Home Distiller

NZChris wrote:In the scenario you describe, the still would not have exploded as it would not have contained any oxygen for combustion. The explosion would be in the room.

NZChris wrote:A temperature switch reading the condensate temperature can be used to set off an alarm and/or trip a latched relay, cutting the power or closing a gas solenoid valve.

RippoZero wrote:I'm not sure if i want to put a valve on the output of my still for three reasons....

RippoZero wrote:The current design plan is to make a box that i plug in to mains of which i can then plug the still to. I'll have a lamp neck to position the sensor in close proximity to the output.

Pikey wrote:One of the rules we have is "Never leave a still unattended"

However I'm sure we all pop out for a carp or to brew a cuppa sometimes, so perhaps there's a place for it. The downside as I see it though is that it could lead to complacency and a desire too "automate" the art. I'm also wondering how you'd test it ?

NZChris wrote:

RippoZero wrote:I'm not sure if i want to put a valve on the output of my still for three reasons....

That was not what was being suggested. It meant a solenoid valve in the gas line to a propane burner.

NZChris wrote:

RippoZero wrote:The current design plan is to make a box that i plug in to mains of which i can then plug the still to. I'll have a lamp neck to position the sensor in close proximity to the output.

A latched relay in the box allows you to daisy chain as many checks as you want into the circuit, Ethanol vapor, condensate temperature, boiler pressure, boiler temperature, boiler level, dead man switch, receiver overflow, timers, whatever takes your fancy.

Truckinbutch wrote:

Pikey wrote:One of the rules we have is "Never leave a still unattended"

However I'm sure we all pop out for a carp or to brew a cuppa sometimes, so perhaps there's a place for it. The downside as I see it though is that it could lead to complacency and a desire too "automate" the art. I'm also wondering how you'd test it ?

'Never Leave A Still Unattended' is a mantra that can never be repeated enough . As folks that have been to my place can attest ; I am never beyond 3 steps from my still when it's running . Doesn't take that long to shut down if you have to leave . If you walk away from one running , what guarantee do you have that you will return ? NONE !
I also have an established communication protocol with SOH . If I should ever fail a checkin she will be straight to the still house fully trained on how to shut it down and then deal with whatever issues I might be having .

RippoZero wrote:Had an (almost) accident once and thought the possibility of actually blowing myself up doing this was worth some pondering. I've red articles and posts on this site about what can happen and talked to someone who actually had an explosion (albeit on a gas driven still).

The theoretical scenario I've had described to me goes somewhat along these lines: Old man Jon eventually goes down to the cellar to check how his spirits are fearing. Since It's the second run of this batch and the boiler contains a 30% solution of mostly spirits and water the resulting gas is odorless. the still did not have enough cooling and is now effectively a bomb. Once the old man realizes this he either lugs out the contact from the socket or flips the switch on the still. A spark is generated and the still explodes. Even if he had realized it before it might have gone off from the spark of the light switch.

The conclusion is that it's simply to dangerous to do this without proper safety measures. I've therefore decided to build a safety switch for my still. It will be based on the arduino. I just wanted some input on this before i went ahead and put it together.


I'll be using the arduino mini. I've ordered a gass sensor on the cheap from here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MQ-3-Alcohol-Et ... SwI3RW9Bmq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

The switch that will connect and disconnect mains voltage to the still needs to not generate a spark or weld so i went with this solid state switch: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SSR-40DA-40A-25 ... SwPCVX~JED" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

The plan is to have the mains voltage cut when a certain reading is detected from the gas scensor.

Truckinbutch wrote:You will never find that shit in my still house . Case to point :
Severe thunderstorm blew over my house today and caused a power outage too brief to kick in my generator . It did , however , require rebooting and reprogramming all electronics that we had in play at the time .
All my stillin equipment is hands on and will remain so .

Truckinbutch wrote:You will never find that shit in my still house . Case to point :
Severe thunderstorm blew over my house today and caused a power outage too brief to kick in my generator . It did , however , require rebooting and reprogramming all electronics that we had in play at the time .
All my stillin equipment is hands on and will remain so .

Swedish Pride wrote:nice work lad, could not even start to try to wrap my head around it but looks cool and sounds like it works well
I've a more basic set up for lack of knowledge and funds, not because I'm an old codger like TB

Still Life wrote:Old electronics builder here. If I had an Arduino in my day I'd rule the world. They can be programmed to do anything.
Nice code work and nice build. Nowadays I admire electronics from afar, standing next to a still.
You've got the best of both worlds right there.

Don't worry about the naysayers. I still have close friends who are POSITIVE my still is a boiler bomb waiting to explode.
It's all in what you know and how you use it.

NZChris wrote:

Truckinbutch wrote:You will never find that shit in my still house . Case to point :
Severe thunderstorm blew over my house today and caused a power outage too brief to kick in my generator . It did , however , require rebooting and reprogramming all electronics that we had in play at the time .
All my stillin equipment is hands on and will remain so .

The little automation I have restarts with no problems. I ran for decades with no automation, but now the price of controllers to make a distiller's life easier is so cheap it's hard to ignore. The controller looking after the Leibig of my Charantaise setup saves so much water and hassle I should have done it years ago, and would have if I had been paying for the water.

Kegg_jam wrote:Question on the code.

I thought you were supposed to define constants and pin assignments in the Setup() routine....

Seems to me you are redefining your constants every time through the loop() instead of just once in Setup().

void setup{
}

void loop(){
safetySwitch();
}


    const byte resetButton = 8;
    const byte relayPin = 13;
    pinMode(resetButton, INPUT);
    pinMode(relayPin, OUTPUT); 
    byte buttonState = digitalRead(resetButton);
    byte relayState;

void safetySwitch(){
    int ethanolSensor = analogRead(A0);

    if(ethanolSensor > 45){
      relayState = LOW;
      digitalWrite(relayPin, LOW);
    }
    if(buttonState == HIGH){
      relayState = HIGH;
      digitalWrite(relayPin, HIGH);
    }
     Serial.println(ethanolSensor);
  }

Pikey wrote:Chris - does your water controller just switch on / off ot does it do variable flow adjustment ?

Pikey wrote:Nice one - could you use the same kit to switch off if your boiler went over pressure ? or would you need to build another ?

Yummyrum wrote:Rippo
Nice one mate and any protection is good .
I like your thinking on using a SSR to switch the power to avoid potential sparks

But .... having been an electronics tech for over 30 years and replaced thousands of semiconductors , transistors , SCRs and Triacs that have gone short curcuit I would not place my life on one .
Do you have a way to check that the SSR is functioning everytime you use this ?

Or even operate a remote contactor on the switch board .

RippoZero wrote: You're right. Having the solid state relay short circuit does represent a potential fault. I do have a fuse in the thing that goes at 250 volts and 10 amperes or 2500 watt. This is well below the rated maximum for the relay. Is this a good solution? I do get to personally check if the relay can open and shut properly every time I start the device. while the sensor is heating up for about 15 minutes the only way to open the relay is to hold in the button. if I let it go in that period the sensor will detect a false positive and shut the relay. I think the part in this system that represents the biggest potential of failure is the MQ-3 gas sensor. Maybe I should double up on that and have 2 of them?