Quick cleaning tip:. Use a spray of StarSan on copper parts. It will both sanitize and clean the copper. I double the StarSan mix which brightens the copper.
Jesse, I've been watching your videos for about a year and am finally assembling a still. It's fun to see some of your early videos. Still it is a great channel, perfect balance of information and entertainment, though not always in that order.
I just, in the last hour, took possession of a still spirits T500 to run alongside my old reflux pot still. Just refreshing my vinegar run game, dude, this is six years old! Look how far you've come dude! I really appreciate your input into my learning process dude. Thanks... dude. heh (May have said dude a few too many times, but dude, you are definitely a dude when it comes to this shit dude....)
@@nathangrueber9834I usually only do a vinegar run when the condenser is new but after that I do boil it for a long time in water between each run and once every two or three runs I use a super diluted bleach boil, like, a teaspoon of bleach per 5L (sorry, we use metric here) and then boil it in fresh water and rinse, I also use pipe cleaners on condensers that I can but not all of them are easy to clean like that. I just bought a new tower reflux so I will do a vinegar run on that before I clean and use it. Pretty excited! I tried doing a stripping run only running hot water through between runs but by the third run it was getting a bit smelly. It'll clean up in the spirit runs but I wont do that again. Sorry for being so wordy. Whats your process?
@@MrSomethingElse we to be honest ive never run a still. I didnt know how to clean the condenser. It is a stainless pot still. Looks like a silver 20litre boiling pot with a ring clamp to attach the top lid. That lid has a 25mm pipe sticking out with what looks like a copper baked bean tin of copper coil wrapped round it and 4 clear pipes coming off for water etc. The pipes are a bit white and hard and im unsure if clear tube is heat proof or even alcohol safe(cloudy). I ran baking soda solution thru the condenser tubes till it was full And let it soak half hr. Then used raw vinegar. And flushed out some blue water. Then hot water. The 25mm tube i think is steel???? Its rusty. Stainles dont rust unless its impregnated with iron or some dumb bastard used steelo pads on it. Or blood. Aparently theres sopposed to be a big marble in the tube?? And then a cap with a thermometer. Il just jam a cork in it. They say dont use chlorine on stainless. What a load of bolloks!! 316 stainless is non reactive. I should know i make wine tanks. Brewing is not new to me but distilling is. I just dont wanna run bad gin.
@@nathangrueber9834 I was so tempted to get the stainless version of the one I bought for the exact same reason dude! Hey mate, as long as you are "chasing the craft" like Jesse says, then that's all that counts.But yeah the simple answer is "Cleanliness is next to boozeliness". keep it up! Honestly, Jesse is really approachable, ask him if you can send him some pics and get his advice. Wine tanks you say? Damn! Sure could use one of them as a fermenter! hehehhe
@@nathangrueber9834 Hey also, pot stills are relatively inexpensive at the starting level and I bet you probably even sound like you could make some of the parts yourself. I highly recommend watching "The Last Run" with Popcorn Sutton, also MadDaddyMoonshine as an example of someone starting out (even if his rig is ridiculously elaborate) plus, like I said "Still it" is usually where I go for specific stuff, he has a video on just about everything, plus he's a fellow kiwi so I get his stupid humor to a tee, get cracking and best of luck, moonshining is like tattoos, once you start, you never stop.
When I'm building, I clean as I build. That means I clean the crap out everywhere I can reach and polish the parts where needed or wanted. It involves soaking the parts in hot vinegar the night over. After this process, I proceed with a cleaning run like you did. Btw..you want to turn that spout on the end of the product condenser when you actually do a run. The reason is..you won't get any pooling of product, thus no risk for smearing. A vinegar cleaning run should be followed by an alcohol laden run. Just use some crap alcohol you've got or make a cheap sugar wash for the purpose. Cheap wine is also excellent for this. Run a stripping run and a spirit run if you use a wash. Besides cleaning your still, you'll also get the opportunity to get familiar with your rig and play around with things. A still behaves very differently when it runs alcohol, compared to vinegar. A word of caution here....NEVER use rubbing alcohol or denatured Ethanol for this. It will leave some of the bad stuff in the product path and you don't want that. Toss the product collected or use it for other purposes, like cleaning machine parts etc...NEVER be tempted to drink that crap or speculate to re-distill it. All the flux and chemical compounds in the collected product, can't be removed by an amateur without lab grade equipment. So you discard it. Happy stilling...
Thanks dude. I love that people are dropping knowledge in the comments. Its pretty cool that other noobs can find this vid and benefit from them. I did clean and soak all the parts as I went. But now I think I could have done a better job of it at the time. I put the reducer on upside down as I figgered I may as well let the "top" of it get some action now as it certainly wont when in "proper" use haha.
hey sir , how are you. can you please send me an email. i really need some help with my copper still. an no one in my country is a professional... i would appreciate your help
Good videos there bro my question is I see you scrubbed your copper but what about scrubbing the inside of a keg how would you do that and also why do a cleaning alcohol Ron after doing your vinegar run getting ready to do my first keg run
Excellent looking still. You won't regret making it modular, triclamps are the cats meow. If you wanted to keep the exterior looking swanky, buff the copper up shiney, then hit it with a good quality clearcoat paint (be sure to mask over the openings). Some people like the old timey weathered look, but I love shiney copper. Just a thought.
