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Posted 3 months, 18 days ago
Guinness12
(2 items)
Can anyone tell me if this is really a moonshine still? I picked this up recently and I've been told it's the boiler part of a small moonshine still. It has one opening with a removable copper cap that's 1.25" diameter, and a small threaded tube that extends from the other side. The unit is sealed otherwise, and stands 8" tall and 9.5" in diameter. The springs on the cap side act as a pressure relief valve by letting excess steam out without the cap coming off. Thanks for looking, and for any information!
Yes, No & Maybe. I think I made that as clear as mud! I wouldn't want anyone to think I was involved with anything unusual..........however it doesn't look anything like a still that I ever happened to see. The fittings are wrong. The hex nut is not old by any means. It may have been replaced. I would sooner think it was used as an evaporator. The threaded rod looks like a heat sensor where you would screw on a pressure gauge. Similar to a pressure cooker. I have no idea where it came from but it sure looks neat. Did you find it near anywhere that maple trees grow?
fhrjr2 - many thanks for the comments and observations. I hadn't picked up on the hex nut age. Yup, it was at an auction near us in upstate NY, in maple tree country. So you're thinking it might be a small maple syrup evaporator?
Looks more like a kerosene can... something for solvents that would release vapor. The rod may have simply been where a "D" shaped handle was attached--useful when poring or a hold-down if it was attached to a truck, train, or boat...
Aloha,
Rob in Hawai'i
As a native Vermonter I have to say I never saw anyone put gas in a copper container. Tin was for gas and solvents. In New England, copper evaporators were used to make maple syrup. Big ones in a sugar house and little ones for Mom to make her own at home.
It may or may not be an evaporator but that was the direction I was going. In that we now know where it was found a couple more things come to mind but still don't fit. Corn liquor squeezing made in the silo. Doesn't fit this item. Hard cider. Well that ferments better in a wooden barrel but copper would work. The size of this unit wouldn't yield much to drink. It would give a decent yield for a home user making maple syrup. Everything is stainless steel now but when I was a kid (I'm older than dirt) everyone used copper. We didn't even have indoor plumbing or electricity let along stainless steel.
Ahhh! The good old days. How did we live through it.
Pray tell how much "evaporation" would you get from a 1 1/8 inch diameter opening with a spring closure verse a square copper open pan? I guess if grandma is willing to wait two years for her syrup, your design idea is just fine... there are such items that it would chemically unwise to put it a "tin" or steel container.
Aloha,
Rob in Hawai'i
Rob: you are right in a modern way. I can only assume you never lived in New England so you have no idea . If you take the time to research syrup evaporators you will find the design progressed. No one said it was a good design. Most homemade items are functional but not practicable. If it worked you used it.
I want to thank everyone who contributed their ideas. Very helpful!!!!!
It obviously isn't an evaporator. Read the aforementioned size, it's a gallon size or less container. If you boiled down a gallon of sap you would, on a good day, end up with 14 teaspoons of finished syrup, a.k.a. 2 ounces. Add that to the fact there are no scorch marks on it, the lead solder would fail, and it would be next to impossible to clean [should I continue?]... If we remember lex parsimoniae, it would be the simplest explanation that it is a fuel/chemical can of which similar designs are still used today.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/85624548/vintage-red-oil-can?ref=sr_gallery_27&sref=&ga_includes%5B0%5D=tags&ga_search_query=oil_can&ga_page=3&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=
http://images.denhams.com.s3.amazonaws.com/533/533lot376.jpg
scottscuff - thanks for the observations. The short tube doesn't run to the bottom. It goes through the top of the lid, and that's it (it's just about flush with the bottom of the lid). I'm inclined to think the container isn't used to carry anything, due to (as you and others have said) the lack of a carry handle, and the fact that the bottom has a flush seam. All of the liquid carrying cans I've ever used or seen have a lip on the bottom so that you can hold and tip the can. The flat bottom leads me to believe that it was designed for heating, either on a stove or a fire.
Also, someone speculated that the small tube might have been used to thread a handle to it. I don't think that's right, simply because it wouldn't be structurally sound enough to carry the weight of the container/liquid (especially soldering copper to copper), and it's hollow.
That makes perfect sense, and I love the thought that this would have been from a still.
Sorry your photo makes the threaded vent tube look like it is 1/4 solid threaded stock-disregard the "handle" comment.
Copper containers have been seen used on boats for fuel storage.
It's not a worm for a still. If I'm running the still, you can bet I will be running more than gallon batches, otherwise those ten years with hard labor are not worth it. Everyone sees copper these days and they yell "It's a still"! It's not.
Regarding the design of the can for carrying and pouring, this isn't a five gallon can that can weigh 35 lbs. it will only be 7lbs. if petrol, 8.34 if water. Perhaps the problem is in assuming it is to be carried vs. installed or held in a holder. The spring and bolt is there to prevent the contents from exiting during movement.
I can't argue about the proper metal for carrying gas or kerosene, but I'd suspect that brass or galvanized steel would be more appropriate.
I just can't see how this would make a good vessel for regularly carrying liquids. It holds 2 gallons, so it should have a handle, and doesn't. It wasn't built as an on-board gas tank because it has no tube going to the bottom, and no way to attach one. The spring design isn't very handy for removing and replacing the cap, so that looks like a better pressure relief valve and opening to infrequently fill and empty.
As for the size of the container as a still, this is rural farm country. Any still from these parts was most likely used to make small batches of shine for family and some close friends, rather than large quantities for sale and distribution.