If there is a strong desire and in the absence of the necessary materials at hand, a system for turning mash into moonshine can be built without a coil. However, it is useless to expect more or less normal performance and acceptable quality of the resulting drink from such a device. Good moonshine is obtained only when alcohol vapor passes through a condenser with a properly organized cooling system. In this case, the material of manufacture of the moonshine still’s coil, the diameter of the tube, size, wall thickness, and location of the refrigerator in space are important.

What's better? Should I buy a ready-to-use distiller or try to assemble it myself? The first option is more reliable and simpler, the second? more profitable. Moreover, in practice, making a coil (condenser) for a moonshine still turns out to be not as difficult as it looks in theory.

Geometric dimensions

Length, diameter, thickness of the tube? parameters that primarily affect the rate of condensate formation and distillation of alcohol-containing liquid. The larger the area of ​​contact between the vapor and the cooling surface, the faster the process proceeds. The thinner the walls of the coil, the higher its thermal conductivity and, consequently, the higher the condensing capacity.

This means that it is better to choose a larger length and diameter (internal cross-section) of the tube, and what about the wall thickness? slightly less. However, such a decision will not be entirely correct. A tube that is too long will increase the hydraulic resistance along the vapor path, as a result of which the distillation speed will automatically decrease.

To achieve optimal balance, it is recommended to make a coil from a tube 1.5-2 m long. This means that this should be its size before curling, and not the length of the finished coil. What are the optimal dimensions for the internal diameter of a capacitor? 8-12 mm.

Thin walls. On the one side? ok, on the other hand? Not good. The fact is that during the curling process they are easily damaged, and the service life of the fragile structure is shorter. In addition, the thermal conductivity of a coil with thin walls at the moment of contact of two media (steam and condensate) sharply decreases, regardless of the diameter of the tube and the material of its manufacture.

What, in this case, should be the thickness of the walls of the moonshine still cooler? The most suitable size is considered to be 0.9-1.1 mm, no more and no less.

Material of manufacture

Important characteristics of the material for making a coil? good thermal conductivity, non-toxic composition, no reaction upon contact with alcohol vapor. These requirements are met by copper, aluminum, brass, food grade stainless steel, silver, and glass. The degree of thermal conductivity is most often
metals and alloys used in decreasing order:

• silver? 429 W/(m K);
• copper? 382-390 W/(m K);
• aluminum? 202-236 W/(m K);
• brass? 97-110 W/(m K);
• stainless steel? 20 W/(m K).

Not any stainless steel is suitable for making a coil, but only food grade. In addition, during processing and welding, the composition of the alloy changes and it is unknown how the metal will then react to contact with an aggressive environment, which is an alcohol-containing liquid.

Aluminum tubes are also a good option, but they are inferior to copper and brass tubes in terms of service life. Silver? metal is expensive. It is not advisable to use it in the manufacture of a homemade distiller.

Thus, it is most practical to make a coil for a moonshine still from copper. This material is not difficult to obtain, it has a fairly high thermal conductivity, is easy to process, and does not release toxins when in contact with alcohol.

Glass? the material is non-toxic, with sufficient thermal conductivity, 1-1.15 W/(m? K). But at home it is not possible to make a coil out of it. Therefore, it is best and easiest to buy a glass capacitor at a laboratory equipment store.

Location in the diagram

Depending on the model and configuration of the moonshine still, the refrigerator can be located in the general layout horizontally, vertically or at an angle. The most rational option for moonshine brewing? vertical capacitor connection diagram. In this case, the liquid flows down the tube by gravity, without interfering with the movement of steam.

Let us clarify that vertical coolers are either ascending or descending. It is more practical to use a downward system, in which steam enters the refrigerator from above. In the rising
In the coils, the vapors of the distilled distillate are fed from the bottom up, which creates additional resistance to the movement of the condensate.

Cooling system

While the moonshine still is operating, the coil must be constantly cooled. Cooling can be air, but in this case it will be necessary to make a complex structure with a cooler, fan, etc. You can use ice or snow as a cooler, which also requires additional effort and material costs in the manufacture of the coil cooling system. In addition, it is not always possible to obtain large quantities of ice or snow.

The easiest way to cool the coil is with water. It should be taken into account that water cooling systems can be closed or open. In an open system, water circulates constantly; in a closed system, cooling is carried out by a certain amount of water, which is poured into the tank before the distillation of moonshine begins.