Thanks! And the cats meow eh? haha nice! I had wondered whether to go to the effort of doing that. Im sure at some stage I will do at least a few parts just to see what its like and show people how easy/hard it is. The thought of long term shiny copper is appealing . . . ..
The link to this video is in the Operating Instructions of my Boka Stills as it saves me heaps of time and explaining. Thanks for sharing. Happy distilling.
In my humble opinion, a slanted plates head aka Boka isn't the best solution. I started to build one because everyone seemed to be convinced by that approach. But I wasn't really sure so I decided to have both a Boka head and VM but changed my mind and now only have a gate valve for my VM. I found confirmation of my analysis in Nixon and Mac Caw's "The Compleat Distiller" on page 55... Even in the pot still configuration, I can achieve a good separation thanks to the height/length of my column plus the ratio 3" to 1"...
@@bernarddeham4787 I totally agree with you. No doubt the VM is the best home distiller still you can have. I have built a VM in the past month and tested it and achieved better results with just SS scrubbers than my Boka with SPP! I will have the video of my VM up on my channel tomorrow. Kind regards. Louwrens
Hi Jesse, I just bought my first ever Flute still. Its a 4 section flute still with a 16 gallon boiler. I tried my first vinegar run and I didn't get any vapor or liquid out of my parrot after 2 hours. I'm in tropical Costa Rica, so my re-circulation water was fairly warm. Is that the reason I wasn't getting any output at all? I checked for leaks and didn't have any I could notice. Great videos, you explain everything very well!
Hi Jesse, Thanks so much for your channel, I've just done the vinegar run on my new (first) still. I've got a birdwatchers down now for the sacrificial alcohol run. I've copied your build because after looking around temperature control was important & the flexibility (pot & refraction modes) is also important. For your info, I had way more trouble brazing than you did, & I mean a lot!! But I did tig weld the keg myself & that was a piece of cake, can't be good at everything a lol. Once again thanks for everything you're doing, I'm 2 years behind you, & wanted you to know I'm getting real value from your older posts. Cheers.
Thanks for the video Jesse. How do commercial distilleries clean there equipment though? They obviously don’t break them down piece by piece like this. Is the vinegar run enough?
Very good video Jesse. Safety is paramount in this hobby. Have you chosen a packing material for the column? You may want to pick some up and run it during the sacrificial run. You can use copper or stainless steel scrubbies, marbles, lava rocks, or Spiral Prismatic Packing (SPP). To hold them in place, use a stainless steel mesh dish strainer ($2 - $3) between the column and the boiler.
Thanks :) Looks like you take first place honours this week! haha I was actually just thinking about that last night. I had loosely planned on using stainless scrubbers. and just friction packing them in. I had not yet decided though.
There is no need for packing during the cleaning run and a sacrificial alcohol run...the packing will just get contaminated with the crap he wants to clean out. It's much better to clean the packing material separately. This means boiling the mesh of whatever kind in a solution with vinegar for some time or washing the lava stones after one has broken them into adequate pieces. SPP is hard to get and expensive. However, it's the absolute best material for packing. Marbles can be used, but due to the relatively small surface area, they are not as effective as lava rock.
I ran my lava rock through a water run, vinegar run, then a sacrificial run. Torn down (CCVM/LM column) between each run and checked how clean the 3" copper pipe was. Copper was clean and would just build up a patina. The dime sized lava rocks I kept in a bucket of clean water after each run, never saw nothing bad in the bucket of water. Most of the "crud" (dark color and oils) ended up in the liquid of the boiler on full reflux. SPP is expensive, BigSwede had SPP on ebay for awhile. Have to check the HD forums for his SPP machine he built.
The stainless strainer is strong enough to keep marbles, lava rocks or SPP in place. Copper or Stainless scrubbies usually stay in place like you stated. A densely packed column best. But be sure you can still draw a breath of air through it after packing it. You don't want to make a bomb...
Good advice. A strainer will do the job fine. However, I also run a two-inch column and use a stainless scrubbie to hold my packing material, which would be lava rocks by now. Also, you gave him a good advice regarding how tight to pack the column. A lot of people starting out with a packed still, forget about this little but important detail.
Hey from Alberta, Canada. . great vids on an incredible topic man.. I'm currently at the same stage as you.. vinegar runs done and I gotta start my sacrificial run. curious think you could get some pics of that still set up and design I'm pretty interested in doing the same thing
Awsome video's bro I am new to this and was wondering on a new copper 10 gallon still with thumper do I need to put vinegar in thumper? Also how much vinegar/water mix do I need for a 10 gallon still? I am doing a 50/50 vinegar/water mix keep the video coming bro thanks
Awesome, congrats in the new still mate! I'd say enough to safely run it for about a hr. (Not sure if you are electric etc. I'd put a little in the thumper. Good excuse to give it a test drive anyway ;)
Jesse, I cleaned as video, and a few days later, while waiting for mash, I noticed the inside of copper tubing, was turning green from, I think, oxidation, do you know what may cause it? Do I need to clean it right before each run, it maybe be several weeks between runs???
how bad is it mate? A little discolouration? Or more green than copper? Getting any green in the distillate? And did you do a vinegar/other acid soak before the cleaning runs? Cheers mate ;) Let me know and we can try help out!
