Olympic Distillers
We are a small American company located in the great Pacific Northwest at the foot of the Olympic Mountains.
Our copper moonshine stills are designed for producing ethanol fuel, alcohol, distilling water, essential oils, and for licensed craft distilleries. We have our Federal Alcohol Fuel Producer's Permit so we can test our stills. They have all been through a rigorous testing process and will perform as stated.
Our products are built with high quality materials, attention to detail, and our customer service is excellent. You will receive the product you purchased as it was advertised. We stand behind our work and if there is ever a problem, we will make it right.
We sell a full line of distilling equipment, including copper moonshine stills, beer keg distillers, stainless steel equipment as well as kits and parts for those that want to build their own still. For those of you that are opening a craft distillery, we sell a line of micro distillery equipment.
We also sell on eBay, so we invite you to read our eBay feedback.
Read our eBay feedback. It speaks for itself.
eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/olympicdistillers?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
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At Olympic Distillers we design & build our own stills and we also sell distillery equipment that is made by other companies. All of the 2" & 3" copper column stills & parts are made in house here in Washington State. The Alembic stills and large equipment 4" & up are made overseas. We take pride in using our own designs on the equipment that we build in house, which in some cases are modern improvements on old designs as distilling has been around for a long time. The traditional pot still with thumper and worm pictured above was the workhorse of the industry in years past in America and is still used to this day. That design produced the whiskey that made America famous for its unique product. We sell a beer keg still for home distilling that uses the same design principles as the stills of days past. It is designed for making American whiskey the way our grandfathers used to make it. Our DIY moonshine still kits and thumper kegs are sold individually for those of you that want to make your own stills.
Our compound reflux stills are modern, compact versions of the thumper still. The thumper is built right into the still column. A thumper is basically a primary condenser which increases purity before the product is condensed into a liquid by the worm at the end of the unit. Our compound stills use a primary condenser at the top of the column to increase purity and a secondary (liebig) product condenser to take the place of the worm. The liquid management stills utilize an internal coil condenser, a separator and a product cooler. These designs result in a very compact, fully controllable unit that is capable of producing a wide range of products from 90 proof to as high as 190 proof purity.
Our stills are first tested by distilling water, then alcohol. Water is distilled at a higher temperature than ethanol or alcohol. If the still can distill water, it can distill alcohol. Some of you for whatever reason may wish to distill your own water with your new still. It may be for diluting your high proof alcohol, or maybe for other purposes. Whatever the reason is, a good still should be able distill water and alcohol.
We use only silver solder with water soluble flux for copper to copper connections and food grade silver brazing wire for stainless steel to copper connections. Fusing stainless steel to copper requires special skills and equipment and is not an easy skill to master. Silver brazing rods have a melting temperature of around 1000 degrees and provide a very strong, clean and professional looking union between the dissimilar metals.
We make all of the 2" & 3" copper stills & parts in house. We use only heavy duty type L copper pipe on our 2" stills. Our 3" stills use type M copper pipe so we can keep the cost down. We do not use cheap thin-walled DWV pipe like some of our competitors. DWV (Drain Waste Vent) pipe is so thin it is easily damaged and is not thick enough to properly hold heat. We don't recommend it for use on a still. Our gaskets are white or black PTFE Teflon or 100% silicone. These gaskets are chemically tolerant and safe to use for alcohol and for ethanol fuel.
The stainless steel ferrule on the bottom of our stills allow the columns to be clamped onto most modern stainless steel beer kegs or commercially available kettles. There are also connectors available to allow for the columns to be attached to just about any type of boiler. The liebig condensers we use on some of our stills are fully adjustable and detachable for cleaning and storage. These distillers can be hooked up to a garden hose or a submersible pump, which can be used for a recirculating cooling system if a garden hose is not an option.
All of our copper stills and parts are mirror polished right before we ship them. Copper tarnishes easily and may tarnish slightly during shipping. Brasso or any good quality copper polish can be used to bring your copper back to its original luster. There are lacquers available that will eliminate the need for polishing.
Stainless Steel vs Copper
We sell both stainless steel & copper stills and both have their own benefits & drawbacks. The question is always asked by new distillers: "when you have stainless steel vs copper, which is better? " Stainless steel is cheaper than copper. Stainless steel has lower heat transfer qualities when compared to copper, and stills made from stainless steel are harder to control and adjust during distillation. Adjustments to heat input or cooling water take longer to show up on a stainless still, while with copper, adjustments show up almost instantaneously. Stainless steel has many qualities that are desirable, such as resistance to tarnishing, lower cost, high strength and ease of cleaning.
The qualities of copper allows for better control and stability, and improves the outcome of the final distillation of alcohol in terms of flavor. However, copper tarnishes quickly, and is harder to clean. Copper also naturally reduces bacterial contamination (which is why it is also used for water pipes) and absorbs the sulfur produced during fermentation. Copper has been used to make stills since ancient times, and as successive generations have found, it remains the best option thanks to its unique properties and natural advantages in the distilling process. For superior results when distilling alcohol, use copper. For a lower cost, more durable and easy to clean alternative use stainless steel. You can add copper mesh to a stainless steel column to remove the sulfates, and our stainless flute columns have copper bubble plates built in that will also do the job of sulfate removal.
So there you have it. We hope this helps you make an informed decision when purchasing your new still.
If you have any questions about our products, shipping, or need custom work done, feel free to contact us. We will be happy to help!
Thanks for taking the time to read this and welcome to our website!
