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Hi all new to this site but not to the hooch. I put a false bottom on my boiler but it seem's to take forever for it to come up to heat. What I did is put a 16' pizza pan on top of my heat source then put my boiler on top of that. My thought was by doing this I could protect the bottom of my boiler. So my ? is has anybody ever tryed this or is it a wast of time and heat. 
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Why bother? If your boiler is steel, the temperature required to damage it should be fairly high. If, however, you have a cycling or uneven heat source, an aluminum or cast iron plate might help distribute heat evenly, allowing you to maintain consistent boiling. As to using an aluminum PIZZA pan, I don't know. Some of them have internal chambers, don't they? I'm not sure if they're filled with air or some kind of insulating material, so I can't say whether or not they would do anything for you.
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AJ thanks for the input I thought it may be a wast of time
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By the way I am the same one that started this post I just changed the name
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No problem. I'm not going to say there's no possibility of damaging it ,I've heard of some REALLY shitty steel pans that you can't use above medium heat because of warping,, but I don't imagine you'll damage it.
If you're worried about it, try boiling some water in it for awhile and keep an eye on it for changes in the surface.
What kind of heat source are you using? What is your boiler made out of?
You might also want to consider immersion heating elements as found in water heaters. I'm of the opinion that these are safer than burner-like radiative heat. If I were ever to leave a still unattended, it would have to be heated in this manner. As it stands, I use an 1100W heater because it works fine for me, but eventually I'd like to convert to an electric hot water heater.
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warping it is not the worry! I have been running still's for going on 10 years or so. The problum is that this is a stainless steel beer keg and I know from working with them that they don't hold up to direct prolonged temp with out getting stress cracks from the heat. I have already blown the bottom out of two of them over the years befor I started using a false bottom and I am trying to come up with a way to keep this from happening again.
The best thing I have used this far is putting a thin layer of mudd on the bottom but that is a bi*#h to clean off when i'am done and you can't let it on or the stainless will rust. As for my heat I run a 70,000 BTU LPG burner workes nice just makes a lot of heat. Maybe I'll try a copper plate see how that works.
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Have you considered going electric? I use two beer kegs, one full sized ,half barrel, and a Pony keg ,quarter barrel, for small batches. In the larger keg I welded two bushings and put in two 1500W hot water heater elements. I only put one in the smaller keg. It seems to work perfectly. You don't have to worry about propane and the temp is constant and easily controlled with a dimmer switch ,rated 1500W,. Just an alternative for you.
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It's not warping that I'm worried about. It's the creckes that come from heat stress. The first boiler I made from a SS keg lasted about 3 years
before it crecked out. So I had to make another one but I don't want to have to keep making boilers therefore I am looking into bottom plates to protect from heat crackes. the pizza pan is kinda thick close to a 1/4'. Maybe a thin metal plate with a thin layer of sand or something on it would be better.
As far as my heat I use a Lpg burner works nice just makes alot of heat.
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I cut the bottom out of my keg & welded a 1/4' 316 ss plate in its place, That was years ago & no problems yet It has ben working very well. While i was at it I also welded a 3/4' ss drain pipe with a ss ball valve on the side at the bottom. It sure made draining it easy. I also use a 230 volt hot plate that has two heating elements in it , with a temp control for each. It works great, Ben at this a while, & love it. Have a nice evening.
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Is this realy a problem my still is about 3 years old and I havn't had any problem's with it. Or is it something that will/could happen
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if ur using a stainless steel keg for the boiler, i dont see how it could possibly be a problem with the heat. i have tried using a blowtorch on mine before to cut it. 1100W or so for several hours isnt going to damage it if it is SS. over several years though, i dont know.
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I use a gas burner from a turkey deepfryer I don't think thats to much heat. But I was thinking about going elect.not sure how to go about it though.
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If you are afraid of uneven heat why not get try to use sand to transfer the heat between the burner and your still? Maybe a small diameter steel drum cut down to 8 in height fill it with 2 or three inched of sand and then put it on your burner. My gramps used to run whiskey in the 40's and that was how he kept his copper still heated evenly and kept the botom from stressing.
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