OK, i wire brushed first, then ran the vinegar/water, then just water, and 2 or 3 days later the inside of coil was turning green/blue, so I waited till mash ready, and did another vinegar/water run, it cleaned it, then I made my run, it came out clear for first pint-liter, then it started getting cloudy, think my heat got too high, so I quit. Only a 4 gallon boiler so was not looking to get much more anyway. washed it all and put away, back to more studying before I try again, so probably a month or so before I try again, so I guess I will need to do another clean vinegar/water before I try again, just wanted to see if I could build something that would work, looks like it might be better to try and make it all stainless and forget the copper, except for packing.
G'day mate, why do you not have insulation around your column. I have my full 1.5 meter column insulated with 15 mm black polystyrene type pipe. Has my column at 74 to 84 degrees (my liquid taking temps) for less time, which can taking 5 plus hours to brew 37 liters of wash. Cheers.
+ausiewood huh, nice name btw! A few people pointed it out to me. Makes a whole lotta sense now that I think about it (didn't even cross my mind before haha). I have been using a camping mat (weird I know! Haha). But I think I need to upgrade that to something pretty similar to what you have! Cheers for the tip dude!!
would you recommend doing the same run on a T500 out the box? or what about running a sacrificial wash as my first run? I was thinking of adding an old bottle of spirts with a load of water?
I tried to clean my new rig today, I don’t know if I’m getting older or because it’s in my garage but the idea of that thing building up high pressure steam and blowing up my house with my son inside scared me and I turned it back off...lol I’m sure it’s all in my head but the fear of a blockage or something got to me when my temperature got to about 240 degrees, but my thumper was load. I think I’m going to charge it with compressed air tomorrow just to check flow. I’m a union pipefitter and I deal with this type of stuff all the time so I’m not exactly sure why I was so freaked out by this today.
Thanks Stan. Every week ;) Just before I started putting the still together I was looking at both brazing and solder. In the end, things just lined up easier to get into brazing. I had a few people that knew their stuff offering advice directly and I was able to source everything I needed for brazing easier (and cheaper). Once I started learning to braze it just made sense to keep on using it. So in short. Soft solder will do the job as well :) At some stage, I will set my self up to try soft solder too. Just so I can compare the two.
Love you column and condenser, where did you buy all your stainless fittings and clamps, could you please send me the list of what you use and the supplier please! I hope your spirits taste great. I made my own PID controller, and it works great
Props on making a PID thats cool. The people I bought the stainless fittings from are no longer selling them. Im working on getting a resource togeather to help out with this kinda thing though!
+Garry Gowin in this video it was doing absolutely nothing. Just getting exposed to the hot vapor. In ccvm mode it is the reflux condenser. But you adjust reflux ratio with it's position rather than the amount of water flowing through it. Does that answer your question man? Sing out if not :)
+MrCoop of corse not! Ask away :) hmmm actually don't remember. But I know it normally takes around 1hr to heat up a run now. This would have taken a touch longer. Perhaps 70-80min.
another good vid. almost there. can't wait to see your first run. time to start your sugar mash, or use some left over alcohol. i remember my first run, i used left over wine from a wedding. box wine worked great and it was free.
Thanks man! I have the "birdwatchers" ready to go for cleaning run. I also have 20L of beer to run. Thinking of doing another 25l AG wash to add to the beer for the first "real" run.
This brew is only about 4.3% I think. But I guess I may as well use it. Other wise its going down the drain haha. It's actually not bad at all. A kit and kilo that didn't quite hit the mark. Still totally drinkable as beer. Just a little average.
Nothing wrong with4.3. Just remember that your volume won't be huge. might I add that when you run the wash, save the heads and tails and run them with the beer.
I would be doing some cleaning on it for sure, unless you know the manafacturer did it already. Dang good question tho. Seems like a trap that one huh!
@@StillIt Yeah I'll certainly give it a thorough wipedown and all, and will do a run with pure water just so the steam can flush out the pipes, but was hoping to get around the vinegar infusion ;-) But thanks for the quick reply, really appreciated!
Yeah I hear you. It's the residue of manafacturer I would be cautious of. Mostly the flux, so I'd say a acid bath plus small sacrificial run personaly :)
hello. i really need some help. guys my condenser coil is really dirty, i have ran several good vinegar runs and still it gives off copper smell and color to my alcohol. i am from a middle eastern country where alcoholic beverages are banned therefore i make some for my self. inside the coil is black. can i use hydrochloride acid to clean it ? if yes how should i proceed. thanks for your replies ....
try using the pectic enzyme to soak your copper parts j don't have a copper still, but use copper filling and I let it soak in pectic and water mix, it works great just rinse with water, no taste or smell
Hi! And thanks for your work, I'm actually doing my second (small) vinegar cleaning run, and the liquid coming out is still blueish.. I guess it is the copper oxyde.. Do I keep distilling vinegar until it's clear, or should I use a different cleaning method? Thank you!
+peace maker in this case it was doing absolutely nothing. It was just in there to get cleaned :) But it goes down the top when in ccvm mode to act as the reflux condenser.
