Help me grok my new still

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wrathskellar
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Help me grok my new still

Post by wrathskellar »

Greetings all,

I recently acquired a complete still from a friend who doesn't know anything about it and isn't even sure where he got it. It's got a couple design oddities I'm not familiar with, and I hoped someone here might be able to shed some light on it. (See the attached pic.) First, the column leads to an arm that connects to another vertical section. That section is open at the top where a condensing coil runs down through it for about a foot. When the whole unit is hot, steam escapes out vent holes at the highest point until water is run through the coil. With the condenser running, the steam is knocked down to the lowest point in that vertical section where there are two outputs. One runs right back to the main column, and the other is the primary output line that connects to a larger condenser in a bucket. Both outputs have valves on them.

I've never seen a still column open at the top like this. Is there a name for this type of still? It seems unnecessarily complicated. Is there some advantage to this design?

What about the output line that runs back to the column? I assume that's for reflux, but I don't know if it should be run open or closed, or open for just some of the time. I'm not clear on the reasons why you'd want it open. Any help here would be appreciated.

The whole thing works just dandy. We filled the keg with three gallons of white vinegar and a couple gallons of water, and ran it until it steamed, then turned on the water through the upper condenser. We kept the reflux line closed. Maybe 10 minutes later we started getting condensate out the main line. We ran like that for another half hour or so just to be sure it was clean. Emptied it out and filled it with water and did the same with the water before filling it with ... well that's another story for another section of the forum :D
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zapata
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Re: Help me grok my new still

Post by zapata »

You could call that a nixon-stone offset. It is in the category of liquid management reflux stills. The top MOST DEFINITELY needs to be open. Without it venting at the top you would run the very real risk of exploding and/or imploding it.

I think the reflux return line needs to be much higher in the column, returning it so low will really throttle performance.

You didnt mention column packing, but if it doesnt have any, it needs some. That still design is wasted with packing. That would go in the lower column only, and the most common packings would be copper mesh or copper or stainless scrubbies (though there are other options).

1 last thing, since you know nothing of who made it or how, I'd test it for lead, the solder areas in particular. You can get lead tests at most hardware stores for testing paint that may work well enough for peace of mind.
wrathskellar
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Re: Help me grok my new still

Post by wrathskellar »

zapata wrote:You could call that a nixon-stone offset. It is in the category of liquid management reflux stills.
Ah ha! Thank you, that's exactly the tip I needed. I just re-read some parts of Compleat Distiller with that in mind, and it's starting to come together for me better now. Searching here for "nixon" brings up some juicy threads too.

I think I understand the purpose of the reflux and product outputs and valves better now. But I need to more thoroughly grok how to adjust the system to the correct reflux ratio. I should start a sugar wash for experimenting with.
zapata wrote:You didnt mention column packing, but if it doesnt have any, it needs some.
Marbles. And I see now that they're not a terribly efficient material. I'll have to see about replacing them with mesh. For last weekend's apple mash I think it wasn't all that critical, as we basically ran in pot still mode with high power and the reflux line closed.
zapata wrote:1 last thing, since you know nothing of who made it or how, I'd test it for lead, the solder areas in particular. You can get lead tests at most hardware stores for testing paint that may work well enough for peace of mind.
Good point. I hadn't even thought about that. I'll do it before my next run.

Thanks a bunch for your help!

- D
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still_stirrin
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Re: Help me grok my new still

Post by still_stirrin »

The liquid product line, that runs into the cooling water bucket is very long and also a small diameter. That will make the output very “slow” to react to input setting changes. In other words, it will take you a long time to notice a change in either heat input or coolant flow to the reflux condenser.

I would cut it off much shorter, near the height of the top of the boiler. And then, if you want additional cooling on your product (it will be hot coming from the reflux condenser collection cup), add a little Liebig condenser section to the outside of the product line (below the offset head). Since the product will already be liquid, you won’t need a large condenser...just a little “additional cooling” heat exchanger.

The bucket of water used to cool the product is disproportunate...and adversely affects the control sensitivity. So I highly recommend changing it as stated above.
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