piping steam boilers to an alcohol still

heatboss

anybody know where i can find any credible knowledge on piping a peerless steam boiler to a mash pot and a still?

Jamie Hall

Don't know abouot a Peerless...

but one of my dad's grandfathers could have shown you a thing or two about a mash pot and a still...  and I had a friend in college who received a gallon of 'shine from her uncle through the mail (really!) every month...

icesailor

Steaming Stills:

You don't really need a steam boiler to distill spirits, just a heat medium above the boiling point of alcohol. After the period in the fermentation tank, you only need to get the mash above 160 degrees or something like that to boil the alcohol out of the mash. That is alcohol in the form of steam. That's why a Still needs to be close to a cold water source so the evaporator/condenser can cool the steam so it condenses into liquid alcohol. During a hot, dry summer back up in the woods, there may not be enough cool water to run a Still, causing a shortage of quality product.

I used to work on a commercial Still that used 14# steam. The 14# steam was so that the steam temperature was higher so the Still boiled the mash quicker. Once the alcohol was boiled out of the mash, it was all done. It could have been done with hot water.

If you're just trying to make something to boil off alcohol from a mash product, you can use hot water. The Stills that those good old boys make way back up in the woods aren't any example of high tech modern alcohol extraction. They use what works for them.

It might be illegal what you propose. My comments aren't to address how to do anything illegal.

Charlie from wmass

it is the same as piping everything else

what is the load for the mash pot, is the condensate able to travel by gravity back to the boiler? If this is a legal still post specs as if the heat exchanger is sized for a specific pressure of steam supply it will make a difference in pipe sizing.