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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ย. 2014
- Warning: This is not a video on distillation, but I still I warn you not to distill flammable solvents in a poorly ventilated area!
In this video I will be showing you how I went about building my own pot still. The purpose of this video is to give an idea of what goes into making one. Keep in mind that this is my own design and there are bound to be design flaws. There are definitely improvements that can be made.
This is the pressure cooker that I bought: www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005L... - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![ทัศนศึกษาโรงงานผลิตโค้ก [THAI/ENG SUB]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M9y-TJBNem0/mqdefault.jpg)
As a former welding/brazing instructor, you did fine with your soldering method. 8/10
PiE I agree he did not bad at all, 👍
Tips from community:
- use silver solder
- brass fittings
- silicon instead of paste
- clean by distilling vinegar
Yeah. Nile is a bit of a brainlet. He also loves his own voice, which is unfortunate for us given he uses two tin cans and a piece of string to record shit. Also there's no such thing as a silent L in the English language, thus soLder is pronounced sol-dur, not sod-derr. Soddering sounds awefully close to something one does with barnyard animals in the 1700's on a cold winter night.
@@bashkillszombies K
@@bashkillszombies The English language has no hard and fast rules like you seem to be insisting, unless something has changed drastically in the last few hours. On a less abstract linguistic point, it definitely does not contain that rule, unless ever person I have ever heard pronounce half, chalk, talk, could and salmon has been misspeaking this entire time. Additionally, the sod-er pronunciation is probably the more common one among native English speakers globally, by far, as it's the standard North American pronunciation, which outnumbers the rest of the Anglosphere on its own. It's also the older pronunciation, coming from the middle-english 'souder'. All in all...zero valid points, several attempts to feel superior on the internet by correcting grammar, usage, or pronunciation that made you look like an idiot, and a lot of weird unnecessary aggression . All in all, exactly what I should have expected in a nine month late reply to a comment full of 'suggestions' posted five years after the video in question. The wonders of the internet, folks.
bashpr0mpt Actually, in American English his pronunciation of "solder" is correct. It is easy to criticize. We should be grateful for the work he does and time he takes.
@@bashkillszombies the English language does what it wants in the case of solder the L is colloquially silent as in I've never heard anyone pronounce solder using the L also why do you care.
You must use silver solder for a still because it has a higher melt temp than regular solder and wont fail at running temp. Plus it contains no lead. My uncle who was a rum runner taught me that when I was a tot, before he passed away.
+jsslandro The old people were wise ..I'm in my 60's and my Italian Dad taught me many ways to distill and he learned from his mom & dad from Italy who ran stills in the 1800's ...
Absolutely. The light acids eat up plain lead solder. That is why silver solder must be used for home copper piping, and they are non acid and run colder, even than the hot water lines.
Not correct. The still runs at a very cool
Exactly NEVER use lead solder on water pipes & also NEVER use repurposed/used radiators in a still.
Great video... One last step that everyone should do before using the still is the cleaning of the inside of the column and the condenser. Cleaning is easily accomplished by distilling a bit of white vinegar. Distill enough vinegar until the distillate runs clear. This needs to be performed in between uses, dependent upon how long the still sets unused. Be prepared to be grossed out by the colour of the distillate. -Cheers
+Capt. Nemo Cold cleaning can also be done with table salt dissolved in vinegar. The solution will clean and brighten all copper and brass surfaces. The clean surfaces would be ready for reaction with sulphur compounds which affect taste. If you are tasting your alcohol. :)
Pelican1984
Interesting... My system isn't very sophisticated or for making high brow beverages. Using a pot still with a packed column, I simply make over-proof ethanol from a sugar wash that's then polished, diluted, and flavored with either charred oak or a favorite tincture made using the over-proof distillate. I like a schnapps every now and then. I just don't care for the metallic taste of the first run through oxidized copper. Somehow the carbon polishing never seems to remove all of the coppery taste. I have no heads or tails to clean the pipes because I'm using only refined white sugar that produces a methanol free distillate. -Cheers
When I did this in my old chem lab, I also got about 85%. It was a fun lab as I recall.
