As soon as amateur distilling ceased to be illegal, it became unprecedented. Homemade alcoholic beverages are of excellent quality and low cost, but for their production it is necessary to make a reliable and efficient moonshine still.
The most common design of a moonshine still was invented several centuries ago and is still popular today. Making a moonshine still at home is not particularly difficult, but this will require four components.
Distillation cube
The first element of the moonshine still is the evaporator, commonly referred to as the cube. It is an enamel or stainless steel container with a hermetically sealed lid and a hole in it. You can equip an ordinary large-volume pot for the evaporator by first applying a soft seal to the rim of the lid and drilling a hole in it for connecting the tube. You should also consider a clamping mechanism for the lid, which ensures complete tightness. Very often, steam pressure cookers are converted to a distillation cube, which have overhead latches for the lid and a steam release valve. This valve is twisted and a fitting is installed in its place for connecting a tube or flexible hose.
Sukhoparnik (dephlegmator)
A sedimentation tank for fusel oils is necessary to ensure the maximum purity of the distillation product. It is a small container with inlet and outlet openings in the upper part of it. The task of the reflux condenser is the physical purification of alcohol vapors from the evaporated liquid containing fusel oils. The boiling point of alcohol is slightly lower than that of impurities, and therefore they are precipitated in a dry greenhouse in the form of a yellow precipitate with an unpleasant odor. For this part of the moonshine, you can use an ordinary glass jar with a tightly screwed lid, in which two holes should be made and the fittings for connecting pipes or hoses should be hermetically fixed in them. You can also attach a small tube to the inlet, which will fall below the middle of the can, which will prevent drops of evaporated mash from entering the cooler.
Refrigerator
A cooler, also called a distiller, has the function of cooling the alcohol vapors into a liquid. Usually it is a heat-conducting metal coil immersed in a container of cold water. The liquid heats up over time and needs to be changed, for which the refrigerator is connected to a water tap, making a supply of cold water at the bottom of the tank. Also, the water in the cooler can be changed manually, but the container should be several times larger.
Connection of elements and additional devices
To connect fittings to various elements of the apparatus, it is best to use a solid-threaded tube, onto which two locknuts with silicone gaskets are screwed, between which the tank wall is clamped. Any plumbing transition or brush fitting can be screwed onto the ends of the tube. It is better to connect the elements of the moonshine still with rigid metal pipes, although recently silicone hoses with a diameter of 10 mm or more are often used. At the joints, ensure maximum tightness so that alcohol does not leak into the room - this can lead to a fire and even an explosion. To control the distillation process, instrumentation can be included in the moonshine still: manometers, thermometers and others.
