Thanks for the vid man. this whole distillation thing is new to me. I went and made a 3 foot reflux column, packed with steel wool, 10 litre boiling pot, home made condensor, all from the vids like this and others. Its excellent. Made my first batch of alcohol and now have 3 bottles of vodka being infused. two bottles of scotch. :) and more. I love it, its fun. :) All from youtube vids. peace buddy
nice work and boy does that look like a cheap easy setup. Been wanting to make some shine a while and this looks like a cheap and easy way to get started
i've got to say.. for a year now, i've been useing this same setup for distilling my corn mash, and it works great.. Cant tell you exactly what proof it comes to be every time, but it does ignite on fire, smooth as a water then charcoal filterd, and warms the blood one sip at a time! Best of luck to everyone..
@mikeandtiff wow super simple set up and the video as well made it look much less intimidating than I first thought. (great feedback from the community to) ; just from what I have read in the comments, am I correct in concluding that what ever condensed vapors that come out the end of the still all depends on the temperature at the burner end?
@ahackaholic I got the rubber stopper form HomeDepot, for around two bucks.. Drill out your two holes ( for tubing and thermometer) and plug it in place of the stupid wistle cap on the tea pot. Piece of cake! Best of luck on your still! -Mike
Is the cooling coil a bit overkill? Seems too much.Mine is a lot shorter it doesn't even coil. Although I pump the water around mine maybe that makes a difference.
as the ice melts, you can replace it and drain it out as it fills up. It works out much smoother. You can just refreeze the drained water into ice cubes again.
Damn right dude.. Just like people say ther going out for a smoke, to warm them it ( as i'm a smoker) it just speeds up your metabolism, thus burns more calories, and makes you slightly warmer -slightly-
You're distilling old vodka?? What the hell for? Get you some turbo yeast, 4, 5lb bags of sugar and 7 gallons of distilled water. Heat the water to around 90 degrees (but not more than 100) while stirring in your sugar. Add the yeast, give it a good stir and drop it into your fermenter. Ferments in 5 days or less and THEN run it through your still. You can also substitute 2 bags of sugar with an equal amount of brown sugar and molasses. Makes an interesting combo.
best of luck to ya.. I'm working on a bit larger version of this, and hope to make some mash of my own soon come summer. Thanks for viewing, hope this can help
I Have a question. I herd your not sopposed to drink the first 3-4 ounces because its methanol. so when you refill your pot do u need to take another 3-4 ounces or is it just the first 3-4.? also how much does 1 tea kettel full make?
@mikeandtiff Copper is preferred because of it's excellent ability to move heat out of the vapors and it's lack of reaction with the alcohol. In theory any kind of pipe could be used, but plastic is an insulator so you would end up needing a much longer length of pipe to get the same efficacy.
@39tommyboy thats a myth, the system is not under pressure at any time. unless youve really messed up somewhere. How did you figure out the right temperature? I heard if its too high you produce more of the harmful alcohols and less of the good ones.
awesome to make your wiskey.. fun as hell knowing you made it your self.. with endless ways to add flavor, and ways to make your own proof.. gota love it! thanks for commenting, and viewing.. keep on brewing -Mike
i was lucky, and i bought my copper tubing coiled up that way. However, there are two simple ways of bending 1: fill the tube completly with sand and bend it, or 2: fill tube with water then freeze it and bend it. The sand method works best in my opinion :-) thanks for viewing, and good luck!
Sorry everyone for the delay in response, i just recently welcomed my first new born baby into the world, and i just havent had the time to log in as much as i would like! Promise to get to everyones ( yes everyones!) questions as soon as i have some free time this weekend? ( I hope!) Thank you all for the interest in my still, and hope you all get to try this out for yourselves. Best regards-Mike
MrZakir69.. I must say, that this setup and any other still setup, there is no smell what so ever that comes from the production of distilling. However, if you decide on trying to build a setup like this, or any one others, Please becareful! I've heard how strict the rules are in your part of town so to speak! Best of luck, and please be safe.
if it is a high enough alcohol content and filtered well enough. but if your car is not made for "e85" your gaskets might fall apart and it could clog up your carburetor or injectors. i think you can get any car to run on this, but it is not good for older cars
cool set up. But does this emit any smell during operation. This is banned in saudi arabia and i dont want my neighbours to know.!!! cheers! If found guilty, I will not see sunlight after that.
