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55 Gallon Pot Still With a 30 Gallon Thumper For $1,950.00


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Hey there Pete, Nice site, The finished still looks great and I bet that you make some good booze with it.

Bob, you don't have to say anything to raise my fur, you can come visit anytime, we would love to have you. I think Homer Hickam was a Redneck. Someone once said "A Redneck can become and intellectual, but an intellectual can never become a Redneck." As far as this industry growing, I don't think that you have seen anything yet. Craft distilling is getting ready to grow like crazy. I bet the number of craft distillers doubles in the next 3 years. As far as a shakeout goes, that happens everyday in business. It is survival of the fittest, and that is the way that it should be. I also think that the person who has a little know how and a few thousand dollars has just as much right to be in this business as the person who starts with $500,000.00 Many of the people who start with large amounts of money are destined to fail, while some of the ones that start with next to nothing will prosper and grow very large. Look at Tito in Texas with his many awards and business savvy he has grown like mad since he began. I say the more small distilleries the better. As far as more safety regulations, that sounds fine to me. I have spent a good part of my life in the logging woods, I have never been hurt but I've seen heads busted and arms and legs crushed, and men have died. I'm all for safety in all industries. Lets "git er done". Irish Rose, and Max you just let me know how I can help you get more safety regulations in this industry and I will be there.

Paul

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...................... However due to all of the negative response that I have received about these I am considering pulling them from my product line. I will decide before my web site goes up on Sunday.

Don't be too hasty pulling them. If you read the posts carefully you will see that it was only Max Action who directly criticised your still. All the other posts were about general still safety.

Although I don't agree with the way you did it, Well done Max for stirring up a very important topic.

Paul, your still has an extra visual/audible warning device that only a redneck would recognise.

When this type of drum builds up pressure the ends start to bulge = visual warning.

As the ends bulge you will often (but not always) hear quite a loud bang = audible warning.

This happens all the time with sealed empty steel drums that are in the sun. They bulge and bang long before they rupture.

This same principal also works if a partial vaccuum is created, the ends start to cave in and go BANG

By the time you see or hear a $100,000 still expanding, contracting or banging it is too late.

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hi Paul, can you tell me the brand and product name of the stainless pickling compound you mentioned above in post #25?

Now regarding your stills, I am curious about cleaning them. It appears everything is welded shut? Or does the cap come off? If everything is welded shut, it would appear that one would have access only by the small fill port. That would seem to make cleaning difficult. Looking forward to your comments on this point.

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Hi Jedd,

The pickling compound that I use is called "Wonder Gel Stainless Steel Pickling Gel" It is manufactured by Bradford Derustit. It is expensive and you have to pay an extra $30.00 or so when you have it shipped to you because it is considered hazardous, but it is well worth it for the piece of mind it gives you. It will remove slag, scale and heat color from stainless steel. It will also remove those things on the surface of the weld that might cause it to rust and we all know what will happen if we ferment or distill in a rusty vessel. There are recipes out there that you can use to make your own stainless pickling compound, but my research showed that this product is more widely used than any other by industrial stainless equipment manufacturers, and is guaranteed to do the job, so we went with it. The barrel still that we just sold, and the one that we built and sold before it, including the thumpers, were closed top barrels. They had to be cleaned through the 2" inlet ferrules. It took a little trial and error but we came up with a way to do it using a very long handled brush which is similar to a carboy cleaning brush but much longer, and a shorter curved handled brush. It was time consuming but we made it work. We also used the brushes to both apply and wipe away the pickling compound on the inside of the barrel by tying rags to the ends of them. To go through the whole process: after we applied the pickling compound and wiped away the excess, we scrubbed the inside of the barrel with the brushes, then we boiled soapy water in the still barrel for about 30 minutes and condensed water through the condenser. We then scrubbed again after the barrel cooled, Then we drained out the soapy water and filled it with clear water and boiled the clear water. We got a strong boil and distilled about 2 gallons of water. The whole time that we were doing this we checked for leaks. We then drained the barrel and rinsed it. We did all of this to make sure that there were no hazardous nasty tasting chemicals left over in the barrel from the welding and pickling. Then we removed the thermometer and screwed an air valve to the Thermowell and pressurized the barrel to 35PSI. We then used dish soap to check for leaks and found none, and Pete is right, when we pressurized the barrel there was a load bang and a couple of load bangs at other times. We also cleaned the thumper the same way and we scrubbed the still head through the 2" ferrule at the top of the head. Here is the deal folks. I will go to extreme lengths to insure that the equipment that I manufacture and sell is safe. I do this to make absolutely certain that there are no defects in design or workmanship that will cause someone to get hurt. Cleaning through those 2" ferrules sucked and, so I have really been searching for an alternative and I have found it. Yesterday morning I located a supplier who has 1,000 used open top 55 gal. heavy gauge 304 Stainless Steal Food Grade barrels. I have located clamp on lids for the barrels and I have found company that makes EPDM gaskets for the lids. This system uses stainless steel drum ring clamps. The EPDM gaskets will withstand temps. up to 310 F and they are alcohol and chemical resistant. I will not know for sure that this set up will seal until we put it through some extensive testing, but I don't think that we will have a problem. If we do I will come up with something else. I have also came up with 3 different methods of firing this still design without an open flame. Jedd, Thanks for the great questions, if you have any others just let me know.

