When I worked for Ernest and Julio Gallo (yep, the wine guys) they had a still that was capable of producing 2,000 gallons per hour of Ethanol, which they used to fortify some of the wines they produced. If you've ever had a drink of Boone's farm wine, or a Bartles & Jaymes cooler, part of the alcohol in your drink went through that still. The rest was a generic white wine made from apple or pear juice that would only ferment to about 8% by volume alcohol concentration because the juice didn't have enough sugar to give it more of a kick, so alcohol and artificial colors and flavors were added.
All of the plumbing for the still system was either stainless steel, copper, or some other corrosion resistant material. The pumps were solid brass. Even with that setup, there were still probles with corrosion. "Stainless" is simply "corrosion-resistant"- - - -it isn't totally immune to it. Rubber parts like O rings, gaskets, etc. are even more vulnerable. Carb King calls the stuff "deathanol"- - - -he's right!
Jerry
