Building a modular 4 inch playground.

[Swedish Pride]

Leaks are fix far as I can tell. Won't know for sure till I fire up tonight. Cleaning runs tonight and possibly tomorrow I will be doing a few runs.

I need to pick up 5 nipples for waterlines. And then it's all good.

The more I look at her the more I'm falling in love with her. She's got a steam punk look to her. Kinda reminds me of a train.

Yak

I have two nipples I can donate, fuck all good to me where they are at

[shadylane]

Yak
It's been almost 30 minutes since your last post
Don't start slowing down on us

[yakattack]

Sp- original removal might be problematic, if not painful.

Shady- what are you trying to say :p?
I can't do anything more till the kids bedtime tonight.

[yakattack]

Well she's up and running.

I'll say this. This is going to be a learning curve for sure. It was like starting from square one again.

First run. Ten gallons in the boiler 12 in the thumper.
Ran with packed section and 4 plates. I've come to realize that I will need to do a few stripping runs hard and fast to build up enough low wines to feed it for a neutral run. Not a big deal.

I though that I had hit a point where I was flooding the thumper as I was getting a bit of mash coming up the column. So shut down reflux and just stripped. Turns out I had plenty of room still and could have gotten another half gallon at around 25% but shut down and refilled to be safe.

Any tips for driving her?

[shadylane]

Shady- what are you trying to say :p?

Hells fire, I ain't picking on Ya.
I just want to learn from Ya
And your pics are very welcome

[bitter]

Congratulations on a successful build!

B

[yakattack]

Lol s'okay shady. I got big shoulders. I can take it.

Thanks bitter.only took me a year to accomplish.

I have to say, I am not going to miss squeezing grains. Ferment on the grain. Fill boiler and run. Wash rinse repeat.

[Oldvine Zin]

Well she's up and running.

I'll say this. This is going to be a learning curve for sure. It was like starting from square one again.

First run. Ten gallons in the boiler 12 in the thumper.
Ran with packed section and 4 plates. I've come to realize that I will need to do a few stripping runs hard and fast to build up enough low wines to feed it for a neutral run. Not a big deal.

I though that I had hit a point where I was flooding the thumper as I was getting a bit of mash coming up the column. So shut down reflux and just stripped. Turns out I had plenty of room still and could have gotten another half gallon at around 25% but shut down and refilled to be safe.

Any tips for driving her?

Yak I'm a bit confused on how she works. On my flute without a thump I can get a neutral one run and done, no need for any stripping runs.

OVZ

[yakattack]

So am I lol. The only reflux column I'm used to is a boka and while some principles are similar some are not.

On the first run even with my rc goING full tilt I was still getting vapor passing both the rc and the pc... but that may not have been all alcohol vapor, it could have been condensor fog too.

I measured my.packing depth at 21 to 22 inches.
With that run in question if I had left it in reflux longer I would have been able to draw off at azeo, but I panicked because I thought I was filling up the thumper to much.

One problem I see is that the running with the thumper I am loosing power. Even with the steam input being 2.inch the entire way I just don't have the power to really drive the 4 inch the way she should. So the theory I am working under is run t like a pot still for doing my stripping on the grain, then put low wines in regular boiler and I just have to make a 2 to 4 inch connection and put the column on top of the main boiler for the finish run. Atleast that is until I can get some higher powered elements.

I already know I want to add another 4 inch port for a dedicated fill and a 2 inch drain for empty and fill.without removing the column. But that's a few months down the road.

[Lyonsie]

Are you saying it doesn't have the power to drive the column after the thumper? I don't get this stripping thing either. In fact im hoping to eliminate it. Have you considered heating the thumper?

[frunobulax]

Is the idea behind the boiler build to strip it, then run it off as a neutral at the same time? If that's the case, I don't think there is enough alcohol in the wash
to keep the packed column loaded, and that's why ya had to keep pushing the heat, and why the condenser couldn't keep up.
I always strip first to attain boiler charge for a neutral.

[yakattack]

Yes the idea was to eliminate both squeezing the graim and stripping runs .

Ya my 4800w element died so I'm down to a 3500w element. I'm going to order a 5500w and a 2000w element.

You might be right about not enough alcohol but the pc was ice cold. And the second run had no blow by. And had that at full power and just a trickle of water.

I'm going to try another run this afternoon.

[bitter]

Hope your run goes well.

Why not run 2 5500W one on 220 and the other on 120V (5500 + 1375) so you could swap them in a pinch and still have a one 5500W to make a run if an element has issues

OBK is a good place to order from and quick delivery
https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/5500W_2 ... o-2965.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/5500W_2 ... o-2935.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

B

[yakattack]

Decided to just strip the rest of the mash and done one long run. I'm really loving the new setup.

12 gallons in the main boiler of cleared beer. 12 in the thumper. 1 hour 15 minutes until first steady stream. Approximately 2 gallons an hour with run taking hour and 15 min. Total time to shut down 2.5 hours. Collecting 2.5 gallons.

It's not fast enough.

So I made a counter flow chiller.
Fill secondary barrel with mash. Use hot water from the pc to preheat the next strip. Should allow me to reduce heat up time for consecutive strips, he'll if I can get the water to come out hot enough Maybe i could mash an all barly malt mash that way. Hmmmm.

