NNB aka Newbie New build

[MoonBreath]

Nice work..
Remember tho, this ain't rocket science.
Novice is rite above 'minion'.

[Jason1979]

Nice work..
Remember tho, this ain't rocket science.
Novice is rite above 'minion'.

Thanks Moonbreath

I know I know, but want to make my build as best as possible and at the safest as possible.
Whats your thought on cooper leaching while in the fermentor?

[Tony1964]

If anyone wants to add to the copper in a fermentor question, I also use a copper coil and thermowell in the fermentor.

Back in the day, copper fermentors where what they had to use before the days of food safe plastics or stainless, from what I understand to much copper ingested can be a concern, the actual dosage I'm unsure about, but I would think that years of sucking on copper might be the answer.

Sulphur removal is a positive.

Copper itself will oxidise forming a protective layer to help prevent corrosion, like many other metals, its the corrosion that will leach in to the ferment, and important that you don't over do the star san or other phosphoric acid sanitiser, as that's high in acidity and will bring the copper up to shiney new again.

Your copper will dull in the ferment as it should, and would when exposed to normal air, and this will form a barrier, this is patina and its natural defence, look at copper water pipes, all dark brown, if it corrodes its ending up in your wash, you don't want this, but, as long as you sanitise it in the normal way rather than clean it back to shiney, your good, unless anyone else thinks otherwise, let nature help out a little.

My first igloo fermenter has been in use for 3 to 4 years with the same coil, not to dissimilar to yours, with no signs of corrosion, yes its not shiney by a long way, at the very top its almost black.

Anyone else want to chip in?

[MoonBreath]

Whats your thought on cooper leaching while in the fermentor?[/quote]

Copper or stainless either one will work.
Copper on the norm wont leach..
I just don't like my copper used for anything other than distilling purposes..
Food stuffs, sauces, soups, will leach into and have a possible carryover into your drip.
You have good distilling sense I can tell.
Just don't use you likker equipment for food prep and no worries.

[Jason1979]

Hi, I know I've not posted for a while but here are some up to date photos.

I still have the thermowells to make and fit and the shotgun ferrules to attach, plus form the CSST reflux coil then onto the boiler end then the control box, and on the latter I'm torn between using stc-1000 or standard digital temps, I'd imagine space maybe the decider on that one.

On the boiler I'll have 2 thermowells, one submerged and the other on the lid along with a PRV, but one question I just thought of asking is.. has anyone have any thoughts on the 2 inch tri- clamp bulkhead fitting from an online store most will know (not sure if you can list shops on here) I'm not sure to go with soldering tri- clamps to a ss boiler or use the bulkhead fitting type.

anyway, on with the pics (excuse any background mess)

[Jason1979]

Total length from the bottom to the middle centre takeoff (first T) is 1070mm, a little over my 20x the ID ratio, but you learn from all mistakes (aka didn't account for 2x ferrule and ptfe seal... and maybe a couple mm here or there.

[Jason1979]

Some more pics

[Kindafrench]

The sight glass gaskets are made of silicone?

[Jason1979]

Hi Kindafrench Not silicone, they are all PTFE. The only parts used are stainless steel, copper and PTFE, plus the odd lead free silver solder.

[Kindafrench]

If I had zoomed in the photograph with all three glasses, I could have seen it .
That‘s great! Could you be so kind and tell me, where you got them from? Mine are made out of silicone, so I made a pair of gaskets out of a soft 3mm PTFE sheet. Not really happy with it.
Maybe they sell the gaskets as a spare part.

But anyway... fantastic work! Looks very nice and shiny.

Will give you plenty of fun and delicious stuff

[Jason1979]

Some more work today on the shotgun, was a tricky job for sure, as not much room and run the risk of de-soldering the internal parts while soldering the ferrules

[Jason1979]

No leaks so all good, and guys, some more pics...

have to say, stainless and copper does look good.

`next on the list will be thermowells and then boiler and controller

[Jason1979]

If I had zoomed in the photograph with all three glasses, I could have seen it .
That‘s great! Could you be so kind and tell me, where you got them from? Mine are made out of silicone, so I made a pair of gaskets out of a soft 3mm PTFE sheet. Not really happy with it.
Maybe they sell the gaskets as a spare part.