Nerd
Sounds like a hating ass teacher honestly
old? was the lab used for something else?
I'm surprised you actually recall anything of it
You can also add salt to the water/ethanol mix. It will dissolve in the water and raise its boiling temperature by a few degrees but not the ethanol. Also, wrapping the column with insulation can improve efficiency dramatically. Packing the column with copper BBs could also work. And you don't have to use flower paste on the first joint, you could just use silicone. Cool video Nile!
I never thought of using BBs, that seems like a good idea!
Nile Red I think stainless steel wool is better.
***** it just depends in what you're distilling. I would actually just buy some glass marbles or glass airsoft BBs so that I could distill anything. (Assuming the rest of the setup is glass)
Magneto! Adding salt lowers the B.P does it not?
Looked it up, it does raise the B.P but only by ~1/2 of a degree C for 56gNaCL/dm-3
Awesome man, Glad theres people out there that still are interested in chemistry!
I'm not a pipe fitter either, but your work looks really good to me. You have more talent than you give yourself credit for.
soldering a copper fitting to a stainless steel lid will cause the copper to corrode. This can be avoided by using a brass fitting instead.
I think Brass contains some non food grade metals .
@@kayakesq I don't think hes gonna drink it anyway
Not to mention it’s *extremely* difficult without the exact right solder. And even then the steel must be heated so hot it’s fucking ridiculous. It led me to wonder if using flux core stainless wire to weld it on the lowest setting would just melt/burn off the copper or actually work. Anyone know?
Gary Kast some brass does. But there’s lots of brass that is deemed ok for potable water at least.
Errr... I mean exact right flux and solder.
Well explained, young man. Let the adventures begin! :) Thank you for video
I really like you channel, can wait for the video on distilling!
Back in the late 80's a friend of mine made a similar still. He made it out of an empty stainless steel 15 gallon beer keg. One night on a hot summer night in Huntsville Alabama he was running off batch of moonshine in another friend's garage and it blew up and it made one hell of a mess in that garage. It took them two days to clean it up. It happened around 2:00 in the morning so nobody heard it, but you could smell alcohol for blocks away in every direction for at least three hours because there was no wind. :O)
Cool video! looks like a fun project.
Takeaway the whistle and tube it with a tight plastic pipe. Heat it with a lighter if needed to tighten. Then attach them to Copper piping with multiple turnings like a coil. i used ones found in AC. Now you can insert a copper coil in a small bucket and pull the other end out of the bucket by poking a hole with a heated rod and after getting the pipe out seal the hole with putty. Whenever you need to distill just pour the solution in the pressure cooker and close it. Get some ice to throw in the bucket with very little water filling up the entire bucket. Once the ice melts and water gets hot. Replace it with new water and ice. You'll need more ice than you think.
This is very useful. Thank you.
Informative and well described content easily understood.
Going over the process of fractional distillation via distance learning rn, really upsetting I was hoping to do this in person, so here I am looking for reference to do it myself
Is it just me that finds these videos strangely relaxing
With the correct parts I can build a copper still from scratch in about an hour and a half. However the one ove got at the house took me nearly 2 weeks working about 3 hours a day because, I got real creative with it and actually forged the copper out into a more professional looking still right down to the cool looking copper indentations!!! Since its in my garage I use a recirculation system with coiled copper pipe in holding unit i designed using the refrigerating system from an old refrigerator to keep the water cold and moving around to ensure there's no steam coming from the exit. At max productivity my still can do about 10-12 gallons an hour though I've only ever ran it that hard twice just to see how much it could really do. The only hard part is keeping the tubing system sterile so when I'm done I completely remove the copper coils for proper cleaning and drying. The rest is fairly easy to keep clean and sterile
if what you have works for you that's all that matters.. helped me out to, I'm making the same liebig condenser u have, I kept saying I need to file out those couplers, thought I was nuts lol
Informative. Thank you.
Thanks, NileRed. I know it’s a start and as you suggested I will look for other distillation apparatus construction on line. Any recommendations? You showed that this construction can be actually be done in this video, which is a excellent motivator !
