Stainless flute brainstorming

[Wooday]

Ruminating about how to build a stainless flute with but-weld fittings.

3" straight T x4
3" copper straight couplers.
copper caps on the T with a hole for sight glass, press fit with a lot of teflon tape
4 copper Sieve plates with 1/2" downcomers
Slip on Dephleg, design TBD
Shotgun condenser

Flour paste to seal.

If it's wobbly, I'm hoping to strap it to some angle iron to brace it up.

What say you? any glaring problems or issues I'm not thinking of?

[pfshine]

How are you planing to hold the plates in place and ,how are you going to hold the tees together? I might be confused but it sounds like you want to use copper couplings. The ID's and ODs are way different.

[Wooday]

How are you planing to hold the plates in place and ,how are you going to hold the tees together? I might be confused but it sounds like you want to use copper couplings. The ID's and ODs are way different.

Plates will be built as a "tree" to drop in from the top.

I need to do more research on the T's and couplings. if the ID/OD is too different I may want to join them with some copper sheet made into a strap. If they're close enough, I may be able to anneal the couplers and press fit them onto the T's.

I need to get things sketched out. I can see it in my head but it's not translating well into words.

On the other hand, if I can find scrap 3" copper pipe, the stainless route may not be worth the extra effort...

[pfshine]

3" SS pipe is 3 1/2" OD. ID depends on schedule. 3" Copper pipe is 3 1/8" OD again ID depends on whether it is type dwv, m, l, or k

[googe]

A plated still is very heavy in copper and even more so in ss, once the dephleg and shotgun is filled with water it will weigh alot!. I see it being annoying having to flour paste, add sleeves ect. Having it strapped to some.angle is a countermeasure that doesn't need to exist if you do it right the first time. Using ferrules and tri clamps would be alot easier. that's just my opinion and it's your project in the end, I hope it works, good luck!.

[Danespirit]

+1 Googe.
With flourpaste and the tee's into some copper, this is going to be very wobbly..at least if it was disassembled a few times.
Angle iron or the like, could stabilize it..but it overcomplicates the build...besides looking ugly.
If you would weld a triclampfitting on the tee, it would be perfect with a PTFE gasket.
But it's up to you to decide.

[Hound Dog]

Your asking for more trouble than it's worth, you can order SS tees for milk production pretty cheap that uses clamps and Teflon gaskets.

+100, don't mean to disourage outside the box thinking but you are just trying to make life hard with that setup.

[Wooday]

Ferrules and triclamps. I'm seeing a consensus forming.

Grainger has the clamp T's and clamps for $165 total for 4 T's. I might even be able to find them cheaper if I can sweet talk one of the local dairy outfitters. That's cheaper than I could ever hope to buy the butt-weld fittings and copper couplers/pipe scraps.
The more people are chiming in, the more I'm realizing that although I could "make" my first idea work, it will take a hell of a lot more effort to get it close to right and it will still look like a turd.

Time to start saving my pennies.
Needed to buy a keg anyways...

Pfshine, thanks for the numbers to wrap my head around.

rockchucker22, thanks for putting me on the dairy direction.

[shadylane]

Grainger has a lot of stuff and it's great when using the companies money.
I'd recommend checking out the prices on amazon for what you want.

[Hound Dog]

Grainger has a lot of stuff and it's great when using the companies money.
I'd recommend checking out the prices on amazon for what you want.

+1 and eBay.

[Halfbaked]

Your asking for more trouble than it's worth, you can order SS tees for milk production pretty cheap that uses clamps and Teflon gaskets.

+100, don't mean to disourage outside the box thinking but you are just trying to make life hard with that setup.

+1 Good advice. Buy it already made. Id buy a 4 inch instead of a 3 inch. You will be amazed at the weight.

[Wooday]

Your asking for more trouble than it's worth, you can order SS tees for milk production pretty cheap that uses clamps and Teflon gaskets.

+100, don't mean to disourage outside the box thinking but you are just trying to make life hard with that setup.

+1 Good advice. Buy it already made. Id buy a 4 inch instead of a 3 inch. You will be amazed at the weight.

Trying to keep do this build on a budget of $400 or less.
Looks doable if I can snipe the fittings one at a time from ebay or piggyback on a dairy farmer's order, but it's going to be slow going either way.

In the meantime, I need to build a stovetop pot still to keep me busy and nail down the basics.

Thanks for the wisdom, gentleman

[Wooday]

The dream continues, thanks to Glacier tanks and some great prices.

rough schematic CCVM stainless flute

BUY:
3" Tee x 2
3"x24" spool x 1
3"x6" spool x 1
1.5"x18"spool x 1
3" 90* elbow x 1
3-2 reducer x 1
3-1cap reducer x1
3" clamp+PTFE x7
2" clamp+PTFE x2
Stainless all thread rod
Stainless nuts

SCROUNGE:
1.5" copper pipe to split, flatten, and cut plates
1/2" copper pipe (downcomer)
3/4" copper pipe (downcomer trap)
pure copper strand wire (packing for concentric reducer)

Basic stats are; 36" tall column with 3-4 plates. CSS double wound condenser coil is raised or lowered to control reflux.
Product condenser will be a 24" long, ~1.5"ID vertical leibig with a copper pipe as a water jacket, some 12ga wire wrap for a coolant turbulator, and some vapor turbulators I haven't figured out yet.

Just the fittings will cost about $412 shipped.
Another $179 for a brand spanking new keg.

My worst case total is $621 for the boiler and flute. I may be able to find a dented retired keg from a local brewer for cheaper.

So there's the dream flute. It may have to wait until after the wedding and house purchase, but it's a real goal, and much more achievable than with $300 of half-assery

[Danespirit]

Looks great..
I assume you want to control the vapor like a CCVM..?
Otherwise, you are missing a valve in the setup.
I would definatly skip the valve and stay with a moveable coil.

[Wooday]

DREAMING UPDATE!
3" DVW pipe from our own Copperlover has replaced the ungodly expensive spool for the column and is long enough to make my plates from as well
~$70

Plus the condenser assembly
$115

I can get a used keg for $90 shipped

Figure $30 for enough 1/2" CSST.

______
$270 not counting electric, downcomers, or sight glasses