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truck pics still resume/cv music misc. links contact | here's the skinny on what i know about distilling stuff. i'm going to go over how i built my personal
still. i tried to get a complete set of pictures while i was building it. anything i didn't manage to catch with my camera i'll describe in depth. if you want
a pdf describing the build process email me with a donation and i'll send it to you. the pdf is a lot more in depth then what you see here. plus it goes into
detail on a few differant versions you can build. i start with a small keg, it seems to be a ideal size for a personal still. the top part i made for it will fit on larger size kegs so if i find the need to upgrade i only need to buy a bigger keg. i started by marking out a circle on the top of the keg. i then cut it out with a cut-off wheel on a air tool.     when i pulled the top off you can see the "feeder" tube that runs to the bottom of the keg. i suggest keeping these parts for later on.   here's a nice picture of what good quality budweiser looks like after sitting in the bottom of a keg for 8 years. as bad as it looks it actually smelled very nice.  here's a couple of shots after i cleaned it up a bit.   the next section covers the making of the upper portion of the still. for the main piece that connects the two together i used a stainless steel mixing bowl. i think it cost me somewhere around $17. the fisrt pic is the "before" image. notice the top of the keg next to it.  i then cut a hole in the "bottom" of the bowl so that i could run piping through there and because it's necessary for the operation of it.  the top of the keg should be able to run throught the hole you just cut. **i don't have pictures from when i removed the pick-up tube off the bottom of the keg top, but you will need to do this** after i set the keg top on the bowl i marked the top so i could cut it to match the diameter of the bowl. actually, you should just cut it a little smaller then the bowl diamter cause i had to go back and do that.  here are a couple extra pictures i have of the keg top sitting on the bowl and how it sits on the keg so you start to get a idea of what's going on.    this is a pic of what i made to attach the copper tubing for the top part to the keg. i use the original piece from the keg and filed it down so that i had just enough room to run the pipe through.  -the next couple of pictures show how the "connector piece" was attached to the bowl and the bowl attached to the keg. i used food grade stainless steel bolts for all of this. if you don't happen to have a source to get these i suggest going to McMaster-Carr and ordering some. I put 3 bolts through the top to connect to the bowl. i also used a 1/8" thick cork gasket i made (from cork gasket material i sourced from Napa Auto Parts) in between the connector piece and the bowl and again where the bowl connects to the keg. I used 4 of the food grad bolts on the keg with some oversized washers to hold the bowl in place. the washers need to be bent a little so that they push down on the lip of the bowl and keep everything snug.   here is a pic of the overall unit minus the cooling system. i've gone ahead and polished of the copper tubing since i've taken this picture. but here you can see the joints and the basic idea of what it takes to construct the top portion.  in this pic you can start to see the cooling system coils i ran down the condesor tube. i basically took a copper line you run to your refrigerator and spiralled it down the length of the tube. i push the water through it with a small garden fountain pump. when i first fired this up i was flowing the water too fast and it really wasn't drawing the heat out of the tube which created a lot of steam coming out the end. you really have to find a nice balance between the flow of the water and your boiling temperature.   since these pictures were taken i've made some modifications to it. i've gone ahead and ran two more lines for the water to flow through and i installed a thermometer in the top portion so i can monitor the heat inside the unit. i have some pictures and a short video of the whole thing in action on my phone but i can't figure out how to get them onto my computer. i just want to say that this is probably not the most effective still out there, but it is mine. if you want to build something differant, go for it and let me know how it comes out. i'm always open to ideas on how to make mine better. i built this by sticking to the "keep it simple" mantra. i suppose if i wanted to keep it really simple i would have built a stove top unit. i do have some pdf's that go into a lot more detail that i'll probably post up for people to download. although i did see some guy on ebay selling them for $7. maybe i should sell em for $5 and undercut him ;) if anyone has any questions please feel free to email me. remember to check with your local laws pertaining to building one of these units. i don't want someone blaiming me if the ATF busts your door in. i built this solely for the purpose of distilling water in case of a hurricane :) nothing else, i swear. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
