Today on the market there is a huge number of different manufacturers of moonshine stills and distillers, differing in performance, volume, configuration and dimensions. Beginning moonshiners, as a rule, purchase ready-made moonshine stills; people who have been producing and brewing moonshine for a long time often try to make a moonshine still on their own. We have already written about the method; however, in this article we will make a moonshine still from scratch.
Self-production of a moonshine still allows you to get a high-performance device tailored exclusively to your needs. From a purely technological point of view, a moonshine still is not something complicated. Having metalworking skills, ideally metalworking equipment, will allow you to obtain products that are an order of magnitude ahead of sold products in terms of productivity and quality of the resulting product.
In this article we will look at the diagrams and instructions for creating a classic moonshine still, consisting of a still, a steamer and a water cooler; throughout the article we will refer to previous publications related to the creation of a moonshine still. We’ll talk separately about connecting elements and steam fittings, and also consider methods for sealing individual components of a moonshine still.
The distillation cube is a container for heating and boiling mash. It is a sealed container with one outlet pipe (for alcohol and water vapor). A high-quality distillation cube must be made of metal that can withstand prolonged heating. A special case of a distillation cube is. The ideal still is a hollow copper ball with an outlet pipe at the top of the ball.
Material for the still
Metal must be used as the material for the distillation cube. From a technological point of view, the best distillation cube for a moonshine still will be made of copper, however, the cost of the material is too high, so home craftsmen practically do not make moonshine stills from copper.
Soviet moonshine stills were made of aluminum. This metal has high thermal conductivity, second only to copper among base metals: for copper this figure is 370-380 W/(m*K), for silver - 410 W/(M*K), for aluminum - 200-220 W/(m *TO). ( Source: Industrial Ovens Reference manual for calculations and design. 2nd edition, expanded and revised, Kazantsev E.I. M., “Metallurgy”, 1975. - 368 p.). However, aluminum is a short-lived material. The oxide film covering the metal can be destroyed by the action of organic acids contained in the mash, as a result of which aluminum stills begin to become covered with leaks after 2-3 years.
High thermal conductivity allows the entire volume of mash to be heated more evenly, however, it does not have a special effect on the quality of the finished product. Some moonshiners believe that the use of copper moonshine stills gives the final product a special taste; however, as you might guess, this is more of a self-hypnosis effect.
A good and practical solution is to use enamel cookware. Steel has a thermal conductivity of around 50 W/m*K. Enameled steel does not react with mash and can withstand high pressure, high acidity, and high temperature.
Distillation volume
When creating your own moonshine still, you need to know exactly how much volume of the distillation cube you need. Here it is worth relying on the maximum required performance of the cube, as well as on the simple convenience of the moonshiner. Large stills are simply inconvenient to use: they need to be filled, raised, lowered. In addition, the larger the distillation cube, the longer the mash is heated in it, therefore, the duration of the single distillation cycle increases.
To roughly calculate the required capacity, you can be guided by the following considerations: distilling 100 liters of mash yields about 10 liters of moonshine. Therefore, calculate how much moonshine you want to get in one distillation cycle, multiply this amount by 10, and you will get the recommended volume of the moonshine still. It is worth considering that the distillation cube cannot be filled to the brim, and it is necessary to leave at least 20% of free space: otherwise, the mash will simply flow through the pipes into the refrigerator and spoil the final product.
Ready-made containers
In 9 cases out of ten, ready-made containers are used for the distillation cube, which were previously used for something else. These can be 20 and 40 liter milk cans, brewed and sealed pans.
Pressure cookers are initially sealed, however, they have a significant drawback: a very modest volume. The capacity of the pressure cooker is about 10-15 liters, which allows you to get no more than 1-1.5 liters of pure moonshine during one distillation. On the other hand, to convert a pressure cooker into a moonshine still, you just need to drill a hole in the lid and take care of sealing the outlet pipe.
Enameled pans can be useful for those who do not want to pour the mash from the fermentation container into the distillation container. The mash may simply fit in the container itself. The hole is made in the same way, using a slowly rotating drill bit. The disadvantages include the rather large difficulty of sealing the lid before distillation.
