Home Distiller

I'll try the stay brite

I'm trying to solder up my shotgun condensor. It's 1/8" thick stainless steel plates with 1/2" copper pipes, and the stainless plates will later be TIG welded into a 3" sanitary spool. When soldering copper fittings to copper pipe, it went beautifully. But when I attempted to solder t...

good to know you like the casters, seems like a smart move. I hadn't thought about securing the top of the still, I will definitely plan on that now.
This bad boy is gonna raise the center of mass a little:

Salt Must Flow, did you ever regret putting the casters on your keg? any stability issues?

I'm weighing whether to do casters or just legs

thanks for the info. I just read some threads on lava rock, and it looks many have found it to be a very good solution for the price. I'll look into it more

I need advice on column packing. My goal is to collect around 95%, as I was able to do on my old still which had a 1.6 inch, 24" high column with copper scrubbies. I'm trying to decide on packing material ( scrubbies, mesh, SPP, ceramic rings, marbles etc.) Also, will I need to pack the entire ...

good to know. now that its dry, it looks more like polished stainless. By the way, in case anyone is looking for cheap tri-clamp stuff, try this: https://www.californiaextractionsupply.com/shop/stainless-steel/70?page=1&limit=180&sort_by=price&sort_order=asc I got a 48" long 3"...

I was about to buy a keg, but I just called my local brewery, and they gave me one for free! So I'm pretty pumped about that. when I look inside with a light, the inside surface looks almost glossy. Are stainless steel kegs ever coated on the inside? When I cut into it, I'll be able to see it better...

Any thoughts on heating element placement?
any reason not to put it as far as possible towards the bottom?

RC_new.png Thanks for the insights. Here's a double helix 8in. high, instead of 13.5. That way I can make it out of a 10 ft length. I'll try bending it tight enough for the inner helix, and if it's too stubborn, I'll just gor for one helix, with more revolutions. Also I think I can do a 6in. spool ...

Any advice on the RC coil? Is this wound tight enough, or too much air space?
It would be made from about 15 feet of 1/4 inch copper (3/8 inch OD).
It would go inside a 3" Triclamp spool, with an ID of 2.87 inch.

Hi guys! finally getting around to building this thing. I got a bunch of stainless and copper for the column and condensors. still looking for a 50L keg. For the control system I'm leaning towards Beckhoff hardware and software, since that's what I'm using now in work. You can get a CX7000 PLC for a...

I'm starting to build a Windows Forms app that will talk to the Arduino. It will display the time of the run and coolant water temperatures, graph the boiler and head temperature, reflux ratio, ABV and power. from the app, I will also be able to set the power (to a resolution of 30 watts) and RC coi...

thanks everyone for the replies to this thread. I think I am sneaking up on a workable design. I probably won't rehash it too much more until I am back home in a few months and can start getting parts and putting it all together. All these parts will cost under $600, not sure how that stacks up with...

My idea is to plumb the RC inline with the PC (for equal flow rates) with three temperature sensors (see image). Will the RC temp differential divided by the total differential give me a close approximation of the reflux ratio? (with a well insulated system) If so, is reflux ratio even a useful metr...

2023-08-07 22_06_27-CCVM still V2 _ full assembly.png is this a better off-take? 3" tri-clamp to 3/4 copper tube was tricky with standard fittings, but I can weld, machine, and solder myself to a solution. damn, this forum has some great giant's shoulders to stand on :clap: thanks for the cont...

2023-08-07 17_39_46-CCVM still V2 _ full assembly.png To save on cost, I am hoping this takeoff design will work. 2.87" ID to 1.37" ID reducing tri-clamp Tee, then down to a 3/4 Liebig. Is this takeoff too small? with the screw lead of 8mm and a 200-step motor, I can adjust the coil in ve...

tjsc5f wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 4:08 pm I used a LSA-H3P90YB solid state voltage regulator. Works really well, no complaints.
Here's a thread where I talked about my setup and the app I created to control/monitor the still.
viewtopic.php?t=87572

fascinating!

I have a question about heating element control. I do not want to use a PID, but I do want to be able to set the wattage from an arduino or PLC. For many dimmer applications such as lights, a TRIAC is used, since it works by cutting a portion of each AC oscillation, thus avoiding flickering. But thi...

here's what I have so far Personally, I feel that motorizing the movement of the RC is needless over-engineering. As a retired engineer, I understand the desire to design and automate but sometimes some things are simple for a reason. That said, if you're determined to put a motor on your RC keep i...

thanks all for the feedback! I will add a 24" section to the column to achieve 60" total and the recommended 20:1 ratio. Looks like I can reduce the takeoff to 2". According to the condenser calculator on this site, a Liebig would need to be really long, so I'm thinking to go with a ...

Water in series works fine for me. I would keep the port of the offtake the same diameter as the column. You can reduce the diameter afterwards say at the elbow. A smaller port at the offtake increases the reflux ratio thereby reducing the output rate. here's what I have so far 2023-08-04 19_24_17-...

:thumbup: That Shotgun will knockdown all you need The increase in vapour velocity won't be an issue I would plumb the inlets to your RC and PC from the same source in parallel not series, when operating in reflux mode the RC does all the heavy work. Put a valve on either the inlet or outlet of the...

thanks all for the feedback! I will add a 24" section to the column to achieve 60" total and the recommended 20:1 ratio. Looks like I can reduce the takeoff to 2". According to the condenser calculator on this site, a Liebig would need to be really long, so I'm thinking to go with a 2...

Just some thoughts 36 inch for the column may be a little short. The difference in thermal mass between SS and copper will potentially cause issues with the PC where the copper interacts with the SS. I simple liebig made of copper will work as the PC, make it a decent size to handle stripping runs ...

A few years back I threw together a 4-gallon 1.5" CCVM still with materials I had around the shop, and it worked pretty well, but I moved and left it behind. Now I want to build a bigger better one, and possibly add some automation. (not sure what the forum consensus is on automation, but as an...

Hey Yinz, I have read the first 30 pages of this post, and will get through it in the coming weeks. But I want answers before then lol. I started UJSSM a week ago, and the fermented wash smelled and tasted a little like vomit, but not in a super bad way. (my first ever wash, birdwatchers, tasted qu...

thanks S-C

Hey Yinz, I have read the first 30 pages of this post, and will get through it in the coming weeks. But I want answers before then lol. I started UJSSM a week ago, and the fermented wash smelled and tasted a little like vomit, but not in a super bad way. (my first ever wash, birdwatchers, tasted qui...

SahWEET