But anyway... fantastic work! Looks very nice and shiny.

Will give you plenty of fun and delicious stuff

Sorry for the delay pal been busy with the build, will dig out the supplier and pop you a message. PTFE come with the sighties I purchased, but then again, no harm asking.

[Kindafrench]

...but then again, no harm asking.

The link didn't make it though.

[Twisted Brick]

...but then again, no harm asking.

The link didn't make it though.

Maybe you could post it? I would be interested in acquiring some 3" PTFE SG gaskets.

[Jason1979]

Happy Friday people

Some more pic of the latest progress. I still need to clean this work up, but thought I'd share some pics on this part of the build.

The first pics are deciding on the best layout for the RC water plumbing (aesthetic)

[Jason1979]

Now was time for the soldering of copper to SS. I still need to solder in the thermowell but hoping to do this the weekend.

Keep it low when mock the soldering lol, I will clean this up soon and the protruding CSST will be soldered inside the copper bend as I know you'll all see some small solder gaps. Keep in mind that I don't have much soldering experience too.

[Jason1979]

And some more pics as I did say Ill bring you all along on this journey, Enjoy

[Jason1979]

...but then again, no harm asking.

The link didn't make it though.

Kindafrench, How you get on with your PTFE seller?

[Jason1979]

Hi guys, some more progress on the water side for RC, small amount but never the less.

[Jason1979]

Added a support bar to the connection ends to help make this a little more robust while considering the amount of connecting and disconnecting this will go though, plus had some advice from a good friend/industry pro regarding support and safety. Looks amazing and very pleased so far.

[Jason1979]

More support up top, this is to help with the weight of the tubing when filled with water and as a 2" tri clamp blank is limited, thought I would try and incorporate a nice touch to mate the same angle as the copper 90 degree section.

Didn't realise how tight it is on the SS real estate lol.

[Jason1979]

All soldered up, water tested and cleaned up. So so pleased with how this looks and I feel it adds a nice handcrafted touch to the top section of the still. I know its overkill on just the connection of water for the RC but really wanted to make this a feature part.

[Jason1979]

some more pics

[Tony1964]

WOW, that's a good looking piece of kit for sure.

[OtisT]

Damn Jason, you do nice work.

To the person looking for PTFE gaskets, I know one place you can order them on-line is from from Glacier Tanks based in Vancouver, WA. http://Www.glaciertanks.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow.

Otis

[Jason1979]

WOW, that's a good looking piece of kit for sure.

Thanks Tony, not bad for a newbie with no build knowledge...what so ever. Been learning a lot on this including the build part, that I enjoy just as much as anything. I do have a massive box of scrap copper and SS now, but failures are the pillars of success and all that.

J

[Jason1979]

Damn Jason, you do nice work.

To the person looking for PTFE gaskets, I know one place you can order them on-line is from from Glacier Tanks based in Vancouver, WA. http://Www.glaciertanks.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow.

Otis

OtisT, Much appreciated pal, I do suffer from condition of copper/ss p**n for sure. But like all thing I try to challenge myself in new hobbies. Its a slow progress on the build front for sure but nearly there.

[OtisT]

Hi again Jason. I have been thinking about your rig a bit and have a few observations/questions and one significant concern that is bugging me, so I better get it out. I’ve been fascinated by how pretty it is and not focused on function, so here goes.

Reflux concern:
Do you have enough RC cooling potential to hit 100% reflux? This is a CM and my concern is that the RC does not extend very far down below the main column takeoff. Too much power and vapor will be escaping to your carter head so hitting a high reflux ratio may also be a challenge.

Just a note. I assume you will have a fine adjust needle valve for making the fine adjustments needed for adjusting the reflux ratio. You have a big input pipe to that RC, so something tells me you are planning for a ball valve. (Just speculation)

Carter head observations:
Your latest diagram shows that the carter head section will remain during pot still mode as well as when fractioning, unless I simply read that plan wrong. Seems like the carter head is only be needed for making gin, and all other runs it could be removed and you would simply attach your RC directly to the column. Operating without the CH would make some operations and cleanup much simpler.

