This is my first post.

Lately I have been playing with the idea of building a countertop still based on an urn style coffee maker.

These things come in capacities from 24-90 cups, and are made of either aluminum or stainless steel. The heating elements are rated upwards of 900-1100 watts. Some have a thermostatic control, some don't.

I picked one up for dirt cheap and took it apart to see what there was to it. It has two separate heating elements: a high-power element for brewing/boiling the coffee, and a low-power element for keeping the brewed coffee hot. There is a little thermal device ,a thermistor? I'm don't really know what it's called, that turns off the high-power element when the coffee is brewed and turns on a 'Ready' light at the same time. I can see that there would be a big advantage to having more control over the temperature, so I plan to eliminate the 'little device' I mentioned before and add a thermostatic control. A rheostat might be a better choice ,and might prolong the life of the element,, but I don't have one on hand. I think the low-power element probably doesn't put out enough heat to do any good, so I may just disconnect it and see what happens.

I don't think it would be too difficult to fasten a column and condenser to the lid, make the lid seal tightly, and have a nice little countertop still. I thought about eliminating the stem and basket parts altogether, but it would be awesome to somehow find a way to utilize the 'perking' effect to vaporize the ethanol in the wash more efficiently.

If anyone is interested in what I'm trying to do I would like to hear your comments and advice. Even if you think it won't work, I want to know why. I would especially like to know what dimensions you think would be ideal/adequate for the column and condenser. I'm also interested in trying to make an an air-cooled condenser for this.

Regards,

Newbie2