I love both materials for different reasons, but I definitely prefer to run my stainless setup more than the copper just to avoid that extra cleaning and I've gotten some great flavor out of my full stainless runs too!
I hate to get into the weeds over semantics, but copper is a great conductor of heat, not retainer. That's why your distillate on the copper condenser was cooler - the copper was transferring heat better. Actually, I think that's really what you meant to just used the wrong word. Keep'em coming!
You could have easily added a stainless steel packing in the SS still column to keep both equal. The Proof difference may be a temperature difference with the copper vs SS column adding more of a reflux to up the proof a bit.
Stainless packing I felt would've stripped too much flavor. SS packing will strip more flavor than copper packing, so i was worried this would be unfair to the stainless side for flavor. Yeah, fair point on the temperature difference!
Copper does not retain heat better than stainless. Copper conducts heat better. You are not heating the copper, you are heating the liquid inside the kettle. As the water heats up, the copper conducts the heat to the outside walls where it will heat the ambient air. If you want to heat your still faster, put an insulated jacket around it.
Thanks for your effort. I think it is time to make an optimal hybrid project both copper and steel for next episode as you said at the end of the video
This was a 6.5 gallon batch size in each boiler. We fermented at 6.5 gallon in each bucket. We were sitting about 9% ABV in each fermentation, I believe.
i been using a stainless pressure cooker for my homemade pot still and all my shine have this signature slightly off bad taste and smell like the wet cardboard and rubber band in water both smells and taste which had a slight bitterness and astringency , i try and reduce the wet cardboard by making better tail cuts but that rubber band is still there no matter how i refind or polish my shine until i started putting in a few copper plates into my pot letting them lay on the bottom and of course my worm is copper, after my stripping run (without foreshots)i would leave the low wine in the pot with the copper for a day then do the final spirit run and my shine came out pleasant smelling and tasting like it came from the store and that wet rubber band thing was gone so i was assuming this may have been fusil or sulphur that the copper took care of,, now my question is can i store my finished moonshine even at 74% in a glass container with those copper plates in it? can you store shine in copper container safely or does it leach or does it help keep the shine clean? i heard it is bad even to store water and others say it is good so please give me your thought on this because i decided to rest some shine i made in copper for a few months and it has been almost a day now id like to know should i leave it or remove the copper?
As I was reading this, I was thinking it was from lack of copper, so glad you found the solution that way! I would not recommend storing in copper at all. Do I know without a doubt that something will happen? No. But, copper is a porous material and is also a toxic material in large doses. Out of the list of things I can see going wrong, one might be getting you poisoned by doing this. You might also turn your spirit green or blue from alkaline. There's just too many things I could see going wrong to approve of it, but it's not to say that I know the answer 100%.
@@milehidistilling1 well let me tell you what i decided to do before i even read your reply, i removed the copper after further research and reading that alc may be acidic or near alkaline up to 7.3 (vodkas) so it varies and i did not want to risk it like you said turn green or blue or get excessive leashing (although not sure how alkaline would do that as you said?) , i then took the shine and chilled it in the freezer to about 6 deg C and filtered it trough a small funnel that had a small piece of cosmetic cotton in the tip and was about 1/4 filled with britta coal, so my version of chill filtration, it was a long slow process drip by drip but my god the results were day and night in difference and solved all my problems, all the nasty funky smell, bitterness, spiciness, heat , signature off taste like an old wine cork taste etc went away leaving me with a with a wonderful polished product that was smelling more like either a good vodka or bacardi white rum but much better tasting neat, i am so proud of myself to discover this that is what i love about this hobby and all the ideas i get to put to practice and the research and discoveries i make along the way to improve my game and be able to share my secrets with others, sometimes hehe ,,anyways this saved me all those 3 months i was planning to age it lol well ok maybe i sped up the process idk but i might still let it rest age in glass with plenty of headspace ust to see if it changes anything even though this was basically a sugar wash in left over banana mash cast from my prev distillation it came out amazing with notes of toasted coconuts like a bacardi at the end,, love it budy ,, i wish however i knew what that wino corck smell and taste i usual get is all about or where it comes from is it in the heads or tails? what exactly is it,sulfur or fusel? be nice if i had a buddy with similar hobby to taste my stuff and help figure it out but hey man thank you very much for the feedback and concern i appreciate it , it all worked out for me in the end , this is the best stuff i made so far but my pure apple/pear eau de vie brandy schnapps (no sugar or water)that is coming along might beat it
Great to hear that filtering helped so much! Good job! I've heard of essential oils having a similar rubber smell, but haven't heard of it in ethanol distillation. My first guess would it be something way late in the tails causing it, something I call a "high boiler" Maybe furfural? Not sure. Anyways, glad it all worked out. Both the brandy and this recipe sound delicious!