Milk can
One of the most popular solutions is the use of aluminum milk cans. The advantages include ease of transportation and lifting onto a gas stove, a high degree of tightness when closing the lid, as well as ease of screwing in the outlet pipe. The disadvantages include the need to necessarily replace the rubber seal with a silicone one (rubber greatly spoils the aroma of the future drink).
The procedure for creating a moonshine still from a milk can is as follows:
- Remove the rubber gasket under the cover.
- Applying aquarium silicone sealant to the edges of the lid. A total of three layers of silicone must be applied: each subsequent layer is applied only after the previous one has completely dried.
- After applying the last layer of sealant, a plastic bag is placed on the edges of the neck, after which the can is closed and sealed with a clamp. After the silicone sealant has dried, it will have an ideal shape, and the lid will be pressed as closely as possible to the edges of the neck.
- A hole is made in the tank lid. The squeegee is inserted there, sealed with a rubber ring on both sides and tightened with a nut. The diameter of the drive must be selected in accordance with the diameter of the future tube.
Squeegee for aluminum tank
Coil for moonshine still
The coil is the second essential part of any moonshine still. A coil (or refrigerator) is a device that cools vapors to a liquid state. It is a chamber containing coolant circulating along the external circuit. Inside the chamber, in the water column, there is a coil - a spirally twisted tube through which steam flows. The shape of the tube in the form of a coil provides the largest possible gas-metal-water surface area, and, accordingly, the most efficient heat transfer.
Coil material
The body is made of steel or stainless steel. As a rule, a parallelepiped or cylinder is created. A copper, steel or aluminum tube is used as a coil.
- A copper tube is preferable: it has a better thermal conductivity value, and, as a result, the vapors cool much faster. In practice, this means almost complete absence of odor during distillation. The disadvantages include the high rate of corrosion: copper oxidizes very quickly and becomes covered with a green coating, which forces the moonshiner to constantly clean both the outside and inside the coil. On the other hand, in France and Scotland, copper is the only approved material for creating still coils.
- Aluminum tubes are less efficient, but can last much longer without any maintenance. Aluminum is coated with a thin layer of oxide, which is strong both from a mechanical and chemical point of view, while its efficiency can be compared with its copper counterparts.
- Steel coils are the least efficient, which forces you to use a long, thin tube as the coil. On the other hand, steel coils are the cheapest and, moreover, absolutely safe. Steel does not react with alcohol.
Glass laboratory refrigeration equipment cannot be used for distillation: it has extremely low efficiency, so the steam will simply come out the other end without cooling. In addition, glass is extremely fragile and inconvenient to use.
Which tube should I take for a moonshine still?
The efficiency of the coil depends on two parameters - the material and the surface area of the tube. So, if you have a copper coil, then to create its complete analogue from aluminum you need to take the same aluminum tube 1.6 times longer (the longer length of the aluminum tube compensates for the low thermal conductivity of the aluminum itself).
As a rule, copper and aluminum tubes are sold in lengths that are multiples of one meter. As a result, it is enough to buy two meters of aluminum tube, or two meters of copper.
Now regarding the inner diameter of the tube.
On the Alcofan.Com website it is written that “the larger the diameter of the coil, the lower the hydraulic resistance and the more efficient the cooling (due to an increase in the area of contact of the steam with the walls).” In fact, from a physical point of view, this is complete stupidity. Doubling the tube diameter will double the surface area; however, as the surface area increases, the volume of steam that needs to be cooled will also increase fourfold. Thus, the total efficiency will be reduced by half. All other things being equal, it is better to use a thin tube.
On the other hand, when creating a coil, a thin tube may simply be flattened. The optimal internal diameter of the copper coil tube for a moonshine still is 5-10 mm. The thickness of the tube walls is 1-2.5 mm.
How to make a coil?
The tube is filled with sand and screwed onto something cylindrical (for example, a thick steel pipe). Sand is necessary to prevent the tube from flattening and closing inside; After this, the sand is simply blown out, poured out and washed away. Moreover, it is worth understanding that the coil must be in contact with water from all sides, so you need to wind the tube with a certain pitch and distance between the turns.
The final diameter of the coil along the outer part of the tube must be less than the width of the chamber so that water flows through the outer part of the coil.