In a previous video you showed how to distill solvent ethanol from a sugar wash. If this ethanol was instead used for human consumption, do you know if the copper distillation tube contaminates the ethanol? Also, is it possible to get copper flux and solder that is certified lead-free? I recall that at some point that the US EPA passed rules limiting lead and copper in public drinking water. I’m pretty sure the source of the lead hits they were getting was from lead in the copper plumbing solder. I think public water sources like municipal water supplies were able to control the level of copper contaminants by controlling the pH of their water. Although in these days of COVID 19 I’m looking only for solvent ethanol, it would be nice to know that future batches do not have too-high levels of metal contamination. Thanks again for a great video!
Just a tip, heat it up until the flux starts to bubble and wipe off the excess flux with a rag before you actually solder it. Otherwise you'll get a bunch of green/blue corrosion around your joints over time. Also, don't take your flame away while you solder. Keep it on there as you apply the solder to the joint. You should just be able to touch the solder on the top of the pipe and sort of move it back and forth a little for a second and the solder will run down both sides. That way you don't have to keep heating it up and applying more or go around each section of the pipe. Then just take a rag and wipe the drip of solder off the bottom while its still hot. A bigger torch head would also make things easier and faster. Obviously what you did will work and I'm not trying to criticize but doing those things will make this whole process more efficient if you ever need to solder copper pipe again.
Would love to see someone DIY an all-glass (or "mostly" glass) still, since copper toxicity can be an issue if one gets lazy & doesn't clean/operate a copper still properly. Also NEVER use LEAD based solder and NEVER use repurposed/used copper piping or radiators!! Also, be aware that brass contains lead.
Did you used lead free solder? If not, how you made sure there is no traces of lead in the final product? Also i would love to know if you have considered to use the freeze concentrate Method so seperate alc Form Water and why not. Also why not use denaturated alc (spiritus) to Start with, since its supposed to be like 90+% to Start with. Love to hear what you think of all this. Thanks
You can coil copper tubing in 6" pvc pipe
And use that as the water condenser
It would also work to remove moisture after a air compressor befor the storage tank as a dryer.
Did you ever do a video using this to distil the alcohol you fermented?
Would a rubber washer/print added to the fitting before you hammered it into the lid have made a difference in the leaks???
Thanks for this great and inspiring video! Please let me ask the following questions:
The rubber gasket in my pressure cooker does not completely seal of the cooker before the liquid in it is cooking. Without having tried a construction like this using my cooker, I guess it would work, but i am not sure. Is your pressure cooker effectively closed of as soon as it is closed or is like mine, that is, the gasket depends on the inner pressure?
How deep do you position the thermometer and what temperature do you reach for?
While it is satisfying producing your own solvents; can everclear be used to the same effect?
Step (drill) bit @the depot are very handy.
size doesn't matter of the colon but to cool down the steam to right temperature so you only cooling down the vapor from the alcohol and not water. And you want to have the vapor temperature at 79,15 degrees Celsius before it goes to the cooling colon. Then you got 97,4% alcohol out. Worked for me and you can max get out 0,6 liter alcohol/kg sugar. Pure and clean chemistry 😇
my understanding is there is heads and tails in this sort of still, is there garbage at the start and end you need to exclude ?
@NileRed: Couldn't you use a wider diameter pipe for the condenser, then use flex copper piping of a smaller diameter to make an adhoc graham condenser? There'd be some added fitting adapters and welding but it'd create a better condenser, right?
A cold water condenser is much more efficient than an air condenser
What pipe fitting(s) did you use to attach to the pressure cooker lid?
is there any specific reason that the condenser is at a 90 degree angle, rather than a 30 degree angle? I don't know whether it matters or not but on the glass ones in your other videos, the condenser is at a 30 degree angle...
Mannn nnnnn Nile hit offf over the years can believe I'm seeing this now i just randomly searched "pot still at home" and clicked on the first vid and one like hey the voice sounds familiar, then I saw the channel name 😆
Can the sugar+yeast produce Methanol as well instead of Ethanol? so what you distill could contain Methanol as well?
to seal your leak on the pressure pot ,,use teflon tape with a conduit nut
Your boiler is waaaaaay to small (10-15 L at least!), your riser is longer than it needs to be and you can run the Liebig at a 45 degree angle (even less). That thing on top...replace it with an end cap anf wrap a few turns of PTFE tape around the pipe.Do NOT solder it, it serves like an extra safety precaution and you want to be able to clean the riser from inside. Obviously, you can't do this when the cap is soldered into place.
