Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

[Hound Dog]

Think I could just cut or drill a bunch of decent size holes in the s.s. mesh on the gasket?? I stand corrected it's 150 micron ooops.

Hit it with a paper hole puncher and see what happens. It's not that hard to drill a bunch of holes in a flat piece of copper either or use a stainless shower drain strainer. Your flange should create a lip inside your pipe. Cut it the same diameter as the pipe, file two sides flat so it passes through the flange and it will sit on top of it. Easy peasy.

[rgreen2002]

I don't know what that screen is about, but it would be my first suspect.

skow.....Jesus man that's impressive....

rain mentions it once and BAM...

WW.jpg (7.06 KiB) Viewed 2929 times

I had to go back to the first page to find out what the hell screen you were talking about... and I've been following the damn thread!


Sorry to hijack....

[skow69]

There was some foreshadowing in this thread. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=63167

Rain, I think we found out what happens when you don't let the water return to the boiler.

EDIT: If you poke holes in that screen, poke all you can. The worst that can happen is you have to fish a few rashig rings out of the boiler.

[Saltbush Bill]

Ive just looked at the Utube film clip that you put up Rain.. Can you please tell me what sort of still you are running this 3" dephlegmator on.
What ever the still is, my first guess at you problem would be it is because you are running to much heat and flooding the still column, packing or plates.
Ive seen exactly the same sort of thing if I pushed my 4 inch bubbler to hard and flooded the top plate when I first learned to use it.
Less heat and in turn less water to the dephlegmator may help.

[Rain Distillate]

There was some foreshadowing in this thread. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=63167

Rain, I think we found out what happens when you don't let the water return to the boiler.

EDIT: If you poke holes in that screen, poke all you can. The worst that can happen is you have to fish a few rashig rings out of the boiler.

Will do Skow. However I read somewhere you DO NOT want to cook the ceramic rings in the boiler via them falling through retainer. Heard it can taint the batch...Anyone else heard of this?

[Rain Distillate]

Ive just looked at the Utube film clip that you put up Rain.. Can you please tell me what sort of still you are running this 3" dephlegmator on.
What ever the still is, my first guess at you problem would be it is because you are running to much heat and flooding the still column, packing or plates.
Ive seen exactly the same sort of thing if I pushed my 4 inch bubbler to hard and flooded the top plate when I first learned to use it.
Less heat and in turn less water to the dephlegmator may help.

Heres the link with pictures of my still. Have made a few minor adjustments since then but you'll get the overall idea of my apparatus from the pics. have changed plumbing around since the pics and have added a few valves and what not since.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 32&t=62209

Rain

[Hound Dog]

There was some foreshadowing in this thread. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=63167

Rain, I think we found out what happens when you don't let the water return to the boiler.

EDIT: If you poke holes in that screen, poke all you can. The worst that can happen is you have to fish a few rashig rings out of the boiler.

Will do Skow. However I read somewhere you DO NOT want to cook the ceramic rings in the boiler via them falling through retainer. Heard it can taint the batch...Anyone else heard of this?

If the ceramic is ok for a column, a wash certainly isn't going to do anything. They should be inert. Where did you read a ceramic raschig ring will taint your wash?

[FreeMountainHermit]

I don't know what that screen is about, but it would be my first suspect.

skow.....Jesus man that's impressive....

rain mentions it once and BAM...

WW.jpg

I had to go back to the first page to find out what the hell screen you were talking about... and I've been following the damn thread!


Sorry to hijack....

Dang RG !!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOTszoKbE4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[skow69]

I'm with Hound Dog. Ceramics are about as inert and indestructible as it gets. They use them for nozzles on sandblasters.

No offense, Rain, but you seem to get more than your share of bad information. Who are you listening to? If we didn't have a pic of your rig I might start thinking about calling troll.

[Saltbush Bill]

I looked at the photos, the whole design looks dicky to me, I still say its flooding due to too much heat. The main column looks like its only about 2 inch diameter, its not going to take much to flood.

[googe]

Agree sbb, small column, too bigger dia rc, will give funny results,.

[Rain Distillate]

I looked at the photos, the whole design looks dicky to me, I still say its flooding due to too much heat. The main column looks like its only about 2 inch diameter, its not going to take much to flood.

Will post new pics once I remove the "dickiness" of my rig. I'm putting in borosilicate sight glasses. Unfortunately ordering them all at once wouldn't sit well with the mrs. So one at a time for now.