Orientation of the coil in space
It is better to position the coil in such a way that steam enters from above and, spinning, falls down and condenses. This arrangement of the coil is the most optimal. If the steam inlet is located at the bottom, this will contribute to the formation of alcohol plugs inside the coil: the alcohol will cool, condense and flow down, forming plugs. Supplying steam from above will cause the condensed alcohol to flow down on its own without increasing the pressure inside the system.
The horizontal arrangement of the coil will also lead to the formation of traffic jams, and there will be many of them on each turn of the coil.
Supplying water to the chamber
Water should be supplied to the chamber from bottom to top. The reason is that supplying water from above will cause water to immediately flow out from below, while the chamber will remain empty, filled with air. To ensure that the chamber is completely filled with water, it is necessary to use the bottom feed.
You should not use a bucket, trough, or pan with a coil lowered into it as a camera.
- The efficiency of such cooling is extremely low: the water in the final container will quickly heat up, which will reduce the efficiency of the distiller itself.
- The outlet pipe (from which the moonshine will flow) must be made at the bottom, and not thrown over the edge of a bucket or pan. Otherwise, hydraulic plugs will form.
- You can easily trip through such a structure, it can easily be touched and knocked over.
Sukhoparnik
A steamer is an optional, but highly desirable device that allows you to purify moonshine at the distillation stage. It is a chamber into which steam enters from the distillation cube and then leaves it. The principle of operation is that after a sharp drop in steam pressure (exit from the tube), fusel oils, which have a low boiling point, first fall into the liquid fraction. The alcohol vapor goes further.
As a result, it is possible to catch heavy oils even at the stage of the vapor-gas mixture and purify the moonshine from them. The resulting liquid from filtration will have a very bright and pungent odor, vaguely reminiscent of garlic and kvass. This liquid contains a huge amount of aromatic benzenes, which, alas, cannot be used in the further process of moonshine brewing.
In some cases, the steamer is used for the exact opposite of things - to add aromatic oils. To do this, citrus zest, orange peels, and apple slices are placed on the bottom of the steamer. As a result, the finished moonshine will contain notes of these fruits.
About how to make a high-quality steamer.
Moonshine still heating system
Moonshine stills can be heated over an open fire (wood or gas) or using an electric heater.
The use of open fire has the following nuances:
- Such heating has low inertia. That is, they turned off the gas, poured water on the fire - the heating suddenly stopped and the process of cooling the mash immediately began.
- Combustion products must be removed somehow or their presence must be tolerated. Thus, using a gas stove will lead to the appearance of a large amount of carbon monoxide in the room, and will also dry out the air greatly.
- It is difficult to automate the process.
- High fire hazard.
Electric heaters do not have some of the disadvantages:
- Inertia is significantly greater; however, in practice it does not matter how quickly cooling begins, immediately or after two minutes.
- The ability to significantly automate the process.
- Possibility to install a heater inside the cube (heater)
- Some of the mash will stick to the heater
- Heating with electricity is more expensive.
Automating electric heaters is quite simple: to do this, install a thermostat that automatically turns on the heating when it drops to a certain temperature, and turns off the heating after the upper temperature level is reached. The thermostat allows you to get a very high-quality product by keeping the mash constantly at the same temperature, however, the production time is greatly extended.
It is not worth considering heating by other methods (steam and induction cookers): it is expensive and ineffective.
How to install a thermometer in a moonshine still?
Installation of a thermometer in a moonshine still depends on the type of device being installed. All thermometers for self-digging apparatus can be divided into two types:
- Mechanical (bimetallic) are simple, fail-safe devices that can operate without batteries. They are characterized by high reliability, but low accuracy. They are a dial with an arrow.
- And digital (electrical) devices are precision devices that require the use of batteries to operate. Capable of displaying temperature to the nearest tenth of a degree. Can be used in conjunction with automation devices.
The thermometer is usually installed in the upper part of the cube. A hole is made in the cube into which the thermometer itself is inserted. In the case of a bimetallic thermometer, it is secured with a bolt or nut. An electric thermometer is also installed in the upper part, however, when installing it, you need to be more careful about the issue of sealing.
