Dark Corner

I would love to hear more about your design and fabrication and see more pictures. What thickness copper did you use?

Your manway is also kind of unusual. It appears you re-purposed something else? Did you use a gasket there?

Also, at the end of your lyne arm, it looks like you have a brass fitting; were you concerned about the lead content, or did you pickle it? I see a bunch of pictures of stills with brass fittings, and wonder about this. There is a lot of discussion of pickling brass on some of the other forums.

I would be happy to discuss the design in more detail. We chose to use a solid 3/8 piece of polished stainless steel for our manway. I have heard stories of glass breakage problems and didn't want to incur the same. It was cut with a waterjet cutter and was specially designed for our still. We are using a gasket.

That is a brass fitting and it is lead free. The solder is also lead free. Feel free to look at other pictures on my website. I will try to upload other pictures for you.

Joe,

My vote is: don't do anything until you run it at least once. If you're going for "authentic" then stick with authentic.

A dephlegmator and packing will allow you to achieve a higher proof on a single pass, but with the shape of your still's head, you'll probably find that reflux is quite imperfect. Without packing, condensate will drip back to the kettle, and that simply wastes time.

A thumper is a special case of a plate. Although I have no direct experience with a thumper, first, I would trust the writings of the old farts, second, I would expect that if the thumper is sized and filled to match the size of the power plant, then you'll get exactly what you're looking for...good 'shine.

Will your state allow you to pour tastes? How about sell small quantities to retail customers? If yes on either, with your location and foot traffic, you should have plenty of fun.

Good luck,

Will

Will, thanks so much for the comments. I will read what others have to say and see if anyone has additional input.

hi Joe, what is the purpose of the three copper bolts on the top of your still cap?

The three copper NPT fittings are for a pressure gauge, pressure relief valve, and temperature gauge. Thanks for asking questions!

Beautiful website. And your still behind glass is breathtaking. Would love to talk more with you guys.

Great to hear from you Curtis. Thanks so much for the kind words. I designed both the website and the still myself. Please call my cell phone at anytime day or night. I look forward to speaking with you!

Joe Fenten

Dark Corner Distillery

864.356.2736

My name is Joe Fenten and I am the co-founder of Dark Corner Distillery. After speaking with Bill Owens last week about my still design I thought it may be best to post my concerns in this forum. I designed a custom 80 gallon copper pot still (see picture below) and had a friend of the family fabricate it locally. I designed it in the tradition of the Dark Corner moonshine stills that were used in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I have attached a photograph of our still. Notice that I had the lyne arm flanged. This is so that I can place an elbow between the flanges and vary the lyne arm angle if need be. The arm starts out at 4" in diameter and tapers down to 1/2". You cannot see it in the picture but we also have a thumper keg(oak barrel) that the lyne arm dumps steam into. Out of the thumper we go into a 1/2" copper worm coil. We were hoping to achieve 100 proof in one run as long as the thumper was full of low wines.

Bill explained to me that the thumper will be more of a headache than anything with all the cleaning that is required. He also mentioned that it will NOT provide a large increase in proof as we had hoped. With that said I am looking into the idea of removing the thumper and using a dephlegmator (partial condenser) and/or copper packing to get a higher proof in one run. I will not know our actual proof until we do our first run in July.

I am now thinking about dephlegmator designs that are compatible with my still. I cannot remove the head but can access the head through the manway and through the lyne arm flange if modifications are needed. I have some ideas of my own but would love some input from you guys on what I can do to get the proof up on my runs. What proof do you think I can I achieve with a dephlegmator and packing in one run? Should I get rid of the thumper keg altogether? Anyone have a dephlegmator design that may work with my still?

I appreciate all your time and help.

Cheers!

Joe Fenten

Dark Corner Distillery

Hi,

My name is Joe Fenten and I am an electrical engineer and co-founder of Dark Corner Distillery in Greenville, SC. Our initial product focus will be on whiskey and brandy. Later we plan on introducing beer schnapps and grappa. We have satisfied all local and state permits and hope to have a federal permit in hand within a month. For equipment, I personally designed our 80 gallon copper pot still in the tradition of the Dark Corner moonshine stills that can be found preserved in the Blue Ridge Mountains. My father’s best friend fabricated the still locally. Our distillery is situated on Main Street in downtown Greenville with ample foot traffic and visibility.

For more information please visit our website, www.DarkCornerDistillery.com. I cannot wait to communicate with each and every one of you.

Cheers!

Joe Fenten

Dark Corner Distillery

241-B North Main Street

Greenville, SC 29601

864.356.2736