built one of my fractional stills and its a solid well made industrial foodgrade beast that performed exactly as promised if that counts. Alex exports to the world.
http://www.ferromit.com/continuous%20still.html

[kiwikeg]

Better example of submarine but without the oak sides very interesting condenser 3:01 of way through video. I have never seen one like that usually the subs have a worm condenser.

[Kimbo]

Holy crap thats a lot of mash! :angry-banghead:

[hillzabilly]

Check out Copper moonshine Stills 110 gal continues still