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I don't know how much more OT I can go on this :D. Ah well, it's my own topic I'm side-tracking. Anyway, the point of this post is the new m2 chips from picaxe may make things more interesting. There's apparently an in-built temperature sensor as well as much faster processing, much greater memory a...

The temp fluctuation that I'm seeing is only 1 degree F, and anything beyond that is 'tailsy'. Temperatures are actually extremely stable within that range, and anything above that 1 degree or so means it either went too far into tails, or there's no more good stuff to grab. My column does seem to w...

Hey, thanks for that sambedded. I might order one of those sensors to play with, the main thing that has been holding me back is my raspi wifi USB goes to sleep and won't wake up. I don't want to have a monitor hooked up to the raspi, so I'd like to monitor it over wifi, probably ultimately through ...

Hey guys, I'm looking for advice on a reliable wireless thermometer. I've been using one of these: http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_remote-digital-thermometer_6129.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow The thing seems accurate enough, but a...

@Usge, this turned out to be awesome advice. I went from drawing off 2.8L in the last run to drawing off 4.7L at ~93% out of 25L of wash. Silly me originally thought once the temp rose and alc went down, the show was over, it was all tails. Little did I know you could shut off the tap for a minute o...

As a background I've got a boka slant plate 2 1/2" stainless still with a fairly tall column with a lot of copper packing and a condenser that works well enough to not let any vapour out. For all intents and purposes it appears to work very efficiently. I use gas and it has a fast start-up and ...

Newbie here. I have a crapload of column packing, and what I can say (that reflects what is said above) is that I don't 'control' the temp at all. I run gas and I run it flatout until the temp gauge says 78 degrees. I then turn the gas down, and lo-and-behold it stays at 78 degrees. You leave it equ...

I had a bit of a thread on my bokabob build, and finally I completed that according to my spec and did a cleaning run with some cask wine. For my first run I did an alcotec turbo 48 (I know, I know) because it sits easiest with my ability (or lack thereof) to control temperature. One day I will make...

Well I've certainly taken my time with this build, slowly but surely. I finally got to read the relevant chapters in The Compleat Distiller to try to understand what I'm doing. The cleaning runs were leak free, so on the weekend it was time to pack the copper and try for some alcohol. I put in aroun...

Home stretch now for sure. The liebig is now built and attached to the outlet tubing. I hooked up all the hoses, cranked up the pool pump and got a nice smooth flow through the liebig and back up through the coil. There aren't any leaks, so it's all good. Thank goodness for thread tape .

Does a magnet stick to it? That's not a fool proof trick, because some grades of stainless will stick to a magnet, but not usually. There is a weak attraction, stronger around the weld join. The inside is very clean with small traces of surface rust around the weld line. That surface rust should sc...

@Coaster, I'm no metals expert, but even a half-keg that I was contemplating on using developed some surface rust internally. The area where I cut and ground the top hole doesn't have any signs of rust yet, even after being exposed to moisture, so I'd say it is stainless. I'm thinking it's more the ...

This is taking some time to put together. I have welded some male connectors to the needle valve and have some collets for connections to the pipe. I tested the needle valve and it works beautifully, enabling a nice controlled drip. I chopped an empty spray can at 30 degrees as a template for markin...

Some more pics, focusing on the easy stuff first. The bit that has me most worried are the pipe fittings - every time I go looking for something I get weirded-out looks. It's interesting how they're all complaining about people buying online, yet aren't interested in offering any kind of service whe...

Ok, I've implemented all the suggestions as they've come through and so here's v2.0 of the design: http://photos.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Bokabob/i-8QHJFzD/0/X3/Bokabob-25v20-X3.png Note that the design doesn't show a fully angled take-off simply because it can't fit inside a small drawing, but I placed ...

ebswift, you can save some work by simply running your cooling water in the bottom of the product liebig, out the top, and into the reflux condenser... There is no need for two separate coolant circuits on a Bokakob LM reflux column... If it was a CM column then it would be worthwhile... No need ov...

Well, it looks like I can't edit the original post which is a bugger - so here's the updated design:

Thanks for the replies and encouragement. Well, I have the needle valve "in the mail" so hopefully I'll have that soon. The natural cork thing was something that got me too. The only rubber in my unit is behind a large inspection panel on the boiler. It was an autoclave, which operated und...

Little bit of headway so far - I now have a condenser. This design for the jig, while it looked pretty, self-destructed pretty quickly. First the picture hangers snapped off, then when I started forcing the issue with the whole setup, the 19mm dowel twisted to destruction. It wasn't a total waste be...

I would probably do a dual wound coil 10" in length. Im learning alot as well, planning out my build of a 2" boka reflux. Any SS Needle valve with 3/8 compression fittings will work for your 1/4" output tube. I've read posts that say an 8" coil is overkill for a 2" column. ...

Your copper output tube will ned to be 1/4" not 3/8". 1/4" pipe is 3/8" outer diameter which will fit the 3/8" SS needle valve. 3/8" pipe would require 1/2" fittings. That's very handy to know. I'm not buying everything up in advance pretty-much for that type of r...

Thanks for the tips. I've adjusted the design for the lower slant plant to go over centre and added the needle valve (now to find those cheap in Australia). The only rationale behind the cold finger while designing is it's more friendly to recirculating? I've got a small pool filter pump that should...

I originally developed a design for a 3", but now due to lack of materials availability, I'm building it in 2.5" stainless (with about 400mm of 3" stainless at the base with an o-ring press fit - with an added flour & water seal if necessary). I came up with a design that was base...