@@milehidistilling1 yeah who knows what it is perhaps some of the rubber seal or plastic connector in my homemade still are the culprits but yup very happy with the results and yes that brandy is coming along nicely, as i am gradually cutting it down from 61% to 40% at a rate of 7% drop every month for the next 3 months that is the plan i wish you could sample it and that shine i filtered as i would love to get honest opinion from an expert in the field or ppl who have the experience to tell me their views on it and exchange ideas thank you for your replies and input bro
@@milehidistilling1 one more thing please "You might also turn your spirit green or blue from alkaline." im confused, i thought acid is the problem in this case not base or alkaline?
Fair enough point, Dennis. Copper will be more expensive in pretty much every instance. It's just in the nature of the material. On average (at least at our shop) copper will run about $50-$100 more depending on the still as opposed to it's stainless counterpart.
6:32 QUESTION: - I would like to know, how can you clean a copper condenser? - If I take a copper condenser and use it with a stainless steel still, will the moonshine come out cloudy with a copper condenser? Thanks
I would highly recommend you check out a video I did on this, here's a quick link for you: ruclips.net/video/BFujq5nCXPA/видео.html. Nope, it shouldn't come out cloudy provided that condenser isn't too cold and adding water/oxygen into the distillate by being too cold
I am confused how you managed to hold botanicles in a sight glass, also how much copper wadding did you put in the still, can you explain please, great video, always use stainless,
I back roll the copper until it's a little bit smaller than my diameter of the tower and stuff it in. I typically only use one roll like that in a still. I know a lot of people that do two rolls like that, and I would think that's the most common way.
For an even playing field, couldn't you have used stainless or ceramic paking in both? That way, the difference is just the stills. You'll have some reflux in copper still with packing, versus almost none in your S/S one
Hey, Joe. Stainless and ceramic packing tend to strip flavor so we felt that this would hinder the flavor results more than anything. You do make a good point on the passive reflux on the copper unit, though. We did end up using the copper packing in the stainless unit later on in the video, though. So, I think our results might've evened out then.
Hey, Marshall. I left things up the main welder to decide, so apologies you never got an answer back. I'll talk with him personally and get back with you.
@@TopFitnessStrategies Hmm, that's strange. It could be the element is starting to go. Do you change the element probe out occasionally with a new one or are you using the same probe that came with the unit? Has the unit always heated that slowly?
That copper set up sure does dazzle me though, there's just something about copper...probably the ease of working it, soldering is easy for me.... not everybody has a welder, plus I like making parts myself. Great video Boo & Team. Cheers from 👍🦘.
It's the legend Garry! What's going on? Sure with you on that, you can't beat how pretty that copper is. I wish it could stay that way all the time, though!
@@garrymcgaw4745 Hahah! I learned some new Australian slang today because of you, thanks! We don't want to wife up the pretty to look at but high maintenance Sheila, we want the dependable Sheila!
Cheers! Thanks for the content
Cheers my broski!
Love the honesty, effort, and content man. Keep it up!
Absolutely we will. Thanks so much for the support!
Went straight stainless years ago will never look back. I love it.
I love both materials for different reasons, but I definitely prefer to run my stainless setup more than the copper just to avoid that extra cleaning and I've gotten some great flavor out of my full stainless runs too!
I hate to get into the weeds over semantics, but copper is a great conductor of heat, not retainer. That's why your distillate on the copper condenser was cooler - the copper was transferring heat better.
Actually, I think that's really what you meant to just used the wrong word.
Keep'em coming!
Thanks for the correction, brother! Yes, this is what I technically meant. Thanks for watching!
Excellent side by side video! I run stainless glad I made a good choice.
Thanks a lot, Thomas! I hope you're enjoying your runs on that stainless beauty!
Thank you!
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
Great job Boo. Cheers from Jamaica W. I.
Big ups, my brotha! Thanks for watching!
You guys are freaking awesome. Jus sayin
Thanks so much, my man! I'm glad you enjoy the videos!