Thanks man! I would say the answer to that would vary greatly depending on sanitation prior to ferment. And how it's being stored afterward. The main concern would be that all your hard made alcohol ends up as vinegar. Or perhaps a super funky infection. Im going to guess that autolysis isn't a big problem for distillers but perhaps check that though? Think of it this way. How long does wine/beer/cider keep for after fermentation? Its pretty much the same stuff right. Its a pretty stable product, as long as you look after it :)
+walt braden you just want to make sure you don't run it dry. How is it heated? Gass it electric? If electric make sure your elements are still wet too.
Yeah, definitely worth while. Normally I'd go with a half boilers worth. Whatever the cheapest way is to get alcohol for you. 2 buck Chuck or sugar head.
I found that if I take even a neutral in and out of the freezer with Oak chips, exposed then to sunlight for a couple of days, and repeat, I get fantastic results within a month. Going to look at making a smoker to make my own wood chips as we have plenty of White Oak in my area. Keep up the great work, absolutely fantastic videos. I've done a ton of reading and your information has always been spot-on.
hey is that copper pipes if so u really should shut that down because of the fact that vinegar an copper makes copper oxide a very lethal vapor based gas
Well, I tried a vinegar run and did the things in the wrong order... This just because using vinegar is so common in the kitchen that I wasn't concerned. My still started to produce steam (pure water steam) after one hour, it's a 100-litre boiler with a 3" column (Stainless steel), no packing material, pure pot still configuration (my other option is VM with a reflux condenser) . I then checked the internet and found that acetic acid boils at 117,9°C, and also that pure acetic acid is quite a nasty product. I would recommend to fill the copper parts with a mixture of table salt and vinegar and leave it overnight. That vinegar run does not make any sense to me. Here a link to a short video about my vinegar run attempt: yadi.sk/i/vwjfiqupbXqXUQ
Quick cleaning tip:. Use a spray of StarSan on copper parts. It will both sanitize and clean the copper. I double the StarSan mix which brightens the copper.
Jesse, I've been watching your videos for about a year and am finally assembling a still. It's fun to see some of your early videos. Still it is a great channel, perfect balance of information and entertainment, though not always in that order.
I just, in the last hour, took possession of a still spirits T500 to run alongside my old reflux pot still. Just refreshing my vinegar run game, dude, this is six years old! Look how far you've come dude! I really appreciate your input into my learning process dude. Thanks... dude. heh (May have said dude a few too many times, but dude, you are definitely a dude when it comes to this shit dude....)
Hey do you do a vinegar run every time you do a run?
And do you hafta do an alcohol run every time you clean it?
@@nathangrueber9834I usually only do a vinegar run when the condenser is new but after that I do boil it for a long time in water between each run and once every two or three runs I use a super diluted bleach boil, like, a teaspoon of bleach per 5L (sorry, we use metric here) and then boil it in fresh water and rinse, I also use pipe cleaners on condensers that I can but not all of them are easy to clean like that. I just bought a new tower reflux so I will do a vinegar run on that before I clean and use it. Pretty excited! I tried doing a stripping run only running hot water through between runs but by the third run it was getting a bit smelly. It'll clean up in the spirit runs but I wont do that again. Sorry for being so wordy. Whats your process?
@@MrSomethingElse we to be honest ive never run a still. I didnt know how to clean the condenser.
It is a stainless pot still.
Looks like a silver 20litre boiling pot with a ring clamp to attach the top lid. That lid has a 25mm pipe sticking out with what looks like a copper baked bean tin of copper coil wrapped round it and 4 clear pipes coming off for water etc.
The pipes are a bit white and hard and im unsure if clear tube is heat proof or even alcohol safe(cloudy).
I ran baking soda solution thru the condenser tubes till it was full
And let it soak half hr.
Then used raw vinegar. And flushed out some blue water.
Then hot water.
The 25mm tube i think is steel????
Its rusty. Stainles dont rust unless its impregnated with iron or some dumb bastard used steelo pads on it. Or blood.
Aparently theres sopposed to be a big marble in the tube?? And then a cap with a thermometer. Il just jam a cork in it. They say dont use chlorine on stainless. What a load of bolloks!!
316 stainless is non reactive. I should know i make wine tanks.
Brewing is not new to me but distilling is. I just dont wanna run bad gin.
@@nathangrueber9834 I was so tempted to get the stainless version of the one I bought for the exact same reason dude! Hey mate, as long as you are "chasing the craft" like Jesse says, then that's all that counts.But yeah the simple answer is "Cleanliness is next to boozeliness". keep it up! Honestly, Jesse is really approachable, ask him if you can send him some pics and get his advice. Wine tanks you say? Damn! Sure could use one of them as a fermenter! hehehhe
@@nathangrueber9834 Hey also, pot stills are relatively inexpensive at the starting level and I bet you probably even sound like you could make some of the parts yourself. I highly recommend watching "The Last Run" with Popcorn Sutton, also MadDaddyMoonshine as an example of someone starting out (even if his rig is ridiculously elaborate) plus, like I said "Still it" is usually where I go for specific stuff, he has a video on just about everything, plus he's a fellow kiwi so I get his stupid humor to a tee, get cracking and best of luck, moonshining is like tattoos, once you start, you never stop.