Advantage of closed systems? simple design. But at the same time, the tank needs to be made large enough in volume. In addition, when water comes into contact with the warm walls of the coil, it quickly heats up, so that after a short time the distillation of the distillate has to be stopped.

Open cooling systems are more convenient to use. Firstly, do they cool a coil made of any material and any diameter much more efficiently? The distillate will always be cold at the outlet. Secondly, the body of a refrigerator with an open cooling system can be made compact, which makes assembly, operation and storage of the unit more comfortable.

An indispensable condition when organizing a water cooling system for the condenser of a moonshine still? counterflow or reflux mode. This means that water should enter the vertical tank from the bottom and exit from the top. In order for cooling to be uniform, the water flow must be directed towards the movement of the distillate along the coil tube.

Manufacturing technology

The dimensions, material, and diameter of the coil tube were discussed above. Now you need to decide what kind of housing to make for the refrigerator of the moonshine still.

It is most convenient to use sewer pipes made of plastic or metal-plastic under the tank. They are not difficult to get, easy process, install fittings for water supply/discharge, ensure connection through adapters with a distillation cube or steam chamber. What is the optimal cross-sectional size for such a pipe? 75-80 mm.

The sequence of manufacturing a moonshine still cooler:

1. The cavity of the coil tube is filled with any bulk material so that the metal does not flatten during the curling process.
2. The ends of the tube are clamped, sealed or plugged with wooden pegs.
3. Carefully wind the tube around any solid cylindrical object with a cross-section of 35 mm. Distance between turns? approximately 12 mm.
4. The spiral-curled tube is freed from the filler and washed with water.
5. 2 holes are cut out on the cooler body, and a pipe (fitting) is installed in them for supplying and draining water. The holes for the fittings should be located at the level of the spiral part of the coil.
6. The coil is installed inside the housing; the tube is attached to the inner surface of the walls with superglue in 2-3 places.
7. The ends of the body are covered with round sheets of tin and glued around the perimeter with the same superglue. The remaining voids are filled with paper.
8. The ends of the refrigerator and the places where the fittings are connected to the body are sealed with epoxy resin and silver.

After a day (time for the compound to harden), a homemade condenser with a flow-through cooling system will be ready for use. The productivity of a refrigerator of this design, depending on the heating power, is on average 3-4 liters of distillate per hour.

Should be considered in great detail. The material must be accessible to processing, practical to use and necessarily inert - not reacting with alcohol and its compounds. The thermal conductivity of the material is also of great importance, which directly affects the cooling rate of hot vapors. There are several types of materials to choose from, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Copper tube

The most popular material for making the coil of a moonshine still is copper. It has high thermal conductivity and is a very soft metal that bends easily. To coil a copper tube into a coil, it does not need to be preheated, unless the bend radius is less than five times the nominal diameter of the tube itself. On the other hand, such coils are not chemically neutral, although the copper itself does not react with alcohol. Upon contact with oxygen, a thin coating of copper oxide forms on the surface of the copper tube, which inevitably ends up in the distillation product, albeit in very small doses.

Stainless steel

Corrosion-resistant steel produces a cleaner end product, but is more difficult to process. If a coil made of a softer metal can be bent, so to speak, with bare hands, then to process a stainless tube you will need a gas torch, a pipe bender or a special radial template. Additionally, stainless steel coils are the heaviest.

Glass coil

Glass is the least used material for the coil of a moonshine still, although it ensures the absolute purity of the alcohol after distillation. Glass should only be bent in a special glass-blowing workshop, otherwise local stress spots will certainly appear in the bent tube, which will lead to spontaneous destruction of the coil even without mechanical or temperature influence. In addition, glass has a significant disadvantage when connecting the coil to other elements of the device: it cannot be threaded or a tight clamp can be installed on it.

Nylon or polyethylene pipe

A good alternative when choosing a material for a moonshine still cooler can be a tube used for installing underfloor heating systems. The main advantage of this material is its low cost and ease of processing, although it must be carried out with extreme caution. Nylon and polyethylene tubes are considered chemically neutral and do not come into contact with most known solvents. The main disadvantage of these tubes is their high elasticity, due to which the coil does not hold its shape well, so it is fixed to a frame, most often a wire one.

