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The modern range of factory moonshine stills is quite wide. On sale there are distillation tanks of different volumes, capacities and configurations. Nevertheless, many moonshiners prefer to use home-made designs for the production of alcohol.
One of the popular options is moonshine from a pressure cooker.
Why a pressure cooker
A pressure cooker is ideal as a basis for a future distillation apparatus.
Firstly, it is made of high-quality food-grade metal.
Secondly, the container has a double / bimetallic bottom and a sealed lid.
Thirdly, the device is often equipped with a special valve to release steam. These advantages simplify the manufacturing process of the distillation device and provide it with a long service life.
Capacity selection
First of all, you should decide on the parameters of the future device. If the household has an old pressure cooker, you can use it. Both Soviet versions, and more modern, new and used ones, as well as out-of-service ones, will do. For a reasonable price, you can pick up a good option on Chinese sites. If you want something more serious, you can look for dishes from European brands.
Before buying a container, you should pay attention to the following characteristics:
Volume. It is better to give preference to roomy options for 12-15 liters. Small classic pressure cookers of 5-7 liters are good for cooking, but not for moonshine. The output will be only a couple of liters of alcohol.
Material. It is best to use stainless steel products. Avoid aluminum cookware.
Availability of 1 or more pressure relief valves. If not, you will have to drill a hole yourself.
Instructions for turning a pressure cooker into moonshine
We make two holes in the lid of the pressure cooker with a drill, insert nipples with a ½ or ¾ thread, press them to the lid with nuts on both sides, sealing the joints with silicone or rubber gaskets.
If there is no pressure relief valve (which is rare), another hole for it will be required.
We fasten the fittings to the nipples: one for the hose connecting the distillation cube with the refrigerator, the second for the bimetallic thermometer.
We fix the thermometer by sealing the connection with silicone or fum-tape.
We connect a silicone hose with a diameter of 1,2 cm, also taking care of the tightness.
On the second side of the hose we fix the refrigerator (coil). It can be purchased or homemade – from a copper or stainless tube.
A simple version of the moonshine still from the pressure cooker is ready. It is quite suitable for the first experiments in moonshine brewing. Optionally, you can connect a dry steamer, barometer, dephlegmator and other devices to the device.
Additional tips
If the gasket between the pot and the lid is damaged or missing in an old pressure cooker, you can replace it with a ready-made one (buy in a store), cut it from a single sheet, or use special silicone for aquariums. The liquid material is poured along the groove at the edge of the lid and allowed to dry for 1 day. Safe silicone is sold in hardware stores.
When choosing connecting elements and other details, it is better to give preference to copper and silicone.
Instead of a nipple, you can cut a fitting with an external thread into the lid, but in this case the pressure cooker will lose its versatility and will be used exclusively for home brewing.
The first test of the apparatus is best done by distilling water.
For emergency sealing, you can use adhesive dough.
Relevance: 05.02.2019
Tags: Vodka, mash, moonshine, Moonshine stills and accessories