Love Watching these early videos.. you've come.along way.. and had many ventures.. I've enjoyed watching and learning.. Thanx Jessie
When I'm building, I clean as I build. That means I clean the crap out everywhere I can reach and polish the parts where needed or wanted.
It involves soaking the parts in hot vinegar the night over. After this process, I proceed with a cleaning run like you did. Btw..you want to turn that spout on the end of the product condenser when you actually do a run. The reason is..you won't get any pooling of product, thus no risk for smearing.
A vinegar cleaning run should be followed by an alcohol laden run. Just use some crap alcohol you've got or make a cheap sugar wash for the purpose. Cheap wine is also excellent for this. Run a stripping run and a spirit run if you use a wash. Besides cleaning your still, you'll also get the opportunity to get familiar with your rig and play around with things. A still behaves very differently when it runs alcohol, compared to vinegar.
A word of caution here....NEVER use rubbing alcohol or denatured Ethanol for this. It will leave some of the bad stuff in the product path and you don't want that. Toss the product collected or use it for other purposes, like cleaning machine parts etc...NEVER be tempted to drink that crap or speculate to re-distill it. All the flux and chemical compounds in the collected product, can't be removed by an amateur without lab grade equipment. So you discard it.
Happy stilling...
Thanks dude. I love that people are dropping knowledge in the comments. Its pretty cool that other noobs can find this vid and benefit from them.
I did clean and soak all the parts as I went. But now I think I could have done a better job of it at the time.
I put the reducer on upside down as I figgered I may as well let the "top" of it get some action now as it certainly wont when in "proper" use haha.
hey sir , how are you. can you please send me an email. i really need some help with my copper still. an no one in my country is a professional... i would appreciate your help
Good videos there bro my question is I see you scrubbed your copper but what about scrubbing the inside of a keg how would you do that and also why do a cleaning alcohol Ron after doing your vinegar run getting ready to do my first keg run
Excellent looking still. You won't regret making it modular, triclamps are the cats meow.
If you wanted to keep the exterior looking swanky, buff the copper up shiney, then hit it with a good quality clearcoat paint (be sure to mask over the openings). Some people like the old timey weathered look, but I love shiney copper. Just a thought.
Thanks!
And the cats meow eh? haha nice!
I had wondered whether to go to the effort of doing that. Im sure at some stage I will do at least a few parts just to see what its like and show people how easy/hard it is.
The thought of long term shiny copper is appealing . . . ..
The link to this video is in the Operating Instructions of my Boka Stills as it saves me heaps of time and explaining. Thanks for sharing. Happy distilling.
Nice man, appreciate it! I'd anyone is reading his and thinking of building. Your going to want to see Louwrens vids!
In my humble opinion, a slanted plates head aka Boka isn't the best solution. I started to build one because everyone seemed to be convinced by that approach. But I wasn't really sure so I decided to have both a Boka head and VM but changed my mind and now only have a gate valve for my VM. I found confirmation of my analysis in Nixon and Mac Caw's "The Compleat Distiller" on page 55... Even in the pot still configuration, I can achieve a good separation thanks to the height/length of my column plus the ratio 3" to 1"...
@@bernarddeham4787 I totally agree with you. No doubt the VM is the best home distiller still you can have. I have built a VM in the past month and tested it and achieved better results with just SS scrubbers than my Boka with SPP! I will have the video of my VM up on my channel tomorrow. Kind regards. Louwrens
Hi Jesse, I just bought my first ever Flute still. Its a 4 section flute still with a 16 gallon boiler. I tried my first vinegar run and I didn't get any vapor or liquid out of my parrot after 2 hours. I'm in tropical Costa Rica, so my re-circulation water was fairly warm. Is that the reason I wasn't getting any output at all? I checked for leaks and didn't have any I could notice. Great videos, you explain everything very well!
Hi Jesse,
Thanks so much for your channel, I've just done the vinegar run on my new (first) still. I've got a birdwatchers down now for the sacrificial alcohol run.
I've copied your build because after looking around temperature control was important & the flexibility (pot & refraction modes) is also important.
For your info, I had way more trouble brazing than you did, & I mean a lot!! But I did tig weld the keg myself & that was a piece of cake, can't be good at everything a lol.
Once again thanks for everything you're doing, I'm 2 years behind you, & wanted you to know I'm getting real value from your older posts.
Cheers.
Cheers mate, about to do my own vinegar run. Ccvm in stainless.
Thanks for the video Jesse. How do commercial distilleries clean there equipment though? They obviously don’t break them down piece by piece like this. Is the vinegar run enough?
What is the total volume of the vinegar solution that we should use for the cleaning run?
Can i substitute citric acid for vinegar?
Oh yes and after a vinegar is a sacrificial run of spirits after necessary?
If i didnt solder anything on my still is a vinegar run and a sacrificial run still mandatory?
Very good video Jesse. Safety is paramount in this hobby.
Have you chosen a packing material for the column?
You may want to pick some up and run it during the sacrificial run. You can use copper or stainless steel scrubbies, marbles, lava rocks, or Spiral Prismatic Packing (SPP). To hold them in place, use a stainless steel mesh dish strainer ($2 - $3) between the column and the boiler.
