StillSmart

( Just to be clear, I have just moved the next 5 posts and started a new thread. 23/03/18

Robert.)

If I read that back to you you have identified 2 issues.
- the taste of your product
- speed to produce.

Possible solutions are. Cleaner fermentations, better cuts, copper pieces in the still, filtering and airing. All of these will improve the taste of the final product.

Faster doesn't make better.

I too produced some right old shite on an airstill before I learned how to work it properly. And there are people here I can thank for that.

IMO you don't need to spend any money on another still. You need some practice and some coaching. The instructions that came with your Airstill are only fit for lighting the fire.

We are a friendly bunch here and we will help.

I will try to be honest here.

That design of a reflux column with cross tubes through at high and low points is a very poor design. Cooling the bottom of a packed section is a bad idea and it disrupts the thermal gradient.
The entire principle is to establish a gradient with hot at the boiler end and cooler at the top end. Also the cross tube reflux condenser is the least effective of any of the reflux condenser designs.

An ideal reflux column has a height of 30 x diameter. For a 28 mm tube this is 840 mm. At this height your predicted MAXIMUM power input for that diameter tube is 400 watts. If you have a shorter column you have to use less power to maintain product quality.

It is going to be VERY slow as a reflux column - acceptable as a small pot still - if you remove all the packing and run the column empty.

In theory if you charge the boiler with good clean vodka or neutral that is diluted to 20%, then there will probably be enough volume for botanicals in that head tube. However as a tool for producing that base alcohol in the first place - well you can do a lot better.

Is this a new thread ?

Mash wrote:Is this a new thread ?

Was that aimed at me Mash?

I think we posted at the same time, as I was replying to VikingEyes regarding the Alan Manning Gin Still.

no no both of us - I wondered if Robert might move this bit, 'cos I can see it growing a bit more yet. I was thinking how to do it, when you posted so gave up 'cos it was all getting too complicated.

Robert needs something to do anyhow

Robert stretched his grey matter splitting that thread!

Robert.

Well done. I tried and failed.

Thanks for moving my post to the appropriate section.

I *wish* that i'd read your comments about the still design sooner, as I've just dropped £115 on one of AM's stills. I'll let you know how I get on, once y sugar wash has finished and I perform a strip run.

I'm only a home dabbler, never sell, never tell. I just begrudge paying £15-30 for a bottle of decent gin. It's gotta be better than the air still that i'm using right now. So long as i get the top temp before the condensation section to 80 degree, I should be OK, right?

*neverously*

Right????

I have the AM still and it makes good vodka through reflux. I haven't made gin yet.

Has anybody else actually had any experience with this still?

Marc.

don`t get me wrong. Have you seen the PDA1?

You CAN off course make any product on any still - it is just that some are better/faster than others.

All I was trying (perhaps not well) to say was that there are better options available.

10 years ago the recommended vodka still was 48" of 2" tube packed with stainless scrubbers. These days I would say to go for 36" of 3" tube packed with SPP.

Technology moves on - and that design is really behind modern standards. Will it work? Yes - but nowhere near as efficiently as some of the more recent designs.

Can you d better - ABSOLUTELY.

As a continuation.
GIN.
Make a clean base spirit first, Any way you like - but it should be a finished product. No heads and tails - they should already be removed.

On a gin flavour run there are no heads and tails cuts because your base spirit is pure clean hearts.

You do make a cut - but it is for botanical oils not heads.

Yes Myles, of course you can do ABSOLUTELY better or faster with a superior design or a more efficient still.

BUT CAN YOU DO IT FOR LESS THAN £115????

I make perfectly good vodka that all my friends cant distinguish the difference between it, and Smirnoff.

I'm by no means a connoisseur nor a master distiller. But I have a logical and scientific mind. If you have a vat, a tube, and a condenser, you can make vodka.

Regards, Marc.

Duffer26 wrote:BUT CAN YOU DO IT FOR LESS THAN £115????
Regards, Marc.

YES. How about a 54 mm stainless scrubber packed column with 48 inches of packing for less than £100?

1.5 m of 54 mm tube (JTM) £37.50
6 packets of Tesco spontex stainless scrubbers £10.20
1 straight 54 mm coupler (JTM) £4.60
10 m of 6 mm tube £15.20
1 54/22 mm reducer £5.76
1 needle valve 1/4" BSP FF £5.12
2 6 mm to 1/4" couplers £3.53
1 SD Brass 2" ferrule £10.00
1 2" clamp £7.00

All you need is a bit of solder, time and winding a coil condenser is not hard - even if I don`t do them any more.

Just cut 10 inches of tube off the 1.5 m length and rejoin it with the straight coupling after first inserting the cut down reducer as a liquid trap.



Drill through the straight adaptor above the reducer to fit a product output and the valve.

If you want to spend a little bit more just use a 54/54/15 T as the LM output port - it is a bit easier. You just insert the cut down reducer into the bottom of the T before inserting the lower bit of tube.





You don`t need to solder in the coil like I did, you can just drop it into the top open end of the copper tube.

Solder the ferrule onto the bottom - if you are using a keg boiler. Then pack the bottom section with the scrubbers. You can spend a bit more by adding joints in the column or having the head removable, but you don`t need to. A basic packed column can be very simple, cheap, and efficient.

Duffer26 wrote:
BUT CAN YOU DO IT FOR LESS THAN £115????

Regards, Marc.

I know I am biased. But I personally rank the AS higher, especially at that volume. I also like the fact I can leave it to get on. So is slower an issue?

Faster or slower, quality comes from practise.

Preowned easily less than £100.

Myles. Touche.

Mash, yes, the AS is proof that you can make good vodka or gin with almost any contraption.