Is there anywhere in North America or Canada that makes fully copper pot stills along the lines of this guy outfit?

[AlembicGymnast 0]

https://www.ninefolddistillery.com

I saw what this fellow is doing and think its a really manageable size and hopefully cost. It seems like an operation that would be able to be maintained by one or two people while not being their sole source of income. 

 

[Foreshot 34]

He probably went with Forsyths: https://forsyths.com/distillation/pot-stills/

 

US Copper still makers:

Vendome: https://vendomecopper.com/

Cleveland Coppersmiths: https://www.clevelandcoppersmithing.com/

Confederate: (can't find a website other than facebook)

Colonel Vaughn: http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/

There's more but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Colonel Vaughn will probably be the least expensive. Vendome will be the most expensive.

 

 

[ViolentBlue 3]

we can do full copper stills. most people dont want the extra expense, so we dont make a lot of them, but we can do it.

[Southernhighlander 92]

We can do full copper stills if that's what you want.  paul@distillery-equipment.com 

[SlickFloss 24]

You don’t want a full copper pot still. I have one. It’s a b to clean. Especially if you are newer to operating. TM you want a stainless kettle that can be washed with caustic and stainless condenser. If you’re looking at a descending pitch on your lyne arm you’re gonna want that stainless too. 
 

have Paul make it for you. 

[PeteB 55]

Most spirits need copper contact in the still. If built from all stainless you will most likely need to put a lot of copper inside, main reason is to react with sulfur that would otherwise cause a turnipy note

[Southernhighlander 92]

I can build an all stainless still, by outward appearance, with my copper catalyzers inside that will result in spirits with no detectable sulfur taste.  In fact my catalyzers in a stainless still, will have interaction with more vapor than an all copper pot still with no plates or copper packing, because my catalyzers insure that 100% of the ethanol vapor comes in contact with copper.  In an all copper pot still with no copper plates, packing or catalyzers, you never get 100% copper vapor interaction. 

Years ago, I designed 2 types of copper catalyzers for my stills.   I call the first type defuser plate assemblies.  They actually serve 2 other purposes aside from catalyzing sulfur  They are stacks of copper perf plates spaced 1/8" apart with the perforations offset one from the other so that the vapor has to wind its way through the plates insuring 100% interaction with copper.  They are removable and easy to clean.  The 2nd type are copper bowls that go upside down just underneath the column caps.  There is around 1/2" of space between the outer edge of the bowls and the inside diameter of the columns.  The vapor hits the inside of the bowl and must roll down  and up and around the sides of the upside down bowls to get passed and into the line arm. Each of my stills have multiple catalyzers.  If the customer wants an all copper still we still put in all of the catalyzers. Our stripping stills have the same copper catalyzers listed above and if the customer is distilling a high sulfer wash, we put chopped up rolled copper scrap as well as rashig rings made from our scrap copper tubing and pipe, above a copper perf plate in the stainless stripping column.  We put a layer 8" or more in depth in the stainless stripping columns so the vapor must wind its way through that before going on to interact with the other catalyzers.  These multiple catalyzers allow our customers to have stainless pots that are easily cleaned in stills that remove more sulfur than if the pot where all copper without catalyzers. 

If you want copper interaction in the liquid mash or wash, that's no problem as we have catalyzers for the pot as well if you want them.

The proof of course is in the spirits produced by our stills.  Our customers with stainless still pots have won many tastings against distillers using all copper stills and or stills with all copper pots.  

Us using stainless pots, stainless dephlegmators, stainless line arms and stainless final condensers with internal copper catalyzers verses all copper stills, saves the customer a huge amount of money at the time of purchase and it allows for much easier cleaning and the sulfur removal is as good or better.

However if the customer wants an all copper still we are glad to build it.

[Alex_Sor 2]

On 2/21/2021 at 6:59 PM, Southernhighlander said:

I can build an all stainless still, by outward appearance, with my copper catalyzers inside that will result in spirits with no detectable sulfur taste.

I will support Paul.

The use of "catalysts" (special devices) inside the steel tank is the best price-quality option.

From the point of view of Chemistry and Physics, in order for chemical reactions to occur with maximum efficiency, it is necessary to provide the largest possible contact surface of the substance-catalyst, and to provide a temperature higher than the "temperature of the beginning of catalytic reactions". That is why catalyst inserts must be in the path of alcohol-water vapor at temperatures above 70 Celsius. Copper does not work below 70 degrees Celsius.

The surface area of classical copper (completely made of copper) distillers is inferior to catalyst inserts in terms of interaction area and has a very high cost.

If we talk about a further increase in the efficiency of copper, and even at low temperatures, then we should work not with copper surfaces, but with "molecular" (colloidal) copper in solutions inside the tank. This makes it possible to increase the contact surface with the copper catalyst by a factor of hundreds and to work at temperatures below 70 Celsius (vacuum distillation).

But this is a more complex technology.