Help with pot still design choices, please =)

[washington]

Hello, gents!
I'm sorry to have fallen off for a year or so. By way of re-introduction, I'm Wash, from Washington state usa. Some of you may recall seeing pics of my first build, a little 2" pot for a keg boiler. Well I had to scrap it an lay low for a while cause my loudmouth father in law got too chatty. Anyway I'm in a new place now with a well ventilated shed and I'd like to try again, only with more thought given to design.

I picked a few of the most interesting ones I've seen on this forum and others that I think I could actually build with my limited abilities - namely the Swan of McStill fame and a simple straight pot. Please see the attached sketch to get an idea of my thought process.

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Any and all commentary and suggestions would be heartily appreciated, but I do have a few questions in particular:

1) would it be advantageous to have two dedicated heads - a stripper (swan seems to be legendary at that) and a spirit (maybe straight pot best for simple whiskies with a traditional flavor profile?) - or would one of these be fine for both?

2) a lot of people seem to reduce to 1\2" for lyne arm and condenser. Would it be better/worse in any way to go slightly bigger, to 3/4", in terms of speed and quality?

3) would a good sized (500-600mm) Liebig be efficient enough for high volume stripping, or should I man up and try to build a shotty? I plan to solder a single helix of copper wire to the inner cylinder of the Liebig in order to encourage vortex flow and better thermal transfer.

Any who thank you all so much for your time and expertise!
Wash

[Zak Griffin]

Welcome back mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Go the shotty, I can strip at 10L/h with just a trickle of water through my 2" shotgun.

Also, when you build your bubbler, the PC is already done!

[bt1]

Hello wash,

Glad to here the "problem" has been sorted.
K so straight to it...

One of my most loved pot designs, still gets used every month for rums. Well suits a rum or a whisky and the bonus is single run which is not the norm for pot stills. here's a read.

http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1648&hilit=hybrid+pot

Some pointers;
No it's not suited to a Vodka style as it won't maintain abv's high enough for total runs = avg run high 80's/low 90's abv
Good washes are the key as it will pull a fair bit of flavour
It's a dead simple pot with a coil so build is quick, and simple.

To your questions.
This pot head ill do both and do well... ie no strip runs required.

If your want to strip then spirit run a leibig will do the job I'd opt for 3/4" inner tube but 1/2" that's longer around 1m will do but in strip runs will huff a little which can not be entirely resolved, but minimised. 3/4" offers improved output at high volume strip runs but for normal spirit runs adds no value and costs plenty. A shotty is a reasonable task to undertake and you may consider this worth while as it can be used on other designs if and when you choose to build.

Leibig length is dictated by ambient temps and cooling water input temps. I used to use 1.5m/4 feet but at your location 600mm/2 feet should be ok.... (peak summer @ your location is still mild???)
Adding what's called a turbo tip and trailing copper wire to a leibig is a great way to improve vapour contact area and it reduces/eliminates huffing on longer condensers. Increasing contact patch on 3/4" is a good more to avoid un chilled laminar flows possible in 3/4" and above... ie you can get both a good spirit temp as a liquid right @20c but still get some minor vapour loss as steam.

Turbo tip is a simple twisted copper insert, snug fit to inner tube to top of leibig to generate a swirl of vapour. Another bonus for a leibig to add slight random crimps to the section of the inner tube that's covered. It does 2 things, 1 assists with breaking up laminar flows of vapour and 2 the same for cooling water. I'd include both ideas for a top performer.

Well coffee's done, got any Q's please post

hope it helps
bt1

[washington]

Gents, thank you both for your replies. Bt1 that design does intrigue me... But I'm not too concerned about getting down to a single run. I am interested mainly in Armagnac style brandies (I live in wine country and work in that industry) and rich whiskeys, and would like to strip as little favor as possible, even if it means headaches haha!

I have the good fortune to have a top flight scrap yard nearby, and so I'm not overly concerned about copper costs, so if I can find the right stuff I will take a stab at a shotgun. Barring that, I will definitely use your Liebig mod recommendations.

So if I'm going to stick with a simple pot, which design would you think best given my spirit preferences?

Again, thanks very much!
W

[bt1]

I'm not too concerned about getting down to a single run.

Gee a single run on this beast would give more flavours than a strip, water down and spirit run imho.

Having said that, here what you say and your intent is clear..wd for being straight up and informed :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Choice = The goose neck/swan by a country mile....I won't ever forget the strip output rate when it was first built/designed by Mac... = killa

bt1

[washington]

I'm not too concerned about getting down to a single run.

Gee a single run on this beast would give more flavours than a strip, water down and spirit run imho

bt1

Hmm... Well now you've got me extra intrigued! If I can get a whole mess of copper, I'll make all three and play around til I've got a favorite. Then I'll give the ones I don't want to keep to a friend to get them started.

Thanks so much!
W