StillSmart

hi all iv got to say it's nice to see a forum with like minded people
spirit lovers

iv just got a few questons as im just about to embark on building my own still

iv used a smartstill witch took for ever for only 1ltr of spirit.

ok i want to boil atlest 25 ltrs of wash at a time so for a 20 to 30 ltr boiler what size colum would i need .iv got a plumbing supplys that i can get copper pipe from 15 to 110mm dia and i was thinking of using a 54mm colum but wasnt to sure if that would be ok .
plus i was thinking of a 11inch heater not sure of the wattage for the heating element .
jtm plumbing is a good place for pipe and fittings .

im thinking of using the following

54mm pipe for colum it will be 1.4mtrs long
10mm piope for the coil
either a stockpot or a beer keg for boiler
an 11 inch heating element from a house boiler (new of corse)
if i can get good quality refulx packing or ceramic beads for packing

if iv missed anything please let me now .m

Welcome to the forum.

The proportions of your still are fine, 10mm pipe will be hard to form a coil small enough that will fit in a 54mm column - 8mm would be an easier and still an acceptable size to use.

If you are going to make a LM column then at some stage you will need to source a suitable (needle) valve, if you intend to make a VM then you will need to add a large brass or stainless (gate) valve and suitable connectors to your shopping list.

One step at a time.

Building a still is a serious undertaking and what to build depends, to a large extent, on what kind of spirits you want to make, the space you have available and personal preference of still type, if any, e.g. VM, LM, CM or some combination of these.

You said; "iv used a smartstill witch took for ever for only 1ltr of spirit." which leads me to think that you may need to consider getting a lot more experience before trying to take on a big build.

The Airstill is a great learning still. With the Airstill your mistakes, and there will be lots in the beginning, will all be little ones and easily corrected.

With this dependable little still you can make loads of good quality spirits by learning the details of distilling and operating a still safely. Believe me, taking on a big still is a doddle if you've learned all the lessons on an Airstill - I know because that's where I learned.

Having said all that you will find all the help you need if you read through the posts in this section then ask any questions that you can't find answers and pictures for. They're a helpful lot here - aren't you lads?

The basic Pot Still is probably the 'easiest' to build ...easiest!

Stainless Steel beer kegs are great as a boiler and they come in 30Lt and 50Lt sizes which make them ideal. 54mm Copper or 2" SS pipe are very suitable but you'll need SS Ferrules and Tri-Clamps to join the column to the keg-boiler and to connect other elements to the column.

An 11" element, without a thermostat, is fine and I run a 3Kw in my 50Lt keg. You'll need a power controller to regulate the power to the element at different stages.

Also, in running a large still a distiller's parrot is almost a necessity.

Anyway, If you have specific questions, chuck 'em up here and we'll do our best for you. We all had to start somewhere.

AM

hi many thanks for the info i can change to 8mm pipe no probs .

i would just like to say im in no way ready to start building this as im thinking long term investment and learning all the way iv been lerking on here for a while and since i found someware i can get parts from i thought id throw a few questions plus one of my new customers has an old keg in there garden witch they said i could have so i thought id look into it a bit more.

i was going to build a boka column with a pin valve

http://wiki.homedistiller.org/File:Samo ... iagram.jpg

not sure witch of the too is the best but im happy enough to build this for now .

too keep running cots down im going to have a bin part filled with water and have it run off a pump i was wondering if i would need 2 heaters for the boiler just to get it going and once up to temp just have the one running .

the airstill was very good just im a busy guy with running my own buissness at mo and id like top get this done in one go rather than have a wash sitting around .i under stand it will take atleast 5hrs to do at a time but it's something i can do at night .and i'd be doing it in my garage .m

As long as the beer keg is Stainless Steel it'll be fine. There are a lot of Aluminium ones knocking about and they're pure useless.

Planning your build ahead is great idea. It took me several months to get all the parts together to build my Pot Still and VM Column because I had to learn how to solder copper then how to silver solder Stainless Steel.

I run 40Lt batches in my keg pot still and the run takes approx 8 hours unless I'm in stripping mode which takes about 6 hours.

I'm not an electrician but I think you might have a problem running two electric elements on the same circuit.

Other than that I probably won't be a lot of use to you as I never tried building a Bokakob because I preferred the VM and I know nothing about needle valves - never even seen one

AM

im going to take time on this one and im thinking of turning a pressure cooker iv got and never used into a small still first just to see if i can get a bit of experiance first i know i wanted bigger for ease of use but i think the experiance would be better in the end.

.m

Hi chubby, this is the design I'm looking to copy...

As a design:

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3 ... f=3&t=2912

As a real still:

http://forum.moderndistiller.com/viewto ... f=43&t=447

What I do with the airstill is run it at 175w. (Power controller.) This lets me run it on a timer. (5hrs 15 min.) So far, not one spirit drinker has refused 1st run product. ok maybe not the best spirit but when burned there is very very little 'yellow beard'.

ime, perfectly acceptable for a few months while the bigger still gets built and then I get to drinking only hearts.

wow how simpl is that still
very intrsting to se

im been and down some work in the garden and got the beer keg but i can see two problems with it all ready
1 i belive it's ali not steel
it all ready has to holes in the wrong place .

hi all i got to making me a small still at the weekend i copyed the design so for the column so i take no credit for it apart from the building .lol



there is a couple of things id sort out before id call it a proper still
the seal for the pressure cooker is not the best and i couldn't find anything to seal the column to the lid so flour paste kit is for now .

i did a few runs of wine that didn't turn out so good like pea podwine
not sure what abv the wine started off at but my first run it pulled out at 50% and the last two was 65 to 70%

i over did it with the four shot
as i took the first 100ml off the top and only kept the nxt 400ml for drinking .
#
the head and tails that does smell the best is going for fuel.

in the end i was happy with the results as it was with some old wine and the whole process takes about 2hrs give or take 30 minutes.

i used the coil condenser the first run and coil and column condenser the last two a lot easyer to control.m