Should You Buy A Pot Still Or Reflux Still & How Are They Different
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2019
- There are two main options facing a new chaser of the craft when it comes to distilling apparatus. Should you buy a pot still? Or should you buy a reflux still?
Two answer that question you need a little basic knowledge about how the two stills differ.
Then you need to ask yourself really important questions. What do you really want to make?
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#homemade #homedistilling #spirits
Just in case you didn’t realize I often include affiliate links in my videos and descriptions.
This will not change the price for you at all, But the seller will buy my a cup of coffee if you purchase from one of the links. Choice eh? - Навчання та стиль
Yeah Jesse keep that great knowledge coming! I have to say to anybody looking to get into distilling start off simple with a pot still so you build a good base for the future of your hobbie, as well as get or build something modular with sanitary fittings (tri-clamps, tri-clover clamps) as they make life so much easier. Cleaning and storing are easier and it allows your still to develop and grow with you as your interests or curiosities change and your skills as a distiller improve.
Dude, yes! Im a muppet, I actually planned on saying this in the video.
Conceptually its a much easier way to understand the process too!
Pinned as I think this may help others too.
I am setting up a beverage manufacturing plant in India. I have recently moved back to India from USA. I would really appreciate if you can help me setup factory and in the entire manufacturing process. I have heard about both options Pot Still and Reflux Still but not really sure which one to choose based on the investment size I want to make. I am setting up factory with $200,000 to $250,000 investment in India. Would appreciate if you can email me and we can discuss in details on call or chat. email is raviygupta@gmail.com. Thanks
@@RaviGupta-iz6uc I'd look at a channel called barley and hops as well... both are great information stations
@@brianmccabe1 I just discovered Still It and it moved to the top of my watch list. Now you showed me barley and hops so now I have to awesome channels move to the top of that list so thank you.
Great explanation Jesse. Good content as always. Keep em coming mate
George
George's videos on the Brewhaus and MIle Hi stills are essential and absolutely amazing!
Cheers George!
Do you have a video on distilling the same mash with both pot and collum still side by side? It would be interesting.
Great question,......to see how much flavor might be lost in the reflux still, right?
Probably all.@@danemmerich6775
One of the best, and easiest to understand, explanations of the differences of the stills I've ever watched. Very nice. Keep up the good work!
In my "moonshine days" I use glass marbles in the column. This worked just fine...I washed them for every new batch. I also set up the still to produce 100 drops per minute. This gave an alcohol percent of up to 95 %.
glass marbles are a good choice for getting more reflux. Often used in Lab Stills. The smaller the diameter the better you can pack the still and the more reflux surface you'll get.
The only Problem is that when you distill to 95% you're stripping everything, but that might not be bad if you're trying to do a high ABV stripping run and then run it again after it's been remixed into your wash
good way to ruin shine no flavor 95 hard to believe
Jesse, I love your explanation of the differences between pot & reflux still. Even better though is the way you explain how to make a decision about which to get first (I'm a gin lover). I've watched many of your videos in the last few weeks while trying to make up my mind about which way to go and have come to the same conclusion as you. I'm building a CCVM! Went out today & started getting all the materials together for a 2" CCVM set-up and am going to start making it on the weekend! Thanks for the inspiration, as seeing you learn new skills (braising & associated metal work) is exactly the journey I'm going to have. I'll also have the satisfaction at the end of being able to look at the still & say to myself 'I made that!'!!
been trying to get into distilling this is actually really helpful thank you.
Awesome mate, glad it can help. Its a crazy amount of info take the plunge right? Check out the 101 videos over on www.chasethecraft.com :)
Great video! Very clear explanation of the two still types. You have educated me. Thank you!
Pot still-thumper-condenser. This gives you great flavour and high proof. You can add to the thumper to improve/ add flavour. Works a treat
The frost still I built was a 2” boka, I can run it in reflux mode and get neutrals. Or leave the bottom portion empty and leave the valve fully open for pot still mode. I’ve found that I like running as a pot still more as I’m more of a whiskey maker than anything else. Great vid as always!