[skow69]

Ya rain, I think we need some pics of your rig with the modifications you have done. Otherwise, it never happened.

[Rain Distillate]

Agree sbb, small column, too bigger dia rc, will give funny results,.

What do you consider funny results? I think I finally have it fixed and dialed in. Didn't seem to have any funny results this evening.
Rain

[Oldvine Zin]

What do you consider funny results? I think I finally have it fixed and dialed in. Didn't seem to have any funny results this evening.
Rain

Cool! you have your rig dialed in So no more questions like "how do I run my setup"

[googe]

Agree sbb, small column, too bigger dia rc, will give funny results,.

What do you consider funny results? I think I finally have it fixed and dialed in. Didn't seem to have any funny results this evening.
Rain

Was just referring to over power by rc. Glad you've got it sorted

[Rain Distillate]

What do you consider funny results? I think I finally have it fixed and dialed in. Didn't seem to have any funny results this evening.
Rain

Cool! you have your rig dialed in So no more questions like "how do I run my setup"

Yes it was very exciting running in reflux without a flood and having a non fluctuating drip rate.

However I do have a couple more questions.
As abv drops while running in reflux, how do I get the abv to climb back up? Increase heat and increase dephlegmator water flow?
Any tricks to avoid smearing cuts with a reflux rig?
Thanks

[Oldvine Zin]

What do you consider funny results? I think I finally have it fixed and dialed in. Didn't seem to have any funny results this evening.
Rain

Cool! you have your rig dialed in So no more questions like "how do I run my setup"

Yes it was very exciting running in reflux without a flood and having a non fluctuating drip rate.

However I do have a couple more questions.
As abv drops while running in reflux, how do I get the abv to climb back up? Increase heat and increase dephlegmator water flow?
Any tricks to avoid smearing cuts with a reflux rig?
Thanks

What have you read and what don't you understand??

[Hound Dog]

As abv drops while running in reflux, how do I get the abv to climb back up? Increase heat and increase dephlegmator water flow?

Yes and yes.

[cranky]

The way I run is when the temperature increases one degree I increase water flow to the dephleg and re-stabilize for 15 or 20 minutes then slowly decrease flow and start collecting again. I can usually do this 3 times before I can't hold the temp any more. doing this I get very few tails.

Of course this is my rig and everybody's is different and everybody runs different.

[Rain Distillate]

The way I run is when the temperature increases one degree I increase water flow to the dephleg and re-stabilize for 15 or 20 minutes then slowly decrease flow and start collecting again. I can usually do this 3 times before I can't hold the temp any more. doing this I get very few tails.

Of course this is my rig and everybody's is different and everybody runs different.

I like this!!!^^^^ Will be trying this. Thanks cranky

[Rain Distillate]

As abv drops while running in reflux, how do I get the abv to climb back up? Increase heat and increase dephlegmator water flow?

Yes and yes.

I tried tinkering with the heat and the water flow after I had it going nicely and temp was increasing. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was nervous about smearing or messing it up though. It was my first time collecting with dephleg going and I was afraid of messing up what I had going for me. Next time I will play with it more. I did not do the 15-20 mins of re-stabilization like cranky suggested though. Next time I will be trying this. I just picked up a sight glass to allow me to see whats going on right under the dephleg (and posted a thread about it) but I'm skeptical about using it.
Rain

[Rain Distillate]

I believe the 1 1/2" section of my column is contributing to the flooding I'm still getting even with a bigger screen. I have a 2"x3" adapter coming in the mail (s.s.) so that will bring me from the keg to the 3" sight glass and up to the 3" dephleg. I'm thinking about putting 2-3 more 3" sight glasses and trying to remove as much of my 2" column as I possibly can. Will having a small opening like 2" restrict flow so drainage back the boiler will not occur? I'm damn near positive that's what is occurring on my 1 1/2" section so that's coming out but I'm concerned that 2" is still too small...adequate drainage back to the boiler is all I care about at this point, I feel like this is where I'm failing atm.

Good news is I bought some copper coil today and will not have to create a stand on top of my table to reach my product condenser anymore. I could bend it to fit right over my botched parrot i made lol. ain't the prettiest thing but she works.

