Still build

[daveyg]

Here’s pic of it set up and running. So I’m thinking on the second build I’m going to use a 16 or 20qt cooker, and run a more Appalachian style with a larger, longer, straight vertical pipe, then crookneck to a shotgun condenser, and possibly powering it with a small natural gas burner. Would there be any benefit to running a double boiler type heat exchanger between the burner and wash tank? Or is there a better way? Maybe like a coil of copper tubing ran within the cooker that runs boiling water thru it? Just spitballing.

[daveyg]

16qt pressure cooker and a 20qt ‘stock pot’ for a whopping $10. I love craigslist.

[daveyg]

Would something like this be an improvement over my current setup? What’s the benefit of a shotgun chiller as opposed to the cooling coil tubing thru a chilling tank like I have currently?

[daveyg]

Should I toss out the idea of natural gas and instead get a heater like this to run inside the pot?

[daveyg]

Ok I think I’m set on running NG, but curious what to use to pump the coolant water? Just a small submersible pump? Would a fish tank pump be sufficient? 50gph enough? 80gph? Suggestions? Thanks!

[Manc]

Ok I think I’m set on running NG, but curious what to use to pump the coolant water? Just a small submersible pump? Would a fish tank pump be sufficient? 50gph enough? 80gph? Suggestions? Thanks!

Hi Davey

I run a 1500lph with a 180 cm head lift garden pond fountain pump it's just about big enough to knock down 3kw on stripping runs. I'd say an aquarium pump won't be good enough I think the head lift won't be sufficient.

Just my opinion hope it helps

Lee

[Twisted Brick]

Hey daveyg!

It looks like you have a lot of reading to do, but here are some thoughts:

1. Read through a number of builds to see what others have done (and why) to determine what applies to your build skills/funds/distilling space etc.

2. Pressure cookers are frowned upon because of the seals, which are in direct violation of approved seal/gasket composition; their small capacity hinders ones ability to produce a viable product of any volume.

3. A boiler riser of 1/2" (or lower) is dangerous, not to mention extremely slow.

4. Using a keg for a boiler provides a number of solutions you will encounter sooner and later, including the benefit of installing a larger (2") riser

5. If you have the means to acquire/build a shotgun condenser, it is efficient and compact compared to a liebig and works well with a 2" or larger riser

6. NG is a viable option to internal elements; the discussions/arguments for either option are many and easily referenced

7. Do an HD Google search on each of the elements listed above and you will be able to answer the questions you have, which are very common

8. I run this pump through a shotgun condenser on a 3" pot still and it works great (7' of head lift)

Good luck!

[daveyg]

Thank you guys very much for the tips! What’s wrong with the seals used in a pressure cooker? Kegs are extremely difficult to come by in my area, but I was thinking of building the next one with a 2” up pipe. What should be used to seal the up pipe to the wash chamber? I was thinking of just food grade silicone, as I have access to that easily. Would sweating the parts together with lead-free solder be more correct?

[Twisted Brick]

What’s wrong with the seals used in a pressure cooker?

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=56123

viewtopic.php?f=89&t=49307

If you can't get a keg, look at builds that use a stock pot and fixture to connect to a copper riser.

Going forward, you're gonna be better off doing the (research) work first before asking. HD Google is your friend.

[daveyg]

Ok so after flipping thru those... should I use my 5 gallon stock pot (that was my water tank chiller) as my base? I can tig weld the current holes (where I currently have a drain, and the exit for my copper tubing) shut, that isn’t a problem, and then I just need to find a suitable stainless bowl to use as a ‘lid’ but how do I attach the two parts together and get a good seal between them? Do I just put 6 or 8 toggle clamps around the circumference, with stainless steel to stainless steel? That seems like a spot begging to lose vapor, and waste a large percentage of my finished product. Or do I tig weld the upside-down bowl to the stock pot? And just fill via the 2” vertical riser?

[daveyg]

I’m a machinist and metal fabricator by trade so the work to do it right doesn’t scare me, just tell me the best way. I only did the baby pressure cooker with brass fittings and copper tubing because that’s how some idiot on YouTube made his. I can turn around and resell the ‘new’ larger pressure cooker on craigslist, lots of folks around here love canning and such. I could even just get some of my 304 stainless sheet scraps from work to bend my own riser from scratch if a tapered cone is beneficial compared to a ‘dome’ of a bowl.

[daveyg]

One more question for today... those links mention ‘flour paste’ several times and suggest using it where joints and flanges connect, are they referring to the preschool ‘paste’ made by mixing standard wheat flour and water?

[StillerBoy]

Here's is just one of the possibilities of making a dome for a pot..

The dome is made using four parts, the rim of the glass cover, ss bowl, ss sink drain, and a ferrule, all solders together.. and this dome and pot was put together for a thumper..

The unit sit on the pot and seal with a gasket made from mat board and wrapped with teflon tape, and held in place with blinder clips.. just a few more options over flour paste..

Just some picture for you start thinking.. but you never to slow down and research, as all the design you want are here..

Mars

[daveyg]

That looks awesome! I’ll definitely see if I can come up with something sort of similar to that.

[daveyg]

Got a score at the scrap yard yesterday... won’t be long and I’ll have some parts ready to assemble.

[daveyg]

Machined my press plates to build the shotgun condenser this week. Made the jig out of just aluminum as I figure I won’t use it more than twice. See if I can get a picture to load.

[daveyg]

Tried pressing my shotgun ‘end caps’ today for the first time. I need to radius the edge of the Female die a bit and I think shorten the Male die some. The copper sheet doesn’t like to stretch quite as much as I anticipated. It fits the 2” copper pipe rather well, but I think I can make improvements. For the individual 1/2” holes I have a separate die I will use, that I use at work on occasion to flare sheet metal to accept countersunk 6mm machine screws. Also need to start with excess sheet hanging over the edge.