Awesome video) I agree with you) First you need to choose what you are going to do and then choose a type of a column)
The pot still alcohols were all the ones I want to make. Thanks for the information!
Nice! Enjoy!
Love your videos. I started distilling in January thanks to watching you and Moonshiners. I like rum and have had great results. I bought a China made pot still with a thumper. Thanks to your videos, I have impressed myself with the quality of the product. Thanks, Keep up the good work.
Would love some info on your rum. Such as recipie and so on...
Great vid. Between your technical knowledge and your babbling presentation (as well as your fun /endearing personality) you have helped me finally make a decision on which way to go.
Awsome thanks for making this vid i was on the fence with which way to start and now i know thanks again
Awesome! Cheers mate 🥃
Nice job showing the differences of stills. thanks Randy
Cheers mate
Very well presented, Jesse! Cheers, Mate!!
Coming from a chemistry background technically a reflux still is best for separating fractions (cuts) but it should be done by cut temperature (at the still head) not volume at the output. However this would give you some very small cuts depending on what volatiles are present in the mash.
So if your measuring still head temp and it’s constant that’s one cut. Once it starts to change temp your moving into the next cut.
For repeatability keeping track of the cut temperatures will give you the a much closer product again and again
I'm not officially a chemist. But between photography, cooking, herbalism and herbal based medicine research, research into wine, mead, beer and general alcohol, research in cannabinoids, research into the chemical compounds involved in veterinarian medicine, and many many other things chemistry related that piques my curiosity... yeah I may not have a degree but have likely researched chemistry, chemical interactions, chemical compounds and thermal dynamic changes thereof, etc more than probably half the chemistry majors out there. Lately, between animal husbandry, general health and wellness and an interest in alcohol production I've been readying 2-3 scientific or medical studies related to chemistry PER DAY.
So I can relate. I hadn't thought of separate cuts correlating to temperature constants. But I have concocted an "ultimate temperature control still" that I may have to make a couple prototypes and apply for patents. I'll give you a hint, oil jacket and stand alone heat chamber for temperature constants. I'm sure you can see it in your head now without me having to say more.
The reason I've sought to devise such a convoluted contraption is I feel temperature control is imperative. At 148.5F Methanol boils off, this is poison and you don't want ANY of it. So ideally one would get to 150 and hold till they get barely drips before proceeding to 175F where Ethanol boils of at 173.8 and told that for the run. Then after it drops down to barely drips kick it up to 180 for the isopropenol to come off which has a boil temp of 178 and some change. From a chemistry standpoint; sure you're going to lose some of the various flavinoid alcohols all the way from 100 degrees to 200 degrees because different chemical compounds, and most certainly alcohol molecules, all have different boiling points that will come off at different temperatures. Kind of like you said. But even though you may lose 100% of the subtle flavors thst come off at 150 or below and ALL the flavors that boil off at 180 or above, over all it's a safer product and should be a better product because you're not getting the flavors of the other alcohols.
Take everclear or most "pure grain alcohols" for example. They concern me. Because I've had 190 proof high quality moonshine, made by a sheriff deputy who learned from Sue (the boy named Sue) who learned from the legendary Popcorn Sutton. And you can't feel it in your mouth or taste it. That moonshine was so clean as smooth it felt and tasted like a cool drink of water in your mouth and didn't take sny effort to swallow, no grimace, no bad taste. Just water. Until you exhales and your entire esophagus and lungs FROZE and it was like "whooo, wow". Everclear and other "pure grain aclcohols" are all very warm, bitter and dry tasting and feeling and they burn your mouth the longer you have them in there. Like taking a swig of 91% isopropyl alcohol. Which leads me to believe that they separate off the Methanol (because they legally have to) run that puppy up to 185 or 190 and just collect everything that comes off.
The deputies white lightning wasn't the only white lightning I've ever had that was like that though. I've had 3 different 120+proof moonshine that were all so smooth and clear and weren't sweet like they were buffered with sugar. Which causes me to be even more highly suspicious of commercial alcohols that are dry, bitter and burning.