It is not worth purchasing thermometers that are attached with Velcro, tape, or clamps - the sensor itself must be located inside the environment whose temperature is being measured. The use of half measures - Velcro and fasteners - not only does not provide the required accuracy, but also leads to the constant fall of the sensors due to the lack of reliable fastening.
Connections and fittings, hoses for moonshine still
Many people underestimate the importance of the elements connecting the individual parts of the moonshine still. We are talking about tubes and pipes. The wrong choice can not only degrade your moonshine or make it unusable, but also simply destroy the entire device. A responsible choice of hose for a moonshine still will allow you to forget about any problems forever.
The most commonly used are steel tubes or stainless steel tubes. Steel tubes are the most convenient for steam, since they do not sag under the influence of high temperatures. You can also use silicone tubes for introducing and removing vapors, but you need to make sure that they will not fall or close inside due to high temperature.
It is unacceptable to use garden hoses: they are made of polyvinyl chloride and, when exposed to high temperatures, begin to poison your alcohol with harmful substances. Checking for PVC in a hose is quite simple - just set it on fire. PVC hoses burn actively, turning into a black mass. Silicone hoses do not turn black, but simply melt.
To connect hoses, it is necessary to use fittings, valves, and tees. They can be purchased at almost any plumbing store. Almost any fittings are suitable, including steel, brass and bronze.
For the refrigerator, for supplying and discharging water, you can use any hoses, including those made of PVC. It is convenient to use silicone hoses. Make sure that the hoses are securely attached so that water from the refrigerator does not leak onto the floor over time. Use clamps whenever possible.
How to make a moonshine still at home? You can assemble the device using improvised means, and it is not necessary to purchase expensive equipment or materials. You can make a distiller if you have certain design skills; ingenuity and the desire to create devices with your own hands will help with this.
At the same time, a self-made device is enough to produce good quality moonshine from mash. Such a product will be quite suitable for use. If everything is done correctly, then there will be no fusel in it, the taste of the drink will be pleasant, without bitterness, and the absence of smell will complement the overall impression of the evening.
A homemade moonshine still can be assembled literally “on your knees”, without using complex drawings or making blanks. As a base, you can use a regular bucket that you have in the kitchen.
DIY moonshine still
Pour mash into a bucket, a container will float on the surface of the liquid, you can use a metal basin or any other container. Cover the top of the basin with a large container and begin to heat the mash over the fire.
The quality of such alcohol can hardly even be called satisfactory. The fact is that such moonshine will contain fusel oils, as well as other harmful substances. Drinking such a drink is dangerous to health, since it can cause severe intoxication (poisoning of the whole body, brain damage).
If such a moonshine still does not inspire confidence, then it is worth starting to manufacture a better device.
The classical system contains the following modules:
- distillation cube (a container in which the mash will boil and gradually turn into alcohol);
- steamer (can act as an additional module; its presence can significantly improve the quality of the product);
- cooling system, which consists of a coil and a reservoir (necessary for alcohol vapor to turn into condensate);
- container for receiving the finished product.
You will also need several silicone or rubber hoses and materials to seal the structure. You can use glue, sealant or even dough.
Distillation cube: structural features
A homemade moonshine still can be made from a saucepan or can; any container of acceptable volume will do, provided that it is made of stainless steel. You can also use copper - this metal conducts heat well, but its cost is quite high. But aluminum, which was popular 20 years ago, comes into contact with alcohols and aggressive substances. The oxidation process is slow, but over the years, metal ions will get into the mash, they will spoil the taste of the drink.
You can make a cube from a keg or flask, the main thing is that the container has an airtight lid. If the amount of alcohol consumed is minimal, then you can make a distillation cube from a pressure cooker, but it is unlikely that you will be able to process more than seven liters of mash at a time.
There should be a valve at the bottom of the cube; it will help remove the remaining mash from the tank. The distillation cube is connected to a steam chamber and a cooling system; this is done using silicone hoses.
The main thing you should pay attention to is the tightness of the structure. The lid should fit tightly to the container to avoid steam leakage. You can fix the lid with sealant or glue using food-grade silicone gaskets.
A fitting is screwed into the lid of the distillation cube; it is advisable to equip the container with a thermometer - this will help control the distillation process.
