2" Flute?

[pfshine]

You get diminishing results the smaller you go with plates. That is why it is recommended to use a packing material for 2" and smaller.

[NattyBoh]

I'm going with 3" and will probably do 3 plates unless someone can convince me to add a 4th. Again, my goal is bourbons, whiskeys, and the occasional neutral for apple pie, etc.

[NattyBoh]

Or maybe a 3 plate flute with a modular packed column for neutrals.

[thecroweater]

I use four and often 5 plates, I do not much like what comes off at 80%. I collect at between 88 and 91% and then temper to 67 for aging, it has all the flavour you would want

[rad14701]

2" just isn't really a viable option, regardless of boiler size... If it was you'd be seeing lots of 2" flutes...

[googe]

I use three, and agree with crow that 80% isn't as good, I take off at the same as crow. 2" plated stills are possible, look at the Russian home distiller, they do it for vodka but unsure how good they are for flavours.

[stilldistillin]

I use three, and agree with crow that 80% isn't as good, I take off at the same as crow. 2" plated stills are possible, look at the Russian home distiller, they do it for vodka but unsure how good they are for flavours.

but...but...vodka? Bokas are better suited!

[bentstick]

I use three, and agree with crow that 80% isn't as good, I take off at the same as crow. 2" plated stills are possible, look at the Russian home distiller, they do it for vodka but unsure how good they are for flavours.

but...but...vodka? Bokas are better suited!

Thats a bold statement! And by whos standard?

Not being an jerk just want to understand it!

[White_Lightning_Rod]

2" is doable with perf plates and will work fine. Ive been running a 2' flute for a few months now with no known problems, speed is good, flavor is good, abv is good. Im running 4 plates and usually pull around 90-92% at the begginnig of hearts and drops to about 80% before the tails hit and the hydro shoots up like a rocket. Total run time on a 12-13gal 10% charge from power on to shut down is right at 5 hours with a 4500w electric element on 240v the first hour of that 5 is heat up time.

There is a company who sells stills that has a 2" plated colum currently avaliable.

I belive since the original flute talk tread the technology had developed enough that 2" is a viable option now.

If all you can get is 2" and you have the desire go for it. If you can get larger thats great, but for the price to build a 2" flute I dont know why more people arent running them...

[stilldistillin]

I'd like to build one, I have about 8 feet of 2" lying around just getting patinas.. but every person's account that I've read except this one, says that a 2" flute is not worth it.

Did you do a mark II 2" or the original perforated plate flute?

[thecroweater]

Well now some would say 5 hours for 13 is a damn long time for instance I take around 4 hours from cold start to shut down to run about 21 gal. The run is a lot quicker than that as it takes near an hour to heat up and I tend to run deep into tails as caps will allow and milk them as high as it can maybe taking another 45 min longer than some might. Changing from the pot to plated column was about quality in single runs but that being said my pot still could strip a 15 gal keg in 45 min and do a fine spirit run in an hr . Now I don't mind taking a bit longer to get a better quality product but only with in reason and 5 hours to run 13 gal ain't my idea of with in reason

[cranky]

I was having similar thoughts to thecroweater. If I am going to spend 5 hours I might as well do a double run in my pot still. My 15.5 gallon boiler with with 5500W element gets 12 gallons up to boiling in about 44 minutes, maybe less. I can finish a stripping run in about 1hr 20min and do a spirit run on that in about 2-2.5hr. My goofy flute does a single run in anywhere between 2hr 20min 42seconds and 3hr. I like what the flute produces but I also like what the pot head produces. If I'm after neutral that's a whole different thing and a whole different setup. Now if your happy with 5hr runs that's fine but it's a lot of work to put together a flute when a packed column or pot head might do what you want and be much easier to build. Not that there's anything wrong with making a 2" flute.

[White_Lightning_Rod]

Ive never pushed to see how quickly I could do a complete run, never felt the need to really. Looking at my notes all the runs that have been more than 4 hours have been 4 plates along with a 24" packed section runs. Running just plates my notes indicate closer to 3.5 hours total with the first hour being heat up. Ive never had much luck pushing things fast, even running just a pot head just my personal prefrences. I enjoy the actual running of the still as much as any part of this hobby so why would I want to rush through that part??

[cranky]

I enjoy the actual running of the still as much as any part of this hobby so why would I want to rush through that part??