You could have easily added a stainless steel packing in the SS still column to keep both equal. The Proof difference may be a temperature difference with the copper vs SS column adding more of a reflux to up the proof a bit.
Stainless packing I felt would've stripped too much flavor. SS packing will strip more flavor than copper packing, so i was worried this would be unfair to the stainless side for flavor. Yeah, fair point on the temperature difference!
Copper does not retain heat better than stainless. Copper conducts heat better. You are not heating the copper, you are heating the liquid inside the kettle. As the water heats up, the copper conducts the heat to the outside walls where it will heat the ambient air. If you want to heat your still faster, put an insulated jacket around it.
Fair point, I didn't realize I wasn't using the correct word. Thanks.
Thanks for your effort. I think it is time to make an optimal hybrid project both copper and steel for next episode as you said at the end of the video
Thanks for watching and for the support!
What was your ratio? Mash gallons vs still gallon size?
This was a 6.5 gallon batch size in each boiler. We fermented at 6.5 gallon in each bucket. We were sitting about 9% ABV in each fermentation, I believe.
i been using a stainless pressure cooker for my homemade pot still and all my shine have this signature slightly off bad taste and smell like the wet cardboard and rubber band in water both smells and taste which had a slight bitterness and astringency , i try and reduce the wet cardboard by making better tail cuts but that rubber band is still there no matter how i refind or polish my shine until i started putting in a few copper plates into my pot letting them lay on the bottom and of course my worm is copper, after my stripping run (without foreshots)i would leave the low wine in the pot with the copper for a day then do the final spirit run and my shine came out pleasant smelling and tasting like it came from the store and that wet rubber band thing was gone so i was assuming this may have been fusil or sulphur that the copper took care of,, now my question is can i store my finished moonshine even at 74% in a glass container with those copper plates in it? can you store shine in copper container safely or does it leach or does it help keep the shine clean? i heard it is bad even to store water and others say it is good so please give me your thought on this because i decided to rest some shine i made in copper for a few months and it has been almost a day now id like to know should i leave it or remove the copper?
As I was reading this, I was thinking it was from lack of copper, so glad you found the solution that way!
I would not recommend storing in copper at all. Do I know without a doubt that something will happen? No. But, copper is a porous material and is also a toxic material in large doses. Out of the list of things I can see going wrong, one might be getting you poisoned by doing this. You might also turn your spirit green or blue from alkaline. There's just too many things I could see going wrong to approve of it, but it's not to say that I know the answer 100%.
@@milehidistilling1 well let me tell you what i decided to do before i even read your reply, i removed the copper after further research and reading that alc may be acidic or near alkaline up to 7.3 (vodkas) so it varies and i did not want to risk it like you said turn green or blue or get excessive leashing (although not sure how alkaline would do that as you said?) , i then took the shine and chilled it in the freezer to about 6 deg C and filtered it trough a small funnel that had a small piece of cosmetic cotton in the tip
and was about 1/4 filled with britta coal, so my version of chill filtration, it was a long slow process drip by drip but my god the results were day and night in difference and solved all my problems, all the nasty funky smell, bitterness, spiciness, heat , signature off taste like an old wine cork taste etc went away leaving me with a with a wonderful polished product that was smelling more like either a good vodka or bacardi white rum but much better tasting neat, i am so proud of myself to discover this that is what i
love about this hobby and all the ideas i get to put to practice and the research and discoveries i make along the way to improve my game and be able to share my secrets with others, sometimes hehe ,,anyways this saved me all those 3 months i was planning to age it lol well ok maybe i sped up the process idk but i might still let it rest age in glass with plenty of headspace ust to see if it changes anything even though this was basically a sugar wash in left over banana mash cast from my prev
distillation it came out amazing with notes of toasted coconuts like a bacardi at the end,, love it budy ,, i wish however i knew what that wino corck smell and taste i usual get is all about or where it comes from is it in the heads or tails? what exactly is it,sulfur or fusel? be nice if i had a buddy with similar hobby to taste my stuff and help figure it out but hey man thank you very much for the feedback and concern i appreciate it , it all worked out for me in the end , this is the best stuff i made so far but my pure apple/pear eau de vie brandy schnapps (no sugar or water)that is coming along might beat it
Great to hear that filtering helped so much! Good job!
I've heard of essential oils having a similar rubber smell, but haven't heard of it in ethanol distillation. My first guess would it be something way late in the tails causing it, something I call a "high boiler" Maybe furfural? Not sure. Anyways, glad it all worked out. Both the brandy and this recipe sound delicious!
