StillSmart

hi goinbroke2, thanks very much for the info and pics, i love the simplicity of your design and if its ok i have some questions. 1.do you put anything in the 2\" or 1\" pipe to cause reflux? 2.in the 2nd pic is that a spirit hydrometer in the pipe? 3.where do you measure temperature and how 4.what running temperature do you maintain? thanks and sorry if these seem like daft questions but i am fairly new to distilling and am only using a 4lt potstill at the moment and want to learn how to make something better.
cheers, hoppin

1)In the 2\" pipe that connects to the keg? No it\'s just an empty pipe.

2)Yes spirit hydrometer showing around 75% but i got a crappy camera apparently.

3)The output is always cold as tap water and I\'ve never gotten around to see what that is. Cold to the touch. Not exactly scientific and to use proofing charts I would have to find the exact temp for a baseline, but all I\'m using it for is to see what the abv is so I can mark the jars. Then after many runs of doing this I\'ll have an idea when the cuts are coming just by abv. One thing to think about is that the temp is pretty constant so no matter if it was always 50deg or 33deg or 75deg, as long as it was consistent from run to run I don\'t care. Perhaps the 75% it was showing is actually 79%...who cares, next run will show the same abv because the temp will be the same.

4)Tap water cold..haha
I never used to use a parrot, just check throughout the run in a measuring bottle. Same thing though, the temp was always cold off the line. (I always promote cold spirit, never have steam/fire issues that way) If your spirit isn\'t as cold as the water going in, build a bigger condensor, it can\'t be too cold, but it can be too hot and cause safety issues.
If you want to know the EXACT ABV reading then yes you should ensure the spirit is at 20deg C as that is the standard. Personally, if after cutting I\'m drinking 38-42%...nobody will notice.

goinbroke2

great post and pictures,I really could do with a bigger set up,as the 4 litre pot still takes to long by the time ive done six stripping runs from a 25 litre wash plus two seperate spirit runs I am looking at somewhere in the region 24 hours stilling to end up with around 6.5 litres once its been cut back.

Hoppinmad

If your in the UK you have another problem with Goingbroke\'s system. It ain\'t exactly discreet and Her Majesties Costumes and Exercise people might want a closer look. Roll on a change in UK law.
Opus

Depends where you are, I have friends in..something upon the stream of the brook field..shire..fries..or something like that! LOL! They have a cardboard box making company and from the pictures they are in the countryside on however many acres. The manufacturing building (looks like a barn) could easily hide my system. (as it does his) hehe Unfortunately he never comes on the internet. His wife takes care of the books and the marketing etc and she\'s the only one on the net.
If your in an apartment though? Yeah 100+ liters fermenting might make mama mad.

What about some of the others on here though? I\'ve seen a nice stainless set up and others that probably take up as much room as mine.
Keep discrete, don\'t tell and for crying out loud NEVER SELL! THAT is how you get caught!
just cause a set up is physically big doesn\'t mean you have to run it on your front lawn, hahaha

Thanks goinbroke2 but I meant the temp of your boiler as I\'ve read that cooking it over 92c causes off flavour? As for the rest thanks, looks very doable. I\'m assuming the cracked corn is maize or what we call sweetcorn as our names for things differ. Do you invert the corn any or is it as I\'m guessing for flavour as you have sugar in your recipe?

Hi opus, unless your in NZ distilling for consumption is illegal pretty much everywhere however EU law does permit the individual to distill up to (I believe) 2500lts per year of ethanol as biofuel without tax or license, I will check my facts when I have time and confirm. Besisdes I have a large workshop to hide in hehe

Ahh! It\'s a potstill so there is no thermometer or temp to follow. You drive by the seat of your pants as it were. I crank the heat wide open and listen...oh crap, I forgot to tell you about the boiling chips...I have a dozen pieces of 1/2\" copper tube about 1-2\" long and pinched at one end as boiling chips. I crank the heat on and after about 20 minutes I start running my hand from the worm bucket slowly up the tube to the lyne arm and on to the head. As the temp starts coming up it will be ice cold at the worm bucket and warm up the pipe to the layne arm which is warmer then the head is hot. You can really feel the transition of the heat or follow the heat as it travels slowly down the tube. After about 30 minutes the boiling chips will start to rattle a bit. After about 45 minutes the chips are rattling quite hard and the arm is hot all the way to the bucket. Basically down to where the tube enters the water. At that time (about 50-55minutes) I know forshots will be real soon and I turn the heat down to about 3/4 or 1/2. With the keg just simmering, at about the 1hr mark (more or less) I get the first drips of foreshot. If it just dribbles out i turn up the heat a little. If it spurts out and runs like a tap turned on I turn the heat down more.
The exact time and heat required varies based on temp/humidity/barometer of the day as well as ABV of the wash. In average though it takes about 1hr from lighting the burner to first drips of foreshot. (50min-65minutes) I run not quite wide open for stripping and around 1/2 for a spirit run. Note too that as the alcohol is taken out of the wash and the ABV left in the keg lowers, you might have to turn the heat up a smidgen. When I\'m into definate tails I normally turn the heat up like a stripping run as I\'m not concerned about the heads, they\'re already removed and the rest is going in the feigns jar anyway.
Yes cracked corn is exactly that, maise or regular eating corn that has been cracked into 3-6 parts per piece. It is used for taste and for nutrients for the yeast. No doubt some conversion takes place but it would be miniscule. The alcohol comes from the sugar, the flavour from the corn.(maise)
Oh yeah, as far as fuel goes, the UK wants their tax money for any and all made. My buddy cleans waste veggie oil to run in his diesels and he has to pay so many pence per litre on that! Guaranteed they will want money for any fuel you make....

Goinbroke2, thanks for all the help,pics and advice I really appreciate it and I\'m sure others on here will too. I guess you would call me a rookie at distilling but I\'m gonna have a go at building something similar to yours later this year. Ill post some pics and thoughts/experiences when I\'ve got it all working,
Cheers, hoppin