Yet Another 4” Pot Still Build
Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:08 am
I have been reading and thinking about home distilling for the last year. In the last two months I have been collecting copper and components to build a pot still. I still need to purchase heating elements and a voltage controller. However I am close to assemble.
I have I used standard 4” plumbing fittings. Using a stainless flanges and tri clover clamps. I have designed the major components to be replaceable. Also I wanted something that I could break down and store easily.
The Lyne arm has a 45 degree copper elbow fitting on one end and a 90 degree copper elbow fitting on the other. This allows me two have horizontal common Lyne arm and a inclined lighter Lyne arm. By rotating the Lyne arm 180.
The one issue with having an adjustable Lyne arm is that the height / position of the Lyne arm changes. I will need to make some kind of means to hold up the still and to stop it from possible toppling.
The shotgun condenser is 4” as well and while it is over kill I like the look and I had the 4” copper tube. It will feature 9 half inch barrels.
I am using a 58 litre keg fermenter with a 4” flang this will make installing the heating elements a breeze as well as cleaning. I plan to be doing 45 litre all grain batches as I have a beer background.
For heating I will be using two 2500v low density stainless elements as I can run them on domestic 10 amp circuits.
Question - how low should I locate the heating elements. Each element is 32mm diameter. I am thinking to put one at 75mm from the bottom and the second 150mm from the bottom. With each element perpendicular to the other. Does that sound good?
I have a pro distiller friends who will tig weld the still for me and I have an electrical engineer who will do the wiring for the elements and controller.
Question - I have read that a pot still cannot be controlled by temperature but rather by the flow of the stream. If so is their any value if having thermowells installed into the boiler and Lyne arm / condenser? I have two copper thermowells to suit a digital thermometer that I can install into the the column and into the condenser.
I plan to purchase 12 500ml mason jars this will be more then capable of holding any product from a run for doing my cuts.
Here is a photo I will update as I make progress
I have I used standard 4” plumbing fittings. Using a stainless flanges and tri clover clamps. I have designed the major components to be replaceable. Also I wanted something that I could break down and store easily.
The Lyne arm has a 45 degree copper elbow fitting on one end and a 90 degree copper elbow fitting on the other. This allows me two have horizontal common Lyne arm and a inclined lighter Lyne arm. By rotating the Lyne arm 180.
The one issue with having an adjustable Lyne arm is that the height / position of the Lyne arm changes. I will need to make some kind of means to hold up the still and to stop it from possible toppling.
The shotgun condenser is 4” as well and while it is over kill I like the look and I had the 4” copper tube. It will feature 9 half inch barrels.
I am using a 58 litre keg fermenter with a 4” flang this will make installing the heating elements a breeze as well as cleaning. I plan to be doing 45 litre all grain batches as I have a beer background.
For heating I will be using two 2500v low density stainless elements as I can run them on domestic 10 amp circuits.
Question - how low should I locate the heating elements. Each element is 32mm diameter. I am thinking to put one at 75mm from the bottom and the second 150mm from the bottom. With each element perpendicular to the other. Does that sound good?
I have a pro distiller friends who will tig weld the still for me and I have an electrical engineer who will do the wiring for the elements and controller.
Question - I have read that a pot still cannot be controlled by temperature but rather by the flow of the stream. If so is their any value if having thermowells installed into the boiler and Lyne arm / condenser? I have two copper thermowells to suit a digital thermometer that I can install into the the column and into the condenser.
I plan to purchase 12 500ml mason jars this will be more then capable of holding any product from a run for doing my cuts.
Here is a photo I will update as I make progress