I so want to find a way to make a still where I could do a pot still on top, change it out with a refulx or a ccvm if I want so thst I only need 1 still for many products.
@@CrazyIvan865 it’s called fractional distillation and the items won’t distill out at their published temps because they are in a liquid compound. There are some distilleries out there that already use this method to distill specific esters into their products for desired flavors. There are formulas you can use to determine the temperature ranges you need to look for in compounds but generally low temps will increase and high temps will decrease depending on the percent by volume. Generally you would like at least 25 degrees between product boiling points to get the best product isolation.
Great content as usual Jesse, thanks.
Cheers
I have a 2" stainless column still from mile hi. Basically you can run it with or without a reflux chamber based on what you want to make. I have another column coming that has a reflux chamber and sight glass. The sight glass chamber comes with a screen gasket for infusion. This is the most versatile design in my opinion.
This was very helpful, thank you.
So what you're saying is, use one burner/chamber, and build a pot column and a reflux column to use depending on the type of booze.
If you want to make both and have the $$ to have both definitely. That's the reason I went with the CCVM build. It's gives both in a modular way.
Great info!!! I want to primarily make moonshine (flavored) and secondarily have the option to make bourbon and rum - make it simple for me...what should I get? I have a 10 gallon Clawhammer electric brewing kit. Thanks!
Than you it’s a pot still journey for me
my first still was ab stainless steel pressure cooker and some 10mm copper tube. Just used copper pipe fittings to fix the tube to the lid had it coming straight up about 250mm the bent it down put a straight fitting on, then made a coil, put the coil it into a 25L bucket. Used it for years.
Now I have an all stainless steel, I still use a pressure cooker BUT!!
I cut the pan in half and added a piece of tube so I can distill 4L welded a 50mm tube 500mm long open at the top with a 12mm compression fitting welded to the side of the tube 40mm from the top. used 12mm pipe for the vapors to run throw and made a condenser.
MY next still is going to be at least 5-6L with a 75mm column about 1000mm long and a PDM.
I'm luck I am a welder and I work with S/S BUT don't tell my Boss LoL
Definitly lucky to be a welder mate. Perfect skill set for this hobby!
If you're planning to make vodka, or any other neutral spirit, you would probably want both. A pot still to strip washes and a reflux still for the low wines spirit run. A modular CCVM accomplishes this.
Or, a plated column with a packed section on top. In which case you could do a one-and-done run. But, it's a much more expensive option.
Thanks. Great info
So glad you got a mic. Going back on your older videos really shows the increase in audio quality
i like to drink.. beer.. & i want to distill diesel.. but I'm getting the principles worked out.. many thanks to this fellow kiwi
Thanks for the great information.
You bet!
Great video👍 what size would you recommend? I’m guessing there is a fine line between being able to make bigger batches of things you have perfected for yourself, friends, and family while still being small enough to do experiments. I’m guessing it’s hard to do small amounts in a big still but I could be wrong. And is a plate still to much for a beginner? I’d rather buy something i can grow into instead of buying two stills. but if it would be to much to handle at first or if I wouldn’t learn some basic skills I’d rather start off very basic
awesome videos jesse it great seeing a fellow kiwi sharing his knowledge. huge thank you for that. got a quick question though. how do you personally filter your spirits ?
I'm a Gin fan so I'm a reflux user
I do have an alembic condenser for the Whisky and Rums but they take a lot more to age and mellow where the Gin is a lot more about the botanicals.
Enjoying the craft tho and your channel
Good info! Thank you
It may have been said. But I recommend a boiler suited to the size you want/need to distill. Then have 2 interchangeable heads. A reflux and column and a pot condenser.
Hay mate I have a reflux boka still and I also had a beer that went very bad I did put it through the still not expecting anything good to come from it but was very surprised by the flavors that made it through even though I held it at reflux longer. It was alot of very strong not very pleasant flavors but still had a few cuts of very interesting flavors. So I completely agree it depends on what you're wash is the flavors will always be there.
Great channel. What type of still for grappa making? Thank you.
Hey Jessie, love the videos. You and George over at Mile Hi are my go to sources for distilling.
I have a few questions.
