The anatomy of my POT STILL & how it works!

Pot stills or alembic stills are very simple stills for distillation that have existed for thousands of years. In this video I break down the anatomy of my pot still (Judith) and how it works. Remember, stills come in all different shapes, sizes and materials and this drastically impacts the flavors of distilled spirits!
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[@TheWhiskeyNerd]

Love the idea of doing a little home distillation. There's a couple of companies here that sell little copper pot stills, something I might try out down the line

[@RobynSmithPhD]

Yeah there are a number of companies that make great little copper pot stills!

[@ianholmes6078]

Beautiful little still!

[@RobynSmithPhD]

I think so too!

[@thealembicdiary1814]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing. Not a lot of content out for alembic stills. Do you double distill?

[@RobynSmithPhD]

Thanks! Yes, I typically double distill although I’m planning to try a single distillation to see how that turns out since the alembic gets a decently efficient separation!

[@thealembicdiary1814]

@@RobynSmithPhD I have a 10 gal alembic that I distill with. Haven’t been at it long but my doubles are always smoother that my single distillation. I’m doing the same thing with my next recipe (corn likker with cherry smoked malted corn).

[@RobynSmithPhD]

@@thealembicdiary1814 mmm that sounds delicious!

[@thealembicdiary1814]

Check out John Miller’s video here. He smokes his malt and that’s what I have to work with
th-cam.com/video/eqrhUCM3JJk/w-d-xo.html

[@RobynSmithPhD]

@@thealembicdiary1814 that’s awesome! I’ll check him out!

[@jamesgrey8093]

im buying that type of still very soon

[@RobynSmithPhD]

Awesome! What size are you getting?

[@FundiFe]

​@@RobynSmithPhDI bought a 5 gallon

[@RobynSmithPhD]

@@FundiFe awesome! How do you like it?

[@richardhenderson9127]

So what type of hot plate do you use?

[@RobynSmithPhD]

I used a propane burner, an electric stove burner, and a cheap electric hotplate that I got from Amazon. I want to wire the hot plate so that I can bypass the temperature controller and adjust the heat using a variac, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I think it'll help prevent possible smearing.

[@richardhenderson9127]

@@RobynSmithPhD how did the hot plate perform? I've heard of people wiring in a SSR to control the heat, but wondered how an untampered unit did.

[@RobynSmithPhD]

@@richardhenderson9127 I honestly think it was alright! I’ve just used it for my tiny 2.5 gal still, so I’m not sure how well it would do with a bigger still.