Im planning on building a brandy shop and destilling my own gin for private comsumption.
Does anybody here have any related experiences or advice to share?
don't drink the first part that comes from the distillation.
You go blind from it
t. slav
just got a bag of whole corn , goin to malt n mash it , anyone interested ?
>>899461
this
get a thermometer and put it on top of you still..
and watch the temperature, once it goes over ~75C it should be mostly ethanol and water wait for a few drops to wash out the residue in your condenser and you should be safe to collect...
as an additional test you can lite a small amount of your distiled portion on fire and look at the color of the flame, methanol with a slight yellow to orange flame tip, while ethanol is pure blue
I think you need a federal permit to make and use a still. Check the tempature constantly using a steady heat source. I would recommend using better materials than pictured.
>>899454
Learn how to spell the thing you want to do
Stand back
>>899454
The top part of the pipe really grindens my gears. It shouldn't stand out like that, should be more of a smooth transition to the other pipe for better condensation (condensate will not run down the side pipe as easily as it would if everything where smooth with a small angle at the end of the pipe that goes through the lid).
Generally look into Methanol production, it's a byproduct when you ferment celloluse like stems/seed of grape, seeds etc. Best only to ferment the juices.
Do not drink first part that comes out, it will poison you. Do not make the pot too full - you would NOT want it to explode.
The still in picture is very crude. No thermometer. If you put a thermometer in it, put it at the top of the pipe so you get the temperature of the gas. Don't put it into whatever you are distilling you'd end up measuring not the temperature of the gas, but that of the fluid.
Since Ethanol goes into gas form from 78° Upwards, keeping the top at ~78° (adjust for your location, if you are 1000m above 0 it will different than if you are just 100m above 0) should amount in good yield. You do not want anything that came out under that temperature, and you do not want that was comes over, because that shit will give you headaches.
Hope this was all correct, it's been a time. Hope it was understandable as well.
>>900094
>federal permit
Yeah, thanks, mom.
>>900294
I kind of like your new lamp in the ceiling, though.
What exactly were you doing?
>>900367
Part of the vertical tube's job is to aid in separation of water and ethanol (and other shit). Trying to collect the liquid going down it hinders that purpose.
>>899454
If you are making gin/vodka you wont get far with a pot still, you will need to build a reflux still. A pot still will yield about 40% alcohol while a reflux still will easily go over 90%
>>899789
this guy is wrong, flame color does not change between methanol/ethanol. It can tell you if there is lead or other pollution in the alcohol.
NEVER (really never) use a closed system, that can avoid shit like this>>900294 . Also, do not heat it too quick, distillation is a slow processes. Try not to add more heat as the evaporation takes out, to much heat and you will burn the mash and ruin the batch.
Research your still design carefully and learn how distillation really works.
Learn the formulas and use a pretty accurate thermometer, this way you can read when the methanol is gone and the good stuff is coming instead of guessing and hoping for the best.
Yes this means you will need to do a few days/weeks of studying until you understand it but you will be know if your still works as you want it to and where your problem lies if it doesn't.
