My pot with worm condenser..... as usual feedback welcome

[nasty9]

I hooked everything up last night and ran some water and vinegar through it. I am not real pleased the way my worm turned out. Curious to know what yall thank about running a liebig condenser instead, and if so does anyone out there have any good plans for one? thanks

Nasty

[theholymackerel]

It looks like a fine rig to me, Nasty.

As long as there aren't any low spots in the coil where product will pool, that condencer should work great.






It's really nice to see new folks here put in effort and make their own rig to learn on. You made a beauty.

[nasty9]

well i ran some water through it last night and the flow was quite irregular. drips and good flows w/o any type of visible pattern. I would imagine this is due to the fact that i do have a few low spots. I will have to work them out before I do a real run.

[theholymackerel]

Here is a suggestion if ya ever make another coil... make it with a steeper slope.

Also, the bigger the bucket or barrel it is in the better. Get ya a big ole wine barrel as a water container and it's coil might have more than a foot between coils and it'll handle a boiler up to about 2/3s it's volume without tryin'. If yer coolin' barrel is twice, or thrice, the size of yer boiler ya can do a hard, fast strippin' run all day and not have the slightest problem.







I wish ya luck.



Edit: Give it a shot as-is. It might work perfectly.

[BW Redneck]

Next time you wind a coil, try winding it around something that will fit in the container with a line drawn around the way you want the coil to be wound. Then, just follow the line ya drew.

Don't worry. Mine has lots of high and low spots and it works good enough, at least until I attempt to upgrade.

[nasty9]

Would a liebig condenser even be an option on the type of still i have? I have already conjoined my worm to my wood supports so straightening out any low spots might be a tad difficult. i guess i could build a liebig and keep my worm around and alternate between the two to see which runs the best.

[theholymackerel]

Would a liebig condenser even be an option on the type of still i have?

Sure. It will require runnin' water though. That might not be a down-side to you though. It is to me.

Another Up-Side of a coil in a bucket is water conservation. No need to change it, just top it off to make up for evaporation.

[nasty9]

from what I have read on here and heard from others even with a bucket the need for running water is still pretty important. Last night i did not cycle any water in and out of my flake stand. I was just running water through it and did not think it would really matter. Anywho, well during the run the top 6 inches of water in my flake stand just got hotter than hell. That was when i truely realized the need for a constant flow of cool water.

[Dnderhead]

If i remember right you said you ran water though it, alcohol will be
different

[nasty9]

correct i did run water through it. will my flow be more constistant with the booze dnder?

[Dnderhead]

i would make simple sugar wash and try it be for jumping to conclusions
alcohol vaporizes and condenses at lower temperatures than water
and it would not hurt to make one run with alcohol to clean it out
you can save to clean with (or dilute and run again)

[theholymackerel]

Anywho, well during the run the top 6 inches of water in my flake stand just got hotter than hell.

Yep. The top six inches.

Heat rises while the distillate descends. While the top six inches of the water steams the bottom six inches are cool where the distillate emerges from the bucket/barrel. I've had a coil bucket steamin' while cool booze exited the coil. The worst thing anyone can do is stirr the coil bucket durin' a run... ya WANT it to seperate into different thermal layers.

If the coil bucket/barrel is equal to the size of the boiler it will handle a gentle spirit run without ice or runnin' water. If the coil bucket/barrel is twice or more the size of the boiler it will handle as hot a strippin' run as long as ya want, without ice or runnin' water.

Don't belive me? Fine. Test it.

[Ricky]

what thm said. i used to have steam come out the bucket when i run a worm but the distillate was nice and cool. i run a liebig right now but as soon as i find a bargain on some 5/8 line i will have another worm!

[BW Redneck]

THM is right. Having a layer of cold water at the top will cause the vapor to want to collapse suddenly. When it does that, it forms a vacuum and will want to suck air in the bottom. The same thing will happen in a leibig if the hoses aren't oriented properly (and it's a fairly long leibig). Putting warmer water closer to the top of the coil allows the vapor to collapse more gradually and the "huff 'n puff" problem is greatly mitigated, if not eliminated.This thread has more discussion, although it's quite a read.

My bucket and coil are pretty small in comparison to my boiler, so I have to ice it down to keep the vapor from escaping. The bottom of my bucket is often so cold that it'll form condensation on the outside, but the top few inches of cooling water are scalding hot.

It all goes back to the old saying "When boiling a frog, start with cold water." If you dipped him into the boiling hot water right from the getgo, he'd jump out and you'd never have a chance to cook him.

[TryMe]

The best article I have seen thus far on making a liebig condeser is GingerBreadMans write up..I used his method using a plastic sleeve and it works great but you could easily use 3/4" copper jacket as well...Here is a link to his write up,it's pretty step by step.My vote is definately for the liebig rather than a coil but then again I am new to this and can only speak for what I have tried.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4740

[theholymackerel]

Liebigs work great. They are also small.

On the downside they REQUIRE runnin' water... no distillin' when campin' or at the cottage or cabin.

While a coil in a bucket is larger it doesn't require runnin' water, and all the coolin' water is conserved and it works every bit as good as a Liebig.

[Tater]

Plus when done with run with a worm ya got hot water already to start another run with or clean up with .

[nasty9]

many thanks for the input! i would imagine that running cool water in from the bottom of the flake stand and running it out of the top would help create the different "thermal layers"

[theholymackerel]

Yep. If yer bucket is small enough that it requires runnin' water have it enter from the bottom and exit from the top.

If yer coil bucket is big enough it won't need any runnin' water.





I wish ya luck.

[Cruisaire]

Hey Nasty,

How'd you get in my garage!!! That setup looks very similar to one I know.....
BTW, it looks great!

[nasty9]

Cruisaire, the fake rock that holds the spare key is not fooling anyone......might wanna change the locks.

[Cruisaire]

LOL! You're killin' me man! Keep up the good work.

[captstill215]

Nice work Nasty. I'm building the same pot, I changed a couple of things, like the lyne arm (1 1/2" tapering to 1/2") and the worm (20' of 1/2" copper). Pictures here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/34585629@N04/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow I ran my worm with my 12 gal ss pot and did not have any problems.

[blanikdog]

Some good points there, Holy. My coil doesn't have much helix, but it will have after I work on it later this week.

My bucket (20 litre) steams just as you describe and is bloody hot for the top six or so inches and the distillate comes out as cold as a frog. I swear by a coil in a bucket.

blanik

[Hack]

Chalk me up as one more vote for a coil in a bucket.