Hey Nile, thanks for this video. How do you measure the % of the final product?
hydrometer
if you assume you're left with only ethanol and water, you can just work it out by measuring volume and weighing it.
What's your thoughts on using an aluminum cooker? ?
How come you didn't use your glassware to distill? Should I be cautious to use glass for some reason? Not that I can think of any but always good to double check in case I missed something.
I think the reason he used theese materials is to show how distillation can be done cheaply, with materials available at ordinary hardware stores.
How do you mark the end of collection?
Could you purify the final azeotrope product with a drying agent to remove most of the remaining water?
yes, but i would not recommend doing that unless you have 95%+ ethanol. Otherwise you will need WAY too much drying agent.
That boot glass looks like the ones they give away at Taste of Texas
will copper or aluminum react with anything organic or other solvents? interested in making a steam still for organic oils
aluminum toxicity cause Alzheimer beware of Sysco and Dixie crystal salts containing sodium aluminsilicate like sand and aluminum. see colloidal silver geneator upabove ,maranatha
I think that Rosie O'Kelly did a video on how to make Moonshine which is ethanol.
Just a general question: If you were going to drink it, is it safe to use solder? What about the lead, could or would it leech out?
evidencebasedreason LEAD FREE SOLDER ONLY!!
Great video !
I have a small question: Why do you call it a reflux column when you don't reflux (send back) the condensed vapors back into the still?
cause he's talking about passive reflux, by having the still head be that long you're gonna have a cooler top part. of course to make it active reflux just duplicate the product condenser on the still head.
all i have to say you are fuckin good man. you do know your shit. subed.
Is the pipe coming out of the preassurecooker empty?
*real home brewing right here*
Do you think an aluminium pot would be as good or that too much aluminium ion would spread in the stem? For distilled water for example?
Aluminum evaporates at 4478 Fahrenheit. Aluminum oxide evaporates at 5391. While the meme that everyone repeats is "stainless steel and copper only", there is nothing in aluminum that can get into the vapor.
how hot should the ethanol and water be?
An electric turbofanned copper coil can cool steam as well. Using no water. Going to build one using a cooltronic 12v cooler.
Thanks
I build computers for a living, and I'd like to say that a closed custom loop would probably work on the distillation column so that you don't have to waste so much water. You'd need a radiator to dissipate the heat, though.
+Eric Bowling What is a closed custom loop?
www.overclock.net/image/id/1686396
Something like this. It has a pump, a reservoir, flexible or solid tubing, and one or more radiators with fans to dissipate the heat.
All components should be able to withstand temperatures of over 100 degrees Celsius. The tubing is green, the pump is in the bottom right. Radiators and fans may not be needed, but only if the temperature of your water doesn't go up very much.
Generally they're used in computers, pushing water across and through metal components that get hot to move to heat to a radiator.
+Eric Bowling ....Actually I have used the radiator system as a condensor as I had more "free" electricity than I did "free" water (In the Outback, running on solar)
However, on critical difference between computer or auto radiator design and those for drinking alcohol is the materials used in the system. Non-potable designs can have lead, plastics, and any other toxic substance in the loop. However, alcohol vapor will leach just about anything in the system, so everything must be safe for human consumption. So, mostly likely you couldn't buy an off the shelf system with all it's components being safe for human consumption.
I thought the exact same thing... I mean, not an exact water cooling system, but rather the concept of using a radiator and a pump.
Pedro Gutiérrez Ricnón Seems efficient, but i wonder how long it would take him for the price of water savings to surpass the price of the equipment.
Can't you just use a simple lab distillation setup for this? If you don't really want to go into plumbing, soldering and overall building a still?
Can you use a normal distillation with a large round bottom flask for this?
+Constantino Fine Art You definitely could. It's just that this has a capacity of 4L. You could get a different cooker that has a capacity of many many liters. It is just an efficiency thing.
