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You mean something like this Manback? This is my "Gatling Bubble Cap Heads Trap" condenser as I originally posted elsewhere on the www. It's about 6.5" tall. The shell & tube condenser portion is 12" long w/ 21 1/4" SS tubes inside 3" OD stainless. The bubble cap pl...

There's nothing to it! Below is a link to a bubble cap column I built last winter. It might have been a tad easier had i built it in stainless, but doing it in copper wasn't all that bad. FWIW...the 2" bubble cap column was built using a Miller Maxstar 150 STL running off 120v. I do believe tha...

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=13195 I built this column last winter. Worked great. I got some 3" stainless pipe for free so I built a 3" VM packed column and have been using it since. The 2" bubble cap worked great though. Thinking about using it for strippin...

Kentucky shinner wrote:why did you cut your keg like that. because of head room I assume?

Yes, I wanted to have as much height as possible for the column. I put a clean-out opening in the side for grins. There are two heating elements, one 120v & one 220v.

Here's my VM still detailed originally in this post: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=15690 I finished this build quite a while back. I've only ran one batch of sugar wash through her. So far the results have been right on with my expectations. No problem hitting azeotrope wit...

I finished this build quite a while back. I've only ran one batch of sugar wash through her. So far the results have been right on with my expectations. No problem hitting azeotrope with an output of 1.5-2L/hr. I'm sure with some tweaking I can push the output up some more. Since the first run I hav...

First of all...Luba, in your two posts, the one where you qoute from the HD site and the one where you post the graph, you are saying that diameter doesn't affect HETP because you don't see diameter or radius in any of the equations. What you fail to see is that vapor speed/flowrate is very much a m...

WOW a 4" column! I have column envy... the reason I want to go with the fine SS screen is because (I think/hope) that the improved surface area will increase efficiency for each plate. I picked up a 4' length of 3" dia. pipe and was planning on making a removable head section which includ...

I don't want my previous post to imply that I came up with the idea of using the centralizers. The design used in my column was somthing I thought up, but the idea was put in my head by the efforts of others on this forum and elsewhere.

Is that reflux centralizer a design of your own and if so how effective is it? Jeff Yes, it is something I came up with when putting all this together. I was originally going to try to find some stainless steel funnels to use. I was in the kitchen making dinner one evening and while mixing some stu...

cool, someone else thinking with shell and tube! ok, so output won't change one bit based on your product condenser, you might have something a bit backwards in your head on that. also, you could do the condenser the other way, with the vapour / condensate in the tubes, this would eliminate any pot...

Here's the paper version of what I'm looking to build: http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee337/ChasinTales/VM.jpg?t=1276564269 I got the 2" ball valve for free. I know this is overkill. I've already built three of the column sections along with the slant plate condensor head on top. It's quite...

Has anyone tried adding to a sugar ferment some of the powdered protien shake mix used by body builder/weight lifing types? Looking at the makeup of some of these shakes on the GNC www, it looks like they might be a good source of protiens, lipids, amino acids, etc that would make for a healthy ferm...

I think we are both riding the same horse, but a different color, both trying to get the best from a fractional still. I am currently getting 82ABV at 1lt per 20 minutes, I have just added a wind of 1/2" tubing to the head of the second column to try and achieve a bit of dephlagmetor action to...

Alright fellas, had some downtime offshore which has let my mind do some wandering. Thinking about adding on a section of 3" packed column downstream of the 2" bubble cap still. The reason for doing so would be to increase output and still maintain 95%. Right now with the bubble cap still ...

Wow she is a beaut man! if you dont mind me asking, I am new to all this and was wondering how hard this is to fabricate/operate and what a build like this would cost on average. Im obviously not going to just jump into this for my first, but was just wondering for a project down the road. Cheers m...

oldog - It's my understanding that a dephlegmator is simply a fancy name for a condenser on top of a rectifying column. By strict definition, it's only a partial condenser. By loose definition, a condenser on top of a BOK column could be a dephlegmator. dephlegmator - a device surmounting the rectif...

That's very similar to what I had in mind, great work on that, congrats. What is the high above the plate for the 1/4 downcomers, or better said how many mm of liquid you have in each plate before it get's drained? Do you have a design for a deplegmator? I was searching around in the net but couldn...

Rednose - I made a 2" column w/ bubble cap plates. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=13993 It was a much more tedious build than a simple column w/ packing. I personally enjoyed every minute of it though! So far I've been happy with the results but do have some modificatio...

Beautiful work! If it runs even half as good as it looks you will be doing alright!

How do you like living in Ecuador?

Use the foreshots for windshield washer fluid in your auto. Works great cut it to 25-50% w/ water.

Could you explain how the reflux section of the take off branch works without any cooling...??? The column appears to be a CM design with plates instead of structured packing... Is the distillate still in vapor form when it reaches the liebig...??? If so, how do you attain liquid reflux back into t...

Beautiful work! Do you do mostly flavored runs or do you run vodka on it too? What kind of ABVs do you see? How clear are the cuts? Etc. Thanks! No flavored runs whatsoever. I built this rig to spit out the cleanest, purest neutral spirits possible. I don't think it'd be worth a damn for flavored r...

Hey rad, for additional structural support to the joint, would it be possible to hammer the lip flat on both bowls in 4 (or more) spots equidistant from each other and drill a hole and bolt the bowls together in addition to solder?

Here's my 2" bubble cap still. It's a much more complicated build than a boka slant plate, but I'm extremely happy with it. http://www.forumpictureprocessor.com/pictureprocessor/images/IMG_1047_3.jpg http://www.forumpictureprocessor.com/pictureprocessor/images/IMG_1037_3.jpg http://www.forumpic...

Safety first and foremost... Sure, it can be done, but is it the safe thing to do...??? Safety first absolutely! Yes it can be done and I'm confident it could be done very safely. What I failed to think about was those who may have to improvise do to lack of materials, tools, or fabrication skills....

If you had 10 thumpers, each with 12 inches of water, that would equate to a 10’ hydrostatic head that the vapor would have to overcome. Assuming you have 8.3 pound per gallon water in the thumpers, the 10’ hydrostatic head would be 4.3 psi. Operating the boiler at 4.3 psi does not sound dangerous t...

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This still was built for producing the cleanest, purest neutral possible. I'm a vodka drinker :). Does a great job of it from what I've seen so far. Yes, each section is like a thumper. Instead of this design I was considering just making a bunch of small thumpers with each connected w/ tubing for b...

First post from a long time lurker. I had been using a 2" Bokabob slant plate column w/ good results. Decided to do a bit of experimenting. Here's the result of having the month of December off with nothing to do... Started by cutting out 12 circles out of some flat copper. A 2-1/2" hole s...