After the thermometers are installed in the container and the distillation cube is ready for use, it is worth starting to manufacture the cooling system.
Coil and refrigerator
You can assemble a moonshine still from available materials, but some parts will still have to be purchased. As a coil - the main part of the refrigerator - it is worth using a copper pipe with a diameter of 8 to 12 mm. The coil length ranges from 1300 to 1500 mm.
The pipe will have to be twisted into a spiral and then placed in the tank. You can use a piece of sewer pipe as a reservoir.
The coil is needed so that alcohol vapor moves through it, and the water that enters the tank from a water supply or a special container turns the vapor into condensate. Simply put, water cools the alcohol vapor and turns it into ready-made moonshine, free of harmful elements.
The reservoir for the coil should be spacious. I would also like to note that copper is considered the main material for the coil, but many who like to make alcohol at home say that copper is toxic. In fact, this metal cannot lead to poisoning; it does not oxidize when in contact with alcohols and conducts heat well, unlike aluminum. If you couldn’t get a copper pipe, you can replace it with stainless steel.
Making a moonshine still with a cooling system has some nuances - the device can be connected to a water supply. If there is no running water, then you can make a device with a container that will contain water.
The coil is installed in the tank, and then secured on both sides with plugs. The structure is processed using glue or sealant, and then attached to the distillation cube using hoses.
Steam chamber (reflux condenser)
A moonshine still with a steamer is a device that allows you to eliminate fusel oils from alcohol, making the drink high-quality and pleasant to the taste.
What can a reflux condenser be made from:
- From a glass jar with a volume of 0.5 liters and a tight stainless steel lid.
- Made of 2 fittings and 2 nuts, as well as 2 silicone tubes.
Make two marks on the lid, use a marker to trace the diameter of the fittings, and then, using an awl, make two holes in the lid.
Fittings are placed in the holes, secured with nuts, then the lid is screwed on, and the holes are treated with sealant or glue.
Using silicone hoses, the device is attached to the distillation cube and refrigerator. The reflux condenser will collect harmful oils; it acts as a kind of sump. Often the device is filled with water; after the distillation of moonshine is completed, it turns brown.
Making a moonshine still with a steamer is not as easy as it seems. Make sure that the lid fits tightly to the device. But at the same time, it must be removable - this will make it possible to remove oils accumulated in it from the steam tank.
You can make two reflux condensers for one distiller; one of them should be used as a settling tank for fusel milk, and the other should contain flavors of natural origin. Lemon peels, spices and herbs will do - they will give the drink a pleasant smell.
If the refrigerator is connected to the water supply, then you can equip the steamer with two hoses. One of them is lowered into the sink, and fusel will flow down the hose.
A few nuances
There are several tricks that will help you make a distillate production machine yourself.
- When choosing a pipe for a coil, you should pay attention to the thickness of its walls; this figure should not exceed 1.1 mm.
- The coil can be positioned in various ways, but it is better if the entire cooling system is located vertically. In this case, steam should enter the upper part of the coil to minimize production costs.
- The coil can be cooled not only with water. You can equip the system with a fan or cooler from a computer. But this design for cooling is not as effective as one that uses plumbing.
- If the cooling system is equipped with a reservoir of water, you will have to periodically drain the liquid during the distillation process, adding new liquid to the reservoir.
- A flow-through cooling system is more complex; for this reason, distillers without experience working with a distiller prefer those systems that are equipped with a non-flow refrigerator.
- If the cooling system is made correctly, then during distillation, moonshine comes out of it at room temperature, it can be cold. But warm or hot alcohol is a sign of insufficient cooling or a malfunction of the refrigerator.
- To make even turns on the coil, you should first fill the tube with sand, soda, or pour water into it, and then freeze it. After this, you need to screw the pipe onto the workpiece. When the coil is ready, sand or soda is poured out.
- The number of turns in the coil is not of fundamental importance, the main thing is that the distance between them does not exceed 12 mm. Devices from Germany have a coil with 5 turns; for Russia, a coil with 6–8 turns is considered the standard.
Making a moonshine still with your own hands is not so easy. To have an idea of where to connect the hoses and how to mount the parts of the device to each other, it is worth looking at the drawings. A visual explanation will help you understand and understand the process of creating the device.
