The official 5" Flute build...

[rockchucker22]

Steam jacket stills that make the best of power input. For batch distillation you would need multiple heat source in order not to waste boiler input. Inline would be better..... I think

[jimmyjames1981]

Well i got all of the plates machined today, drilled out all of the holes on a cnc mill, it took 6 drill bits and 6 hours, i did get a video while it was drilling but i had to go to work so my brother finished them up for me and i will pick them up in the morning. I stacked 4 6"x12" plates together and bolted them to a fixture to hold them in the mill, couldnt stack it 8 thick since the drill bit will only go .50" deep

[jimmyjames1981]

Well all the plates are done






fits in the 5" pipe perfectly with about .005" of clearence





i started the plate tree, the allthread will just be for holding the assembly together for assembly, i will remove the allthread once the plates are soldered in. This is just a trial fitment, i will have to take it back apart to solder the downcomers and downcomer caps and also the bottom j trap

and yes my cat wouldnt move for anything....

[BrewVegas]

Just curious, how are the interior plate soldered on flutes? Do you get to them through the sight glass hole? Or, are you just soldering the downcomers to hold it together?

[jimmyjames1981]

Just curious, how are the interior plate soldered on flutes? Do you get to them through the sight glass hole? Or, are you just soldering the downcomers to hold it together?

the allthread will hold the spacing and position of the plates, i will slide the whole plate tree into the column and while i do this i will put rings of solder on top of each plate that fit somewhat tight along the outside paremeter of the plates then just heat up the outside of the pipe around each plate, this will be done with soft solder so i dont have to heat up the pipe so much then i will remove the allthread and plug the center holes in the plates

[jimmyjames1981]

i need to find a pipe brush that i can put in a drill and clean the inside of the pipe for soldering the plates, any ideas?

[BrewVegas]

You could take a wire wheel like this one:

unnamed.jpg (14.41 KiB) Viewed 260 times

and attached it to the bottom of your all thread and put that in your drill to reach down there...

[jimmyjames1981]

You could take a wire wheel like this one:

unnamed.jpg

and attached it to the bottom of your all thread and put that in your drill to reach down there...

Hey that's a great idea, I have a 4 1/2" stairs less wire brush that has 5/8" threads on it for the arbor of the grinder, I could just use a coupler and a length of 5/8" allthread and use the grinder, thanks for the idea!

[jimmyjames1981]

I was thinking, should I spot the column into a 5 plate and a 3 plate? I want to eventually make rum..... thoughts?

[BrewVegas]

Personally, I bookedmarked your thread to keep learning about flutes. I read through the big flute thread, but still have a bunch of questions. I was hoping your's would be a detailed summary build! I have only been distilling for 5 months (all-grain brewing for 6 years). I have a milehigh pot still & column, but have only used the pot still so far with my rum and sweetfeed recipes. I wasn't sure how a flute could pass the flavors thru like a pot still, but it must as everying says these are the cat's pajamas!

[rockchucker22]

Looking good!

[jimmyjames1981]

Thanks for the comments guys, as far as following my build, I will detail it as much as possible, hopefully I will get my sanitary fittings in so I can machine them for the flute