Tip: put a piece of wood between the copper and the hammer, to prevent damaging the thread
Yes, this Is a useful tool for separating chemicals, that's what I plan on using it for that purpose
what about activated charcoal? wouldn't that have the highest surface area?
just curious what the "convenient bolt" holding, before you removed it... was that the safety valve?
pietrosammarco yeah
the thermometer is a nice touch. If there is any (poisonous) methanol in the mash it will distill across at 65 degrees centigrade while the ethanol distills across at 78 degrees
Which is why most old time distillers would throw out the first X ounces of product. I can't say from personal experience about the timing, but there should be a short window where it stops dripping but the temperature keeps raising. Everything before that pause is poison, good for chemistry but not for consumption.
Another fun fact is that there is another bunch of poison that distills out at the end. When you hit a second pause, you'll want to stop and toss out the mash. While not as poisonous as the first, it's still not healthy for humans.
Actually in standard distillation process foreshot (that's the proper term for the very first batch of the distillate) consists of a bunch of various substances, not just pure methanol, and the latter is in too low a concentration to actually pose a threat to your health if the foreshot is left to mix with the rest of the final product (although consumption thereof will almost certainly result in a severe headache).
To be more precise, a sugar wash will not produce methanol (methanol is chiefly produced by the destructive distillation of wood). Wine produces more methanol than beers, and sugar washes produce none. Generally though, if you want to be safe, toss the first shot or two if you want. I don't.
@@Suicidekings_ Alternativ you can let it run throught aktiv carbon it bindes all methanol
when packing the column where exactly would you put the packing? in the thiner tube with vapor flowing through it or in the pipe with cold water going through it?
+parker renick ...in the larger (distillation) column coming out of the pot where the vapor of the different components can separate from each other. Water will cool sooner, condense, and fall back into the pot. Alcohol vapor will continue to the top of the column, turn the corner, condense into liquid in the condenser, then fall into your collector.
You would also need to make that column be able to be un-assembled for the cleaning/replacement of the packing. I use (pure) copper scrubbers as it seems to add nicely to the taste of the alcohol.
As soon as you add a reflux column doesn't that change it to a reflux still? The intent of a pot still is to really produce a more flavorfull end product. Adding a reflux column decreases the amount of non-alcohol content in the final product.
+US Beer Traders A reflux still can be used for both types of operations. For stripping runs or full cuts, simply insulate the reflux column, remove any media like scrubbers, raschig rings or marbles, and run it at with high heat.
But its not a pot still
It's a pot still, because it's made from a pot. It just has a reflux column and condenser on top of that. Technically, I suppose it's a "reflux pot still with a Liebig condenser" if you want to be pedantic.
the second tube is best when able to change the angle
Broken glass would work just as well, without any interactions for column packing.
Should be able to get away with a silicon seal, as it has a high melting point after it's solidified.
From what I’ve read this is against federal law even in circumstances like this without a permit. How did you deal w/ this potential issue?
You should probably have mentioned that non-lead solder must be used if this might be used for foodstuffs.
I need it for essential oils as ticks are insane falling from the sky in SoCal.
I want you in my Vault when the bombs fall
could you just use a flask and condenser and distill it that way? Like you would any other solvent?
He did that in the paper toilet moonshine video but the still was very small for making ethanol
oh cool a kitchen bomb :D
Forgive me for asking as I am slightly ignorant in chemistry but you said 96% is the best you can get ... Is there not a way to make the ethanol anhydrous?
Molecular Steve's are a good one 3A but you can also mix it with solvents that will bind to the water more tightly that also have a higher boiling point than ethanol it largely just depends you can also react using sodium but that's an extreme fire hazard obviously
Do you think that epoxy can be used instead of welding, if the products of distillation are not intended for consumption?
I don't see why not as long as the epoxy doesn't start to degrade around 100C.
Lucas de Almeida Do not use an epoxy or anything like that!!
In what metal are your house water pipes made? In Canada, they are still in copper .
How to set exact heat with your cocktop?