[WillieP]

Daveyg,
I'm a little confused. Are you attempting to press a homemade 2 inch copper end cap.
like this: https://www.supplyhouse.com/Elkhart-306 ... gIkZvD_BwE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

If that is your intent, did you anneal the sheet copper first?
If you didn't, you'll want to do some research about hardened and annealed copper.
I'm no expert, but I'm willing to bet that without annealing it first your going to have a hard time of it.

This is the type of 2 inch shotgun that most are building.
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=64010

Good Luck, (read, read, and then read somemore)
WillieP.

[Saltbush Bill]

Got me beat why anyone would bother going to the trouble of building a shot gun for a small pot still. They are major overkill in most cases. A liebig is so much easier and quicker to build, and works perfectly on a pot still.
Why make life more difficult than it need be?

[daveyg]

Second attempt went much, much better! And another pic of just my pipes. Gonna redo the condenser caps again with a bit more focus on the hole placement. Definitely not room enough for 4 holes. Can fit 4 of the 5/8” OD pipes into the 2” ID pipe, but there’d be almost no room between each small pipe. So probably going to stick with 3 vapor pipes.

[daveyg]

Yes, I’m pressing my own condenser end plates. The second attempt worked perfect (aside from my mediocre eyeball hole placement) I’ve read all those threads beginning to end, and all I get out of it is that I can do it myself, it may take me 3x as many tries to get it just right, but it’ll work eventually, by damn! I’m having a buddy come over this weekend to help with the soldering work. I’m not that great at soldering. I could probably machine an entire still from billet, but it would be heavy as all get out and I wouldn’t learn anything new haha! That’s half the fun!

[daveyg]

After re-reading that thread, I will go with 4 1/2” ID tubes, and I’ll add a triclamp below the second elbow, so I can yank the shotgun off if needed for cleaning or making changes. I just need to make a different flaring tool to get the size just right, was hoping to use my M6 screw countersink flaring tool, but it’s just not quite the right size to get a perfect 5/8” press fit to the tube.

[corene1]

I have been reading through this thread and it appears to me you are very excited to get your still built , I was the same way ,but slow down a bit and plan your build out before you start building. You said you work in a machine and fab shop and have the ability to TIG weld. So why not build your own boiler since kegs are hard to find? It will last forever and be totally adjustable to any set up you choose to make. All my stills I have built have the same 4 inch ferrule on top which lets me swap any head to any boiler. Make them modular , in the long run you will appreciate this. You can start with a small boiler, but have the ability to move up in boiler size without having to re build your heads r columns. I have a modular pot still head, a thumper head and a plated column and each of them will mount to any boiler size that I have. The modular pot still head and thumper head let me run big batches as well as smaller ones just by swapping out the boilers.
You can form a boiler out of copper or stainless by hand. I have access to a small hand roll now so that makes rolling the boiler body easier but there should be someplace that will roll the body if you can't. You can cut copper with hand shears or stainless with a small angle grinder and slitting wheels. There is an app called cone calc that will configure the layout for any cone shape you want for the tops of the stills. For my gas fired stainless steel boilers I use 18 gauge stainless for everything but the bottom, that is 12 gauge . For copper I use 48 ounce copper for the bottom and 16 or 20 ounce for the rest of the still.
Just wanted to mention this to give you something to think about . Here are a couple of the boilers I have built just to give you some ideas.

This is the little thumper head. it will clamp to any boiler body making it a thumper.

[daveyg]

I actually had this same thought today, I’m going to incorporate a couple v-band style (triclamp) flanges primarily for ease of cleaning and storage when not in use, but could help with making the ‘top half’ modular. I have considered just building my own boiler, and I might, depending on how things go, I do have access to a roller and a small brake, so that may be in the cards yet. I’m definitely a better machinist than I am a welder, but I could just make a ‘lid’ for a 5 gallon stock pot rather easy I think. What is the purpose of the thumper? I’ve seen mention of them several times but never really got the idea of ‘why’ anyway, here’s today’s pieces thus far. The condenser ends and one condenser baffle (I may make a few more baffles, not sure) and a pic showing the ‘end cap’ setting on the deburred 2” pipe, once soldered to the 1/2” pipes it will get pressed in and soldered to the 2” pipe.. Will make the 5/8” flaring die set tomorrow, just have 5/16” pilot holes currently.

[Yummyrum]

If you can squeeze another tube down the middle then do so .

Nice work on the pressed plates

[daveyg]

I think if I run a 5th tube it will be almost touching the outer tubes, like .020” or so gap or less, so would probably heat soak rather quickly. Once I flare the 4 holes I’ll look at it again, might fit a 5th. Here’s pics of my new flaring dies to get the 5/8” holes for the 1/2” ID pipes. Going to do a two step flaring process so I can anneal between to hopefully help with the stretching of the metal. First will do a 60 degree conical flare, then the 5/8 round thru flare.

[daveyg]

After flaring to 5/8” (the OD of 1/2” tubes) there’s definitely not room for a fifth tube unfortunately. But, as has been stated already, it should be more than adequate efficiency, especially since my condenser will be almost 18” long. One of these 3 pieces will be cut into another baffle.

[acfixer69]

Nice work but is a huge over kill. Just ferrule connection in a flush plate on top and bottom and a collector on bottom.

[daveyg]

I would rather it be too efficient and be able to move the shotgun to a bigger mashpot in the future than have to start all over.

[The Baker]

Ferrules??

Geoff