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Distillation Still: Fire-Pot Still with Worm Tub
The plain pot still of the USDA's 1911 Farmers' Bulletin 429 (Fig. 3): a kettle set in masonry over a fire grate, with a flue round it, a head that leads the vapour through one long pipe to a coiled condensing worm standing in a tub, and a draw-off cock to empty the kettle. Alcohol boils at 173 °F (78 °C), so the first vapour is richer in alcohol than the liquor; repeating the distillation makes it stronger, but not to 90 %.
The bulletin gives no sizes, metals or joints; where we chose, the step says so. The picture: the bulletin's Fig. 3.
Intermediate
1 day
Instructions
1
1
Lay the masonry support with grate and flue
Lay the masonry support with grate and flue
Build the masonry support with the fire grate at the bottom of a fire space and a flue that runs round the kettle's sides. Ours: brick in lime mortar, levelled course by course.
Materials for this step:
Brick1 piece
Lime Mortar1 batch
Stove Grate1 pieceTools needed:
Mason's Trowel
Spirit Level2
2
Set the kettle with its draw-off cock
Set the kettle with its draw-off cock
Set the still kettle into the masonry over the grate, its bottom in the fire and its shoulders above the flue. The draw-off cock leaves the bottom of the kettle and runs out through the masonry. Ours: tighten the cock with an adjustable wrench.
Materials for this step:
Still Kettle1 piece
Draw-off Cock1 pieceTools needed:
Adjustable WrenchSpirit Level3
3
Fit the still head
Fit the still head
Seat the still head on the ringed neck of the kettle. Its pipe rises, bends over and runs down to the condenser.
Materials for this step:
Still Head1 pieceTools needed:
Adjustable Wrench4
4
Stand the worm in the tub
Stand the worm in the tub
Stand the coiled condensing worm upright in the worm tub, its outlet through the tub side near the bottom. Join the head's pipe to the top of the worm. Ours: fill the tub with cold water to cover the coil.
Materials for this step:
Condensing Worm1 piece
Tub1 piece
Water1 batchTools needed:
Adjustable Wrench5
5
Why one pass is not enough
Why one pass is not enough
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6
6
What the pot still can and cannot do
What the pot still can and cannot do
Repeated distillation in this still ends in fairly strong alcohol, but a 90 % spirit would cost more in fuel and labour than it is worth (p. 29); a column still does the repeats in one apparatus. The bulletin's own yield figure for two passes is not reproduced here: as printed it puts more alcohol out than goes in.
Materials
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Tools Required
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