Copper Still

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imanseau

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Ok, so my brew buddy came across a ten gallon copper still today. He is going to pick it up tomorrow. It is a steal at $125 from what I can tell online. My question is "what can we do with this". We are both new only 4 batches in. Any ideas?

I know this is at the bottom!

Well, I was not thinking of shine. The thought did at one time cross my mind. I looked into it. Well as we all know, not so legal. I happen to have a job that illegal things can cost me that paycheck. So with that said I am sticking to beer, the legal aspect of alcohol. I will post a pic of exactly what it looks like when he gets it. Maybe help with the ideas. I was thinking of a brew kettle, also was wondering about fermentation? Is the copper good/bad/or indifferent? I know I can find some use for a 10 gallon something.

Please stick to beer topics! I don't want this topic to be removed, shine is not my goal here!
 
dissasemble it and use the copper pot for a boil kettle. Other than that you can't "use" it for anything that it was made for.
 
AHA! IN BEFORE THE LOCK.

The rules here I think clearly state that illegal activities such as distilling, are banned.
 
If it has a copper tubing coil, maybe you can use that part for an immersion chiller. (I don't know much about stills, but I think I've seen pics of them where there were some copper coils.)
 
What all does it involve? Copper Kettles, Tubing?? Tubing can be use to build chillers of different types or plumbing for a brew rig depending on size. Kettle can be used as Boil Kettle.
 
The Pol said:
The rules here I think clearly state that illegal activities such as distilling, are banned.
Click to expand...
Exactly. So, if the discussion remains centered around how to use various parts of the still as legal homebrewing equipment, the thread can remain open. As soon as the discussion turns to 'shinin', the thread gets the boot!
 
Do an experiment in physic and see what happens when you throw it out of a moving truck at 85 mph.
 
Well, I was not thinking of shine. The thought did at one time cross my mind. I looked into it. Well as we all know, not so legal. I happen to have a job that illegal things can cost me that paycheck. So with that said I am sticking to beer, the legal aspect of alcohol. I will post a pic of exactly what it looks like when he gets it. Maybe help with the ideas.
 
If we could see some pics, then we might be best able to dissasemble and re-engineer it into a brewery.

I googled various ones and came upon this interesting pic of a shiny, yet antique one from a museum.

Copper%20Still.jpg


Looking at that I'm seeing the "fixin's" for a small AG setup with an immersion chiller. You could either do a boil kettle and mash tun, or if you added a cooler, you got a shiny boil kettle and a hot liquor tank.

A LOT of breweries were copper in the old days...Including Stroh's if I recall. And that's where the "firebrewed" moniker came from.

With enough left over for "yard art"

I know there are some british brewers that do some interesting small brewing systems using 10 gallon coffee urns. Some of the systems are like mini herms and rim systems.

I also wonder if the vessel on the left could br flipped over, and used as some form of a conical like fermenter.

One thing to be aware/concerned with would be if the welds were lead though.
 
You could distill your own water and be able to make what ever type of beer your want just by adding the required salts.
 
You do not want to ferment in copper! Period.

However the copper will be great for a boil kettle for ~5 gallon batches. You will get enhanced maillard reactions, meaning great if you love ambers, browns, etc.


...
 
leboeuf said:
Some of the old copper stills were a work of art. It would be a shame to see it chopped up if it's nice. I hope that one day the laws regarding home stills are loosened.... I think it's almost cheaper to buy nasty crystal palace vodka than it is to *home* distill the same thing.
I'm not certain, but I think you could legally use it to re-distill everclear with herbs and whatnot to make gin and flavored liqueurs.
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That IS something to consider. Many many efforts are afoot to loosen the distilling laws. That is why suddenly you are finding so many "microdistillers" springing up, even in brew pubs. And don't forget Rogue has released a line of booze.

So just like the looseing gradually of laws governing homebrewing and winemaking happened, so to, within a few years, it may be legal to make your own hooch...so if the still isn't made with an old radiator, you may just wanna store it in your attic until you can use it....

