Newbie Questions.

[GinMan3000]

Hi There,
Just looking to get into distilling, eventually hoping to make my own Gin.

Are these Alembic copper stills sold on ebay suitable for this purpose? Or are they just toys?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Copper-Flip-T ... 1064571%26

If they arent any good which is the cheapest type of still suitable for making a decent gin?

Cheers

Ginman3000

[Myles]

Well they are not toys, but they might not be what you want either.

Those are available from the manufacturers directly in a range of styles and sizes. Here is one manufacturer for you to look at, even if just for information and nice pictures.

http://www.copper-alembic.com/ns/

Going back to those ones, the seller is listing a 5 litre or a 10 litre. Lets be generous and assume they are named for a boiler charge and not a capacity. For example the 10 litre takes a 10 litre charge in the boiler and should have a volume of about 12 or 13 litres.

Typically you would charge the boiler with neutral grain alcohol - probably produced on another still - at about 30% ABV. You should expect to get about 3 litres of 65% to 70% (approx) product for each 10 litres you started with. This would then need to be diluted to drinking strength.

So you either need to do multiple runs with the alembic first to produce the clean grain alcohol that your gin needs as its base, or you produce that on a different still entirely. Then you need to look at the volume of product produced. If both of these are OK for you then an alembic is a possible solution.

But I would look at other suppliers (for comparison) before you place an order.

[Capt-Cudellez]

I make small batch gin on a regular basis, normally looking to end up with a gallon (a demijohn full) of just above drinking strength gin. For this I'll charge the still with just shy of about 10L of 27% neutral spirit.

But as Myles has already suggested, I use a different still to product the neutral. It would be a ton of work to produce bulk neutral from such a small pot still, and would need multiple runs to clean it up. A column still is normally the tool of choice for this task, and I really like the "Vapour Management" style (VM), but any of the proven designs should work for this purpose.

Some folks do make neutral using small stills like the airstill, but that is far too much work for a lazy distiller like me.

I know you're just starting, and already folks are talking you into 2 stills. You can do this all with one boiler and 2 heads (a column and a pot head).

This is the still I use to make my gin, the 30L boiler is heated from beneath so there is no element to expose as the liquid boils off, so I would be able to run very small volumes of liquid if I needed to.

[chill]

I make gin in an AirStill and yes, it is a lot of work. Especially if you are aiming to make a gallon!

[Almanac]

Me, I don't like Gin but then I've never tasted the real thing, only the commercial rubbish

AM

[Myles]

I built a water sealed copper pot still with the intention of using it for gin.

This was intended to be used on a hotplate, total volume 22 litres, but I recently added in a vapour injector so I can use it in a steam / vapour injection mode like a thumper.

I didn't make the pot base, it came with 2 long iron handles that I removed, and is about 2mm thick throughout, I just added the top section.

The water seal is deeper and wider than usual, but I wish to put a botanical basket in the vapour path.

Jenevier is my intention, that's an old style gin that includes some malted grain in the grain bill. Hard botanical's in the boiler, citrus and herbs in the basket.