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I am currently gathering materials for a still. Any helpful suggestions to make the building process go smoothly?
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Anchorage
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Re: vodka
Tue, January 20, 2004 - 7:26 PMare you going to be making a reflux still, or a pot still? -
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Re: vodka
Wed, January 28, 2004 - 12:24 PMi don't know! that is why i am researching! any suggestions? preferences? -
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Re: vodka
Wed, January 28, 2004 - 9:30 PMIm just learning too, so we can learn together, i thought getting a tribe together might get some people with more experience than me into the process. Pot Stills are less efficient and what not but they are more simple, so i would probably go into that direction if i were you. How big of batches were you looking into making, and do you have any experience with the fermentation process or with the brewing of beer, or winemaking? -
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Re: vodka
Fri, January 30, 2004 - 4:57 PMI am sure you have already found it, but homedistiller.org is a great site for starting research. Then, getting your hands on copies of the two different 'practical distiller' books that can be ordered through various sources.
Pot stills are not efficient, they are best used for situations where you are not trying to get rid of essenses, flavors, and scents. Whiskey is a pot still type liquor. With a pot still, expect your top ABV to be between 55%-85% depending on use and design. Reflux stills are good for rectifying pure alcohol from sources, or for cleaning up liquors for other uses.
you can buy a basic pot still from sears, its the kenmore water distiller. They sell a $99 and a $129 version. The major variance is the amount of original mass you can distill. This is not a great pot still, as it runs at a steady 100F, and its design is prone to allowing alot of scent essence across, as well as problems with 'herb burp' if you are working with herbal mass and more than 1L of liquid at a time.
I am self taught, lots of reading and internet research...
I enjoy talking some of this stuff out, etc... -
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Re: vodka
Mon, February 2, 2004 - 1:10 PMwhat do you distill mostly, and do you have a homemade reflux still? -
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Re: vodka
Mon, February 2, 2004 - 5:47 PMI would love to have a homemade reflux, however this is just a mild hobby for me and money is something I dont have to waste. So my hobby is limited to small batches of wine/liquor/etc to be rectified for thier base alcohols. You will find that the base alcohol can make all the difference in taste/flavor/scent/and mouthfeel of what you might do with it.
Outside of that, I am an absinthe lover. That is my main interest in this area. Checkout the absinthe tribe. -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 12:16 AMI have been talking to a guy in Canada that says you can make a still out of an old water heater, I'm looking at making Vodka mainly.. I'm not sure what type that would fall under but I'm vey interested in trying it.. -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 12:18 AMBy the way, He says you can start with sugar, water & some bakers yeast. Then you distill it twice to make Vodka.. Sounds fairly simple. -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 12:57 AMHmm, the water heater part is something I have heard before, but I am sure it was followed by a good reason not to do it...
www.homedistiller.org is a good source of extremely basic distilling info. From building a still to recipes for the mash, it covers all types of distilling.
Dont Expect to make 'great' stuff, unless you put the time and effort into perfecting your recipe. -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 10:33 AMok, ok.. I'll check the sight out.. thanks for the guidance. I'll keep everyone posted as to how my efforts come to fruition.. cheers!!! -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 11:36 AMthanks Jeff! I checked out the sight & have learned a hell of alot more than I ever thought I would. -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 2:11 PMI've read about the water heater thing, and imagine it would work quite well if you were looking to make a still of that size(probably 55gallons) but that would be something you want to be very technically inclined to make, and you would probably want to do this later on in your days of distilling -
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Re: vodka
Tue, February 3, 2004 - 4:37 PMYes.. I know a guy who hammered out his own copper potstill (approx 5 Gallons) Not too hard for what it was. However, this is a guy who built his own Double Keg Boiler/Mash system for making Gallons of his own homebrew beer. His experiences are far from normal.
However, if you research the generic Double Boiler/Pressure cooker still, and use a water bath to do the heating, you can make a very useable still for basic use. Copper has much better heating properties, not to mention its ability to help remove toxins and impurities from liquor while distilling... so moving in that direction is a good way to go. Remember though, most stills are single brew units. You dont make Vodka one day, gin the next, and whiskey the next... you can, but the stills can and will hold flavors/essence/scents.
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Re: vodka
Sun, July 25, 2004 - 7:38 AMI might be chiming in late on this one...In regards to using water heaters, new, clean is better, however, they are made of plastic- llined steel? And some have parts to combat calcium build up.
From everything I have read in the last year in the Yahoo and use-net groups, depending on what you want to do, use, S/S Copper, or glass. I just read a news story about African tribes using plain steel drums to makea sort of beer, and to distill a strong drink...most all of the people tested showed "Iron overload".
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Re: vodka
Sun, September 3, 2006 - 12:30 AMi have a home made reflux still. is pretty easyto make if you have welding skills. or you can buy them in kit forms from aus $ 199.00 onwards. i have been delving in the making of vodka for about 6 years now and would love to contribute
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Re: vodka
Thu, November 10, 2005 - 12:01 PMGo to www.partyman.se. Initial outlay - under $200, and that's just the equipment. It works and it works very well.
