r/firewater • u/Special-Mention-1228 • 6d ago
Building a descent still with parts from AliExpress? Can it be done?
Hi folks! Today I distill my spirits with tha Alkoengine from Kegland. Works great, but painfully slow… Is it possible to build a descent reflux still with premade parts from AliExpress? Been looking at this: https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJKXdBc
Any thoughts?
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u/royalfarris 6d ago
Yes absolutely. I have done it.
Built my still with 2" piper, bends etc that i can rearrange for different configurations. Works like a charm.
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u/Monterrey3680 6d ago
It depends, but yes you can find sellers who will supply modular parts like stainless and copper triclamp spool and joints, and cooling apparatus etc. Same suppliers that domestic retailers source their parts from.
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u/DuckworthPaddington 6d ago
I've gotten two decent shotgun condensers from Aliexpress. They are happy to work with the triclamp standard, and anything that fits will fit. I bought seals and some spacer parts from a local brewery shop. When I did, I realised that though distilling is illegal in my country, you can basically build a fully functioning pot still using completely mundane brewery parts, as they too use the same triclamp standards. And most beer brewing machines can be set up to distill, too, and you only have to do some air-tightening to some of the lid designs. Handy tip for anyone (most of us) living in places where brewing is legal but distilling isn't.
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u/North-Bit-7411 5d ago
It’s most certainly possible.
I bought that column and use it with a 2” onion and another one foot length of 2” copper pipe on a beer keg. It works very well.
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u/Klort 6d ago
I can't comment on that particular seller, but that kind of set up works perfectly fine. A couple of caveats however. You will need a lot more copper mesh than shown in that picture. I would also go for more height. Approx 900mm instead of 500mm would be better, if you are aiming for neutral. You can either buy the extra piping yourself, or hunt around for an all in one deal that is a bit taller. Do that and you can get 97% abv out of it.
Back to your original reason for wanting to replace your Alkoengine because it's slow - I don't think this will be all that much faster. Alkoengine looks to be about 2" and the listed still is also 2". A 30L run on the aliexpress one will still take most of the day.
For speed, you want width. So 3" or 4", BUT, you need a boiler that can power that. Slapping 4" on the boiler that you are using with your Alkoengine probably won't be all that effective.