Emergency food supply....for the wife

[johnsbrewhouse]

Chef I have a 15 gallon still made from a keg with a 2 ft refraction tower. You need about 1 gallon of water per person per day

[johnsbrewhouse]

processhead many practical use when you have multiple units

[Tex_77]

@Matt-Westerhaus why don’t you just drop a well, and put in a hand pump?

[RafterW]

Tex_77 I have a well. a hand pump would be cool, I’d like to get some solar out here eventually for running the well when grid power is out. Generator will work temporarily but it would be nice to have the solar in place. Most of our appliances are electric, with the exception of furnace and water heater. Looking at plans to add a fireplace in the living room and a wood burning stove in another room. The fireplace will be in the same room as our return air vents so we could flip on the central air blower to send some heat to the ends of the house. The central heating eats through propane in the winter. I think we had one month this last winter that cost $300 in propane.

[processhead]

I think its gets pretty expensive to get completely off the grid and still live a lifestyle with all the typical electrical comforts we take for granted like A/C and hot water and a well. It takes a lot of panels, batteries, and a big inverter to run a typical home and all the electrical loads. Got have the batteries and inverter for nighttime and cloudy days.

[HerbcoFood]

processhead Yep the amount of solar panels and batteries needed to run an entire house efficiently cost more than some think. Yes the technology is getting better every single day but it comes at a cost. Plus then also have to think about the life span of the panels and batteries. I know when we were building our house in 2014, it was going to cost 30-40K for panels. That wasn’t with any battery banks to hold that energy. If you tried to get off the grid with as many creature comforts you’d also need windmills. But then again going off the grid it would be understood you are willing to give up a lot.

[Jonathon]

processhead Am I just dumb today or does anyone else not know what CE stands for? I am assuming it is something either medical or engineering-wise? I am in a 4 mile wide and 40 mile long stretch where there is not enough ground water for a well but with my pond in the back I wont have an issue with getting water, it will be an issue with cleaning the water. My dogs happily drink from it but I don’t think my gut biom is ready for that just yet!

[HerbcoFood]

Jonathon Yeah think of all that fertilizers/chemicals in there…yummy!!!

[processhead]

Jonathon said in Emergency food supply....for the wife:

processhead Am I just dumb today or does anyone else not know what CE stands for? I am assuming it is something either medical or engineering-wise? I am in a 4 mile wide and 40 mile long stretch where there is not enough ground water for a well but with my pond in the back I wont have an issue with getting water, it will be an issue with cleaning the water. My dogs happily drink from it but I don’t think my gut biom is ready for that just yet!

Ask your wife.
She are one! Chemical Engineer. CE

Pretty common in the engineering professions EE electrical, ME, mechanical, …and so on.

[johnsbrewhouse]

Jonathon Chemical Engineer

[Chef]

johnsbrewhouse If it’s not too inconvenient, could you post a picture of the still? Your refraction tower, what is it made of and is there anything on the inside to increase surface area?

[johnsbrewhouse]

Chef Which one do you want, I have four of them. I have a five gallon onion, a 7.5 gallon refraction (reflux), 15 gallon refraction, and another 15 gallon refraction. My tower can use copper wool or Raschig rings and can expand from 2 ft. to 8 ft. I built all the the reflux towers and cooling units. The reflux’s are 2" copper pipe, silver soldered with tri-clover fittings. I get them out and take a picture of them. Here is my onion still.

[processhead]

johnsbrewhouse said in Emergency food supply....for the wife:

Chef Which one do you want, I have four of them. I have a five gallon onion, a 7.5 gallon refraction (reflux), 15 gallon refraction, and another 15 gallon refraction. My tower can use copper wool or Raschig rings and can expand from 2 ft. to 8 ft. I built all the the reflux towers and cooling units. The reflux’s are 2" copper pipe, silver soldered with tri-clover fittings. I get them out and take a picture of them.

Would like to learn more about these as well johnsbrewhouse. What are the pro’s and con’s of the different designs?

[johnsbrewhouse]

Chef Here are pictures of the 7.5 gallon, 15 gallon pot and the rings and both the S/s mesh and copper. I didn’t take a picture of my 15 gallon keg since it’s the same as the 7.5 and out in the shop. One picture does have the extension in it. That is just one of the extensions I have. They all connect via tri-clover fittings, you have to watch how high you get, because it gets tippy with the height. The taller the tower, the higher the alcohol strength. You can get the same effect with the rings and/or mesh and a shorter tower. More surface area.

[johnsbrewhouse]

processhead The reflux towers will give you the potential for higher alcohol in a single pass and are easier to make for the homebody who is handy. The onion tops are the old traditional style and tend to roll the steam around in the dome and the say it keep the flavors more consistent. I thinks it’s all story as if you look at all the distilleries around now, most use column stills, rather than pots. You can add flavors by adding thumpers or jars or the sight glass like I have.

[craigrice]

the onion pot still has been around for centuries

[cdavis]

johnsbrewhouse very interesting. Thanks for the photos