@jamesykt69 plastic for the tubeing? I would use copper tubeing buddie for two big reasons in my opinion: 1 is copper will cool the alcohol vapors back down the a liquid 2: Plastic not only will not condense your vapors back down ( as quick anyway) and the plastic may break down due to the hot vapors, and put a nasty taste in your ending product.. or worse, break down the chemicals in the plastic and make your batch toxic! Best of luck, and please be sure to research this before trying. -Mike
Your talking about where i have the thermo, and tube i take it.. Its a rubber stopper i bought. drilled two holes in it, took of the wistle from the kettle. Best of luck building one, thanks for viewing
what is the total length of that copper coil?. can someone make a video on how to make a cooling coil such as this one without kinking?? I mean without using much equipment. Also give some tips on how to remove that pungent smell from the final distillate.I have very little resources and am doing it on the sly. Please help.
Good idea, but really poor excecution unless you're carefully watching the boiling temp. There are lighter (methanol) and heavier (propanol, butanol) alcohols always present in low levels in any alcohol, especially the cheap ones. You really need to discard the first and last sections which were boiled off or that's not ethanol you're drinking.
@purplemutantas I have not yet had any problems and/or taste differences with the vinyl tube VS Copper tube.. I use the vinyl tubing only for the flexablity between the kettle and the still. Some times things jiggle loose!
Its a bit over kill on the copper line I have yes.. This was the way I bought it, and hated to cut it all up into sections. This was nothing more then an experiment that happened to work out great; there for i left the desing alone. Thanks for viewing and commenting! -Mike
Alcohol will boil off @ apx 185 degrees F; Water boils at 212 F. as long as you keep your temp below 200 ( as i do) you can boil/steam the alcohol up into the condenseing coil, thus pure/semi-pure alcohol runs down the tubing! Thanks for the kind comments, i always try to KISS ( Keep It Simple Stupid) in all my videos. Thanks for viewing!
Cgoodson1594 I'm using a 20 quart stainless steel stockpot and gonna put a 2 inch copper pipe (capped on the top) going out the lid and have the 1/4 inch pipe running out the side of the 2 inch copper pipe ( 1 inch from the top )into the thump keg and then into the condenser.
Thanks Mike. I am ifty recent safe as i do not plan to trade. If the smell emitted can be ignored I am 75% safe. The balance 25% is pure luck and keeping it a secret !! So I do need that Best of luck!!!. Thanks again. Zak.
@seume yea man.. simple mix like that is what i use for this little setup.. Makes aprox a gal of good spirits! Takes some time, but its all worth it.. May i suggest Turbo yeast as well? I've had best results with it! Thanks for commenting&Viewing! -Mike
@hpjunky70 thumpers are outdated. it is much easier to use a packed column and it has the same effect rather than go to all the effort of making a thumper you can just pack your column with copper mesh and it will work even better
Yeah a thumper would be preferable man, it'll cut down in all the puke that flashes over with the alcohol. It's all about quality, especially if youre gonna make one jar at a time lol. But great initiative though man. Keep making it
@jamesykt69 Copper is used for cooling the vapors back down to a liquid. Useing plastic may work, but prob not to well.. not only that, but the alcohol may break down the plastic, and make your mix taste aweful, and even worse toxic! Thanks for commenting! -Mike
@39tommyboy So far, i have not built up any pressure in my little boiler to the point of explosion. I think/guess back in the "ol days" of shine makeing, there stills would (and or could) explode due to the alcohol vapors igniting from the fire used under the kettle.. Thanks for viewing and commenting! -Mike
@jeff61177 thearedicly the worst you can do is get the same concintration back out.. alchol evaperates faster than water if you over heat it the water will evaperate too.. once condenced and chilled it could posibly have the same concintration
Wait, where does the Hydrogen Hydroxide come out at to seperate it from the Ethanol? Shouldn't the Ethanol have a lower boiling point and it should be caught in a diffrent container. Isn't the Hydrogen Hydroxide and the Ethanol being boiled and cooled back together? Where does is seperate?
@WuTangghost0007 I drilled out a rubber stopper for the tubing and thermometer to fit in the two holes. those can be bought at HomeDepot for around a buck.
Does to much heat , burn of the alcohol and sugar..? i tried this with a auto rice cooker, and the collected liquid tasted like distilled water, ..??!!
@glenfenderman Not a problem.. I got some time tonight to log in and dig around some youtube videos, and also awnser some questions about my own. Best of luck to you, and again, hope I could help you/any one out on a simple and cheap small still. -Mike
@Hashishin13 The other poison is not a poison, it's water silly. Hydrogen Hydroxide is also know as HOH or H2O. The "what" refference was towards your comment of you commenting of the other poisons. Look into anaerobic respiration. It's cool once you learn. Ethanol has a BP of 174*F, the rest is water and mash.
@ssj7warrior What part of watch more of these videos on youtube, I think it's only the first little bit that has the poisons in it didn't you understand? "What!?" Tells me nothing at all. Anyway to be more specific, I think the poisonous alcohol like substances have a lower boiling point then the normal alcohol, so all of it comes out of the still in the first little bit. There is also the issue of lead from the piping/solder so know what you are using.
Would anyone share a recipe? sugar, corn.. i dont care..im sure i can google. but looking for someone that somone tried already. many thanks in advance.. and i'll raise my glass to you ! !
@breethwithme i suppose but the $300 lasts at least a lifetime and making handles instead of jars...i also recommend becoming an accomplished zymurgist before distilling but no one listens to that advice either...
Kurtis625 1/4 is fine for a small still prolly up to a 2 gallon i have a 5 gal w 1/2 No offense tho you have a huge condenser for just a small pot really has to be inefficient. And I'm so tired of these ppl saying you gotta dump heads if you don't know that you don't need to be making shine.
@secretscot lol, yes i do, and thank you for the congrats! you must keep your simmer/boil at a certin temp..otherwise you'll get the meth in your mix = no good
Thanks for the vid man. this whole distillation thing is new to me. I went and made a 3 foot reflux column, packed with steel wool, 10 litre boiling pot, home made condensor, all from the vids like this and others. Its excellent. Made my first batch of alcohol and now have 3 bottles of vodka being infused. two bottles of scotch. :) and more. I love it, its fun. :)
All from youtube vids.
peace buddy
nice! that's so simple its genius!
great idea with the meat thermometer, definitely gonna use that in my still
nice work and boy does that look like a cheap easy setup. Been wanting to make some shine a while and this looks like a cheap and easy way to get started
Awesome job guys. I also love the song in the background Linkin Park is beast
pretty cool. And congrats on the baby. enjoy!
i've got to say.. for a year now, i've been useing this same setup for distilling my corn mash, and it works great.. Cant tell you exactly what proof it comes to be every time, but it does ignite on fire, smooth as a water then charcoal filterd, and warms the blood one sip at a time! Best of luck to everyone..
i must applaud your music choice, bravo old chap, bravo
freakin cool. always wanted to build one of those.
Thanks dude! simple and cheap, and works great
@mikeandtiff wow super simple set up and the video as well made it look much less intimidating than I first thought. (great feedback from the community to) ; just from what I have read in the comments, am I correct in concluding that what ever condensed vapors that come out the end of the still all depends on the temperature at the burner end?
@ahackaholic I got the rubber stopper form HomeDepot, for around two bucks.. Drill out your two holes ( for tubing and thermometer) and plug it in place of the stupid wistle cap on the tea pot. Piece of cake! Best of luck on your still!
-Mike
Nice work! Don't get to drunk!!LOL
In the end by linkin park is a Great song!!!!
Two more questions....what is the capacity of your kettle and how much brew do you distill at a time?
@ssj7warrior Also, where is the condenser to allow the vapor to get trapped and released?
