"Hi, I'm new to the forum and distilling. I've started out with the Amazing Still. The only problem I'm having is it doesn't produce anywhere near the advertised rate. So far I've only got about 0.6L in 48 hours, or 0.3L per day. I'm using the tilted version, which allegedly will produce 1.5L per day. Does anyone have any idea why it's so slow? I will describe the set-up.

-wash is ~15% using Liquor Quik Vodka Pure and 6.4kg table sugar (some residual sugar, as the wash tastes sweet)
-primary is 45L, tilted at about 15deg, with washed gravel on bottom
-inner container is 10L glass ""barrel"", raised an additional couple of inches off the gravel using glass plates to reduce heat transfer to gravel and collected alcohol
-heater is running at about 52degC (started at 46degC, increased in order to try to speed production)
-alcohol is collected directly into a 750ml liquor bottle via a tap on the bottom of the primary pail
-ambient temperature is kept between 5-15degC, and I put a cold pack on top of the lid to help condensation

I can't figure out why collection is so slow. Could the residual sugar be affecting the evaporation rate? It doesn't seem likely to me, but I'm at a loss to think of any other variations of my set-up from ideal. I know insulating the inner jar would help, but even the basic design without any insulation and without tilting was supposed to yield three times the amount I'm getting."

"Are you saying that in a 8 hour period you get 450ml's on average when running your setup???? If thats the case -- throw that thing away and get something that works cause that unit is practically useless!!!!!!!!
And
52C your should'nt be getting anything you want to consume.

Collection is so slow cause your not at a production temp.(78C is ethonal production) 52C is probable methanol????"

A distilling apparatus doesn't actually produce anything, it just separates components. So it can't "produce" acetone, methanol, ethyl acetate, or ethanol for that matter. (I know I used the word production as well, but I chose that word badly.) If they're already in the wash, then yes they will end up in the distillate to one degree or another. (But guess what, all those bad things will still be getting distilled at 78degC.) Are you familiar with the "Amazing Still"? It's designed to work at 45-50degC. Some concerns have been raised regarding the use of plastics in the still, but as far as I know there has been no dispute to its ability to distill ethanol. This method is not unheard of, and in fact Brewhaus sells all the components to make it.

"I've visited a that forum a few times, and I know they're very anti-plastic of any kind. I've done a fair bit of research on the specific types of plastics, their chemical and heat resistances, and at abv levels below 40% it would appear that very little leaching will occur. I know that with the Amazing Still I can't remove the heads. Beer and wine contain ALL the stuff that is removed in the foreshots of the distillation process. So the removal of those things is for taste purposes, not safety.

If I decide to do more than a couple of distillations, I'll build a stainless still. The rate of the Amazing Still is quite slow (supposed to be more like 1 to 1.5L per day as opposed to my 650ml), but it does not require supervision. If I was getting 650ml and watching the thing for 8 hours, I would have smashed it to bits the first day. Well, parts of it anyway, most of it I will still use in beer and wine making. The other big benefit is that I have virtually no risk of going to jail, which is not the case if I imported still parts from another country. If i decide to build a steel still at some point, I will have to get creative with locally available parts."