Thanks :) Looks like you take first place honours this week! haha
I was actually just thinking about that last night. I had loosely planned on using stainless scrubbers. and just friction packing them in. I had not yet decided though.
There is no need for packing during the cleaning run and a sacrificial alcohol run...the packing will just get contaminated with the crap he wants to clean out.
It's much better to clean the packing material separately. This means boiling the mesh of whatever kind in a solution with vinegar for some time or washing the lava stones after one has broken them into adequate pieces. SPP is hard to get and expensive. However, it's the absolute best material for packing. Marbles can be used, but due to the relatively small surface area, they are not as effective as lava rock.
I ran my lava rock through a water run, vinegar run, then a sacrificial run. Torn down (CCVM/LM column) between each run and checked how clean the 3" copper pipe was. Copper was clean and would just build up a patina. The dime sized lava rocks I kept in a bucket of clean water after each run, never saw nothing bad in the bucket of water. Most of the "crud" (dark color and oils) ended up in the liquid of the boiler on full reflux.
SPP is expensive, BigSwede had SPP on ebay for awhile. Have to check the HD forums for his SPP machine he built.
The stainless strainer is strong enough to keep marbles, lava rocks or SPP in place. Copper or Stainless scrubbies usually stay in place like you stated. A densely packed column best. But be sure you can still draw a breath of air through it after packing it. You don't want to make a bomb...
Good advice. A strainer will do the job fine.
However, I also run a two-inch column and use a stainless scrubbie to hold my packing material, which would be lava rocks by now.
Also, you gave him a good advice regarding how tight to pack the column. A lot of people starting out with a packed still, forget about this little but important detail.
Hey from Alberta, Canada. . great vids on an incredible topic man.. I'm currently at the same stage as you.. vinegar runs done and I gotta start my sacrificial run.
curious think you could get some pics of that still set up and design I'm pretty interested in doing the same thing
+coldrone awesome!! Congrats on the build!!
Flick me a message on FB if you want man. Happy to send through whatever you need :)
How come you dont run the condenser flat out?
Awsome video's bro I am new to this and was wondering on a new copper 10 gallon still with thumper do I need to put vinegar in thumper? Also how much vinegar/water mix do I need for a 10 gallon still? I am doing a 50/50 vinegar/water mix keep the video coming bro thanks
Awesome, congrats in the new still mate!
I'd say enough to safely run it for about a hr. (Not sure if you are electric etc. I'd put a little in the thumper. Good excuse to give it a test drive anyway ;)
Jesse, I cleaned as video, and a few days later, while waiting for mash, I noticed the inside of copper tubing, was turning green from, I think, oxidation, do you know what may cause it? Do I need to clean it right before each run, it maybe be several weeks between runs???
how bad is it mate? A little discolouration? Or more green than copper? Getting any green in the distillate?
And did you do a vinegar/other acid soak before the cleaning runs? Cheers mate ;) Let me know and we can try help out!
OK, i wire brushed first, then ran the vinegar/water, then just water, and 2 or 3 days later the inside of coil was turning green/blue, so I waited till mash ready, and did another vinegar/water run, it cleaned it, then I made my run, it came out clear for first pint-liter, then it started getting cloudy, think my heat got too high, so I quit. Only a 4 gallon boiler so was not looking to get much more anyway. washed it all and put away, back to more studying before I try again, so probably a month or so before I try again, so I guess I will need to do another clean vinegar/water before I try again, just wanted to see if I could build something that would work, looks like it might be better to try and make it all stainless and forget the copper, except for packing.
G'day mate, why do you not have insulation around your column. I have my full 1.5 meter column insulated with 15 mm black polystyrene type pipe. Has my column at 74 to 84 degrees (my liquid taking temps) for less time, which can taking 5 plus hours to brew 37 liters of wash.
Cheers.
+ausiewood huh, nice name btw!
A few people pointed it out to me. Makes a whole lotta sense now that I think about it (didn't even cross my mind before haha).
I have been using a camping mat (weird I know! Haha). But I think I need to upgrade that to something pretty similar to what you have! Cheers for the tip dude!!
would you recommend doing the same run on a T500 out the box?
or what about running a sacrificial wash as my first run?
I was thinking of adding an old bottle of spirts with a load of water?
I'm wondering about the same thing but if I was going to do a sacrificial alcohol run I would probably use cheap boxed wine
QUESTION CAN I KEEP RUNNIG MY MASH IF I DONT STOP THE POT?
Why do you do a vinegar run does the sacrificial spirit run not clean everything better than vinegar will?
I tried to clean my new rig today, I don’t know if I’m getting older or because it’s in my garage but the idea of that thing building up high pressure steam and blowing up my house with my son inside scared me and I turned it back off...lol
I’m sure it’s all in my head but the fear of a blockage or something got to me when my temperature got to about 240 degrees, but my thumper was load.
I think I’m going to charge it with compressed air tomorrow just to check flow. I’m a union pipefitter and I deal with this type of stuff all the time so I’m not exactly sure why I was so freaked out by this today.
Is the process the same for stainless?
Why winegar and not citric acid?
