OT: I'm going to distill - any tips?

[sKilled]

I've been doing some thinking for a new hobby, and I have come across distilling. Thought it might be interesting to build a fractionating column (esp. because I want a high %age for making liquers). Anyone here have any experience with this?

Any tips on what to use for the pot and heating (gas is easy, but I have read that it can cause hot spots which lead to awful tasting by-products).

Anyone know a cheap source for the copper parts in NZ?

Please post a pic of your still if you have one as I haven't commited myself to a particular style.

Thanks guys!

p.s. Don't drink and drive, you might spill it!

[Robin-535im]

I've been doing some thinking for a new hobby, and I have come across distilling.

Well - it's illegal here in the US, so my knowledge of this is purely hypothetical. Hypothetically I could have a friend with a still in his garage, made mostly of food-grade PVC tubing / piping from the local home improvement store. IIRC (hypothetically) he would have a big stainless steel pot as the boiler and just get various PVC connectors / reducers to get it to a small tube size, then have copper pipe to cool the vapor. No solder! Lead is a bad thing to drink! Good hobby though. Hypothetically I could have had some of his brew and it would have been very nice. Smooth, flammable, and a pleasant taste.

[Alexlind123]

Well - it's illegal here in the US, so my knowledge of this is purely hypothetical. Hypothetically I could have a friend with a still in his garage, made mostly of food-grade PVC tubing / piping from the local home improvement store. IIRC (hypothetically) he would have a big stainless steel pot as the boiler and just get various PVC connectors / reducers to get it to a small tube size, then have copper pipe to cool the vapor. No solder! Lead is a bad thing to drink! Good hobby though. Hypothetically I could have had some of his brew and it would have been very nice. Smooth, flammable, and a pleasant taste.

What do you mean "no solder"? People drink out of copper plumbing all the time.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Household pipes use lead-free solder, no idea why you couldn't use that in the "hypothetical" still.

[sKilled]

Yeah, I am thinking of going with copper as PVC can cause problems with the pressure/vapours. There is a lead free solder for stuff like this, the same as used in plumbing. Lucky for me, here in NZ we don't have to keep it hypothetical, nor do we only use it for purifying water. We don't, for example, have to work out that, at leastt on paper (wink, wink) the $99 water distiller from Sears can, theoretically on paper, produce a roughly 40% distill. In theory mind you

[Robin-535im]

What do you mean "no solder"? People drink out of copper plumbing all the time.

I meant no Soldiers... ;p

[Mitch90535im]

google it

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

which is very similar to the process making a whisky or scotch.

You'll need to mash some malt and/or other forms of starch and sugar, ferment it with a strain of brewer's yeast (many to choose from) drain off liquid after fermentation is complete and then distill it down.

A lot of care into the brewing and fermentation process for the proper flavors and ETOH (alcohol) yield.

[mattyb]

Only One Tip. No Smoking!

[sKilled]

Hey I've found a great website http://www.amphora-society.com/ where it covers everything I needed to know.

Turns out that they manufacture stills in the US, but the guy who runs it lives here in Auckland (NZ), so I gave him a call and had a good chat. He's going to see what he can do in regards to putting together a still for me (probably stainless steel - so cool!).

Also turns out that the book I grabbed at the local library was written by him - lol.

Anyhow, I will post pics and details of my progress as it develops.