First, if you had a pot still with a large enough column, could you put packing in it but not have a dephlegmator and still get some reflux action from the packing?
Second, if you have a true reflux column with a dephlegmator, could you just not use any packing and not run any water through the dephlegmator ( provided the dephlegmator and condenser use seperate water ways ) and run it as a pot still? I assume you would still get a little reflux action just from the vapor building up on the dephlegemater coil and falling back in, but is it enough to affect much?
Love the channel. What is your opinion on a thumper pot?
With your pot still do you ever find the need or want to have a doubler/thumper? Why or why not. Thanks so much, new to the channel and love it
Great video.
And awesome commentary.
But why choose?
These modern stainless stills are super convertible.
I’ll take both please.🤣👍💪🥃
Great video. Question. I have a Still Spirits T500 reflux and I’m thinking of getting the pot still condenser. Do I need to also buy the Alembic dome for that set to do that or can I simply swap my reflux with the pot still condenser and use the stainless flat dome? Idk why but their alembic dome is super expensive. Thanks for your advice. Love the channel. And, yes, you are totally right on the reflux. You get a higher abv but less flavor. I’ve done a lot of adding flavors so far and my friends think I’m a genius. 😂😂😂. Lemon Drops, Apple Pie etc. would really like to do a deep rum with a pot still. Adding flavors is great and it’s always handy to have a lot of neutral spirit to do that but it would be nice to experiment. My wife and I like dark rum. Thanks for the answer.
Kick ass channel and really good information Jessie. I have a boka still which i can convert to a pot still which I use for neutral spirit in reflux configuration and gin in pot still configuration. I am a whisky drinker an have bought a 4” x 4 plate bubble plate column from still dragon so i wondered what your thoughts were about what i should use the bubble plate configuration for?
I started out with a pot still and when I bought my digiboil I bought a reflux because I have a market for neutral stuff the I can flavor with essence but I still use my awesome little pot still for specialty runs for the good stuff I want to keep myself. I've learned so much about still balance and alcohol quality and even abv by smell taste and feel of what's coming off the pot still. All of my best whiskeys that are are going to be sipped have come off my little pot still that I heat and control by a little old KMart portable element. And I do have to thank George from Barley and Hops for the knowledge of heat control and balance as well as you Jesse for teaching me about the smells and flavours and changes I should look for in making cuts. ......
Nice mate. Keep chasing!
I am setting up a beverage manufacturing plant in India. I have recently moved back to India from USA. I would really appreciate if you can help me setup factory and in the entire manufacturing process. I have heard about both options Pot Still and Reflux Still but not really sure which one to choose based on the investment size I want to make. I am setting up factory with $200,000 to $250,000 investment in India. Would appreciate if you can email me and we can discuss in details on call or chat. email is raviygupta@gmail.com. Thanks
I built mine and just got lots of triclamp fittings and broke it into multiple components. Then it’s super easy to add/remove stuff and configure it however you want.
Yeah 100% agree on this !
The funny thing is when it’s in full reflux configuration and I have everything used, it looks like a frankenstill.
Awsome vidieo!! Im looking to make single malt whisky - never distilled before - what do you recommend!
Great video Jesse...
Unfortunately, I thinks I'm about to fall down the rabbit hole of a hybrid (or at least a month more research).
You taught me enough to make me dangerous! 😳
very interesting thank you
great video i have a reflex still which produced 160 proof approx 2 litres when cut with distilled water it turned cloudy any suggestions thanks in advance
Good info
Hey @Still It, Jesse. Quick question. I have a few less amazing beers in the size of 50 liters in total. I consider building a reflux still to get rid of much of the hop flavour. Will a reflux remove most of that flavour, and will it help to pour through active carbon afterwards? Thanks for all your help getting me into this hobby very soon. Gonna build a reflux w interchangeable column to also being able to make rum, bourbon and whiskey.
Looking forward to when you start you consulting services
Thank's ✌
any info on buying vs building? after adding together all the pieces and time involved in building, it seems equal to just buying a premade.
Great 👍 video….. I am passionate about Rum… so it’s pot still for me
Great video
great! I need one of each!