Just think, maybe one day we'll be able to discussion that topic here.
 
Revvy said:
Care to cite the reasons why you shouldn't ferment in copper?
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Copper in very high concentrations is toxic, especially to lower organisms such as fungi (including yeast) and algae

Reference: BT - Troubleshooter: Vol. 4, No. 5

John Palmer and Jamil Zainisheff did a brewing metals episode of their podcast called Brew Strong (you can find it here: The Brewing Network.com - :)

Basically drinking water in copper pipes, or boiling wort pre-fermentation in a copper vessel (or with a copper pipe in the boil pot). the amount of water contacting the copper is limited to the time the water is passing through the pipes or boiling in the kettle. The pH is pretty neutral (though it drops as the boil goes on). There's not a lot of contact time, so not a whole lot of copper goes into solution. What small amount does, the yeast take it all out during fermentation. (The copper is a good nutrient for yeast). Using copper in the fermenter or afterwards is during a period of lowered pH and the copper will continue to dissolve into solution as fast or faster than the yeast can consume it. Sulfates in the water will bind with the copper producing copper sulfate, a poison.

So, basically, Copper in high concentrations is toxic to yeast, so it would make a fairly poor choice for any long term storage, like a fermenter. Long story short, don't use copper in or after fermentation. Boil side it is great though.
 
cyberbackpacker said:
Copper in very high concentrations is toxic, especially to lower organisms such as fungi (including yeast) and algae

Reference: BT - Troubleshooter: Vol. 4, No. 5

John Palmer and Jamil Zainisheff did a brewing metals episode of their podcast called Brew Strong (you can find it here: The Brewing Network.com - :)

Basically drinking water in copper pipes, or boiling wort pre-fermentation in a copper vessel (or with a copper pipe in the boil pot). the amount of water contacting the copper is limited to the time the water is passing through the pipes or boiling in the kettle. The pH is pretty neutral (though it drops as the boil goes on). There's not a lot of contact time, so not a whole lot of copper goes into solution. What small amount does, the yeast take it all out during fermentation. (The copper is a good nutrient for yeast). Using copper in the fermenter or afterwards is during a period of lowered pH and the copper will continue to dissolve into solution as fast or faster than the yeast can consume it. Sulfates in the water will bind with the copper producing copper sulfate, a poison. I highly recommend the podcasts.

So, basically, Copper in high concentrations is toxic to yeast, so it would make a fairly poor choice for any long term storage, like a fermenter. Long story short, don't use copper in or after fermentation. Boil side it is great though.
Click to expand...

Thanks!!!!! :mug:

(It's always a good idea to cite stuff like this initially rather than just make a blanket statement, you never know who is lurking, or who might stumble upon threads like this in the future, and it's much better to give the safety info right away. I just did it on the selling beer cheese thread. People often won't just take someone's word for something and more than likely would ignore it rather than doing their own research. And in this case, could be dangerous.)
 
Regarding fermenting in copper... we had a thread a while back about the use of OxiClean and such on copper. During this conversation it came up that there is a brewery that uses copper vessels. Apparently the govt. came in sort of demanding that they use SS because that was standard for food prep. sorts of equipment. They tested the final beer, only to find no traces of copper... they kept the copper.

Again, this was detailed in another thread, just thought Id throw it out, in case someone here knows more about it than I.
 
This is an interesting thread and I'd hate to see it remaining closed. Just remember to steer clear of the illicit topic as the OP requested and keep the great ideas coming!

Oh and I think a 10G copper boil kettle would be sweet! :rockin:
 
I was interested in this as well. I'd like a look at the piece of equipment to see how it can be repurposed. I wonder if copper is only really good for malty beers or if it adds a good character to lots of styles.
 
Is this a "professionally assembeled" still? Or more like a copper stillenstein that someone hacked together in their backyard?

One of the things that makes moonshine so dangerous is the lead leaching from the solder. Can you verify that the solder does not contain lead? I'd hate so see you go through the process of disassembling it only to find out everything is contaminated.