You should actually put the pressure cooker on the stove or on a bigger pot of boiling water the keep the explosions if there are any leaks.
@2:38 lmao idk how many times ive done that on multiple things including wood...ghetto but it works if your slow and steady
I see you made a sort of fractional distillation setup.
i use copper scrubbers to pack my column. it's not a true reflux, but it "filters" the vapors and does slightly reflux the distilate. gets me higher % and more volume. and never use paste, just buy teflon tape. paste never lasts for the entire process and you end up losing efficiency.
can i use a teflon (Polytetrafluoroethylene) still?
yes
Idk about putting your flammable vapors next to an open flame... I think it might be safer to use a hot plate instead.
You can make a fractional distillation chamber if you put some crumpled copper sheets inside the column. That will increase your yield by a shit load.
The vapors will condense onto the surface area of the inserted copper sheets and revaporize in the same ratios of ethanol to water as at the bottom of the column. Effectively, your yield would be, instead of 1 - (0.15) = 0.85 to something like 1 - (0.15)^6 which is pretty much 0.999
Jake ethanol and water form an azeotrope at 95.6% so at that point, the water will vaporize just as quickly as the ethanol keeping the percentage at exactly 95.6%
You forgot to mention about methanol in the heads.
Depends on what you make your wash with. If it's sugar wash there won't be any methanol and even with other washes you need to distill a LOT of wash to make enough methanol to be toxic. That rumor really got started because during prohibition people used to bottle up methanol denatured alcohol right out of the barrels. they didnt distill it or anything, they just didnt care and its not like you could complain to the police
You got old man hands 2:41
@6:35 its actually ~95.5% azeotropic dont know if you know specifically...which i doubt bc your a better chemist than me lol but figured id put that in there
Interesting!!
Is the copper necessary Or could one use glassware such as that found in an organic chemistry lab to get drinkable ethanol?
+ERprepper I don't know man, you are using a pretty decent amount of heat.
+ERprepper Copper is nice because it neutralizes the "off" flavors. A still made out of 100% glass might make a pretty awful-tasting drink.
+ERprepper I use a full glass setup. Works great imo.
+bcubed72 My dad used to toss a hand full of raisons into the shine to sweeten it up and get high on the raisons later ...Glass is ok .
*raisins
To be exact, this is more likely to be a column still rather than a pot still, as a pot still does not have a reflux column.
LOL the boot glass
He's a bootlegger lol
for next time you need enlarge an existing hole.
www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-high-speed-steel-step-drills-91616.html
nice price, but with exchange rate and shipping these are cheaper: www.princessauto.com/en/detail/3-pc-titanium-coated-high-speed-steel-step-drill-bit-set/A-p8225401e
Not from harbor Freight... I'll gladly pay the $60 at a credible hardware store for a step bit
0:08 Das boot?
great movie
Oo ya
96% ethanol das boot chug
The boat
Pretty close to what I have been thinking of. Wondering if you or anyone watching has tried this with an electric pressure cooker so it doesn't require a separate heat source, also many of them allow specific temperature setting.
What is the reason that the pressure cooker must be stainless steel and not aluminum?
+Paul Jacobson personal preference I'm assuming ..
I am thinking of buying a hotplate/stirrer from united nuclear for $119.00. This is a descent price, right?
Yeah, that isn't bad at all. I dont think youll get a decent one for less than 100. I bought a Corning one which is incredibly expensive for what it is. Try looking for a hotplate/stirrer on Ebay or Aliexpress. You can often find the same stuff but for much cheaper. Only difference is that shipping will take a long time.
Nile Red I have searched for a long time and find that I like the one from united nuclear best. It has a really small plate, however. I always look around before I buy something. I don't really like Aliexpress, it is more of a quantity company, right?
you can buy single things on aliexpress with free shipping often. I am not sure about hotplate stirrers though
Nile Red I saw they have 40 gallon drums of sodium... Pitch in 1000 dollars and we can split it? :D Also I thought you meant alibaba.
haha, what would i do with that much sodium?! I barely even need any :p
Note that using too much flux on pipe could cause corrosion over time. Good work though.
DAS BOOT!
This guy knows what's up.
The boat
The boot!