Hey that is so true. I think if you go hybrid you have what you need for whatever comes up. But if your doing gin make sure you have a basket or something. I’ve heard that gin can affect the taste of future spirits if inreflux line. Idk.
Yeah I could see that if you dont clean out inbetween properly. They are very distinctive flavours in gin. So a little bit of gin is going to change the flavour of a single malt a whole lot more than a little bit of corn whisky.
Thanks for that Jessie, what's the best still to make raki aniseed drink ?
Hi Stillers, what is a CCV still and how to build one at home?
Thanks for any positive feedback.
Brand new to distilling. purchased all the basics , that i googled/you tube ect for distillation . eg. testing equipment (hydrometers, alc meters, scales, refractometers ect), fermentation equipment (conical fermenters , bubblers,heaters), 50 liter electric reflux still, measuring equipment, mixers, juicers,. How/what is the ideal set up or lay out for a distill room (for prep,fermenting and finaly distilling). Sorry might be a stupid question but i have all this equipment and not a clue on how to lay out my distill room (dedicated room just for prep,ferment and distill)
I use a T-500 reflux still for making neutral spirits, but there is always some slight background flavor which I'd like out. You mentioned there are ways to remove more flavors when using a reflux still. It would be great to have a segment about methods how to do this.
Carbon filtering is key to neutral spirit and when I say that I mean granular carbon not the cannister rubbish
Hi, I have a question about which Still would be better suited for distilled Mead - so I have my own Honey supply and want to set up a Still to produce spirit, which is then aged in oak. Most of the reviews I’ve seen are based on fruit or grain based wash - as mead is neither I wondered which method would be best for me to invest in. I did wonder about the infusion basket in reflux still and adding a different dimension to the end product - but what’s your opinion ? thanks for the good info and delivery by the way “nice and real” if you know what I mean.
I’m looking at making some shine what would be the best for that eventually adding some flavor
Hi mate love your vids and commentary one question just put down a whiskey wash in my turbo 500 came to boil and it seemed to be draining out wash where spirits come out any ideas why THANKS
Great information good delivery as usual but my OCD is kicking in. So would you please put a board on front of the counter to finish it...
Reese Wawarosky I’ve thought the same thing for months!
Or even just turn it around because if you look at the other side it's completed
HAHAHAHAH wifey actually bought this thing for me second hand. While she was in the hospital with the twins. "I bought this thing for still it, can you go pick it up? Yeah it will totally fit in you little Honda Fit, you will see what it is when you get there". It did not fit!
In fact, something just came to mind with one of my mashes, I have a friend who had some excess horse feed that got wet and she was going to throw because it would just get moldy. To her shock, I asked her for it, probably thinking what the hell does he want this for, and made a few mashes out of it with amylase and from that is some of the best spirits I've got off my little pot still. Came in at only 10.5 -11% before being stilled but far better than being wasted and a really nice blend of character in the spirit.
This is how it should be, use every little bit for good. I hope you're the king of desinfection by now with all that alcohol made from horse food
I have a 15.5 gallon keg that I want to convert. I'm a plumber and have lots of scrap copper pipe. My question is should I build a 2 inch column, 2.5 or 4 in column? I've read to achieve reflux the height needs to be 12 to 24 times the pipe diameter. I also plan to use a 5 gallon keg as a thumper. With that in mind should the column be run packed with copper mesh? Also would there be any benefit to throwing in some 1/2 inch pieces of copper in the still to increase the mashes contact with copper and or possibly prevent scorching? I've read about some people using chains in the bottom. Thanks in advance. I plan to post some videos of my build.
Will you ever attempt running a thumper? Is that something you can frankenstein into your current still setup? LOVE YOUR CHANNEL
thumpers are unnecessary with a reflux still
or really any still for that matter
Only ever brewed beer and got the grainfather in that pursuit (not a straight-up endorsement of the grainfather btw, it has its pros and cons). you can get an alembic pot still attachment for the grainfather and other similar pieces of kit, so it would make sense for me to start with that first. of course, since I'm from the UK I'll only be using it to distill water ;) but if I _were_ to use it for distilling alcohol, a pot still would make more sense for me because I would be more interested in whisky than neutral spirits like vodka or the base spirit for gin.
