Don't sweat the small stuff...?

[gflower1]

Just wondering about the tiny details as I gather parts for my build... Like:
What type copper do most guys use in column? L, M, or DWV?
Also (random) those with thermometers... Dial or Digital?
Just trying to Guage the personal preferences of the group.

[bitter]

For copper I get what I can get. For thinking like product condensors etc for the inside I like the thinnest possible to transfer heat better to the cold water. Bth my columns are DWV as it was what I could get

I like digital thermomters better as they are a bit more easy to see if you are .1, .2 or .3 harder to see with an Dial thermometer.

B

[gflower1]

That's kinda what I was thinking with digital, but when u worried about 0.1? My concern about the DVW (without a piece in my hands) is the strength/ridgidity. That's what I see on a lot of websites though so it must be fairly durable...

[greggn]

>That's kinda what I was thinking with digital, but when u worried about 0.1?


0.1 degree is very meaningful to me. Running a CM column, when I have my power and coolant flow dialed-in just right I can see the change of fractions coming off based on vapor temperature. Because of that I use a digital thermometer.

[gflower1]

Gotcha! Learning new stuff by the minute here!
I'm planning on a VM. Would that be essential?

[joeymac]

digital temp... for reflux stills, even 0.1 degree is critical. The accuracy of the thermometer is not as important as observing the temperature change. I have 3-4 digital thermometers... they all read a little different when put in the same cup of boiling water. I don't care if my thermometer reads 176, 177, 178, or whatever when I'm pulling product. I care when whatever it does say starts creeping up by 0.1 or 0.2 degrees because that indicates the onset of tails coming through and that I need to adjust my RR.

I've made columns from DWV and L. For the hobby distiller, DWV is great and weighs much less. I prefer the head and complex things made from L and the plain packed column to be made from DWV. But it really doesn't matter any way you look at it. Take what you can git.

[gflower1]

I've got some M ready for some bits and pieces to arrive. I'll look into the digital therms. I know they got some at Auber but I'll need to scrape up some more pocket change

[joeymac]

Harbor Freight thermometers are fine. So are the ones at the grocery store. Precision is more important than accuracy and most all digital thermometers will be precise, if not accurate as well. I got one of the HF ones and brought it into our chem lab at work to compare to one of our annually calibrated NIST traceable thermometers. It tracked boiling water from 20deg C within 0.1-0.2 degrees all the way up to boiling. Not bad for $6... even if it did die after about 5-6 runs.


http://www.harborfreight.com/instant-re ... 95382.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[gflower1]

I'll have to steal the one SOH has in the kitchen! And grab a little cork or something

[Hound Dog]

Just wondering about the tiny details as I gather parts for my build... Like:
What type copper do most guys use in column? L, M, or DWV?
Also (random) those with thermometers... Dial or Digital?
Just trying to Guage the personal preferences of the group.

Type of copper? = Cheapest you can get at the time. Example, I used type L, the thickest, most expensive, hardest to work with. Why? Because a friend had a stick left over on a job site and gave it to me.

Thermometer? = Digital reads to fractions of a degree. Most dial ones just get you in the ballpark.

[gflower1]

Nice. Anyone seen a digital (moderately priced) thermo that fits 1/2 NPT port lately?

[Hound Dog]

Nice. Anyone seen a digital (moderately priced) thermo that fits 1/2 NPT port lately?

I used a piece of PTFE rod, screwed it into the threaded port, drilled a hole on it and put the probe in through that. I guess a cork could do the same thing.

[gflower1]

Got this thin little papery, plasticy sheet with my SSR. No instructions for it but it is cut to fit the screw holes. Is it supposed to replace thermal grease or in addition to it?
I've got a tube of therm grease too, just wasn't sure about this sheet.

[rubber duck]

What kind of still are you building? If it's a slant plate aka boka still type l is the minimum I would use. Basically if your going to be cutting into it you want a thicker wall but if your not dwr is fine.

If your building a reflux still go digital, if a pot still use one if you want but digital isn't necessary.


So what are you thinking about building.

[rubber duck]

Got this thin little papery, plasticy sheet with my SSR. No instructions for it but it is cut to fit the screw holes. Is it supposed to replace thermal grease or in addition to it?
I've got a tube of therm grease too, just wasn't sure about this sheet.

Eaxacty what did you buy and where did you buy it?

[gflower1]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 88&alt=web" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Bought this Kyotto 2040AX SSR for a VM build I'm working on

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[rubber duck]

I've only but 2 controllers and they where from kits. Why does this kit come with a rubber blanket? Anyone with some experience want to explain?

[emptyglass]

odd thing is, as much as the resolution of digital thermos appears good they are not always accurate.

They (thermos) are reliable, but not accurate. that is to say, what you see as 77.6c may be not quite be that, it will be the same the next time you run. So if yours sits at 77.1 and others sit at 77.6 dont sweat it.

They can be calibrated, but you need to account for your elevation from sea level when you do.

