Advice for making my pot still

[ErnieV]

I got ahead of myself too and was directed to the "reading lounge"

Glad I read it all, that's all I'll say, good luck

[wombatvvv]

No worries mate.

I actually spend a lot of time in there reading.

[wombatvvv]

Okay, so I went and bought a load more stuff this morning. Including the stockpot, holesaw skit, drill, fermenting bucket, etc., this will bring the price of this project up to around $400. That's about $300 more than I had in mind when I started. Most of that cost has gone on tools (blowtorch, drill, holesaw kit, pipe benders, pipe cutters, etc.) that I didn't have and will keep for the rest of my life (or unti they break), so maybe it's not fair to count them in with the overall cost.

Anyway, here's what I've collected so far. The holesaw kit and drill are not pictured. Hopefully this will be pretty much it.

Those long rods at the bottom are the solder. The conversation at the counter when I bought them went like this:

"Do they contain any lead?"
"That's what all the plumbers use."
"Okay, but do they contain any lead?"
"They're 2% silver."
"Right ... so they don't contain any lead then?"
Blank look.

One of the other sale people informed me that no, they do not contain any lead. Should have just got the rolls at the hardware store that explicitly state, "no lead".

They actually had a 2" copper flange for $25 which is handy. I don't think I'll need that huge (and very heavy) blue steel plate (which came with the flange). I think I'll just drill through holes through the flange and attach it with stainless nuts & bolts, then solder up the gaps to make it airtight. I also got copper reducers which fit together nicely. I'll solder them up to make the head section. Question: Is there any benefit to using a foot or so of 2" pipe in the head section before I reduce it down to 1/2", or is this short head section that goes directly from 2" -> 1" -> 1/2" okay?

Lastly, I got some stainless steel washers with a 1/2" hole diameter that fit nicely over the copper pipe. I'm guessing with some solder I can make them into small flanges for 1/2" pipe. I was planning to make the thumper with the 1/2" pipe going straight through the lid to the bottom of the container, with a stainless steel washer soldered in place on either side of the lid to make an airtight seal. For the output pipe, I'd just create a flange from the washer and solder that onto the outside of the lid. Does this sound reasonable?

Once again, I'm no handyman, and apologies if I'm asking dumb questions of have dumb ideas. I'm here for advice and very much appreciate anyone that can take the time.

Regards,
Vic.

[wombatvvv]

This is the design I've come up with. Hope it makes sense.



- Some of those joins are sealed with plumbers tape instead of permanent solder, just so I can easily dismantle the setup.
- The flange will be bolted down, I just didn't draw the nuts and bolts on the diagram.
- Question: is there any advantage to adding a foot or so of 2" pipe between the flange and the first reducer?
- Question: if instead of using a cork bung, I drill a hole just big enough for the thermometer and solder it in place, will that ruin it (due to the high heat involved?)

[just-a-sip]

This is the design I've come up with. Hope it makes sense.



- Some of those joins are sealed with plumbers tape instead of permanent solder, just so I can easily dismantle the setup.
- The flange will be bolted down, I just didn't draw the nuts and bolts on the diagram.
- Question: is there any advantage to adding a foot or so of 2" pipe between the flange and the first reducer?2 inch would allow you to run just a bit faster, i would love to see a real column from this but what you got is much better then what you had.. hats off for taking the advice and improving your build
- Question: if instead of using a cork bung, I drill a hole just big enough for the thermometer and solder it in place, will that ruin it (due to the high heat involved?)i still say ditch the thermometer, there is no reason to have one, however if you must... the heat will damage the thermo not to mention that you wont get accurate readings because the connection on the metal will most likely give false readings off of the material its attached to.

[wombatvvv]

Thanks mate, as always, for your advice.

[jbird1992]

If that a 2% silver brazing rod I hope you got some mapp gas for your torch. It is gonna take some serious heat for the big copper fittings. In other words propane won't get hot enough for 2% I braze in my trade with 15% that melts at a lower temp and I wouldn't attempt that with out mapp gas. Might look into soft solder and flux for a more pleasant experience especially if you have never used a torch. IMHO

[Lucent]

And to think building the still especially a tinker tot one such as that is the easy part

You copy and pasted that picture wrong half is missing

[wombatvvv]

If that a 2% silver brazing rod I hope you got some mapp gas for your torch. It is gonna take some serious heat for the big copper fittings. In other words propane won't get hot enough for 2% I braze in my trade with 15% that melts at a lower temp and I wouldn't attempt that with out mapp gas. Might look into soft solder and flux for a more pleasant experience especially if you have never used a torch. IMHO

Ha! Yeah, I discovered this the hard way!

I did actually get the silver solder flowing with the propane torch, but it took a long time and even then it was just a smidge. I ended up getting a little silver solder into the joins that need the most strength, and then going over the top with soft lead-free solder to fully seal them up right. Pretty messy job, but considering it's my first go I'm pretty happy with it so far.

One question ... is the plumber's tape going to be okay? Nobody has commented on that yet. My reason for using it is just to make the thing easy to dismantle and move around. I could use stainless compression connectors (or even brass, according to some people), but there's two issues: 1) they cost an arm and a leg; 2) I'm not sure they're even air-tight. Especially after I unbolt them and rebolt them a few times.

[steve2md]

The plumber's tape (Teflon) should be fine, or you can just dough those joints as well. It's only a minute or two more cleaning after the run...