The coil, as the main element of the refrigerator, is responsible for the condensation of vapors from the distillation cube. In self-made moonshine stills, pipes made of stainless steel, copper, metal-plastic or aluminum are used to make coils, and the power of the distillation cube must be taken into account.

Thanks to its simple form, making this part at home will not be difficult, but to do this you need to familiarize yourself with the features of its functioning in all details.

The coil is an essential part of a moonshine still; it is part of the refrigerator, which is one of the three required components along with the still and hoses, and is necessary for the final stage of distillation. After the liquid in the distillation cube evaporates, the steam passes through the system and, regardless of additional influencing processes, such as rectification, which requires a distillation column, enters the refrigerator.

Here the spiral acts as the main functional element - condensation of alcohol, water and some fusel oils and impurities occurs on its surface, after which the distillate flows directly into the container for collecting moonshine.

Design and principles of operation

Structurally, the coil is a hollow tube twisted into a spiral. Steam from the distillation cube passes inside it, and on the outside there can be either air or water - a cooling medium. It is necessary to lower the temperature of the steam due to heat transfer from it through the metal to it, as a result of which the evaporated substances - alcohol, water and fusel oils - cannot maintain a gaseous state and condense.

Despite the very simple structure and principle of operation, each parameter of the spiral - the material of manufacture, its geometric features and placement option - significantly affects the process.

Material

It affects both the functional part of the refrigerator and its service life. The main materials for manufacturing are copper, stainless steel, metal-plastic, glass, silver and aluminum. To understand what is best to make a coil for a moonshine still with your own hands, it’s worth going through each option in detail:

• Silver. It has excellent performance indicators: high thermal conductivity, non-toxic, good shock-absorbing life, but the metal itself is very expensive in comparison with other analogues, which is why it is used extremely rarely.
• Copper. A coil for a moonshine still made of a copper tube is one of the most common solutions, this is due to both the good thermal conductivity of the material and its reasonable price, and the fact that the metal is easy to process and such a part is not difficult to make with your own hands. Of course, a purchased option is also possible, which also has an affordable price.

• Aluminum. It has good thermal conductivity, is quite easy to process and is inexpensive. But there is a problem with its high oxidability; as a result, aluminum oxides, which are harmful to health, will enter the distillate, and it is impossible to apply a protective coating, as on food utensils, at home.

• Metal-plastic. A coil for a moonshine still made of a metal-plastic pipe is becoming increasingly popular, and there are a number of reasons for this: it is cheaper than other materials, even if you use very high-quality pipes, it is very easy to process and at the same time fulfills all the assigned tasks. A prerequisite for the original pipe is that it is made from a non-toxic polymer and can withstand high temperatures.

• Food grade stainless steel. The material is highly durable and does not interact with alcohol vapor, which affects the quality of the distillate; it has good, but not as high as copper, aluminum or silver, thermal conductivity; it is quite difficult to process due to its high strength. The cost is cheaper than copper and silver.

• Glass. The material has absolute chemical inertness, as a result of which distillation occurs under ideal conditions, but it is impossible to make a glass coil for a moonshine still; you can only buy it. An additional advantage is the transparency of the material, which, when using a refrigerator casing made of transparent polymer, will allow you to monitor the condensation process with laboratory accuracy. The downside is that it is quite fragile and needs to be used carefully. Price is one of the advantages of glass.

Geometric features

It is necessary to select or manufacture a coil for a moonshine still, taking into account the correct dimensional parameters of this part, which determine the course of the condensation process. The following significant points can be highlighted:

• Tube wall thickness. Determines thermal conductivity and, therefore, heat transfer between steam and the cooling medium. The thinner the wall, the higher the thermal conductivity. But since the thermal conductivity of each material is different, the wall thickness is selected individually each time, and it should not be very thin, otherwise it will lead to rapid wear of the part. Tubes with a thickness of 0.9-1.1 mm are used as standard.
• Tube length. The longer it is, the larger the area involved during condensation and the higher the performance of the refrigerator as a whole, so the length of the spiral should be calculated based on the power of the moonshine still. You also need to take into account the hydraulic resistance, which increases with the length of the tube. For stainless steel and copper, the optimal length is 1.5-2 meters in an untwisted form.
• Tube inner diameter. Together with the length, it determines the area of ​​the condensing surface; in addition, an increase in diameter reduces the hydraulic resistance. Typically, when making a coil for a moonshine still, a tube with an internal diameter of 8-12 mm is used.

Accommodation options

There are three positions in which the spiral can be installed:

• vertical;
• horizontal;
• diagonal.

The standard option is vertical arrangement. In this case, the substances, condensing, do not encounter resistance during further downward movement, which affects the distillation rate.

Important! With a vertical coil arrangement, not only a downward, but also an upward connection is possible - the pairs will flow from top to bottom. In this case, the operating speed of the refrigerator will decrease significantly.

How to make a coil for a moonshine still with your own hands

For manufacturing, a tube made of copper, food grade stainless steel, aluminum or even brass, similar in properties to copper, can be used. The length of the segment should be from 1.5 to 2 meters, have an internal diameter from 8 to 12 mm and a wall thickness from 0.9 to 1.1 mm. When twisting the tube into a spiral, the size of the refrigerator case in which it will be installed must be taken into account, as well as the fact that the volume occupied by the spiral should not exceed 1/5-1/6 of the volume of the case.

Work plan:

1. The tube must be filled with loose filler, for example soda or sand, this will protect it from flattening when curling. The alternative of freezing the tube filled with water will make the process a little more difficult due to the increased hardness of the metal and the ice itself.
2. The outlet openings are sealed using wooden caps, or soldered, or clamped, or in another convenient way. To facilitate the process, a nut is welded on one side or placed on glue/sealant.
3. To wind the tube, you need a round object with a specified diameter for the spiral, for example a block turned on a lathe. The figure shows the normalized aspect ratio and can be used even if a coil with a different diameter is required.
4. After curling, the spring is removed from the shaft and the filler is poured out, after which the spiral must be washed and it is ready for installation in the refrigerator.

From a technical point of view, making a coil for a moonshine still is one of the simplest tasks in comparison with its other parts. However, do not be deceived - for productive and high-quality distillation, the spiral must have the correct shape and be made of a suitable material: copper, stainless steel, metal-plastic, glass, and if funds allow and you want a luxurious distiller, then silver. In this case, the tube used to create the spiral must meet optimal parameters in terms of length, wall thickness and internal diameter.

A moonshine still is one of the most popular devices today, allowing you to obtain pure moonshine, or more precisely, an alcohol-containing product. The basis for production is mash, poured into a distillation cube and heated until it begins to boil. At a temperature of 90-95 0 C, the mash breaks down into 3 main fragmentations - alcohol, water and fusel oils. The main element of such a device is the coil. It is designed to condense alcohol vapor and obtain a pure product.

It is not difficult to make such a unit, even considering its spiral shape. In this article we will tell you how to make a coil for a moonshine still with your own hands and what you will need for this.

The main task of the moonshine still is to separate low-boiling components (alcohol boils at a temperature of 78 0 C) from heavy boiling ones - water (100 0 C) and fusel oils (from 120 0 C). The mash is boiled in a distillation cube, from where the fragments flow through a tube into a coil immersed in cold water (refrigerator). Here, due to a sharp temperature difference, the steam, moving in a spiral, condenses and flows in the form of ethyl alcohol into the container.

In order to completely remove fusel oils from moonshine, it is recommended to pass it through the apparatus twice.

Despite such a complex description and specific shape, the coil can be made with your own hands, and it will work as efficiently as its professional counterpart.

What should the coil be like?

There are several parameters that a truly working coil must meet, and the main one is the material.

1. Material of manufacture

The further taste of the drink, prepared according to all the rules, will depend on this. The most important thing is that the material from which the pipe will be made should not enter into a chemical reaction with alcohol and release any harmful substances. The main types are aluminum, copper or stainless steel. Specialists use glass tubes, which allows them to personally control the process. But you definitely can’t make such a tube with your own hands; it’s easier to buy it at a chemical store.

The thermal conductivity factor is also important, which determines the rate of condensation. The most thermally conductive material is copper, followed by aluminum and only after stainless steel.

Interestingly, some moonshiners speak out against copper pipes, considering them toxic. We would like to remind you that in France, for example, all strong alcohol, including world-famous cognacs, is distilled in a copper still, and the taste only benefits from this.

