I came across some free 3" copper pipe that ended up being metric which caused some issues but in the end the pipe sizing is adding to the overall goals of the project.
I decided to build a flute because A I love building things and B they are awesome.
I really like the plated pot still AD laws whiskey house uses and am basing some of my design on theirs
My goals on this build are :
Have something I can run on my 8 gallon Mile hi milk can. I am very limited on space and upgrading my boiler size is not in the cards right now I also ferment 5 gallon batches which are perfect.
compact. I am limited on height, my stilling/brewing/ sausage making table that lives in the dining room is 40" tall which leaves somewhat limited height
so i am only using 2 plates if the 2 plates dont get me what i want i am not against stripping runs like i am now with the pot still then a nice flute run of low wines
Unique. the tri clamp and obvious slip plumbing flutes are gorgeous but i want cleaner lines. this is where the metric pipe is actually helping me. the OD of the pipe is exactly the same size OD as 3" copper fittings.
and lastly and most important help me in the quest to make amazing bourbon.
started with a 3-2 reducer and brazed it to a Inner slip coupler i made that slides into the main body of the pipe. this gives a smooth flowing transtiton from my only triclamp on the boiler to the main housing of the column. its the top right in the first picture.
next I got a copper rain chain cap that is 4 1/2 by 1" and trimmed so that a slightly flare piece of 1 1/2 sat tight internally and brazed it to a copper p trap.
I am going to do a side entrance 2" shotgun product condensor 16-20" long
for attaching the dephlag and output into the PC i am building bolt on flanges. I had a 1 sq foot piece of 1/4" half hard copper plate laying around. cut it into 4" squares. i will knock the corners off and make them round drill out a 3" inner hole then drill the perimeter holes and solder them to the dephlag and column with another set on the outlet of the dephlag. I then plan on using the 3" discs i cut from the thick plate to hold my sight glasses on similar to still dragons stainless bolt on ones. by drilling a 2" hole and then drilling my perimeter bolt holes
i had ordered some 3" discs for my perf plates before i realized that they where going to be to small OD. I ended up cutting some slivers of the column pipe removing around 1/2 from the circumfirence soldering them to the plates and getting a very very nice fit.
drilled 106 3/32" holes in the 2 plates which puts me around 12% open area. which brings me to my first question in flute talk the % for open area are all over the place but NCHooch's 3" he only went with 3%. did i drill to many holes?
next question is downcomers I plan on a 4" plate spacing with 1/2" diameter pipe at 1/2" height. I have read arguments both for and against have a cup on th eplate below or keeping the drain open but below the solid liquid level.
last question (for now!) is the dephflag. I am leaning torwards a csst version for simplicity and have access to multiple lengths and sizes ( I install Hydronic/solar systems)
I was thinking 5 coils of a 5/8 48" Like DAD300 did.
PICTURES!
AD Laws still
my current set up i built besides the boiler.
