Reflux Still or Pot Still — Which is the Best for You?
If you want wine and/or beer, the process is absolutely straightforward — toss some yeast into your sugar and water of course, let it ferment in a big pot or container with an airlock. Now filter the liquid after to remove the impurities then mix some flavors whether you wish and in a snap alcohol is now ready to drink.
Whether you wish something tastier and with a blowing kick then all you need to do is distill the wash and you will get a strong spirit. You can still do many things with the distillate, you can easily age it in a barrel or if you try to mid some flavors to it. Sounds easy! Isn’t it?
Distilling the fermented mash is simply separating the water from alcohol, with the assistance of their boiling point differences, to improve the proof of the liquor. In this process a reflux still will be your best friend. Generally, this type of still is made up of copper or stainless steel. Basically, the still is classified in two types: reflux still and pot still. You can choose either reflux or pot still because both are good for certain tasks. Let us quickly compare these two, so that you can choose the best.
Why Choose Reflux Still?
Unlike pot stills, reflux stills are especially designed to create higher proof with no or little flavor alcohol. There is a fractioning column inside the still, which allows the reflux of liquid to help condense the rising vapor as well as increase the efficacy of distilling. It helps increase the purity. The taller the column and more reflux liquid are; the neutral the alcohol will be.
Reflux still is like a lot of pot stills that are assembled together, which is why it can make multiple distillation in a single run. Due to the reason vodka and rum are distilled and diluted properly so that it can be safe for human consumption.
Why Choose Pot Still?
Pot still is one of the earliest apparatuses developed to distill alcohol. It has been used by early bootleggers in Appalachia to create moonshine. This type of still is relatively uncomplicated distiller. All that is needed is to heat the mash in it. When it boils the alcohol starts to evaporate. Naturally, the vapors will flow into the worm i.e. a coil immersed in cold water and condenses back to liquid.
Beyond doubt every run makes one condensation process, so distilling is made in batches. A pot still can give you an incomplete separation which is desirable whether you want to retain the flavors of the mash. Due to the reason wanted if you are making moonshine, whiskey or brandy — pot still can make them thick-textured, flavorful as well as tasty.
It could yield an alcohol of 60 to 80 per cent proof. Moreover, distilling the liquid again and again will increase the proof of the alcohol and improve purity but lessens the flavor.
The majority of stills available these days are either stainless steel or copper in construction. You may choose reflux or pot still. Basically, it boils down to a matter of choice, which varies from person to person. People, who used and have been using stills, believe reflux stills are better than others because they are strong and easy to clean. If you are looking for high quality reflux still at reasonable price, look no further than Moonshine Stills. They are well-known seller of large stills for craft distilleries in US and all around the world. They also known as moonshine still columns, parts and other components for home distillers.