If you don’t have specific design skills, but have a great desire, you should first familiarize yourself with the process of creating the device, watch a video, collect information, and only then purchase the material.
Hi all! I promised to write this article for a long time, but I kept putting it off. The time has come to fulfill the promise. Today I will tell you how to make a moonshine still from a pressure cooker with your own hands.
What does a moonshine still consist of?
Let me first briefly remind you what a home moonshine still consists of and how it works. The simplest design includes a distillation cube (a container for boiling mash) and a refrigerator (direct-flow or coil). The diagram is shown in the figure below.
Making a distillation cube
I will make a still from an old Soviet 6 liter aluminum pressure cooker. She is almost the perfect option for this.
I say almost, because... it has a significant drawback - its volume. You can pour no more than 5 liters of mash into such a container, which will yield approximately 1 liter of 45% moonshine.
I won’t tell you much, but it’s quite enough to start distilling moonshine and understand whether you want to do this business. And the activity is very exciting, believe me.
So, we have this pressure cooker.
I got it from my parents, but it won’t be difficult to buy it. I just found exactly the same one on Avito for only 400 rubles.
The first step is to cut a nipple into the lid to connect the distillation cube to the refrigerator. I will insert this one, with a ½” thread.
The lid already has two holes for pressure relief valves; we will not touch them. Let them perform their function. Let's make a new hole with a size 20 wood drill bit.
Why wood? It’s just that it’s much cheaper than a metal drill, and it cuts aluminum very well.
First you need to mark the center and drill a hole for centering with a small drill.
And then drill it out with a large drill.
If you get sloppy edges, they need to be cleaned with a finely notched file. Now you can insert the nipple.
After using a size 20 drill, I get a hole well suited for a ½” nipple, I even had to use a wrench to screw it in. It fits so tightly that no additional gaskets or seals are needed.
Tighten the nipple with a nut from the inside.
A fitting for attaching a Ø12 mm hose is screwed onto it.
If your pressure cooker still has the gasket, then the distillation cube for your home moonshine still is ready. I didn't have it. Therefore, we will make it.
Making a gasket to seal the cube
Any kind of rubber will not work here; when it comes into contact with moonshine vapor, it will give off an odor and ruin the entire product. Here you need silicone, and not just ordinary silicone, but food grade silicone.
You can buy a ready-made gasket or, if you don’t find the right size, buy a sheet and cut the gasket yourself. They are sold in moonshiners' stores and in stores with laboratory equipment.
I will make a gasket from liquid silicone for aquariums. It can be bought at pet stores, construction supermarkets and plumbing stores.
It is needed specifically for aquariums, it is definitely safe and does not give off any foreign odors.
Fill the groove for the gasket on the lid with a small heap and let the silicone dry. After a day you can start distilling.
Let's move on to the next step.
Making a refrigerator
How to connect parts
Now all that remains is to connect the distillation cube and the refrigerator. For this I use a silicone hose with an internal diameter of 12 mm. The hose should also be made of food-grade silicone. No rubber or PVC!
Now the moonshine still is ready. This is enough to make your first drink.
That's all. The process is very simple and not long. If you have ideas or comments, please leave them in the comments. I always welcome constructive criticism. Also subscribe to the news, I plan to add mash recipes soon.
Bye everyone. Dorofeev Pavel.
How to make a moonshine still at home? You can assemble the device using improvised means, and it is not necessary to purchase expensive equipment or materials. You can make a distiller if you have certain design skills; ingenuity and the desire to create devices with your own hands will help with this.
At the same time, a self-made device is enough to produce good quality mash. Such a product will be quite suitable for use. If everything is done correctly, then there will be no fusel in it, the taste of the drink will be pleasant, without bitterness, and the absence of smell will complement the overall impression of the evening.
What can the device be made from?
A homemade moonshine still can be assembled literally “on your knees”, without using complex drawings or making blanks. As a base, you can use a regular bucket that you have in the kitchen.
DIY moonshine still
Pour mash into a bucket, a container will float on the surface of the liquid, you can use a metal basin or any other container. Cover the top of the basin with a large container and begin to heat the mash over the fire.