PICS! :)
 
If the still is as pretty as the one you posted, i'd shine it up and put it up as a decoration....
 
I think we all want to see pics of the still in question in order to pontificate further.
If it's well made you should be able to disassemble it and repurpose parts like the kettle section while preserving the column.
Doing research on the history of prohibition era distillation reveals some very crude equipment using things like car radiators and all kinds of non food grade materials and chemicals due to the demand for booze. This is where moonshine got it's bad rep.
 
bradsul said:
This is an interesting thread and I'd hate to see it remaining closed. Just remember to steer clear of the illicit topic as the OP requested and keep the great ideas coming!

Oh and I think a 10G copper boil kettle would be sweet! :rockin:
Click to expand...

Thanks for re-opening this, brad, a couple of us were discussing via pm, that we thought the decision was a little "heavy handed" where deleting the distillation posts and putting up a warning would have sufficed...oh well.

I am very interested in this thread as well. I would love the OP to come back and show us what he has laid his hands on, and if we could re-purpose it.

I've been into the idea of copper kettles, having grown up in Detroit, the heart of the Stroh's Brewing Company's firebrewed taste legend.

This is from promotional material from "back in the day..."

In 1908 Bernhard Stroh's brother Julius took over the brewery. After a tour of famous European breweries, he introduced the European fire-brewing method in the Stroh brewery. Today Stroh's is the only fire-brewed beer on the American market. Common in Europe before World War I, the fire-brewing process uses a direct flame rather than steam to heat beer-filled copper kettles. The company claims that the resulting higher temperatures bring out more of the beer's flavor.
Click to expand...

brewery3_web.jpg


*drool*
 
Thanks for re-opening this, brad, a couple of us were discussing via pm, that we thought the decision was a little "heavy handed" where deleting the distillation posts and putting up a warning would have sufficed...oh well.
Click to expand...

At the risk of side tracking this thread once again. I'm going to have to let you know that you aren't privy to all of the facts, and in most cases you won't be.

The thread was moved because it became unmanageable. We are volunteers and not paid staff.

We deleted posts to keep the thread back on topic. Since you mentioned PMs, I'm posting this so that all can benefit from the information. Normally I'd be inclined to delete your comment about the "process" aspect. Let us move on.

Apologies to the OP, yet again. Please honor the OPs wishes.
 
olllllo said:
At the risk of side tracking this thread once again. I'm going to have to let you know that you aren't privy to all of the facts, and in most cases you won't be.

The thread was moved because it became unmanageable. We are volunteers and not paid staff.

We deleted posts to keep the thread back on topic. Since you mentioned PMs, I'm posting this so that all can benefit from the information. Normally I'd be inclined to delete your comment about the "process" aspect. Let us move on.

Apologies to the OP, yet again. Please honor the OPs wishes.
Click to expand...

No problems, brother we know you guys (and lady) are volunteers and try to do your best. :mug:

Any way, using my picture above as an idea, anyone know what the big gauge/dial thingy on the left hand chamber is, and besides looking cool, if it would be useful in our "copper brewery." Or is it a pressure gauge?
 
Im almost certain that gauge is a thermometer, a still should never be under pressure.
For distilling alcohol its most likely in the 150 to 200f range and might be accurate enough for a mash thermometer.
 
JPicasso said:
Is this a "professionally assembeled" still? Or more like a copper stillenstein that someone hacked together in their backyard?

One of the things that makes moonshine so dangerous is the lead leaching from the solder. Can you verify that the solder does not contain lead? I'd hate so see you go through the process of disassembling it only to find out everything is contaminated.

PICS! :)
Click to expand...

You could remove and replace the solder if you wanted to use it for brewing. There are a few good alternatives.
 
Well we still have not picked it up, issues with work it being an hour away, and the shop closing at 4. I hope this weekend to get to see it. Pics will come when I get up there. Good conversation guys.
 

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