Keep as is or upgrade

[daveMN]

Now that I have plenty of time at home, I'm looking at getting back into distilling water again. The question is, do I keep this as-is, or do I figure out a way to add a column on it, and if I do that, do I go electric, and by that point, do I just buy a new system? I was hoping to not put too much money into it either way, I've had several successful runs with this one in the past but it's been several years.

 

[Comrade Stone]

make it 200% bigger and we got a party

 

[madscientist451]

Depends on your budget, free time and how much you like "distilled water"....

 

[doug293cz]

I didn't know that thumpers were used when distilling water.

Brew on

 

[daveMN]

My brewery is E-BIAB and I have a chilled water line and return already, so my first thought is to add an element in the boiler, which by my estimate is about 10 gal. Then replace the thumper and trash can with a reflux column and chiller that I can tie into the brewery cold water. I have a handle on how much converting to electric would be, but I haven't priced out the rest yet. Mostly just doing it for something to do, but keep the budget to a couple hundred bucks.

 

[tummydoc]

Looks like an in line slobber box rather than a thumper, but would need to know internal plumbing. Looks like the pot still attaches to the boiler through a threaded attachment. Thats going to be difficult to switch out to a reflux column. I'd get an old keg to use as the boiler, and triclamp fittings to connect the columns so it is modular (a 2 inch triclamp fits the Sanke keg top). IF you go electric, you will also need a power controller, but its necessary for a reflux column. Home distiller web site has all the info you'll need including power controller build.

 

[daveMN]

Looks like an in line slobber box rather than a thumper, but would need to know internal plumbing. Looks like the pot still attaches to the boiler through a threaded attachment. Thats going to be difficult to switch out to a reflux column. I'd get an old keg to use as the boiler, and triclamp fittings to connect the columns so it is modular (a 2 inch triclamp fits the Sanke keg top). IF you go electric, you will also need a power controller, but its necessary for a reflux column. Home distiller web site has all the info you'll need including power controller build.

Yep, it's actually a slobber box. I called it the wrong thing in my post earlier. Home distiller is a great resource. I'm starting to lean more towards building something from the ground up or just buy a Turbo 500 instead of trying to rework this pot still.

 

[doug293cz]

Yep, it's actually a slobber box. I called it the wrong thing in my post earlier. Home distiller is a great resource. I'm starting to lean more towards building something from the ground up or just buy a Turbo 500 instead of trying to rework this pot still.

If you're not into big volumes, the Turbo 500 is a capable, plug 'n play unit. You can get it with a fractionating column that will give you 90+% ethanol (with little flavor), or an alembic dome that will work better for whiskey, brandy, etc. The Turbo 500 can handle up to about 6 gal of wash.

Brew on

 

[Willee]

Get the turbo 500!
Great little unit and can produce 190+ proof if you add some copper mesh at the top of the column.
A bit on the slow side with the 1 1/2" column and needs attention to the cooling flow while running but it works really well.
Next step up would be a 3" column still with additional risers all packed with copper mesh.
A column still packed with copper mesh reflexes way better than a stack of plates and is a LOT cheaper.

 

[Desvio]

If I had that setup? I'd polish it up to a nice shine, switch that trash can to a wood barrel and put it up on display in the family room. By then a T-500, milk can setup, or keg would have arrived to do the distilling.

 

[Comrade Stone]

Add a Binary explosive and shoot i mean Uh YEEE HAW