The photo below shows a coil for a home moonshine still:

1. Coil size

The distillation speed and the amount of product obtained depend on this parameter. An immutable rule applies here - the more points of contact with cold water, the faster the steam cools and condenses. However, due to the hydraulic connection increasing from turn to turn, the distillation speed is sharply reduced. The optimal length of the coil is 1.5 meters with a tube diameter of 10-12 mm.

1. Location

To ensure that condensate drains by gravity and does not stagnate anywhere, it is recommended to use a vertical installation system. Horizontal or inclined, although not prohibited, reduce the amount of moonshine produced with an equal amount of mash.

1. Cooling system

The simplest and most effective method of cooling is water poured into a container where the coil is immersed. Ice and cold air are also used as a cooling element, but their installation is quite difficult.

In addition, if possible, the container should be open so that warm water can be exchanged for cold. In a closed container, the condensation process is much worse and very often the moonshine at the outlet is already quite warm.

There is also a flow-through refrigerator where water circulates constantly. In addition to the fact that it cools the coil better, accordingly, moonshine is processed faster, it is also smaller in size. Thanks to this, the entire moonshine still turns out to be much more compact.

It is necessary to create a counterflow in the refrigerator, for which warm water is discharged from above, and cold water enters from below. In this case, the water tends to meet the moonshine and cools evenly throughout the entire coil.

The process of making a coil for a moonshine still

The coil will be made from a copper tube. Let us remind you that you can also use aluminum, brass and even stainless steel tube. The length of such a tube is 1500-2000 mm, diameter 10-12 mm, wall thickness 1-1.1 mm.

Next, find the tank where the coil will be installed - a metal or glass container, the size of which determines the size of the coil. In general, once installed, it should occupy at least a quarter of the volume. If you don’t have any suitable container at hand, you can even use a piece of plastic pipe sealed at one end. The diameter of such a pipe must be at least 80 mm.

Drawing of a coil and housing for self-production

How to collect correctly

1. Fill the tube very tightly with sand, salt or soda to prevent even the slightest deformation when bending. You should not freeze the water and try to curl the pipe, because when bending, the knee will heat up and melt the ice, which will cause deformation of the pipe.
2. Close both ends of the tube with wooden or plastic plugs to prevent sand from spilling out.
3. Find a round object with an equal cross-section over the entire height, 30-35 mm in diameter, and carefully wind the tube around it. You can bend it with pliers, but try not to deform the outer material. The pitch between turns should be 12-15 mm.

1. Open both ends, pour out sand or salt and rinse thoroughly under running water.
2. On the outside of the housing, insert pipes for water inlet/outlet.
3. Place the coil vertically inside the container, secure the outlet channel to the outside, from where it will come out, fix it with sealant or cold welding, and make plugs on both sides.

This is what a fully assembled metal refrigerator looks like

The average heating power of the distillation cube is 3 kilowatts. With such indicators, the efficiency of the coil will be 4 liters of moonshine per hour. This volume is obtained from 30 liters of mash.

The video will tell you how to make a coil for a moonshine still with your own hands.

The original Russian expression “Green Serpent” arose from two concepts: “green wine” - that’s what they called the brew, and not a drink made from grapes. Here we are not talking about color, rather, the concept of zeleno is embedded in it, that is, infused with potions - St. John's wort, bison, anise, etc. But the Serpent is directly related to the topic of our article: you won’t get it without a serpentine.

It was made made of copper- a material that is malleable in processing. Steel, and even more so aluminum, did not yet exist in those ancient times when moonshine brewing began in Rus'. By the way, copper turns green from constant contact with water (another answer to the question why green)!

The Christian Serpent the Tempter, if involved in the emergence of this expression, was only indirect, and such an interpretation arose for obvious reasons, because drunkenness is evil. We are not talking about drunkenness (alcoholism), but about the reasonable consumption of high-quality homemade alcohol.

Let's figure out what design and material to choose, and also consider how you can make a coil with your own hands.

Materials for manufacturing

First, decide on the material.

1. In modern professional production, coil manufacturing is most often used stainless steel. The material is exceptionally good, unless, of course, it is the so-called “food” grade of steel and not technical grade.

The stainless steel coil is the first in popularity. The reason is reliability, durability, and safety (food-grade stainless steel does not react with alcohol vapors and does not emit harmful substances into the final product). The main thing is that the stainless steel is specifically food.