Still need to upgrade my elements. And insulate the hell out of it.

Oh. And I might have fried my controller. Don't know yet.

I'll be testing how quickly I can get the process down tonight as I plan to strip the rest tonight. 3 more runs. Starting around 8 pm.

[bitter]

Yak, I have a couple spare SSRVR if you need one.

B

[yakattack]

I may need one. I'll msg you later when I test it. She somehow arced on me somehow.. thank goodness for grounding.

[shadylane]

Don't know if your 4" works like mine
I have two 4500W heating elements, I could control
Run 1 on 240V and the other heater on 120v
Since I'm running at constant power, I use the reflux cooling water to vary the power/cooling balance.
Didn't plan on things working out this way, but they did.

[yakattack]

I'll have to give that a try see how it fares. I'm going to have to do many runs to really learn her. But it's a burden I'm willing to take on.

[yakattack]

Ughhhhhhhh

Well shit.

Load boiler today with water. 10 gallons at about 35 percent in the thumper. 4 plates and a 21 inch packed section to make a neutral run.

Hook up controller and power on full blast to come to temp. Once I was at temp I unplugged the secondary element and attempted to run on the 220v alone, dialing it down to 50% power.

Shit. Why is the column flooding. To much power. Turn down some more. Still flooding. Turn down completely
Wtf. Still flooding. Unplug. Controller is shot. No adjustment at all.. ok. Plug in secondary element and run main element on 120v. Insulate well. Able to get column to stabilize. Start drawin off.

Heads come off easily. Took a while to stack the column but 1 lt of heads later I was into hearts.

Start drawing hearts. Half gallon later and vapor temp had spiked to 175. Wtf. Not enough power to stabilize column and draw off at same time.

Hmm. Plug back into 220v.

Get column to stabilize and immediately at set drawing off to keep it from flooding.

Strip all insulation. Hoping to bring it down a little bit.

Shit. What's that hissing sound. Wait. Why am I smelling alcohol vapor. Shit. Shit shit. Start feeling / looking for it. My heart in my throat. Heart drops. My fingers are burnt.

Immediately pull all power.

Another leak at the keg to thumper vapor tube connection.

I give up. I'm going to go to a welder and get these welded in place. I'm done chasing little leaks.

I don't know how much I vented. I don't know if temps spiked because I was both under and over powerd. Or if I bled all my alcohol away through that leak. Total collected. 1.2 gallons at 95 % and 500ml at 80%.

I need a drink.

[shadylane]

Ughhhhhhhh

Well shit....
...I give up. I'm going to go to a welder and get these welded in place. I'm done chasing little leaks.....
.... I need a drink.

The welder will need more than a drink, to weld over solder or brazing

[yakattack]

I'm going to have to cut it all out arnt I....

[bitter]

Sorry to hear Yak. Let me know about the SSR-vr

B

[StillerBoy]

Take a few days off from the project.. rushing things is not productive.. the world is not coming to an end tomorrow.. lots of time to review and repair.. but first step away for a few days.. things often look much better.. time is a healer..

Mars

[Lyonsie]

^^^ what stillerboy said. Take a step back. A nuisance is all it is. Comes good the next time. Best wishes.

[bitter]

Yak,

Hope you get the SSR-VR /w heat sink soon (Most likely early next week) Things were sent out express yesterday.. But I'm int he boonies so things take an extra day to get to the main hub before going your way.

You will need some heat sink grease as could not put things together with grease as would not fit in box with everything.

Hope it gets you up and running again soon

B

[yakattack]

Thanks bitter.

Boiler is at the welders.. but there may be some big changes now... not sure what's going to happen but apparently he and his partner are both hobbiest themselves so we've been throwing ideas and designs and price tags around for a bit.

Time to get a rum knocked up and a sugar head for new cleaning and some neutral for flavoring drinks while I start malting in bulk this next week as I am going to be finished school and still laid off for a while. Time to kick it into high gear for a few weeks. Get a bunch done before I start back with the long hours.

[yakattack]

Also I am thinking with thr flute now need to add in a amp meter ( I think) so I can start to get not only an easier run protical, but more repeatability in my runs.

So I ask what you guys use for this? Links to ones you like? I would.like to order soon I can set it up right away.

[bitter]

An Amp meter will help a lot.. if you find a good amp meter let me know.. I want to add one to my controller.

B

[shadylane]

Also I am thinking with thr flute now need to add in a amp meter

Just a thought
Amp meters have to carry current and need big wires and big connectors.
When a connection gets bad, it gets hot, smokes and the controller quits working
An analog volt meter might be a better option

[yakattack]

Also I am thinking with thr flute now need to add in a amp meter

Just a thought
Amp meters have to carry current and need big wires and big connectors.
When a connection gets bad, it gets hot, smokes and the controller quits working
An analog volt meter might be a better option

Does the voltage change with the controller? I thought voltage stayed pretty solid and only amperage was changed in relation to the dimmer switch? If I'm wrong please tell me. I don't want to waste money on the wrong components lol.