Love the videos. Keep them coming. I have a question when making the shotgun condenser, why use brazing rods on the inside pipes...why not solder?
Thanks Stan. Every week ;)
Just before I started putting the still together I was looking at both brazing and solder. In the end, things just lined up easier to get into brazing. I had a few people that knew their stuff offering advice directly and I was able to source everything I needed for brazing easier (and cheaper). Once I started learning to braze it just made sense to keep on using it.
So in short. Soft solder will do the job as well :)
At some stage, I will set my self up to try soft solder too. Just so I can compare the two.
Love you column and condenser, where did you buy all your stainless fittings and clamps, could you please send me the list of what you use and the supplier please! I hope your spirits taste great. I made my own PID controller, and it works great
Props on making a PID thats cool.
The people I bought the stainless fittings from are no longer selling them. Im working on getting a resource togeather to help out with this kinda thing though!
How do you clean your still after using it. Mostly the column part
Watse suur het jy gebruik om flux op te los en wat was konsentrasie?
Hey mate, how long did you run the vinegar? Surely it doesn’t have to be the whole 4hours?
So is the coil taking the place of an upper condenser in a reflux? That seams way easier and run it through a bung to top off the tower .
+Garry Gowin in this video it was doing absolutely nothing. Just getting exposed to the hot vapor.
In ccvm mode it is the reflux condenser. But you adjust reflux ratio with it's position rather than the amount of water flowing through it.
Does that answer your question man? Sing out if not :)
If you don't mind me asking how long did it take to heat the pot and see steam
+MrCoop of corse not! Ask away :)
hmmm actually don't remember. But I know it normally takes around 1hr to heat up a run now. This would have taken a touch longer. Perhaps 70-80min.
another good vid. almost there. can't wait to see your first run. time to start your sugar mash, or use some left over alcohol. i remember my first run, i used left over wine from a wedding. box wine worked great and it was free.
Thanks man!
I have the "birdwatchers" ready to go for cleaning run. I also have 20L of beer to run. Thinking of doing another 25l AG wash to add to the beer for the first "real" run.
I've used old beer before and it works great. only down side is it is usually no more than 6%. so you're only looking at around few liters
This brew is only about 4.3% I think. But I guess I may as well use it. Other wise its going down the drain haha.
It's actually not bad at all. A kit and kilo that didn't quite hit the mark. Still totally drinkable as beer. Just a little average.
Nothing wrong with4.3. Just remember that your volume won't be huge. might I add that when you run the wash, save the heads and tails and run them with the beer.
Do you think buying a commercially available (home) still requires a full cleaning run as well, or is it generally safe to skip?
I would be doing some cleaning on it for sure, unless you know the manafacturer did it already. Dang good question tho. Seems like a trap that one huh!
@@StillIt Yeah I'll certainly give it a thorough wipedown and all, and will do a run with pure water just so the steam can flush out the pipes, but was hoping to get around the vinegar infusion ;-)
But thanks for the quick reply, really appreciated!
Yeah I hear you.
It's the residue of manafacturer I would be cautious of. Mostly the flux, so I'd say a acid bath plus small sacrificial run personaly :)
@@StillIt Gotcha, going to play it safe then as well. Thanks a ton!
@@StillIt what did you use for your acid bath? Just vinegar or a commercial acid wash
What size port is that on the top...thanks for the post
hello. i really need some help. guys my condenser coil is really dirty, i have ran several good vinegar runs and still it gives off copper smell and color to my alcohol. i am from a middle eastern country where alcoholic beverages are banned therefore i make some for my self. inside the coil is black. can i use hydrochloride acid to clean it ? if yes how should i proceed. thanks for your replies ....
I know it's a year old post but 7se citric acid and hot water. Completely submerge it and soak it for a while. Rinse thourghly in hot water
Thanks for video. I want to suggest slow heat up and run at first.
Noted
try using the pectic enzyme to soak your copper parts j don't have a copper still, but use copper filling and I let it soak in pectic and water mix, it works great just rinse with water, no taste or smell
Hey mate, just a quick question. Finding parts in NZ can be really expensive. I was wondering where you located your tri clamps and from?
Yeah, dude, tell me about it!
I found that the steel and tube in Palmy is fairly decent. Other than that its Ali Express mate.
I bought mine on Ebay (from China) and on aliexpress.
Hi! And thanks for your work, I'm actually doing my second (small) vinegar cleaning run, and the liquid coming out is still blueish.. I guess it is the copper oxyde.. Do I keep distilling vinegar until it's clear, or should I use a different cleaning method?
Thank you!
I don’t think your getting a awnser lol
Hi Jesse, is this first water/ vinegar cleaning run needed for a brand new Turbo 500 or would they be ready to go straight out of the box?
Yeah I would do it for sure
Hi Jesse.. What is the purpose of the graham coil condenser?
+peace maker in this case it was doing absolutely nothing. It was just in there to get cleaned :)
But it goes down the top when in ccvm mode to act as the reflux condenser.
Do I need to do this to a still I bought of amazon?
Yes
How big a sacrificial run do you need to run? 1 gallon of wash? More?
Half fill the still should do it :)
@@StillIt thanks
Sonic bath works great for smaller parts!