2. In second place copper. It was the copper coil that was the very first in moonshine stills, and even now the metal remains one of the best for this purpose. Many people even use coils from a geyser; they are also made of copper.

You can hear the opinion that copper has a negative effect on the body and can even cause cirrhosis of the liver. Some may be surprised, but cirrhosis is caused by excessive alcohol consumption.

The Scots and Americans use copper stills to make whiskey; the French have been using it since time immemorial to this day. And for some reason they still haven’t died out.

3. Very often used brass– an alloy in which copper predominates, with admixtures of lead and tin. By the way, jam basins and most coils are made from brass.

There are alloys for technical purposes and for food. It is the food grade brass that must be used.

Alloy grades are determined by markings: if there is the letter L (there may be other letters indicating impurities), and numbers from 80 to 96, this is a food alloy. And the numbers indicate what percentage of pure copper there is.

4. Aluminum- the material from which craftsmen still make coils. Yes, it is quite easy to process, but we still cannot help but note some of its shortcomings.

Aluminum, firstly, which is scientifically proven - reacts with alcohol. Secondly, recent studies (2014) say that prolonged exposure to aluminum in low concentrations leads to accelerated aging of the body as a whole and has a degenerative effect on the brain.

5. One more thing to mention glass. The material is completely neutral to chemicals. Flaw - fragility. But if you really want to have a glass coil, it is best to buy it at a chemical store. We don’t recommend bothering with making it.

6. Can be made from metal-plastic, since tubes made of this material bend easily and do not pose a health hazard. The only negative: they don’t hold their shape well, so they need to be immediately “packed” into a refrigerator container. Not suitable for a non-flow cooler.

Now, we hope, you have decided what to make a coil for a moonshine still from. Let's move on to the next question.

Determine the length and thickness

If you need instantaneous refrigerator, then the length of the straight tube, before you wind it, should be approximately 1.5 - 2 meters. It is generally accepted that the diameter of the tube should be in the range from 8 to 12 mm. It is this that provides a large area of ​​contact with cold water and reduces resistance, increasing the distillation speed. The thickness of the tube walls should be about 1 mm, plus or minus 1 tenth.

This calculation is based on the fact that the internal cross-section of the finished coil will be 35 mm (that is, you will wind the tube onto a blank 35 mm in diameter), and the pitch between the turns will be 12 mm. For the refrigerator body you will take a pipe 75 mm thick.

Note. It is best to set the length of the refrigerator after the coil itself is ready.

That is, first make the main part of the cooler, and only then cut the pipe or go to the store. Surely, the length of the coil will be less than 1 m.

For static refrigerator It is impossible to indicate the exact parameters of the cross-section of the finished coil, since there is no standard container; what is available is what is used. Here the length and thickness of the tube are the same, but its length is adjusted based on the available dishes for the refrigerator.

The coil in the refrigerator for a moonshine still should occupy at least 15 (preferably 20)% of the volume of the tank used. Thus, to make a non-flowing coil in a moonshine still, you will need a much longer tube.

How to do it yourself?

Some less experienced craftsmen may experience difficulty in manufacturing due to the fact that the walls of the tubes are flattened when trying to bend. And the secret is simple: it doesn’t matter whether you use brass, bend the heat exchanger from stainless steel or from a copper tube - when bending, so that the walls do not bend, the tube is recommended fill with sand and fix the ends: drive in wooden plugs or flatten (solder).

They say - a good result if the phone fill with water and freeze. But it is applicable only in winter in severe frost, because you cannot squeeze a tube 1.5 - 2 meters long, or even more, into a freezer drawer. After winding, you need to shake out the sand from the finished coil and rinse it.

1. You need to twist the coil for a moonshine still with your own hands on a blank of the required thickness and length: turn by turn, checking the step and leaving the ends to connect the rest of the moonshine equipment.
2. Now you need to make a refrigerator for the coil.
3. Cut a pipe of the required cross-section to length, attach two hose connections for cold water inlet and cold water outlet. What is the best way to use a silicone tube?
4. Insert the coil into the cooler and close with lids with pre-drilled holes for the ends of the coil. Seal the lids, as well as the areas around the ends of the tube, hermetically depending on the material used (glue, solder or use welding).
5. Attach a fitting to one end for a collapsible connection directly to the distillation cube or steam chamber.