SmartStill Explained - Components Of The Still
Jimmy | March 28, 2008
Continuing with our mission to demystify the SmartStill/EasyStill range, here is a guide to the various parts of the machine showing their location and what each part does. Yes I know, it’s a boring theory lesson rather than a tale of booze and glamour but the more you learn, the better you will understand what is happening!
OK class, first up we have the main body of the still. This is made of stainless steel, which is hardwearing and a decent conductor of heat. The slight downside of stainless steel is that it can pit and corrode when in contact with salt, so make sure you clean it thoroughly after use. The body contains an internal heating element, which is used to boil the mash and hence create the vapour which is collected as distillate. Other parts of interest on the main body are the reset button, which is used to restart the boiling process - I have never actually used this button, as I just switch off at the mains when I’m done. Finally we have the power sockets - one standard kettle type lead from the mains, and another which goes to the cover/fan unit.
As you can see from the diagram, on top of the body is the cover unit. This has no clips, and is held in place with it’s own weight. The rubber ring ensures that the cover maintains a watertight seal with the body. Inside the cap looks a little like the inside of a saucepan lid, with a small hole that leads into the cooling duct. Vapour passes into here when the still is working, and is cooled by the action of the fan on the cooling duct. As the vapour cools, it turns to liquid and runs down the cooling duct and out through the nozzle, passing through the small carbon filter (pictured below) and into the collection vessel.
And that is pretty much all there is to know about how the SmartStill works - simple, eh? That’s a good thing though, because simplicity means reliability - these things were originally designed to distill water and so they’re meant to be used practically every day. It really is quite similar to a large kettle or something like that, and is pretty much as easy to use.
Now you know the theory behind the internal workings of the SmartStill and how it distills alcohol, you can move on to our next article which tells you how to distill spirits with your SmartStill.