I do too especially with a visistill

[thecroweater]

Oh my quoted times are very far from rushed, many ppl quote take off rates with a four inch that astound me, chase quality but I want it in a timely fashion. If my main interest was time I should have stuck to the 2" pot still. Your first stated 5 hrs for 13.gal is way to slow for me, its almost reflux speed

[cranky]

Your first stated 5 hrs for 13.gal is way to slow for me, its almost reflux speed

Me too, I ran my last run way too slow 3Hr 18Min and it came off at the the same 92% a faster run would have but I wasn't as happy with the results. I get better results with a 2hr 20min run and still take off at 92%. Those times are from switch on to switch off. Because of this speed I can do two or even three runs in the same day and still get high proof and good flavor. the cost is a trade off but in my opinion the bigger flutes pay for themselves pretty quickly.

[bentstick]

2" is doable with perf plates and will work fine. Ive been running a 2' flute for a few months now with no known problems, speed is good, flavor is good, abv is good. Im running 4 plates and usually pull around 90-92% at the begginnig of hearts and drops to about 80% before the tails hit and the hydro shoots up like a rocket. Total run time on a 12-13gal 10% charge from power on to shut down is right at 5 hours with a 4500w electric element on 240v the first hour of that 5 is heat up time.

There is a company who sells stills that has a 2" plated colum currently avaliable.

I belive since the original flute talk tread the technology had developed enough that 2" is a viable option now.

If all you can get is 2" and you have the desire go for it. If you can get larger thats great, but for the price to build a 2" flute I dont know why more people arent running them...

Not Just asking you WLR,everyone that is posting their wattages!
Yours WLR was 4500 watts on 240! ? What was the run wattages for your runs
Yours Cranky was 5500 watts! On 120 or 240 and what is run wattages for your runs?
My 4" 5 plate set up has 2 elements one 5500 watt element on controller 238 volts wide open,the other is a 5500 watt element direct plug in on 120 volts,dont have a meter on it for exact volts getting to it, once warmed to producing temps the 120 volt element is unpluged and the controlled element gets truned down to about 2800-2850 watts of in put! Just interested in the power needs of different size,and different types of plated columns,since I have testing out different types of plates,but not going to build different size columns!

Anyone else please post your run wattages and what ya run!

[emptyglass]

I belive since the original flute talk tread the technology had developed enough that 2" is a viable option now.

Care to elaborate?

2" is doable with perf plates and will work fine. Ive been running a 2' flute for a few months now with no known problems, speed is good, flavor is good, abv is good. Im running 4 plates and usually pull around 90-92% at the begginnig of hearts and drops to about 80% before the tails hit and the hydro shoots up like a rocket. Total run time on a 12-13gal 10% charge from power on to shut down is right at 5 hours with a 4500w electric element on 240v the first hour of that 5 is heat up time.

I agree with croweater, your run times could be faster, but I'd not expect a 2" plated column to perform as fast as a 4" version, if indeed it does work.

Anyone else please post your run wattages and what ya run!

Sorry, cant help ya, I run on LP gas.

But the ones I've sold in 4" seem to run comfortably on 3000watts to 3200watts, ignoring heat up time as some have up to 4800watts for heat up, but they run at about 2 to 3 litres an hour, depending on the product being made, from wash strength. Most stills including these will run faster on a higher charge ABV, so its really hard to compare apples to apples.

[cranky]

Yours Cranky was 5500 watts! On 120 or 240 and what is run wattages for your runs?

I can't say I really pay that much attention to wattage or where I put the dial but I did make a note the last time I ran which was 13 gallons apple cider at around 6.5-7%. I went full bore on my element and had the flute in danger of flooding in 28min 16sec when I turned the dial down from 8.5 (max) to 4.5 which was 13.0 Amps according to my meter. My takeoff speed was around a 1/2pint every 5min +or- 20 seconds so a Qt every 20min 3qt an hour which as I said was too slow and I didn't like the results. My column is kind of a goofy setup that varies in I.D. from a little over 2" to about 3.33" 5 times. I haven't really made any other notes about other runs and don't pay much attention to the meter or temps, just make adjustments by sight, speed and ABV

[jedneck]

When I was running my 3" single perf plate I ran it a 3000 watts with a collection rate of a quart in 15-18 min. Boiler charged with 5-9% .

[Danespirit]

I have been running a pot still for about a year now and would like to possibly upgrade to another design. I want to make whiskey/bourbon in one run with the option of making neutrals too. Just read through the Flute thread as well as Brendan's flute build thread and I'm intrigued..I have an unlimited supply of 2" pipe and fittings so here's the question...Will a flute work with 2"? Was thinking of using 2x2x2 tees and making it completely modular. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Like other mentioned, a 2" is really best for a packed column.
But...if you really ,really want it so bad... go with slotted plates or perforated.
They would be slotted from the edge and some way in.
This would be about the only option, as you also have to take downcommer pipes in the equation.
Personally i wouldn't go for less than 3" for a plated with reasonable output.
However, here is a 2" for some inspiration: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 17&t=24307