The quality of such alcohol can hardly even be called satisfactory. The fact is that such moonshine will contain fusel oils, as well as other harmful substances. Drinking such a drink is dangerous to health, since it can cause severe intoxication (poisoning of the whole body, brain damage).
If such a moonshine still does not inspire confidence, then it is worth starting to manufacture a better device.
The classical system contains the following modules:
- alembic (a container in which it will boil and gradually turn into alcohol);
- steamer (can act as an additional module; its presence can significantly improve the quality of the product);
- cooling system, which consists of a coil and a reservoir (necessary for alcohol vapor to turn into condensate);
- container for receiving the finished product.
You will also need several silicone or rubber hoses and materials to seal the structure. You can use glue, sealant or even dough.
Distillation cube: structural features
A homemade moonshine still can be made from a saucepan or can; any container of acceptable volume will do, provided that it is made of stainless steel. You can also use copper - this metal conducts heat well, but its cost is quite high. But aluminum, which was popular 20 years ago, comes into contact with alcohols and aggressive substances. The oxidation process is slow, but over the years, metal ions will get into the mash, they will spoil the taste of the drink.
You can make a cube from a keg or flask, the main thing is that the container has an airtight lid. If the amount of alcohol consumed is minimal, then you can make a distillation cube from a pressure cooker, but it is unlikely that you will be able to process more than seven liters of mash at a time.
There should be a valve at the bottom of the cube; it will help remove the remaining mash from the tank. The distillation cube is connected to a steam chamber and a cooling system; this is done using silicone hoses.
The main thing you should pay attention to is the tightness of the structure. The lid should fit tightly to the container to avoid steam leakage. You can fix the lid with sealant or glue using food-grade silicone gaskets.
A fitting is screwed into the lid of the distillation cube; it is advisable to equip the container with a thermometer - this will help control the distillation process.
After the thermometers are installed in the container and the distillation cube is ready for use, it is worth starting to manufacture the cooling system.
Coil and refrigerator
You can assemble a moonshine still from available materials, but some parts will still have to be purchased. As a coil - the main part of the refrigerator - it is worth using a copper pipe with a diameter of 8 to 12 mm. The coil length ranges from 1300 to 1500 mm.
The pipe will have to be twisted into a spiral and then placed in the tank. You can use a piece of sewer pipe as a reservoir.
The coil is needed so that alcohol vapor moves through it, and the water that enters the tank from a water supply or a special container turns the vapor into condensate. Simply put, water cools the alcohol vapor, turning it into a ready-made alcohol, free of harmful elements.
The reservoir for the coil should be spacious. I would also like to note that copper is considered the main material for the coil, but many who like to make alcohol at home say that copper is toxic. In fact, this metal cannot lead to poisoning; it does not oxidize when in contact with alcohols and conducts heat well, unlike aluminum. If you couldn’t get a copper pipe, you can replace it with stainless steel.
Making a moonshine still with a cooling system has some nuances - the device can be connected to a water supply. If there is no running water, then you can make a device with a container that will contain water.
The coil is installed in the tank, and then secured on both sides with plugs. The structure is processed using glue or sealant, and then attached to the distillation cube using hoses.
Steam chamber (reflux condenser)
A moonshine still with a steamer is a device that allows you to eliminate fusel oils from alcohol, making the drink high-quality and pleasant to the taste.
What can a reflux condenser be made from:
- From a glass jar with a volume of 0.5 liters and a tight stainless steel lid.
- Made of 2 fittings and 2 nuts, as well as 2 silicone tubes.
Make two marks on the lid, use a marker to trace the diameter of the fittings, and then, using an awl, make two holes in the lid.
Fittings are placed in the holes, secured with nuts, then the lid is screwed on, and the holes are treated with sealant or glue.
Using silicone hoses, the device is attached to the distillation cube and refrigerator. The reflux condenser will collect harmful oils; it acts as a kind of sump. Often the device is filled with water; after the distillation of moonshine is completed, it turns brown.
Making a moonshine still with a steamer is not as easy as it seems. Make sure that the lid fits tightly to the device. But at the same time, it must be removable - this will make it possible to remove oils accumulated in it from the steam tank.
