thomasedwin

Ok but I would rather be silly than be blind or dead. You must be the troll for this site.

I have a 15 gallon still and most times I run batches in the winter time. I don't know where you are but where I live in winter it gets well below freezing. The kitchen is in the back of the house not 10 feet from a back porch window. I use a 30 gallon plastic storage container and I purchased a 425 GPH outdoor fountain pump from ebay for $18. The storage container sets on the back porch in the cold. I fill it about half way with water, drop my little pump in the water and run a length of vinyl tubing in the back window to my condenser on the kitchen stove and then another hose takes the water back outside to the container. I throw a couple good shovels full of snow into the container, the snow floats on top and the pump sets in the bottom with suction cups, this supplies me with a constant flow of 35 F cooling water for 7 to 9 hours. If my condenser thermometer starts to go above 40 F I just go outside and throw in more snow. If you do this type of thing you only need to make sure the pump you use has enough pushing power to supply your condenser. I use a shotgun condenser that has one hose in and one hose out so it's easy to hook up and run but if you are using a worm and water tank type condenser it might be a little harder to get your drain water to flow back outside to the cooling container.

If there is no way to remove the methanol from your product where did the age old practice of taking off the heads come from? I'm a third generation shiner and this is the way it has always been done. Anyone that has smelled or tasted the heads first coming over will tell you it's no good, the heads are akin to nail polish remover or paint thinner and if you drink the heads you will go blind.

Some time ago I purchased a 21 inch copper shotgun style heat exchanger from a place called outdoor heating supply on ebay. It has a 1&1/2 inch copper tube with 7 smaller tubes inside, the 7 smaller tubes are connected by 3/4inch copper end fittings and then the 1&1/2 inch tube is the water jacket surrounding these smaller tubes. It is actually designed to be used as a heat exchanger for an outdoor boiler where boiler water or steam passes through a water jacket around 7 smaller copper tubes then potable water is run through these smaller tubes to exchange the heat. I saw this as a perfect setup for a condenser for my still because the 7 smaller copper tubes inside the jacket provides much more surface area to condense hot vapor when cold water is pumped through the surrounding jacket. In essences I'm using it as a hot vapor condenser instead of a heat exchanger. It works very well for this purpose and is very efficient only being 21 inches long. I have seen many other condenser setups that only have a single copper pipe inside another larger single copper pipe used for a condenser but they were much longer to provide more surface area to condense the hot vapors. Before I purchased this unit the seller said the manufacture says it is assembled using LEAD FREE SOLDER, I put my still together with this heat exchanger/condenser and have run a few batches and it works perfectly, Before running any actual product through this still I cleaned everything inside and out with a mix of white vinegar and lemon juice. On all the other solder joints on this still I used Oatey lead free silver solder. My first run, after removing the heads, produced a crystal clear product starting at 154 proof, the product was made from a whole wheat grain, white rice, cane sugar mash. It had a slight rummy taste but was otherwise good neutral drinking spirits. I'm getting ready to run my next 15 gallon batch as the fermenter bubbles are starting to slow down. As I started a pre-run hot water clean up on my still I noticed something odd, All the sweat solder joints on my still where I used the Oatey lead free silver solder have remained a white silvery color but the sweat solder joints on the heat exchanger/condenser that I purchased seem to have darkened to a grayish graphite color, I also notice this darker solder is much harder than the Oatey silver solder as in it is much harder to put a scratch in it with a sharp tool or nail. So far I have consumed about half a gallon or so of the product produced from this still with no ill effects, it seems very clean and gives no next day hangover. Here's my main question, What kind of solder could this be that was used on this Heat exchanger/condenser??? I'm getting a little paranoid that something could or might be leaching of this darker solder contaminating my product, Are there any long time Plumbers, brasers, welders, metallurgist out there that can set my mind at ease????? I'm all ears. Thanks TE.

Anyone out there ever use a Ballington brand name stock pot for a boiler or brew pot? I went on ebay and purchased the 15 gallon stock pot / steamer, it came with the lid and steamer rack. I plan on putting a kitchen sink drain in the lid to attach a rectifier and condenser. The sales ad for this pot claimed that it was constructed from Commercial grade stainless steel so I figure it was 18/8 or 18/10 304 series stainless. Then I read online that certain ballington cookware pots were made from lower grade 18/0 200 series stainless and some woman claimed her cookware rusted after putting it in the dish washer machine. I was told that a good test for the quality of stainless steel is to see if a magnet sticks to it and if it sticks it's low grade stainless. a magnet will not stick to 304 stainless so I took a fridge magnet to this new stockpot. First I tried the welded handle on the lid and sure enough the magnet stuck to it, not real strong like it does on the fridge but just enough to hold it on there, then I tried the lid itself and there was no magnetic attraction at all, then I tried it on the rest of the pot, the double riveted handles, both sides and the bottom and there was no attraction at all. So what does this mean? I'm thinking the pot, lid and the steamer rack are all 304 series stainless but the handle welded to the lid is the cheaper 200 stuff. I don't know why they would manufacture a stockpot that way, maybe because 200 series is easier to weld or they save some money using cheaper stuff to make the handles but since it's only the lid handle and it doesn't touch the mash it wont hurt anything. By the way the stockpot was shipped from California but was made in china. Most 60 quart stockpots I looked at were all around $150 $200 or more, I got this one for $98 and free shipping,also it's a lot more sturdy than I expected. So in closing what's the deal with the grade of stainless used for a still pot? they say the best you can use is 18/10, 316 surgical stainless steel but it's very expensive, then comes the 18/8 18/10, 304 stainless that every one says is real good and safe for a still but when it comes to the cheaper 18/0, 200 series I can't find anything about if it's good, bad safe or not to use it at all. Does anyone know the real deal? Let me know.