@@milehidistilling1 yeah who knows what it is perhaps some of the rubber seal or plastic connector in my homemade still are the culprits but yup very happy with the results and yes that brandy is coming along nicely, as i am gradually cutting it down from 61% to 40% at a rate of 7% drop every month for the next 3 months that is the plan i wish you could sample it and that shine i filtered as i would love to get honest opinion from an expert in the field or ppl who have the experience to tell me their views on it and exchange ideas
thank you for your replies and input bro
@@milehidistilling1 one more thing please
"You might also turn your spirit green or blue from alkaline."
im confused, i thought acid is the problem in this case not base or alkaline?
compare cost?
Fair enough point, Dennis. Copper will be more expensive in pretty much every instance. It's just in the nature of the material. On average (at least at our shop) copper will run about $50-$100 more depending on the still as opposed to it's stainless counterpart.
6:32 QUESTION: - I would like to know, how can you clean a copper condenser?
- If I take a copper condenser and use it with a stainless steel still, will the moonshine come out cloudy with a copper condenser?
Thanks
I would highly recommend you check out a video I did on this, here's a quick link for you: ruclips.net/video/BFujq5nCXPA/видео.html. Nope, it shouldn't come out cloudy provided that condenser isn't too cold and adding water/oxygen into the distillate by being too cold
The hornets got ya a subscription, looking forward to more vids
Sounds like those bastards are good for something, then! Thanks a ton! Glad you enjoyed.
Hey boo how do you guys make the copper shine
Hey, man! We use a buffing machine with a 50 grit buffing compound.
I am confused how you managed to hold botanicles in a sight glass, also how much copper wadding did you put in the still, can you explain please, great video, always use stainless,
Hey, Graham. We use a screened gasket to hold in: milehidistilling.com/product/3-inch-diameter-gasket-with-stainless-steel-screen/
I back roll the copper until it's a little bit smaller than my diameter of the tower and stuff it in. I typically only use one roll like that in a still. I know a lot of people that do two rolls like that, and I would think that's the most common way.
For an even playing field, couldn't you have used stainless or ceramic paking in both? That way, the difference is just the stills.
You'll have some reflux in copper still with packing, versus almost none in your S/S one
Hey, Joe. Stainless and ceramic packing tend to strip flavor so we felt that this would hinder the flavor results more than anything. You do make a good point on the passive reflux on the copper unit, though. We did end up using the copper packing in the stainless unit later on in the video, though. So, I think our results might've evened out then.
Hey Boo, I never heard back from you about my still modifications.? Marshall
Hey, Marshall. I left things up the main welder to decide, so apologies you never got an answer back. I'll talk with him personally and get back with you.
@@milehidistilling1 Thanks for your reply. Sorry it didn't fit your objectives.
I’m leaving a like for sure! lmao
You're a legend, thank you!
Too bad there's no copper 16 or 26 options.
Keep your eyes glued to our site, Doug! We're going to have 16 gallon copper options by hopefully 2025 and the 26 gallons are not too far behind.
What? 20 minutes to heat up that. It takes me 1hour 45 minutes for mine. I have an 8 gallon stainless.
Are you using 110v or 220v? We use 220v and I tend to crank pretty hard during heat up since I get impatient lol.
@@milehidistilling1 I use 110v and it's cranked all the way up!
@@TopFitnessStrategies Wow, that's a little long for a 110v, though. What wattage? Is it an internal element or a hotplate?
@@milehidistilling1 Internal. I got the setup from Mile High about 4 years ago.
@@TopFitnessStrategies Hmm, that's strange. It could be the element is starting to go. Do you change the element probe out occasionally with a new one or are you using the same probe that came with the unit? Has the unit always heated that slowly?
That copper set up sure does dazzle me though, there's just something about copper...probably the ease of working it, soldering is easy for me.... not everybody has a welder, plus I like making parts myself. Great video Boo & Team. Cheers from 👍🦘.
It's the legend Garry! What's going on? Sure with you on that, you can't beat how pretty that copper is. I wish it could stay that way all the time, though!
@@milehidistilling1 It's like a goog looking Sheila... High Maintenance!!! 😉.
@@garrymcgaw4745 Hahah! I learned some new Australian slang today because of you, thanks! We don't want to wife up the pretty to look at but high maintenance Sheila, we want the dependable Sheila!