You can make two reflux condensers for one distiller; one of them should be used as a settling tank for fusel milk, and the other should contain flavors of natural origin. Lemon peels, spices and herbs will do - they will give the drink a pleasant smell.
If the refrigerator is connected to the water supply, then you can equip the steamer with two hoses. One of them is lowered into the sink, and fusel will flow down the hose.
A few nuances
There are several tricks that will help you make a distillate production machine yourself.
- When choosing a pipe for a coil, you should pay attention to the thickness of its walls; this figure should not exceed 1.1 mm.
- The coil can be positioned in various ways, but it is better if the entire cooling system is located vertically. In this case, steam should enter the upper part of the coil to minimize production costs.
- The coil can be cooled not only with water. You can equip the system with a fan or cooler from a computer. But this design for cooling is not as effective as one that uses plumbing.
- If the cooling system is equipped with a reservoir of water, you will have to periodically drain the liquid during the distillation process, adding new liquid to the reservoir.
- A flow-through cooling system is more complex; for this reason, distillers without experience working with a distiller prefer those systems that are equipped with a non-flow refrigerator.
- If the cooling system is done correctly, then during distillation it comes out at room temperature, it can be cold. But warm or hot alcohol is a sign of insufficient cooling or a malfunction of the refrigerator.
- To make even turns on the coil, you should first fill the tube with sand, soda, or pour water into it, and then freeze it. After this, you need to screw the pipe onto the workpiece. When the coil is ready, sand or soda is poured out.
- The number of turns in the coil is not of fundamental importance, the main thing is that the distance between them does not exceed 12 mm. Devices from Germany have a coil with 5 turns; for Russia, a coil with 6–8 turns is considered the standard.
Making a moonshine still with your own hands is not so easy. To have an idea of where to connect the hoses and how to mount the parts of the device to each other, it is worth looking at the drawings. A visual explanation will help you understand and understand the process of creating the device.
If you don’t have specific design skills, but have a great desire, you should first familiarize yourself with the process of creating the device, watch a video, collect information, and only then purchase the material.
The abundance of alcoholic beverages on the shelves of our stores, however, does not affect the reduction in the cost of these products. And a simple esthete cannot afford store-bought products.
A simple design of a mini-factory for the production of homemade moonshine (alcohol) is proposed. Anyone with basic knowledge of physics and chemistry can assemble the proposed design.
Structurally, the device is made in a three-liter glass jar. The process technology consists of condensing alcohol vapor on a cooler and then collecting the resulting condensate in a container.
At the initial stage, we manufacture the parts of the device. The cooler is a 0.5 liter metal container filled to the brim with small metal parts (nuts, bolts, washers, nails, etc.). We pierce two holes in the upper part of the container to secure the rope. The best material is copper. After filling the can with metal, the free volume of the container is filled with water. The container is placed in the freezer for cooling.
At the second stage, we make a watering can and a container for collecting the finished product. The material for the watering can will be any PET bottle with a capacity of 0.5 liters. We cut the bottle at a distance of 60 mm from the neck. We make a container for collecting ethyl alcohol from another 0.33 liter aluminum can of beer or carbonated drinks. The height of the required container from the bottom to the top edge is 70 mm. The capacity of the manufactured container will be about 50 ml. In the upper part of the container we pierce two opposite holes for attaching the rope.
Assembling the structure involves sequentially stringing a container, a watering can, a cooler and a jar lid onto a rope.
To obtain alcohol, you need to pour raw materials into the jar. This could be mash, wine, etc.
Pour 200-250 ml of raw materials into a three-liter jar. Remove the cooler from the refrigerator and assemble the structure. Place the assembled structure into the jar. Close the jar tightly with a plastic lid.
In the summer, when steam heating is not working, lower the jar into a container of hot water. Maintain water temperature within 50°C. The process will also last about 10 hours.
The main advantage: this is a practically free device for preparing moonshine (alcohol) in winter conditions. We freeze the cooler jar outside (it’s very good for those who have a balcony or loggia), and we place the evaporator itself on a steam heating radiator. If you have your own raw materials, then everything is practically free, and there is no smell during distillation.
One such device gives approximately 50 ml in 10-12 hours. alcohol, if there are two of them, then 100 ml.