Nice! . . . Wish I had one :)
I built one of those tools... Dang the work awesome!!
Nice work dude! Question do you know how long a fermented wash will last with out distilling it ? 🥃
Thanks man!
I would say the answer to that would vary greatly depending on sanitation prior to ferment. And how it's being stored afterward.
The main concern would be that all your hard made alcohol ends up as vinegar. Or perhaps a super funky infection. Im going to guess that autolysis isn't a big problem for distillers but perhaps check that though?
Think of it this way. How long does wine/beer/cider keep for after fermentation? Its pretty much the same stuff right. Its a pretty stable product, as long as you look after it :)
What about kombucha vinegar?
I mean sure. But . .. . wouldnt that be rather $$$$?
Hey Jesse how you used a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water so how much vinegar did you use?
+Eric Kidd I can't remember exactly how much it was. I went with Enough to comfortably cover the elements so perhaps 7L of vinegar.
Awesome thanks man. I appreciate your help
Any time man :)
MEANING I GOT 4 GALCOOKER RUN 3GAL WASH IF I KEEP RUNNING IS IT SAFE
+walt braden you just want to make sure you don't run it dry. How is it heated? Gass it electric? If electric make sure your elements are still wet too.
Just got the 2000th Like!! Fun stuff. The videos a big help too!
Do you mean louwrens? as the "kiwi"guy?
Sorry, to be honest this was a long time ago and I dont 100% remember the referance. But he is a good bloke for sure.
Kill the condenser water for part of your vinegar run so you get that steam all the way to the end of the condenser.
Yip :)
How about cleaning a stainless still for the first time
Same deal :)
@@StillIt thank you
sacrificial alcohol wash ?? how much are we talking about wasting in the name of cleanliness ?? Interested as I just got me a 2nd hand 5lt ...
Yeah, definitely worth while.
Normally I'd go with a half boilers worth. Whatever the cheapest way is to get alcohol for you. 2 buck Chuck or sugar head.
thx for the video,its very helpful the beginner like me
+Yuen Ls no problem man!
Thanks! A very informative video
Choice Jesse. Now you're going to have to get some seasoned oak barrels to make the good stuff :)
hahaha I think perhaps chips/staves / etc will be more my speed for a wee while. But I shal keep an eye out for a barrel too.
Still It actually, I really want to see how the staves work out for you. Following with interest.
Me too dude. I dont even have any yet! haha.
Looking to change that soon though :)
I found that if I take even a neutral in and out of the freezer with Oak chips, exposed then to sunlight for a couple of days, and repeat, I get fantastic results within a month. Going to look at making a smoker to make my own wood chips as we have plenty of White Oak in my area. Keep up the great work, absolutely fantastic videos. I've done a ton of reading and your information has always been spot-on.
SWEET!!!! Great Job Jesse! That condenser has some serious jump. Couldn't believe how fast in knocked the vapor down. Great video dude:-)>
+Bearded & Bored thanks man :) . . . . There was a cut in there hahaha. I took about 15 sec out. Thought the video was dragging a bit ;)
Thanks for the tips
you're welcome
Still It
I've been enjoying your videos man, keep it up.
Thanks man. Just about to get to the fun stuff :) haha
Still It
looking forward to it.
my condencer get really hot during any run I do. I have it circulating with a pond pump and ive tried icing the water down but still really hot
What is the distillate coming out of it like? Is that cool enough? That's really what matters.
hey is that copper pipes if so u really should shut that down because of the fact that vinegar an copper makes copper oxide a very lethal vapor based gas
+directive me I think we are good considering cu20 boils at 2000c. ;)
yep just a heads up best of luck with the still
+directive me cheers man ;)
THANK YOU
+walt braden no probs 😁
Just did a vinegar run, and gotta say, it tasted like crap...
Well yes. . . It's vinegar haha
But did you get a buzz?
@@StillIt she said crap not vinager. hahaha
Good stuff.
Useful that.💪
Aye had an awesome week too
Well, I tried a vinegar run and did the things in the wrong order... This just because using vinegar is so common in the kitchen that I wasn't concerned. My still started to produce steam (pure water steam) after one hour, it's a 100-litre boiler with a 3" column (Stainless steel), no packing material, pure pot still configuration (my other option is VM with a reflux condenser) . I then checked the internet and found that acetic acid boils at 117,9°C, and also that pure acetic acid is quite a nasty product. I would recommend to fill the copper parts with a mixture of table salt and vinegar and leave it overnight. That vinegar run does not make any sense to me. Here a link to a short video about my vinegar run attempt: yadi.sk/i/vwjfiqupbXqXUQ
Safety first
Hydrogen paroxide i think name get ride all that in seconds mix with citric acid
I bet that shed smelled sour.
Nice hat
Man, stop waving that hand around like you do. I am always ducking.😮
I liked your video, the only DRIP I can see is YOU!....kidding I am from across the pond in Aussie
A lot of blahblahblah before you get to the vinegar story ---sheesh
I cant focus on what he says only on how much his hands are constantly waving around... I've never before seen any person like this.
Look out for those hands. Have a mind of their own!
Go talk to some Italians😊 Italian gas got to be the best language, bar none, to have an argument in!
Trying too hard on that intro.