I learnt quite a lot along the way and if I did it again, I would do a lot differently, so please, please read my findings at the end of this build and don’t repeat my mistakes.
I decided to go for 2" cos its easy to find the copper and nowhere near as expensive as 3" or 4".
I went with a column 1.6m in length due to hight restrictions in my shed. If I had a taller ceiling I might have gone a little further. According to all sources the minimum packing length in 2" columns should be 1.2m and so I gave it an extra .1. My coil was going to be 20cm long and I allowed 10cm for the plates. With my 600cm high keg this put the unit at a total of 2.2m high and my roof in the shed is 2.4m, any more would have just made it too awkward.
Sourcing the 2" was simple, every local plumbing supply has it in Australia, ended up finding it pretty cheap at $22 per meter (most places asked nearly twice that) and grabbed a 2" end cap whilst I was there.
Sourcing the 1/4" for the coil was another story. It only seems to be used in refrigeration and air con and although one of my Reece’s HVAC plumbing supplies near by had it, it was ridiculously expensive. I ended up getting referred from one place to another and after a dozen or so phone calls I found place that did me a whopping 18m for $66. Way more than I needed but the cost per meter was far cheaper and the total price was about the same as me getting about 1/3 the amount from the HVAC place.
To roll the coil I ordered a couple of pillow blocks and bearings so that I could fit a galv pipe and roll onto it, pretty cheap too, got em off eBay for $20 for the two.
For the valve I initially got a stainless ball valve for cheap at $25 but when I mentioned it on another forum (aussiedistiller.com.au) I got schooled. Output valve HAS to be needle, you need the control, and now that I've done a run with it, I have to agree. But stainless needle valves are not cheap! Local suppliers quoted anywhere between $120 and $350!!! And the Stainless compression fittings for up to $40 each. Ended up getting the valve through a friend on the forum for a lil less at $70, and got the fittings from a place near the airport for $15 each.
The rest I pretty much had sitting in the shed. These were the final ingredients:
Column:
2m 2” hard drawn copper tube
1 x 2" copper end cap
5m of 1/4" annealed tubing (need less, but was good to have spare)
Silver solder
Lead free Aquasafe soft solder
Blow torch MAPP Gas (urrgh)
Blow torch butane gas
Hacksaw with 2 x matching blades (so that I can cut the slots for the plates wide enough)
Tin snips
New 1/4" bit and drill
Makeshift anvil
Hammer
2 x Pillow block bearings for galv pipe
1 x 15mm galv pipe to wind first coil around
1 x 30mm PVC pipe to fit over first coil and wind second coil around
1 x SS 1/4” valve for cooling output valve from condensor (I had it spare so why not use)
2 x brass compression fittings for cooling output valve from condensor
1 x SS 1/4" needle valve for output
2 x SS compression fittings for output valve
3 x packs of SS scrubbers to pack column
1 x 2" tri-clamp
Printed template for the plates and cuts
Keg:
1 x 50L beer Keg
1 x 2400w element
1 x 50mm 1” SS threaded pipe
1 x plastic housing
1 x IEC socket
1 x IEC lead
Bunch of electrical bits and bobs i.e some wire, solder, clips etc
and heres the first cut
Decided to make the plates next and as suggested used a bit of spare 2" pipe and cut it down the centre
Annealed it and beat it flat.
Taped on the templates
Then used some tin snips to cut em out. Not the scissors as it kinda looks like I've done in the pic :-p
Taped on the template for the cuts on the column and got to work. Whoever it was who made these is a legend, made the job a sinch!
Tried to use the double hacksaw blade from the start on a test piece, glad it was a test piece cos it was a mess.
After doing the cuts with the single blade I doubled up so that I could get the cut a bit wider for the plates
Drilled the thermo and output holes and then whacked the plates in
Soldered them in and filed/sanded them down
Forgot to take pics, but I did the the thermo pipe and outlet next. Basically whacked them in the holes and soldered them up.
Stole an idea I saw somewhere to secure the outlet valve a little against knocks. I've since been told I should have put the valve as close to the output from the column as possible to reduce smearing. But couldn't be assed desoldering it, and it looked good where it was, plus how much smearing could there possibly be, 5-10ml?
Next smacked out the start of the easy flange.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of me finishing the flange, but here is a link to the very awesome MacStill's guide on the Aussie Distiller forum.
This is a super simple method, especially if you have some 1/4" tubing left over.
http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=76
Next came the condenser, here are the pillow blocks and bearings with a galv tube.
Needed some way to keep the copper tube attached and unable to slip on the gal tube I was winding it on. I'd seen some ideas using cable ties and a series of eyelets, but couldn't find my cable ties, didn't have any eyelets, and came up with this solution - drill a hole.
Inner wind:
Tried using some PVC pipe to wrap the outer coil around, but think it was labelled incorrectly at Bunnings and I stupidly didn't bring a tape measure or ruler with me that time, I quickly realised cos it was kind of loose around my inner coil and a coil on top of this was never going to fit in the 2" tube.
So wrapped a thick bit of cardboard around instead.
I was never going to get the cardboard out in one piece, so I disintegrated it
Bit of a mess, but after some dunks in a bucket of water and go over with the wire brush it was clear
Then drilled some holes in the end cap, plus a couple as steam outlets and soldered it in place
This is the ball valve I mentioned earlier and eventually used on the outlet of the condenser coil to turn off the flow when I can't be assed walking outside to turn off the pump or tap. Total overkill, but had no other use for it.
Next up, the keg build.
