Blockhead section for Gin

[Shiftynev]

Goodmorning (from sunny, windy and very fucking hot Coburg, the Toorak of the North (of Melbourne)),

Having some time on my hands, I’m thinking of building a blockhead section for my still, firstly to reduce the height and secondly and more importantly, to allow me to have a crack as making some gin (more than likely, Blond Chap's). The blockhead will allow me to drop in and remove the botanicals easily. Thinking of making a gin basket or using large 3 inch ss tea balls) for holding the botanicals.

The blockhead will be about 220mm mm long with a 50mm outlet to my existing condenser. This will allow ample room to inset a small basket of say 120mm or a couple of tea balls. I intend making the basket out of 4” which I take a small slice out of (and resolder or braze) allowing it to fit snugly in the blockhead section.

Are there any issues with the oils flowing back into the boiler and with the oils, will there be any additional cleaning of the boiler and still, other than running clean water through the top of the still at the end of the run than normal.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers