Plate Materials

Vapor, Liquid or Cooling Management. Flutes, plates, etc.

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dgomes
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Plate Materials

Post by dgomes »

I have a question about material for Flute Plates. I have a bunch of 4" copper now and am working on a Flute design. I am having a hard time findind plate copper to use for the plates or the top/botom of the deflag and shotgun. I did find some very thin copper but it is very thin. I can get my hands on substantial brass though. I see that there are people using brass flanges on stills. I would assume then that brass is a suitable metal for being in contact with the volatiles we like to drink. I also have a fair amount of 3" copper pipe. Not sure if it is L or M but it is significantly thick walled. This would make good plates if I could slit some pipe and flatten it out into plate/sheet form.

Would I be better to try and bang out the pipe to flat stock, use the brass I can get easily or use the very thin copper sheet? I do not have torches but I do have a TIG welder. I am not a welder by trade but I can make most metal stick together... I would assume I can weld Brass to Copper with the TIG and copper filler?

Sheet Copper I can get is 0.035 " or 0.82mm
Sheet Brass I can get is 0.070" or 1.62mm

Thanks
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Expat
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by Expat »

Definitely do not use the brass because of the potential for lead content. The thin copper will be a pain in the ass to use without issues.

The best option is to flatten some pipe, its not hard. Cut it, heat it, open it and pound it flat with a hammer and a block of wood (avoids hammer dents).
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bluefish_dist
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by bluefish_dist »

Not sure where you are located, but I have used metal supermarket to buy sheet. Made up a few sieve plates. McMaster is always a choice, but can be expensive.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by Twisted Brick »

I'd bet the 3" is plenty thick. Get it hot enuff with a MAPP torch and it'll flatten out like butter.

Looking forward to seeing your build.
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Yummyrum
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by Yummyrum »

I've made all my plates and condenser ends out of flatterned pipe but yup , you need to anneal it first . Thats were you heat it up to at least cherry red hot first before you try to flatten it , snip it open , Then I can basically pull it open by hand and push it flat against a piece of wood . Then stick anothe piece of wood on top and bash it with a mallet .
Whaa Laa .... perfectly flat copper plate .
The problem for you will be annealing it but seriously if you are going to build a flute you should have a MAPP gas torch anyway . Lead free Soft soldering is used extensively for Copper stills .Save your TIG for your Staino boiler work

Incidentally , Bashing the plates flat will "work Harden " them a fair bit so they become quite firm again :thumbup:
Anneal.jpg
Snip.jpg
Press flat.jpg
Bash flat.jpg
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cranky
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by cranky »

I doubt my plates are any thicker than .032 and they work fine and weren't hard to work with at all, I didn't see the need to waste pipe or buy anything thicker. .032 is 24 oz or 21 gauge and in my opinion is plenty thick for plates. If you have it to spare and really feel you need thicker annealing and flattening pipe is actually easy and would do the job just fine.
dgomes
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by dgomes »

Thanks everyone.

I am in Ontario Canada and the Metal Supermarket is where I got the piece of sheet copper and brass. The selection was very slim, it was this 0.035 sheet or 1/4" x 4" bar which would have been way overkill and a second mortgage to get. The 035 was fairly inexpensive so I grabbed a bit.

I didn't know about the annealing process to take the "hardness" out of the copper pipe. I do have a MAPP torch so that should work quite well. I think I will work on my reflux plates to be made out of the 0.32 sheet stock and use the 3" pipe flattened out for the deflag and shotgun condensers. There is much more soldering in the condenser build and more hole drilling in the plates. There is probable not much pressure or stress on the flute plates while sitting in the column that will bend or push on them.

I traded some other tools for the TIG welder... well... because it would be cool to have, and it had all the stick welder material. I made a big cabinet smoker with it and I knew there would be other opportunities to weld unusual or dissimilar metals at some point for a real job or just because it can be done. :D

There is so much knowledge here and you guys are saving us from making the same mistakes over again that have been made before by others.

Thanks again for your help. :clap:
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by Twisted Brick »

dgomes wrote: I think I will work on my reflux plates to be made out of the 0.32 sheet stock and use the 3" pipe flattened out for the deflag and shotgun condensers. There is much more soldering in the condenser build and more hole drilling in the plates.
What size shotty? Number of vapor tubes?
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by dgomes »

I am still reading up on this. I am thinking 4" column to the deflag. Deflag will be 4" pipe and somewhere around 6-7" of tube length or so, 1/2" tubes. This will go to a reducer to 2" for the 180 bend at the top. Probably will expand from 2" at the 180 to a 3" shotgun. I have a lot of 3" coper so it is handy. I will reduce to a small union to attach the parrot with a drain so I can reduce some of the smearing in the parrot.

For me to use 2" I would need to cut up my older reflux column to get the 2" material. It still works fine so I don't want to cut it up just yet. I used to run solid 90-93% with that and have pretty good flavour coming across too, it just took many hours. The 3" Pot head works so much faster.

Twisted, My 15.5G keg has a 220V 4500W heater in it. Do you have a recommendation on using a 3" vs a 2" Shotgun for the size of my setup?
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by Twisted Brick »

dgomes wrote: Do you have a recommendation on using a 3" vs a 2" Shotgun for the size of my setup?
There are more knowledgeable folks here that can answer your question much better than I, but here is what I know:

Because a reflux column's dephlegmator cools the vapor to a degree, a smaller condenser can be used. There is a benefit to the vapor entering the condenser as slowly as possible. The ideal configuration is a column, lyne arm and condenser all at the same diameter, since a smaller diameter pipe (reduced 180*) increases vapor speed.

I'm sure you'll get input regarding a 2" condenser being able to handle a 4" reflux rig.
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by bluefish_dist »

I have used a single 2" shotgun from still dragon to cool 4000w. I can strip 12,000 w with 3 in series. It really comes down to length of the shotgun to how much you can condense.
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Re: Plate Materials

Post by Windy City »

I have used 3" and 6" discs from this company to build product condensers.
I braze almost everything and they have held up very well.
https://www.riogrande.com/product/Coppe ... ard/132257" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
If you are looking of 4" discs Mile Hi Distilling has those and I have used them for deflags and condensers with the same success.
https://milehidistilling.com/product-ca ... ng/page/2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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