[gflower1]

Got a PID I'm going to use as a thermo. Not so worried about accuracy as repeatability, just waiting for a power meter.

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[gflower1]

In other realms of exploring electricity...
What is a good "load/element/whatever" to use for a bench test of my controller box?

I was thinking about a light bulb but don't want to overpower it with 220. Not looking to let the smoke out or exploding glass or anything else fun like that.

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[papapro]

I bought on ebay this one 12V Cool Heat temp Thermostat Thermometer Temperature Control Switch -50-110°C
has 0.1 deg C accuracy has also ability to offset the temp according your elevation.
I set it up this way: knowing that the hearts will have the temp 78.2 I loaded still with low wines and fired it up.run the still till got stable and at this point I offset the calibration to 78.2.

Everything below 78.2 are heads running 10-15 min on that temp I start collecting and when the temp rises
above 78.4 I start watching ABV when drops to 91% after are tails and you can see product becomes bluish.

I have 2 inch boca filled with SPP roughly 1 liter and that gives me at slow drip 2-3 drops per second azeo.
There is also another way to offset your digital thermometer by adding resistor in parallel to the probe use the
same method as above most of digital thermometers are using NTC negative temperature compensation
so adding small resistor in series would correct to higher readings and adding one in parallel would decrease reading.
Recently I ordered on ebay digital thermometer at 0.01 accuracy when I test it I will share my experience.

[rad14701]

papapro, you are aware that you can't run a still properly by temperatures, right...??? It may sound good on paper, but in reality it just doesn't work that way... You are assuming that you are making proper cuts by temperatures but that theory is flawed, Bokakob LM reflux column or otherwise... And you should never be getting blue spirits out of your still unless something is drastically wrong... Time to do a bit more research before you or someone else gets sick drinking your spirits... I would urge any novices reading your post to disregard any advice you are attempting to provide...

[papapro]

rad14701, I think you did not read my post carefully...First of all I have read few books John Stone -Making gin and vodka and the second Ian Smiley Making pure corn whiskey. in Stone on pages 61-62 and Smiley on pages 72-73 they give very
detailed how to distille. I am not only using thermometer also use parrot with 16 cm alcoholometer.

First I equilibrate my column for about 30 min then slowly draw 50 ml foreshots from 14 liter boiler 1 drop per sec then very slowly 2 drop/sec heads till I get into the 78.2 deg C
run this into heads container for 15 min then I am into hearts. At this point increase take off to 3 drops/sec and get 95-96 % ABV. Then I run it till the temp start rising and stop collecting when ABV drops to 91%. All the rest I treat as faints.

I have a question for you why would you not recommend my method to the novice. I go by the books on 2 famous distillers /scientist in this field. All we know that the most toxic are
the forshots, the heads give you a headache and the tails are the fussil alcoholes.

With some research you can find in the net Siwucha which was made and sold on Poland before sec WW and now they start make it again as nostalgia this booze was drawn from begining to the end. I hope you will take it back your comments and recommendations to the novice memebers. All of us we want to learn more about this hobby and share knowledge.

[rad14701]

No, you're talking about temperatures and ABV's like you can make cuts by them when you can't... We've had this discussion countless times... If it works for you that's fine, but if a novice comes and reads your post they will be receiving disinformation... I read and comprehended what you wrote just fine...

My reflux column outputs Foreshots, Heads, Hearts, and even early Tails at the exact same temperature and %ABV (95%) which is why I made the comments I did and I stand by them... How your rig runs is not indicative of how everyone else's rigs will run...

[papapro]

Rad, I have in my column SPP aout a 1 liter the guy i bought from says that the HETP is about 2 cm i think might be about 3 cm with total about 50 cm according to him might be 25hetp I think might be 15 still gives me azeo. You are right everyone rig runs differently, before I used scrubs. hem I bought 1 litre of ss springs and modified them then I got that website
and I decided to give a try.... it works very well he recommends max power of 115 w /cm2
i run it lower.

[shadylane]

In other realms of exploring electricity...
What is a good "load/element/whatever" to use for a bench test of my controller box?

I was thinking about a light bulb but don't want to overpower it with 220. Not looking to let the smoke out or exploding glass or anything else fun like that.

Two 100w - 120v light bulbs in series will work
Posting with papapro

[papapro]

yes shadylane, two lightbulb in series will do the trick make sure that they are in sockets and well insulated.

[rad14701]

yes shadylane, two lightbulb in series will do the trick make sure that they are in sockets and well insulated.

Worrying about light socket insulation isn't an issue because the controller will only produce as much power as the resistance load demands and that is preset in light bulbs design... Some folks get the false notion that their controller is going to overpower or blow up light bulbs and that's just a fallacy... The bulbs just need to be properly rated for the maximum voltage that the circuit can provide which is usually 120V or 240V...

[papapro]

Rad, I recommend sockets and insullation so the novice would not be electricuted load is a different story.