Started with a DB Breweries in pretty good nic. Old burger and beer place was closing down and got it for $30.
Here it is with its lil spring ring dislodged, did it the classic way, drilled the lil hole you can see
Then with just a drill and tiny but sharp bit and these 2 tools I got it out, and only uttered couple of #$%^ *$#@ 's. Just jammed the tip of the phillips head in the hole pushed down and in toward the centre of the hole and then jammed the little guy in the gap.
Then with just a couple of twists shaft removed!
Next up was the installation of the element. I forgot to take pics. Sorry. But it was pretty straight forward. Drilled a hole to fit the SS threaded pipe into. Cut the 50mm piece down to about 25mm. A mate welded it in the hole. Screwed element in.
Time to wire up. Cut hole in back of housing for element.
Cut another hole in front, put in IEC plug.
Solder on the wires.
Cut holes for earth
Screw on wires
Attach box. I used a lil epoxy glue, plus the element helps keep it in place
Done.
I was still waiting on my needle valve so decided to a cleaning run. Once with a 5:1 water:vinegar and no scrubbers, then packed in my scrubbers and did another one. Here she is getting all steamy.
Valve finally arrived!
Dropped by a metal scrap place on the way home one day. WISH I had done this early in the piece cos they had so much stuff, and anything I wanted was just $9 per kg. Got enough bits to make one of these. Although I did drop by the plumbing supply place to get the 1” and 1/2” reducers. Apologies again for slacking off with the photos. But it was pretty straight forward also. Only thing to note is that you have to file off the ridge in the 1” reducer.
Here she is all dressed up for the party (you can also see my shotgun condenser, bit of a clue to my next build). Got some 10mm thick insulation and cable tied it on, I changed it a little since this taking this pic and completely insulated all the way up to the condenser section. This reduced the boil up time by about 1/3, maybe more. But it did present some new issues as you can read in my lessons learnt section.
If you run this nice and slow, you can really produce some A grade neutral. Heres the proof.
It looks like 99% in the pic but measured hearts later and it was 98%.
LESSONS LEARNT
Ok. So here is a list of stuff I would do differently, wouldn’t do at all and some tips.
No.1 - Use soft solder!
Guy at the plumbing supply, and the the guy at Bunnings both pushed me away from using soft solder and propane/butane torches. Not sure why. But 95% of the joins in this build do not require silver solder and MAPP. I wasted a ton of cash and more importantly hours of my time trying to get silver solder in the right places, then filing and sanding it off the places you don’t want it. MAPP is very effective at getting the pipe hot, but a 1.6m piece of 2” copper is VERY good at conducting heat. Getting the copper RED hot (which is what you need for the silver solder to properly flow) takes time and ton of gas.
There are two exceptions, you need hard solder for the easy flange and I suggest you also use it for the plates - thats it tho. Otherwise get some Bakers flux and some no-lead Aquasafe soft solder. I’ve been using this for my latest build and it works like a DREAM. Hardly requires any heat, goes where you put the flux, and if it doesn’t it’s a breeze to sand off. Also if you bugger something up, you can de-solder it quickly and easily.
No.2 - 1/4” sucks.
It was expensive, hard to source and now I have found out its pretty crappy for the two things I used it for i.e the coil and the output. According to many folks, 3/8 is far better for output, and 3/8 fittings and valves are much easier to find. Pumping water through 1/4” also requires a HEAP of water pressure. I have tried 3 little pumps and the last should have produced over 800LPH at the height of condenser, but due to the size restrictions that 1/4” poses, it produced nothing more than a trickle. It works fine with the mains pressure, but I’m going to have to buy an expensive and super powerful pump, 600w at least, which means $$$ in electric running costs also. A much better idea would have been…
No.3 - Make it 3” not 2”.
Yes it will cost a bit more to build, but the money you save now you make back in your time alone. 3” will produce a faster output and will also mean you can build a very effective coil out 3/8” tube. Also 3/8” tube was for some bizarre reason cheaper than 1/4” by the meter at my local plumbing supply place. If you are going to make a 2” column, maybe get a 2” to 3” reducer for the top of the column to fit the bigger condenser instead (this is what I’m thinking about doing).
No.4 Insulate but…
Get some insulation, it will save time and money on heating the element, but I suddenly found that I couldn’t keep the the temp stable or stop it from spewing. The damn stuff was too effective! It was getting far too hot and I couldn’t turn it down. So I bought a voltage controller kit for about $50 and now run the element at about 65%. Before I had the insulation on I could run at 100%, which goes to show how effective it is.
No.5 Go directly to your metal scrap joint, do pass your plumbing supply place, do collect $$$ in savings!
None of the places I initially called much like the idea of selling direct to the public. These guys I found to be mostly old, grumpy, hard men. They collect scrap, they cut it up, they sell it by the ton. They don’t like the idea of some bright eyed, young dude in skinny jeans rifling through their heaps and possibly causing some OH&S nightmare lawsuit. Instead pull on your shed clothes, grab a pair of work gloves and some decent boots and even put on your every-man accent. Then grab a six pack and head down at beer-o-clock and strike up a conversation. Once I told them what I was building, he was more than happy for me to have a dig.
And thats about it. I want to say thanks to HD and the Aussie Distillers communities for already posting most of the info I needed for this build and helping out with my issues, you are all great.
Stay tuned for my next build, a simple 2” pot still with shotgun made with some leftovers from this build and some scrap I picked up. Just finished it this weekend and I’ll get the pics and process up in a separate thread.
Full album of pics: http://imgur.com/a/15AnQ#0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow