8" Copper Still and Accessories

[DeepSouth]

I'm currently building a 300 gallon commercial still. The still will be a combination pot still and 4 plate column system that will be used to make primarily whiskey and rum. The still tank is a 350 gallon stainless steel tote with a steam jacket on 4 sides for heating. There will also be a 2 HP agitator with 5:1 gear reducer and a variable frequency drive for controlling the speed. The still utilizes a 2" stainless 3 way diverting valve to direct the vapor toward the condenser for pot still mode, or direct the vapor down and to the bottom of the plated columns for increased rectification. The columns actually run in parallel. The columns are both 8" diameter, so the equivalent area of the two columns in parallel is about that of one 11-12" column. Each of the plates use bubble caps and have individual plate drains so any combination of plates can be used. There is also CIP spray balls installed at each plate for cleaning.

There is a shotgun style dephlegmator at the top of each column. The dephlegmators will utilize a common coolant input that tees so that each dephlegmator has the exact same flow rate and each column will always have the same amount of reflux. The product condenser is about 4' long and is a shotgun style. The vapor actually flows on the shell side instead of on the tube side. Both the dephlegmators and the condenser have a total of thirty seven 1/2" tubes.

I'm also building a 6' long heat exchanger that will be used to cool mash down from boiling to mashing temperature and then from mashing temperature to pitching temperature. It is the same basic design as the product condenser. However, the mash heat exchanger will have mash flowing through the tube side and cooling water flowing through the shell side.

[DeepSouth]

[bearriver]

Beautiful work. Those flanges are gorgeous.

[Monkeyman88]

Dude. That is sweet.

[raketemensch]

Look at those shotguns. Wow.

[Paperman]

What does 8" copper run? Is it more cost effective to roll your own or is pipe just better? I pity the man that has to polish that beast, great work so far!!

[DeepSouth]

What does 8" copper run? Is it more cost effective to roll your own or is pipe just better? I pity the man that has to polish that beast, great work so far!!

8" copper pipe isn't a standard size for plumbing. This is actually seamless tube though that has an exact ID of 8" with a 3/32" wall thickness. The OD is 8-3/16". This tubing began its life on a television broadcast tower. The tubing is made by a company called Dielectric. This was originally used for the outer conductor on a piece of coax. I got lucky and found a guy who builds and disassembles towers and he had a large quantity of this 8" pipe from a TV station tower he took down. I think most people would have to roll their own tube, but this stuff is seamless and is dimensionally perfect. All the plates were waterjet cut to be 8" OD and were sanded to remove a few thousandths of material to fit inside.

[still_stirrin]

Impressive. It's hardly a submarine pot, thumper and worm setup!

Where's the installation going in? It'd be worth a glance when up and running.
ss

[DeepSouth]

It is going to be installed at Rich Grain Distilling Co. in Canton, MS. I guess I failed to mention that this is for my distillery. I got my federal permit a few months ago and have been doing the renovation on the building. I'm almost ready to install all of the equipment. The steam jacketed still kettle, mash cooker, and all the fermenters are being delivered this week. I should have some more pictures of that soon. Here is the facebook page if anyone is interested in seeing the pictures of the place.

https://www.facebook.com/Rich-Grain-Dis ... 919951480/

[Paperman]

DAMNER son that's what Im talking about. Coax, time to fire up the chainsaw as there is a TV tower a mile up the road . Love that a guy is fabing his own stuff, makes me warm that a guy with some time, knowledge, and a truck load of scrap can build a masterpiece. What is your planned plate separation and open area? Does hole size change based on still power or is it just more of the same sized small holes?

What does waterjet time cost by you? I had a quote to cut a bunch of small items, lets say, 30 4" disk and they quoted $1200 and change. I gave them the Acad files and the material, all they needed was set-up and machine time.

Anyhow good effort and keep the info coming,



EDIT: Never mind on the plate question, now that I open my eyes again I see you are dealing with bubble's.

[DeepSouth]

The plate separation is 7", but they aren't perforated plates, they are bubble plates. There are 15 bubble caps and 4 downcomers on each plate. I didn't make the bubble caps, they were purchased from a vendor that I don't think I'm supposed to call by name on this website. To waterjet a 36" x 48" piece of 3/32" thick copper I paid right at $700. They only charged me $140 for the actual labor, $500 for the sheet, and then tax of course. My machine time really wasn't that long compared to some other jobs. If I had them cut perforated plates that had hundreds of small holes, I'm sure the machine time would have been much more expensive.

[googe]

Nice work mate , gonna look beautiful when it's done!. Great to see someone actually building there own instead of buy!. In regards to the vapor flowing on the shell side, how's that achieved?, the pics look like it will go through the inner tubes?. Is this way something you've done before?, always wanted to try it but thought it would be inefficient due to heat loss on the out shell. Good luck with the build!.

[DeepSouth]

Googe, the condenser has two solid end plates that have 3/4" npt fittings for cooling water inlet and outlet. The cold water will enter at the bottom of the condenser and exit at the top of the condenser. The vapor enters the condenser on the side, below the end plate of the internal shotgun so that all the vapor is contained in the shell side. There are 4 baffles inside the shell that make the vapor take a longer path and have a longer time to condense. Most of the big commercial still manufacturers run their vapor on the shell side because it is more efficient; I know Vendome does for a fact. You not only have the additional surface area by using the outer diameter of the tubes instead of the inner diameter, but you also have all of the additional surface area of the outer shell for heat exchange. Vapor can now condense on the huge outer walls of the condenser and the heat gets dumped into the ambient air. You don't have that luxury when the vapor is on the tube side. Also, for very large condensers like this, if the vapor enters on the tube side and enters directly at the top of the condenser, it will naturally only use a few of the tubes directly in the middle instead of being dispersed and flowing through all 37 tubes in my case. There was a good discussion about this subject on the ADI website and most reported markedly greater performance by running vapor on the shell side.

[googe]

Thanks deepsouth, makes perfect sense!. Looking forward to your progress pics

[Scribbler]

AWESOME!!!!!!

[shadylane]

Nice copper porn

[DeepSouth]

The fermenters, mash cooker, and still tank arrived today. The still tank and mash cooker are both almost identical, except the still tank has a hinged manway on top, and an 8" tri clamp ferrule for the column to attach to. They both have the same mixer mount. The still tank also has a 1/2" npt pipe nipple to connect to the reflux return tubes at the bottom of each offset column. All the tanks are 350 gallon capacity, but will be filled with about 300 gallons. The idea is this equipment is capable of distilling grain in bourbon mash ready to barrel in one pass. The fermenters have a dimple jacket on one side to be used to cool down really active ferments. Anyone looking at commercial distillery tanks, I'd highly recommend Custom Metalcraft in Springfield, MO. These tanks are all built based off an IBC style. They are square and aren't as sexy and pretty as some round or conical tanks, but they are way, way more affordable and just as functional.

[shadylane]

It's obvious, your getting serious about making liquor !
Please give us more.

[Yummyrum]

DeepSouth , your building and quality is second to none .

But , whats got me is how does the reflux from the columns get back to the boiler , maybe I missed something or do bubble cap plated stills not need this .

My extremely limited play with my plated still , the Deflag water flow is extremely critical and I wonder how balanced two in parallel will be to drive ?

[frunobulax]

Sub'd to thread. GOOD LUCK!!

[DeepSouth]

DeepSouth , your building and quality is second to none .

But , whats got me is how does the reflux from the columns get back to the boiler , maybe I missed something or do bubble cap plated stills not need this .

My extremely limited play with my plated still , the Deflag water flow is extremely critical and I wonder how balanced two in parallel will be to drive ?

At the bottom of each column there is a drain. Both drains will be tied together and there will be a p-trap. The drain line runs down and connects to a 1/2" npt nipple that is welded to the side of the still tank at the bottom of the tank. The way it will be plumbed makes it that reflux returns back to the boiler but makes it so that any vapor in the boiler can't flow up the drain line. Great question. If you look closely at the pic of the steam jacketed tank, at the bottom of the right side of the picture you can see the 1/2" fitting for the drain line.

[bearriver]

I think the square tanks are gorgeous! See them for what they are, a good use of square footage.

[googe]

Good Point about the use of space bear . Nice stuff mate, gonna be a hell of a setup!. Meant I ask earlier, you have Vapor going to both columns at once, never seen that Or read it anywhere before!, is that Something the big boys do?, most I've seen run one column into the other, wish I'd thought of That before I did mine! lol.

[Danespirit]

That's a awesome project, with top craftmanship..
Seemless coppertube in that dimension will cost a fortune...lucky coincidence you meet that TV guy.

[DeepSouth]

Googe, I think the only other double plated column I've seen was made by member Captainshooch on here. He called it Double Trouble and posted it in the "still porn" thread. I've never seen one as large as mine though. You're right, most commercial stills that you see that have multiple columns actually run them in series so that the vapor that leaves the top of the first one enters the bottom of the second one. I'll be honest, I am a little anxious to find out how well I can get the two columns to run together. The fear is that I'll have more vapor wanting to travel into one column than the other.

[googe]

Yeah capt did a good job!, think.I remember him.saying it was a balancing act with running both together, maybe he'll chip in and confirm. I'd imagine it could be achieved with power/reflux balance, but I'd be more concerned how the final product comes off from.both columns, you'd need to have them running at close to the same fractions?. No idea really lol. When I did two columns, I always had trouble with flooding in the second column, think it was more to do with my drains not being big enough.

[Copper Thumper]

Very Very nice build!

More pics!!! Haha


Is there a foot or two left of the 8" pipe? I'd be interested in a piece for my next cap build!

[raketemensch]

The square tanks keep making me think of those giant stainless collectors they use on dairy farms.

This wouldn't be the first time I've thought about those since starting down this road... But there's no way I'd ever need anything that large.

How's it coming along?

[shadylane]

When the 3 way diverting valve is set for pot-still mode, what keeps vapor from condensing in the columns and RC's
I can see them slowly filling with alcohol from passive condensation.

[Copper Thumper]

I would imagine a valve at the bottom but I done see one. He might want that to occur for consistency of distillate production during the run once it's heated up? Just guessing here.

Im not an expert but I would want the ability to somehow run a fat copper lyne arm in pot still mode Thats just me...