Yep, that sounds like very sound thinking mate. I hear you on the grain father too. Its an amazing piece of kit if you want to do what its good at!
Jesse, I finally got my hands on a 50L keg. What is the valve you have in the bottom to drain it? I know I've seen it in a video, you talk about it being convenient, but I can't seem to find it.
you ever add a jar of tails to boost your pot still cooking . i made a bit of brandy and pot stilled it with the tails. turned out great with that . any thoughts on that, thank you
Hi all, looking to get into this to make my own scotch after watching this vid i see a pot still is the way to go. Are there any good facebook pages I can jump onto for tips & tricks?
Had a question about pot stills. I have a Grainfather and I noticed that there are 2 prevailing type for my set up. The. 1st is The "KegLand Alcoengine Pot Stil"
And the other is the Alembic pot still offered by the Grainfather.
Can you explain the difference between these two and why I would pick one over the other?
Thank you for the wealth of knowledge 😉..
If you use a shot gun style reflux you can have the best of both worlds. Key to any reflux is to control the temperature precisely before it enters the condenser. The hardest part of this is learned by trial and error. Another thing to remember is don't chase temperatures; give it time to catch up with the reaction.
Can definitely have a hybrid built with a depglag. Slight correction on the second part though. They key to any reflux controlled by water temp is controlling water temp & flow well (plenty of other ways to create and manage reflux though). Cheers mate 👍🥃
Hi Jesse, Can you or someone else explain how you use and set up the copper coil from 3:25? I made such a double reversed helix but idk how to use it tbh..
Johnny Walker + diet coke (diabetic) and vodka + oj or sugarless citrus cordial (depending on time of day and how much sugar I've already had for the day).
We prefer the reflux still for a few reasons. We started with the little ~3L pot still and it was ok but since we use dextrose as food, it came out SUPER sweet which I didn't really appreciate. The Turbo T500 is a PITA to manage temperatures etc but the benefit is more volume, more ABV in that volume and more flavour stripped out which is replaced by whatever spirit we want to make with essence bottles (no use making something from corn if you want to make vodka).
So preferring the reflux still, it does remove most if not all of the flavour which we want as it goes to all sorts of different drinks including baileys irish cream so is easier to work with flavour wise, gives 95% vs 65% from the bot still and gives 4.5 LITRES out instead of a pissy 300ml per wash making it go a LOT further. The effort in maintaining the temperature well pays off.
FWIW we've been using still spirits flavours amongst some others, my favourite is Johnny Jogger scotch (closest I've found to Johnny Walker) and still spirits clear vodka (mrs prefers peach or raspberry vodka).
Appreciate the info on the reflux still, I've often wondered the differences and how the reflux works.
Hi Jessi I would like to make some very top shelf Gin. Is there a good recipe for that? Where can you buy the Juniper berries to make the gin? I have a reflux ProSeries from MilehiDistilleries. where I can use the glass reflux below the upper condenser on top and also on the side condenser should be able to get a pretty good Gin just never have made any i can use a little help thanks Dennis
Hi. I don't know if you do Q&A. I have a 2 inch 850mm stainless steel spool on top of my boiler, it is filled all the way with copper mesh. Does this make it a pot still or a reflux still?
Question: running in a pot still mode and you wish to re-distill your end product (2nd distillation) do you add ONLY the first run product to the boiler or do you add that to a new mash? If you only re-distill the first run product, should you add anything to that in the boiler to bring the level of product in boiler up in any way? I have yet to do this due to lack of knowledge. Please advise.
I have read some of the comments and didn't see any mention of it. What would a thump keg be classed as? And what are your thoughts on them?
Ah Reflux is just like we added a Vigreux column in the lab, it purifies the vapors but it takes ages for vapor to rise and condensate. I was wondering and a bit confused because when we had something under reflux in the lab, it was boiling but all the vapor from the solvent were condensed back down. So keeping something in reflux ment just that it was boiling permanently without adding new solvent.