Is the cooling coil a bit overkill? Seems too much.Mine is a lot shorter it doesn't even coil. Although I pump the water around mine maybe that makes a difference.
as the ice melts, you can replace it and drain it out as it fills up. It works out much smoother. You can just refreeze the drained water into ice cubes again.
What is the diameter of the copper tubing, and what are you using as a stopper for the spout on the kettle?
how many shots at a time can u distill with that crafty lil thing lol
Damn right dude.. Just like people say ther going out for a smoke, to warm them it ( as i'm a smoker) it just speeds up your metabolism, thus burns more calories, and makes you slightly warmer -slightly-
How long to start getting drips after its at steaming point?
You're distilling old vodka?? What the hell for? Get you some turbo yeast, 4, 5lb bags of sugar and 7 gallons of distilled water. Heat the water to around 90 degrees (but not more than 100) while stirring in your sugar. Add the yeast, give it a good stir and drop it into your fermenter. Ferments in 5 days or less and THEN run it through your still. You can also substitute 2 bags of sugar with an equal amount of brown sugar and molasses. Makes an interesting combo.
best of luck to ya.. I'm working on a bit larger version of this, and hope to make some mash of my own soon come summer. Thanks for viewing, hope this can help
Hey mikeandtiff, congratualtions on your new baby....sorry if I sounded a little demanding....your setup looks interesting.
Wondering what make/model that kettle is.difficult to find one with a built in potentiometer.
I Have a question. I herd your not sopposed to drink the first 3-4 ounces because its methanol. so when you refill your pot do u need to take another 3-4 ounces or is it just the first 3-4.? also how much does 1 tea kettel full make?
@mikeandtiff Copper is preferred because of it's excellent ability to move heat out of the vapors and it's lack of reaction with the alcohol. In theory any kind of pipe could be used, but plastic is an insulator so you would end up needing a much longer length of pipe to get the same efficacy.
Is it ok if I use 1/4 inch copper pipe? I'm afraid it may be too small but I have 7' of it and I don't want to waste it..
where'd you get the tea kettle?
@39tommyboy thats a myth, the system is not under pressure at any time. unless youve really messed up somewhere. How did you figure out the right temperature? I heard if its too high you produce more of the harmful alcohols and less of the good ones.
awesome to make your wiskey.. fun as hell knowing you made it your self.. with endless ways to add flavor, and ways to make your own proof.. gota love it! thanks for commenting, and viewing.. keep on brewing
-Mike
i was lucky, and i bought my copper tubing coiled up that way. However, there are two simple ways of bending 1: fill the tube completly with sand and bend it, or 2: fill tube with water then freeze it and bend it. The sand method works best in my opinion :-) thanks for viewing, and good luck!
Hey that's the same teapot I have. lol
what percent did it come out at?
Sorry everyone for the delay in response, i just recently welcomed my first new born baby into the world, and i just havent had the time to log in as much as i would like! Promise to get to everyones ( yes everyones!) questions as soon as i have some free time this weekend? ( I hope!) Thank you all for the interest in my still, and hope you all get to try this out for yourselves. Best regards-Mike
MrZakir69.. I must say, that this setup and any other still setup, there is no smell what so ever that comes from the production of distilling. However, if you decide on trying to build a setup like this, or any one others, Please becareful! I've heard how strict the rules are in your part of town so to speak! Best of luck, and please be safe.
if it is a high enough alcohol content and filtered well enough. but if your car is not made for "e85" your gaskets might fall apart and it could clog up your carburetor or injectors. i think you can get any car to run on this, but it is not good for older cars
Yeah? whats the total on that tube? 15 feet?
cool set up. But does this emit any smell during operation. This is banned in saudi arabia and i dont want my neighbours to know.!!! cheers!
If found guilty, I will not see sunlight after that.
Can it be used as fuel?
