Hi!
We've read about distilling for quite some time now, and finally I've got a distiller. I am so lucky that my farther had an old distiller, so I'ved got that one for christmas
The problem is that I've got some questions about how to use it, and my farther is not sure about it,he have only used it 1 time, and it's about 20 years old,.
It looks very much like a normal distiller, and is bought from a professional shop. Therefore it should be easy to put together.
If someone can help me with a few questions please add me to your msn! E-mail: [email="thegunners
jubiimail.dk"]thegunners
jubiimail.dk[/email]

I need to cool down the vapour. What to I use for that? I've been thinking about a normal hose from the garden, but wouldn't it be to expensive i water?
What shall I use the tupe that is going through the distiller to?,see pic,

I agree w/ elricko, that system is the best so far for the investment. You can also go cheap on the first couple of runs and use a large barrel or bin that will hold 30-35 gal of water and fill to about 75%-80% and leave room for the frozen water bottles. Put in the frozen bottles as the water starts to go from cool to warm. Also you need to purchase some high temp hose with appropriate fittings if you dont have any,auto hose clamps work well, don't over tighten., You will also need to buy a fitting that will allow you to control the flow from the pump as well as another that will allow the independant adjustment of flow in regards to condenser and collumn cooling. You can use a high output aquarium pump that is equvilant or greater capacity than the one sold at brewhaus.com. The lower the output of the pump the higher you will have to elevate the bin of cooling water in order to get a good flow. Most importantly is the packing, either rings, marbles, PURE stainless wool or the best is copper mesh. This is how you get your reflux, and the copper works well to negate the bad smells and flavors that may result from other packing. Also, distill water first to test the welds/seams and also calibrate the thermometer for your altitude. By the way where does the thermometer go? It should be at the same height in the collumn as the input hole for the condenser. Remember that you are cooling from top to bottom when you hook it up. Also, what will you use as heat source and how large in ltrs is the pot and how tall is the collumn if I may ask?

Good point Okieshine. I went back and updated http://tvbeer.com/cool1.htm to include where I bought the parts and the costs. I also included some photos of the cooling system a friend of mine uses for another idea. Thanks for the heads up.

Niels:

I use an Via Agua 2700 pump I got off Ebay for $20. It pushes 609 gph. That is double what they sell on line at Brewhaus, Mile-hi, and most of the other folks selling distilling equipment. My buddy uses one that pumps 900 GPH and he swears by that one. I guess it depends on how far you need to lift the water. If you are going higher than 8 or 10 feet I would go for the 900 GPH.