Hi, what is the name of the still you were holding at the beginning of the video?
And where that equipment can be purchase?
Hi Jesse, very helpful vid mate.. im still at a loss as to what way to go unfortunately, wife likes Gin and i'm a whiskey guy.. maybe i need a unit that does both? (or can have both attachments like the T500?) thoughts?
I've come to ask the same question, seeing as you asked a year ago, have you found the answer?
What is the best still setup for making a single malt scotch?
This is awesome
If you had mead and wanted to still it, what still would you choose?
I have to correct you that you can run a reflux as a normal pot still without the water running through the reflux condenser, however you still want the column packed as normal unless you just want to distill water then you can remove everything out of the column. So I would recommend a reflux still.
How about that mouthful explanation of a reflux!! Was hanging onto every word hoping you didn't trip up lol.
Nice work as always Jesse!
Keep it up and more still porn!
I found this explaination of a reflux still a tad foggy....so I felt obliged to offer what I hope is a clearer understanding of things.
The packing (marbles, copper mesh, etc.) has a cooler temperature the higher up in the column it goes (gets farther away from the heat source). Evaporated water makes contact with packing and condenses, while alcohol vapors don't (they require a cooler temp. to condense) and continue on to the condenser. As a result water vapor continuously condenses on the packing and drips back down column while the alcohol carries on the the condenser. Of course nothing is that black and white, some water and esters (flavors) hitch a ride with the alcohol vapours thereby lowering your proof and imparting flavors.
Hi Jesse , so if I want to make a refine spirit for making limoncello.....should I distilled 2 or 3 times??
Thanks
Hi I’m building a ccvm and have a couple metres of 3” and 1m of 2” I’m planning for the condenser, my question is- what is the ideal height for a 3” pot still and what would the ideal height of the reflux still be? It will have a 3” tee with a small section then 3” bend and reducing to the 2” condenser. Any help would be appreciated, cheers
Hello do you have to do the wash seperate from a potstill?
Does using a pot still as opposed to a reflux still affect the way Methanol is removed from the initial distillate coming out of the system?
a multi plated still has soo much flexibility, if you have the $$ for it. but if your gona just stay with Rum or Bourbon then the Pot still is the best route.
Yeah, dude I am loving my plates now. But I really just dont feel great recomending a plate still as a first still. But 100% agree the flexability and results are great!
Jessie I have a reflux still (2nd hand) perfect condition.
I had a small air still previously.
I've put one wash through it took 3.5 litres and heck after leaving it to sit for a week in glass jar it really pongs of acetone.
Alcohol that came out almost 80% I cut with water to 40%.
Now, I'm thinking of puting through my reflux again this time adding juniper and a few botanicals. My question is do I just tip then juniper etc into the still with the liquid? I'm worried they might burn.
The other thing is, my still can be slow to heat, I have been advised to wrap the still with a thick blanket. I actually popped an electric blanket around it last time.
Just a bit concerned that by doing that I may be forcing the distillate out to quickly, would that also cause the acetone flavor?
I also see you advised using the brass mesh stuff, would I put that into the place where the saddles are?
Thank you so much for your amazing knowledge this has been a massive learning curve for me.
Can you shove copper mesh into a pot still bump up the ABV?
Could you use BBs as packing? They are steel but copper coated.
You know moonshiners use a thumper keg to re-distill the liquor before it hits the condenser. Sounds way more simple than that reflux still. The distiller still has to pay attention to collect the hearts and dump the head and the tail of the run.
Jessie is there a good website that people can go to to look at different types stills whether it be a pot or reflux bookah or what you call it or a place that haves nothing but still plans for me I've got enough copper that is about 12 ft long by 2 in what I want no make a true reflux but I need some kind of plans to see how to put the plates in to solder them up but I'm not going to get in all that I'm just asking do you know where to go to for that info thanks Jesse
How's it mate, yeah there is a LOT of info on the forums. Homedistiller would be at the top of my list. But I will admit that there is a lot of casual conversation to Wade through to get to it though.