[Hound Dog]

I believe the 1 1/2" section of my column is contributing to the flooding I'm still getting even with a bigger screen. I have a 2"x3" adapter coming in the mail (s.s.) so that will bring me from the keg to the 3" sight glass and up to the 3" dephleg. I'm thinking about putting 2-3 more 3" sight glasses and trying to remove as much of my 2" column as I possibly can. Will having a small opening like 2" restrict flow so drainage back the boiler will not occur? I'm damn near positive that's what is occurring on my 1 1/2" section so that's coming out but I'm concerned that 2" is still too small...adequate drainage back to the boiler is all I care about at this point, I feel like this is where I'm failing atm.

Good news is I bought some copper coil today and will not have to create a stand on top of my table to reach my product condenser anymore. I could bend it to fit right over my botched parrot i made lol. ain't the prettiest thing but she works.

Did you get rid of the screen at the bottom all together and replace it with something more appropriate? Heck, if you are going to buy 2 to 3 more sight glasses, skip that and try a 3 inch column so everything is the same size and you quit jacking around? Going from 3 inches to 2 is not restricting snything, many people do this, you will not have too much power for this if you get rid of the screen that acts as a perforated plate.i

[Rain Distillate]

I believe the 1 1/2" section of my column is contributing to the flooding I'm still getting even with a bigger screen. I have a 2"x3" adapter coming in the mail (s.s.) so that will bring me from the keg to the 3" sight glass and up to the 3" dephleg. I'm thinking about putting 2-3 more 3" sight glasses and trying to remove as much of my 2" column as I possibly can. Will having a small opening like 2" restrict flow so drainage back the boiler will not occur? I'm damn near positive that's what is occurring on my 1 1/2" section so that's coming out but I'm concerned that 2" is still too small...adequate drainage back to the boiler is all I care about at this point, I feel like this is where I'm failing atm.

Good news is I bought some copper coil today and will not have to create a stand on top of my table to reach my product condenser anymore. I could bend it to fit right over my botched parrot i made lol. ain't the prettiest thing but she works.

Did you get rid of the screen at the bottom all together and replace it with something more appropriate? Heck, if you are going to buy 2 to 3 more sight glasses, skip that and try a 3 inch column so everything is the same size and you quit jacking around? Going from 3 inches to 2 is not restricting anything, many people do this, you will not have too much power for this if you get rid of the screen that acts as a perforated plate.i

I replaced it with a lower micron screen. but my column reduces down to 1 1/4 briefly and I think that's where its choking. I'm removing that section so it will be no smaller than 2"... The 3" sight glasses would replace most of the 2" column considering each one is about 8 inches tall. What I was running into was I couldn't run column condenser (this was towards the end of my last run) and collect because I couldn't lower my heat enough without the flame going out and having too fast a collection rate with random floods/pukes. I believe this was due to it choking in the column and flooding.

[Hound Dog]

I replaced it with a lower micron screen.

You are measuring the part holding up your packing in microns and still wondering why your column is flooding. You know a sieve plate on a column has hundreds of 1/16" holes and it holds a liquid bath with no packing dumping on it. I wonder how that compares to your lower micron screen. Try something more traditional and your problem might go away.

Courtesy of Bearriver. ..

IMG_20140820_143357 %28450 x 600%29.jpg (28.3 KiB) Viewed 2807 times

[MichiganCornhusker]

You are measuring the part holding up your packing in microns and still wondering why your column is flooding.

Gotta lose that screen asap. Might as well be a solid plate when puke comes a callin.
Nothing measured in microns should be in the vapor path.

[MichiganCornhusker]

You are measuring the part holding up your packing in microns and still wondering why your column is flooding.

Gotta lose that screen asap. Might as well be a solid plate when puke comes a callin.
Or even if not clogged, like Hound Dog says, it's just a sieve plate with no downcommer.
Nothing measured in microns should be in the vapor path.

[MichiganCornhusker]

You are measuring the part holding up your packing in microns and still wondering why your column is flooding.

Gotta lose that screen asap. Might as well be a solid plate when puke comes a callin.
Or even if not clogged, like Hound Dog says, it's just a sieve plate with no downcommer.
Nothing measured in microns should be in the vapor path.

[shadylane]

However I do have a couple more questions.
As abv drops while running in reflux, how do I get the abv to climb back up? Increase heat and increase dephlegmator water flow?

Is the abv dropping because the run is into the tails?
Or is there still lots of alcohol in the boiler?

Any tricks to avoid smearing cuts with a reflux rig?
Thanks

Run it slow, and divide the distillate into every jar you own