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Step 2Construction
Form a coil with the copper tube, leaving a long lead-in. I wrapped around a demi.
Drill a hole in the bucket, and poke the lower end of your coil through this.
The copper tube is connected to the pressure-cooker with a (brewing) cork
A bit of Blu-Tac seals the tube to the bucket
Fill the bucket with cold water, and maybe some ice.
Drill a hole in the bucket, and poke the lower end of your coil through this.
The copper tube is connected to the pressure-cooker with a (brewing) cork
A bit of Blu-Tac seals the tube to the bucket
Fill the bucket with cold water, and maybe some ice.
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It holds the safety-valve shut (rubber had gone "manky").
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Yes I guess so. But if I used a 5 gallon bucket & crushed-ice I guess the cooling capacity would be the same. Having the pump would take the thing off the top conveniently though.
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Just discard any liquid that comes through before the 173* F temp is reached as it might have methanol in it...POISON. The good stuff is from 173* to 180*. But you can collect distillate up to 205*. Then it is time to turn off the burner.
And the alcohol comes out with water over a steadily increasing temperature. Distill half of the volume, then distill half of that.
L
http://alzheimers.org.uk/factsheet/406
How many aluminum pots, pans, cookie sheets, pie plates etc. does the average human eat from over the course of his/her life?
Use stainless steel or food grade plastic to ferment, but do not be afraid to convert that old aluminum pressure cooker to a still.
I advise going over to the distillers forum (just Google it) and read about aluminum and what the pros say.
In short, don't use it.
Now, if you are condensing it in an old copper radiator or throwing a battery in the mix or some dynamite to add kick, then you are surely dancing with danger.
Aluminum is everywhere. We eat it, drink it, inhale it. Every take a TUMS? You ate aluminum.
I advise everyone to avoid aluminum if they're building a device of this sort. It's flat out dangerous and could screw you up bad and/or kill you. Yes, aluminum is everywhere, but it doesn't always have 190 proof alcohol in it.
Seriously, for anybody reading this, and considering a build, check out homedistillersforum,org for the truth of the matter. Those guys have decades of experience - the real pros - and every last one of them will tell you to NEVER use an aluminum pot. Stainless steel or copper only . . . and the same goes for your tubing. Also stay away from ANY sort of plastic jugs or rubber gaskets when distilling. High proofs will leach chemicals in the plastic/rubber into your mix.
As the price of copper has risen, go and see what they're selling at the hardware shop now for water pipes (at least in Europe and Australia and China from my own eyes). New water pipe is aluminum.
But your advice is well meant, and taken in good spirit by those who want to take it. Don't get upset when people don't take your advice. If people always took advice, then Columbus would never have sailed West.
I didn't make an analogy. What I am saying is that, you mildly poison yourself every time you drink alcohol and that you cannot escape consuming aluminum. The short time that you use the aluminum pressure cooker to distill the alcohol will not poison a person with aluminum. I'd dare say a swig of Mylanta has more aluminum than your whole bottle of liquor distilled in an aluminum pressure cooker.
If you have a stainless steel pressure cooker, then use it. But do not scare those who have been driven to distillation by exorbitant alcohol taxes away from aluminum pressure cookers. A lot of people who experiment with distilling do so because money is tight. A new stainless steel pressure cooker is not in the budget.
I would avoid lead at all costs, even doing without alcohol, but I will not be scared away from my aluminum pressure cooker.
By the way, when I put my mash in the pressure cooker, it is no where near 190 proof. More like 30 proof. I heat it to boil off the alcohol which is taken into a copper pipe and condensed into a glass jar.
For everyone else, I urge you NOT to use aluminum pots. Further, don't believe me at face value either. jSimply go to homedistillers.org and learn the truth. Read and ask questions of the folks there. Then, if you still think a couple thousand, seasoned distillery experts are wrong, that's your business. It's not like I'm going to be drinking your product.
Moose, it's better to admit you're wrong, and learn something, then to just keep arguing when you've no idea what you're talking about. If you only have 30 proof then you've just doing one run. That's pretty heavy hangover juice, full of fusel oils and impurities. Hope you are pouring off the heads (the first 50 ml). That's almost pure methyl alcohol. Pour off the tails (last part of the run) as well. If you re-run the distillate about three more times it will purify and be at around 90% alcohol.
This is the last time I'm responding, since you seem to have all the answers.
I think it is hilarious to accuse me of not knowing what I am talking about when you have no idea who I am and what my experience is.
For all you know I might be one of the "experts" on homedistillers.org.
Thank you for the two sided argument, though. This will actually do more good than harm, because it will prompt people to seek the truth and not to simply take an internet posts advice.
Cheers and happy moonshine making.
Fermentation will produce sulfides, especially if doing a fast fermentatio at high temps... and those sulphides do not ( or minimally ) interact with stainless steel... and a full stainless set-up can result in a "sulphur" taste because it passes thru the system / distillation...
On the other hand, with a stainless boiler and a copper coil / column... as the sulfides pass through the tube / tower they will interact and bind with copper removing them... carrying no taste from the boiler and actually cleaning it some through the coil... this is part of the reason I and others pack our columns with copper mesh / scrubbies...
On the other hand, with a ( clean ) aluminum boiler... the same sulphides will interact ( albeit minimally ) with aluminum... once this happens those ( simplifying here ) aluminum sulfides will be carried through the column into the end product... and while the sulfur taste will be gone, you could end up with a distillate imparted with a bit of a "metallic" taste...
Having said that - I do prefer a stainless boiler with copper on the condenser... and would not be interested in even tasting the first couple of batches from an aluminum pot... But if an aluminum boiler is used a few times it will oxidize and get a nice 'crust'... and if you do NOT scrub it so its nice and bright and shiny - it wil no longer easily react with whatever is heated in it... you should be good to go...
In other words... If you are starting from scratch, want to be 100% safe ( and are worried about aluminum or sulphide compounds ) and partake of anything and everthing that comes from your still - then I would hazard to say that bluesharp is correct i.e. stainless boiler and copper column...
On the other hand... if you have an aluminum boiler / pressure cooker... aren't going nuts scrubbing it out every use and let it crust up... after the first few batches - there shouldn't be any worries there either...
Btw - I did the ( aluminum ) pressure cooker thing when I was 14... a pot with a big ole crust of calcium and other minerals in it ( we had water from a well )... and it turned out ok for all involved... at least until the morning after my friends and I decided to drink it all... Oops.
Good looking build by the way.
L