Best Regards

Paul

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Those open top ss drums and lids with gaskets sound like the perfect start for a cheap safe still.

You could design the lids to lift and releive any overpressure. The easiest but VERY redneck design would be to throw the clamps away and pile some bricks on the lid until the gasket sealed. ;) I guarantee it would be miles safer than a fancy ASME certified pressure valve.

Much neater, but maybe not quite so foolproof, would be a set of adjustable springs around the lid.

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The bricks are a great idea for an outside use. My wife and I plan on doing a run outside once a year and having a big party. We are going to wood fire an all copper East Tennessee style turnip head still with a used whiskey barrel for a thumper and another for a flake stand. The still will be partially buried in the ground with a fire brick arch under it, and stoned up with mortar on the sides. The fire never touches the copper in this kind of set up and, so you can run a mash with the grain left in. To make sure that you don't singe your grain, you have to stir the grain with a still paddle until the mash starts to smile and then you put the head on it. The turnip head is large and tall with a flat top so that you can put a rock up there to hold the Head on in case you want to run her hard. Many of these stills had "pukers" on them The puker went on at the end of the line arm and would allow some condensation and or foam to run back down into the still. The line arm would be of a large diameter so that it could not clog. Run properly, and slowly one of these stills with the thumper and puker could produce high proof spirits that would be very smooth when tempered with water. We will have a 2 day party every year and we hope to sell the White Liquor from the run, by the drink, at the gathering. The rocked up still with its big hillbilly style turnip head will be a permanent fixture in front of our distillery under a shed with a shake shingle roof. It is the kind of still my Grandfather and Great Grandfather dumped there white corn meal mash into, to make good Sour Mash Corn Liquor. Hopefully we will be able to make it work with the State and the TTB.

Come check out our distilling equipment at http://distillery-equipment.com

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  • 1 month later...

Hey Paul, I noticed on your website a great looking boiler on the botttom of the page. Are you manufaturing these large boilers or are you just building the barrell stills. I am in the market for a 100 gallon and also a 250 gallon boiler. I will build my own towers. Looks as though you are located not too far from me.

Thanks

Jim

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello Jim, I didn't notice your post until today. I can build a jacketed 100 gallon still boiler for you without a column for between $4,000.00 and $6,000.00 depending on exactly what you want. A 250 gallon jacketed boiler would be between $6,000 and $10,000 without the column. We hope to have our web site updated within the next few weeks. We have been so busy we have not been able to work on it. Please call me at 417-778-6908 or email me at paul@distillery-equipment.com

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