Prairiepiss's Modular CM, VM, LM pisser build

[Prairiepiss]

Ok I've been looking at this 2" ball valve. I'm starting to question how to position it on the still. I'm talking about the position of the valve ball shaft. I plan to put the valve at the horizontal position just after the column takeoff. What position of the valves ball shaft would be the best. Horizontal or vertical? After looking at this monster if I put the shaft in the horizontal position the cavity of the ball could lead to pooling if not opened all the way. Since it is quite large I think it could be a significant amount. If I put the shaft in the vertical position I don't think I would have the pooling problem but the lever would have to be modified to work from full open to full closed with out hitting other parts of the still. It's quite long. Is this something I should work about? Or am I over thinking this?

Ok I went and measured it. Half open lever at 45 degrees I get 1 oz of pooling with the shaft in the horizontal position. I get approx 1/4 oz with the shaft in the vertical position.

[rad14701]

A ball valve will contribute to pooling regardless of its orientation so mount it in whatever position provides the best feel... With a ball valve there will always be a portion of the ball that any liquid has to rise above before making it through the valve, usually even when opened completely... If you want to eliminate the possibility of pooling the only real option for horizontal mounting is a gate valve which opens from bottom to top...

[Samohon]

Got to agree with Rads observation on the ball valve PP. I was given the materials to build a VM for a guy here in the UK at Xmas. He gave me a 1" ball valve instead of a 1" gate valve and I noticed the same pooling effect that you are having with your 2" valve. Although I didn't measure the amount of pooling produced in either the horizontal or vertical positions, it showed me to be a minimal amount when fitted in the horizontal position. Doesn't really interfere with the overall efficiency of the system IMO.

I too would mount the valve in a position that is practical to your set-up, but now that you have found out that the valve mounted vertically produces 75% less pooling, maybe thats the position to follow in this case...

Your build is looking great... Keep it coming man...

[rad14701]

I too would mount the valve in a position that is practical to your set-up, but now that you have found out that the valve mounted vertically produces 75% less pooling, maybe thats the position to follow in this case...

All things considered, a vertically mounted ball valve would most likely cause less pooling because both the inlet and outlet holes would be on the same plane throughout the operational movement process... Still pooling, just not as much...

[Prairiepiss]

Thank you for your input guys. I think I will try to install it with the shaft in the vertical position. I will attempt to make a new lever for it that will fit and still work when mounted. And if I can't I will just have to mount it the other way. It is pipe head so mounting the male fittings so when its all put together will be fun.

[Prairiepiss]

Ok its been a while since I have updated this build log. Sory my computer went down then my phone SD card and I had no way to get to some of my pics and upload them. So I took some more and got some retrieved so I could post them up.

I went ahead and finished the pot still portion of my build. I changed things a little and turned it into a hybrid pot still CM rig. I've been running it as a pot still so far with decent results. I'm pulling 60% to 70% off from a 11% wash with it in pot still mode. I just started the heat up for my first CM run on it so we will see how it does?

You will see in the first pic the support is under the parrot. My plan for this didn't work. It wasn't stable. So I made one to fit under the lyne arm down to the keg. This works great. It's in the second and third pics. I found the bulb in the pot still is to thin to support the big shotgun condenser and parrot. It got a little bent in finding out. The column is 32" tall to the takeoff. With the 12" extension in place. The lyne arm is 1" over and down to the condenser. I left it 1" because I have future plans to add a thumper. Anyway on to the pics.

[Prairiepiss]

Here are some pics of building the pot still head. There is 7 ft of 1/4" in the reflux coil. The id of the coil is 2" same as the column. Kind of a funky dephlagmater if you will. It is an experiment. That I will find out the results to here in a little bit.

[Prairiepiss]

Here are some of the Parrot being built. Luke I said first thought was to support it under with a leg. So I used a 1/2" T and put a plug in the bottom of it. The other T at the bottom of the 1" hydrometer tube I soldered a 1/2" to 3/8ths bushing so I could tap it out to 1/4" NPT for the foreshots valve. The top connector to hook it to the bottom of the shotgun condenser is made out of a 2" X 3/4" reducer flared out to 3" and a short piece of 3" with a easy flange. Not the best job but functional.

[Prairiepiss]

More parrot. And this is something I just threw together. My final parrot is a little more involved. And will take some time to build. I just needed something to get me by until I get it done.

[Prairiepiss]

Oh here's a pic of my heating elements installed. Looking into the keg.

[Prairiepiss]

Some I just took of it set up to run CM mode. Shows the water connections on the reflux condenser and the shotgun condenser.

[Prairiepiss]

I don't know what do you all think? 24" of packed column running CM mode with a 10% All bran wash single run.

[HookLine]

[Prairiepiss]

I will take that as a not bad. Thanks Hookline. It's still airing out I plan to go through and blend it tonight. I sipped a little last night. And it is interesting to say the least. More to come on that latter. Some mite find it interesting. But I want to get all my ducks in a row on it before I present my outcome.

[Prairiepiss]

Repacked the column for tonights run. And what do you know. I got this.

[Prairiepiss]

Had someone ask me about my controller. So here it is. It's a Harbor Freight router speed controller. That I removed the back cover and replaced it with a CPU heatsink. I milled the heatsink to fit inside the case. Then milled a recess for the chip to sit in. A little heatsink grease between them. Nothing real fancy. It's rated at 15A. I'm running one 5500 watt 240 volt element off it at 110 volts. So its only about 1375 watts. I have it connected to the curly cue element. The other one I just plug in for heat up. Then unplug it and use the one element on the controller for pot still mode. For CM mode I leave the one plugged in and control it with the other.

I would use a bigger heatsink. This one isn't quite large enough. I found one I had stashed in my boxes of junk. I will get it mounted next chance I get. It should cool it better. This one gets pretty warm after a 12 hour run.

[emptyglass]

Thats a fair chunky heatsink, dosn't look like room for much more?

What about a fan? Perhaps an old pc fan and a wall wort? Old pentium chips have small discrete units on them- would almost clip on those monster sinks.

[Prairiepiss]

I have another heatsink that will fit it pretty good. It also has room to mount a fan in it so that its not sticking out. What I will probably do is buy a new controller and mod it with this other heatsink and fan. I mite just go ahead and make a completely new enclosure for it. Would like to add a amp gauge to it to. That way I will have 2 controllers. One for backup. Just in case. They are cheap but I would rather have one on hand if one burns up in the middle of a run. And since they are cheap. I don't expect them to last for ever. The heatsink will just help it last longer. I couldn't imagine running it without the heatsink. That sucker woulda melted down by now.

[Bushman]

Looking good PP, I am thinking of converting from propane thanks for the pics.

[Prairiepiss]

Little update on how the still is working. I took my collection of all bran and sweetfeed feints 3.5 gallons of mixed ABV. I decided to run it in a stripping run. To clean it up a little. So I diluted to 30% ran it in pot still mode at a good fast pace. Take off a little bigger then a pencil led stream. Though out 600 ml. Came off at 70% most of run collected down to 30%. Diluted it to 30% again this time ran it in CM mode. I let in run in 100% reflux for 45 min. Adjusted the coolant flow till I got a broken steam. Took off 400 ml to pitch. Took it back into full reflux for 15 min adjusted the coolant to a pencil sized stream and I closed the fores valve on the parrot. And waited for it to fill up. 96% like I expected. But the rest of the run I didn't expect to happen the way it did. I collected 2 gallons of 96%. With only a few very small adjustments on the heat. It came off in a pencil lead sized stream the whole run. And then the output just shut down. I haven't had it do this yet. I've read about others CMs shut down when the tails come on. It just hadn't happen to me yet. so I just shut the heat off an cleaned up. I aired out the 2 gallons for 48 hours. I just went through it tonight. And holy crap I only pitched the first and last quarts. I didn't even really need to do that. It was drinkable. But just a little off. I got 1.5 gallons of very nice 95% neutral out of it. I wasn't expecting to get that much out of it. But I'm not complaining.

[Prairiepiss]

Little vid of my parrot and flow indicator thingy ma bobber.
http://youtu.be/D7g1MG856h4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Bushman]

Little vid of my parrot and flow indicator thingy ma bobber.
http://youtu.be/D7g1MG856h4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Nice video PP, I wished you had zoomed out a bit more so I could see your whole set-up

[Prairiepiss]

Here you go Bushman.
http://youtu.be/jpkXjOfpBLg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Bushman]

Here you go Bushman.
http://youtu.be/jpkXjOfpBLg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Thanks, she's looking good, did you build the onion top?

[Prairiepiss]

Here you go Bushman.
http://youtu.be/jpkXjOfpBLg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Thanks, she's looking good, did you build the onion top?

Its a tea pot and a 2 1/2" x 3/4" Tee. Look up almost to the top of this page and you can see it during the build.

[Prairiepiss]

I've failed to comment on this build but have followed it and I must say my hats off to you mr. P I love it very creative.

Thanks Rock. I just wish I had the space to really dig in and finish it. It's a little cold to be working on the front porch now.

[devotus]

Nice build, it looks very cool. Sort of steam punk style with that kettle added.

and your pulling 90+'s.

I'd like to have your skills...............................and tools.

[blind drunk]

I've failed to comment on this build but have followed it and I must say my hats off to you mr. P I love it very creative.

Me too. Way over my skill set but do I enjoy being overwhelmed by envy every time I see the thread

[emptyglass]

Nice work Mr P. I love the teapot. Parrot is pretty cool too.

[Prairiepiss]

Thanks guys. It's not the level of work I would like. But with what I have to work with I get by.

Steam punk. LOL never thought of it like that. I was thinking more like Rat Rod.