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I know the reflux chamber needs to be empty, i was reffering to puting the spp in the column, i thought that you need to do it from the top opening and the lower plate would retain some of the SPPs and redirect them to the output tube... With a non-modular Bokakob dual slant plate column you will n...

They fill quick and from the top down.remember when they are filling it's the down comer that is filling the plate.

I'm a bit of a newbi in the flute word so correct me if I'm wrong. Shouldn't your downcomers on your plates have a cup or some sorts on the bottom to prevent vapor passing straight through. Looks like you have a bevel cut on the bottom and that's all. Like I said please correct me if I'm wrong or j...

Mine is more about ageing abv but it will be fun to see what happens anyway

I think I'm going to try this. Well sort of. We all know that different abv% when ageing will pull different flavours from oak. What i plan to try is this. Take 2 x 1L jars and add 650mls of 65% abv (going to use UJ) . To each jar I will add one half of one of my big dominos. 1 jar will be the contr...

I have a 500mm tall 4 inch packed section I run over my plates to strip flavor. Is the quoted post implying that I could run it without the plates and get a similar result to running plates only ? That's an easy one to try on my setup . Might give it a go one day

large caps vs small caps interests me. i have only run small caps the small caps that i have are 1 inch. so the outer circumference of the cap is 79.8 mm x 5 = 399 mm a 2 1/2 inch cap has a circumference of 199 mm. pretty much half of the surface area to be slotted. i wonder with bigger caps like th...

The issue is with expansion. It's clamped in there tight but it has to grow with the heat. If you made it with a separate seal it may survive because it may have room to expand. Thicker may even be worse. It's not dimensionaly stable enough at our temps. Unfortunately

Yeah it's a shame but it was a good experiment. I think expansion was the issue. Some plates bubble up and others sagged Down. One even went up one side and down the other. If it had room to expand it would have been fine I think. If the seal was separate to the plate maybe but I will be sticking wi...

Well the results are in. FAIL The plates sagged down once the heat hit them. Because the middle of the plate was quite a bit lower than the edge I couldnt get it to run. The reflux would pool in the middle of the plate and the vapor would come up the edge. Even at 3600w I couldnt get enough reflux t...

Oh and yes the plate does span the whole flange LWTC

They were purchased from a still mfg. You could be right I have no idea what they could be from but they work well.

On a side note I've noticed the tri clamps can bind up on the taper of the flanges. I quick squirt with spray vegetable oil works wonders. I spray the inside of every clamp now everytime I put one on. They seem to stay tighter for what ever reason . Keeps everything nice and shiny also.

Electric. The tri clamps go on ok . I will check all the way through the run. Leaks and bypass is actually what made me think of this. I did some testing in regards to the strength. 5kgs applied to the middle of the plate when secured deflected .4 of a mm . It's very rigid. We will see what happens ...

Ready for a test run. I used some 2mm roll pins to hold everything tight whilst drilling.

down comer pics

We should know tomorrow googe. I should get all the holes drilled tonight at work.
Rake I will post a photo shortly. The down comer is secured with a nut.

Some progress on the PTFE plates. Making a drill template now

its only going to shorten your heat up time if its warmer outside if that is what your asking. fractions boil off at their own boiling points. that's why we make cuts. If your talking about column temps and you have a Bi metal type thermometer just totaly disregard what is says. they can be off by m...

they should be ok like that as long as you use a big enough washer the spread the load. maybe go thicker in that case thinking about it.

2 mm . I have not started drilling them yet. A few others have concerns about the strength also . I plan to clamp 1 between 2 tees and see just how strong it is. Personally I think it's plenty strong. It's quite rigid.

I did some with some dried Ancho's Very Nice. Tried some Naga's Way too hot

How about extending the column to include 2 slant plates and a reflux coil. What is meant to be a product condenser could be used as an after cooler.
Pack the lower section with copper scrubbies
Turn it into a BOK basically. The lower tubes for reflux are useless

Braided SS appliance hoses.
Don't worry about the output going into the boiler I was washing it out

There is some eficency to be gained by fermenting on the grain. those Enzimes keep on working
Squezing is a pain in the ass i will give you that

oh yeah of course don't know why that penny didn't drop. really means that it rules out pot sill mode. Maybe a CSST Coil based Dephlag is a better solution than CCVM. it would be an easy build for most. with my flute once i hit tails around 80% abv on a 45L charge i normally only get around 200mls -...

I've just test run my CCVM over 3 plates. stayed pretty constant at 88%. Only problem was it stopped producing at around 78% and I couldn't squeeze anymore out. Would have liked to take out more tails. Thinking on doing a csst deflag that I can shut off and run in pot still mode. Couldn't you just ...

The caps and down comers I use have a nut to secure them and would seal well. They are stainless inside with a copper cap. We have a plastic suppliers close by that do cut to size. I might see if I can get 4 plates cut up. Ordered the Plates cut to 119mm OD . all i will need to do is make the 5 hol...

If it was me I would go one of two ways. 1 just build it standard with a shotgun and use a flow meter and needle valve. 2. Build it without a shotgun. Take a look at the CCVM . Use the coil to control your takeoff by moving it up or down.look here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&...

The bottom glass is invaluable in seeing the tails before they arrive at the parrot. At first sign of any fog in the bottom glass I switch to smaller cut jars.