We have not yet designed or built a firebox or still that would go with it, but I am trying to imagine the basic mechanical structure of the pot or boiler set in a firebox. The pot or boiler would have to be cleaned and while I can imagine how to access the top of the pot, I have not figured out you would flush out the inside with a hole in the bottom that was also inside the firebox.
My wife and I are in the early stages of establishing a distillery here in Alaska. While the state license requires that a plan of the building be submitted to the fire marshall, building codes and regulations are pretty uneven up here...my mortgage company has more to say about the way my house is built than either state or local government does. I will find out shortly what the fire mashall has to say. We have not decided if we will buy a still or have one made up here. But I think we will construct a safe, efficient natural gas driven firebox built around a copper pot with a packed column on top of it.
Robert