@jamesykt69 plastic for the tubeing? I would use copper tubeing buddie for two big reasons in my opinion: 1 is copper will cool the alcohol vapors back down the a liquid 2: Plastic not only will not condense your vapors back down ( as quick anyway) and the plastic may break down due to the hot vapors, and put a nasty taste in your ending product.. or worse, break down the chemicals in the plastic and make your batch toxic! Best of luck, and please be sure to research this before trying. -Mike
Your talking about where i have the thermo, and tube i take it.. Its a rubber stopper i bought. drilled two holes in it, took of the wistle from the kettle. Best of luck building one, thanks for viewing
what is the total length of that copper coil?. can someone make a video on how to make a cooling coil such as this one without kinking?? I mean without using much equipment. Also give some tips on how to remove that pungent smell from the final distillate.I have very little resources and am doing it on the sly. Please help.
Good idea, but really poor excecution unless you're carefully watching the boiling temp. There are lighter (methanol) and heavier (propanol, butanol) alcohols always present in low levels in any alcohol, especially the cheap ones. You really need to discard the first and last sections which were boiled off or that's not ethanol you're drinking.
@purplemutantas I have not yet had any problems and/or taste differences with the vinyl tube VS Copper tube.. I use the vinyl tubing only for the flexablity between the kettle and the still. Some times things jiggle loose!
How would it kill you? What does it contain?
Its a bit over kill on the copper line I have yes.. This was the way I bought it, and hated to cut it all up into sections. This was nothing more then an experiment that happened to work out great; there for i left the desing alone. Thanks for viewing and commenting! -Mike
how do you extract methanol?
Alcohol will boil off @ apx 185 degrees F; Water boils at 212 F. as long as you keep your temp below 200 ( as i do) you can boil/steam the alcohol up into the condenseing coil, thus pure/semi-pure alcohol runs down the tubing! Thanks for the kind comments, i always try to KISS ( Keep It Simple Stupid) in all my videos. Thanks for viewing!
Cgoodson1594 I'm using a 20 quart stainless steel stockpot and gonna put a 2 inch copper pipe (capped on the top) going out the lid and have the 1/4 inch pipe running out the side of the 2 inch copper pipe ( 1 inch from the top )into the thump keg and then into the condenser.
hey i know that song is from linkin park but i forgot the name of it, could you tell me?
Thanks Mike. I am ifty recent safe as i do not plan to trade. If the smell emitted can be ignored I am 75% safe. The balance 25% is pure luck and keeping it a secret !! So I do need that Best of luck!!!.
Thanks again.
Zak.
can make up to three pints in one hour. Thanks for the comments! Hope this vid can help out all of you on a cheap simply budget like myself
rubber connection genius DDD
@seume yea man.. simple mix like that is what i use for this little setup.. Makes aprox a gal of good spirits! Takes some time, but its all worth it.. May i suggest Turbo yeast as well? I've had best results with it! Thanks for commenting&Viewing!
-Mike
@hpjunky70 thumpers are outdated. it is much easier to use a packed column and it has the same effect
rather than go to all the effort of making a thumper you can just pack your column with copper mesh and it will work even better
Yeah a thumper would be preferable man, it'll cut down in all the puke that flashes over with the alcohol. It's all about quality, especially if youre gonna make one jar at a time lol. But great initiative though man. Keep making it
@jamesykt69 Copper is used for cooling the vapors back down to a liquid. Useing plastic may work, but prob not to well.. not only that, but the alcohol may break down the plastic, and make your mix taste aweful, and even worse toxic! Thanks for commenting! -Mike
sounds like yout temp is to high! stay around 190 degrees.. only want to boil the alch.. Best of luck to ya
@39tommyboy So far, i have not built up any pressure in my little boiler to the point of explosion. I think/guess back in the "ol days" of shine makeing, there stills would (and or could) explode due to the alcohol vapors igniting from the fire used under the kettle.. Thanks for viewing and commenting!
-Mike
@jeff61177 thearedicly the worst you can do is get the same concintration back out.. alchol evaperates faster than water if you over heat it the water will evaperate too.. once condenced and chilled it could posibly have the same concintration
Wait, where does the Hydrogen Hydroxide come out at to seperate it from the Ethanol? Shouldn't the Ethanol have a lower boiling point and it should be caught in a diffrent container. Isn't the Hydrogen Hydroxide and the Ethanol being boiled and cooled back together? Where does is seperate?
@RebelRyan01 I wouldn't worry about it - most of what is settling is undigestable fiber.
I went a bit overkill on how much copper tube i used, therefore it takes about 20min for it all to condense, and begin to flow out.
@mikeandtiff do not use plastic...it leaches...stainless or copper only...
@WuTangghost0007 I drilled out a rubber stopper for the tubing and thermometer to fit in the two holes. those can be bought at HomeDepot for around a buck.
actualy alcohol makes u colder, it gives the feeling of warming u up becasue it opens up blood vessles alowing more blood through to ur extremidies
Hi, mikeandtiff....some of us are itching for some answers to some questions. How about it?
nevermind. lookup Bonavita electric gooseneck. built in thermometer.
Does to much heat , burn of the alcohol and sugar..? i tried this with a auto rice cooker, and the collected liquid tasted like distilled water, ..??!!
cold water, beer, corn liqour... lol u know its gona be good when ur laughing in 10 seocnds
offspring good choice brah
@Danboy5050 Do some research. The home distiller site has TONS of info. That will answer your question and much much more.
8 pounds of cracked corn
8 pounds sugar
5 gallons water
7-8 grams of yeast
simple as it gets
sure beats my setup.
@glenfenderman Not a problem.. I got some time tonight to log in and dig around some youtube videos, and also awnser some questions about my own. Best of luck to you, and again, hope I could help you/any one out on a simple and cheap small still.
-Mike
@Hashishin13 The other poison is not a poison, it's water silly. Hydrogen Hydroxide is also know as HOH or H2O. The "what" refference was towards your comment of you commenting of the other poisons. Look into anaerobic respiration. It's cool once you learn. Ethanol has a BP of 174*F, the rest is water and mash.
@ssj7warrior What part of watch more of these videos on youtube, I think it's only the first little bit that has the poisons in it didn't you understand?
"What!?"
Tells me nothing at all.
Anyway to be more specific, I think the poisonous alcohol like substances have a lower boiling point then the normal alcohol, so all of it comes out of the still in the first little bit.
There is also the issue of lead from the piping/solder so know what you are using.
Would anyone share a recipe? sugar, corn.. i dont care..im sure i can google. but looking for someone that somone tried already. many thanks in advance.. and i'll raise my glass to you ! !
don't use water as a coolant...just poor ice in the container
well if you didnt clean out the captain morgan bottle enugh then that might be where the color is coming from
From other distill videos,, you are NOT supposed to drink the very first part of the distill batch, it's contaminated and COULD KILL YOU.
Linkin Park "What I've Done"
@breethwithme i suppose but the $300 lasts at least a lifetime and making handles instead of jars...i also recommend becoming an accomplished zymurgist before distilling but no one listens to that advice either...
actually moonshine is closer to tequila than vodka
Why not just freeze the whole bucket of water in a big freezer???
Your temperature is kinda high there, isn't it? Don't you run the risk of distilling something that will poison you at over 200 degrees?
this is the song from the end of Transformers
yessss linkin park:P
better still to use salt instead of sand
Kurtis625 1/4 is fine for a small still prolly up to a 2 gallon i have a 5 gal w 1/2 No offense tho you have a huge condenser for just a small pot really has to be inefficient. And I'm so tired of these ppl saying you gotta dump heads if you don't know that you don't need to be making shine.
@mikeandtiff Ethanol will leach toxic chemicals out of any plastic.
lol, lets keep all matches and lighters away from this jar....
isnt this illegal? just askin ..
Must be distilling water. . . . Temps are too high, coil is too long, if your temps are that high there is no more alc. Just water.. DON'T USE RUBBER
was it good
@secretscot lol, yes i do, and thank you for the congrats! you must keep your simmer/boil at a certin temp..otherwise you'll get the meth in your mix = no good
you have all the time on earth..... hope you are not aftera flight.....
@kvsuprise XD right on brother
@breethwithme enamel breaks away eventually...I made a 15.5 gallon refulx for under 300....
Seems like some of these folks took this video way too serious.