Pot stilling
When stripping in pot still mode, you may want to remove the packed sections. (Based on your diagram showing the height in pot still mode includes the column sections in place.) While I don’t think it’s a problem having the tall column in place for a spirit run (just some extra passive reflux) you may want to remove the packed sections for stripping so if it foams or pukes during the strip that you don’t need to clean your packing.

For stripping I’d just have one sight glass on the boiler to see foaming, then place one unpacked column section above it before the Tee to help tame any minor foam ups before it hits takeoff.

Parrot
I assume you can run with or without the parrot. As a noob I personally recommend you run w/o it until you learn a bit about how to operate your still in various configurations and after you learn how to make cuts. Once you get some run experience and you understand how the parrot can impact various styles of runs you can decide when to use it.

Thermometers:
Looks like you are going to include ports for a lot of them. For operating that rig, you could get by with fewer well placed meters. Just an observation.

Insulation:
I’m just curious what your plan is for insulation. The entire main column could benefit from it when fractioning, and the carter head could use it when making gin to minimize the waste you collect at the bottom of the carter head. The latter is not much of an issue for large runs, but for small volume runs the percentage of waste will be larger and when making gin, every drop is sacred.

Pulling foreshots:
Related to my recommendation of removing the CH except when using the gin basket. Pulling foreshots may be interesting on this rig with the carter head in place. Unless you plan to let foreshots smear in with heads (which many do), you may end up collecting and disposing of foreshots in your carter head due to all that thermal mass between the column and PC. As stated above, removing the carter head section would address this.

That’s all I got for now. I’ve had coffee today , so forgive my verbose message and any omissions in logic I may have just documented. Otis

[Jason1979]

Hi Otis, I'm glad my work has had you thinking and I'm cheering to hear how neat you think my work is, but I believe I've covered some function...not all beauty and no brains. On a serious note, I do appreciate your time and comments, its the main reason this site exists, helping us all collaborate and share knowledge, ideas, creativity plus the odd how-to's, in my case many but we all need critique in this hobby and being a beginner means its helpful and important

Reflux concern:
That's a good question for sure. Lengthwise for the RC coil its 35cm (14inches) from bottom to where it meets the SS end cap, and from memory, this protrudes 20cm below the SS tee, plus I'll be placing some SS mesh/wool between the coil to add to the surface area and hopefully make it more efficient. Talking of power and to much, I'll be using a 30L boiler with a 3kw element that split into two 1.5kw.

Big water input yes, its 15mm but I had chosen this size mainly for the support factor and look but I will be running a small ID hose for the water side. And no, no bull valve on this part, most probably be two 1/4" needle valves, one for RC and one for the shotgun.

Carter head observations:
I do need to update my diagram, as you can see on the file names it's version 11, I think I'm now on 22. But that diagram was just to show the full max height with the CT having a 6" SS spool (updated to a 4"), so not really for configuration purposes, plus all being tri-clamp means this rig is modular. And yes the CT will be for gin, I've always liked the idea of vapour infused gin, but since my original design and the continued research into this is making me think that infused botanicals could and probably will bring new challenges, one being that vapour may not reach the inside of the botanicals basket, so not think I may place the botanicals in the ferment.

Pot stilling
I think I understand that you don't need height for a stripping run but as my rig is modular, plus the fact I need to learn to operate this still when it up and running so I've had a little think on this part and happy to try different configurations. Several people have said about puke so will differently add a sight glass at the boiler.

Also, packing wise I'll be using copper mesh then stainless spiral prismatic packing at 3mm x 3mm x 0.2 mm. I was thinking to go smaller say 2mm x 2mm x 0.2mm but not sure the benefit will out weigh the extra hour or so it will take to complete a run?

Parrot
I need to make a parrot for this rig, leaving it till last but I'm hoping to include a small 1/4" ball valve at the lower end so I can dump the foreshots/heads if I even need to dump that way. And yes totally agree with maybe not using it at first, I can only imagine enough is going on being a noob to get caught up with smearing too.

Thermometers:
15 in total, 9 for the column, 2 for RC and Shotgun and 4 for inside the controller... I know its loads and overkill plus know many people suggest operating a still comes with experience not digital displays, but I really want to know what's going on inside. I will use STC for the main areas for accuracy and these being the boiler, SS tee take off, top of the RC and for controller cosmetics STC for just before the shotgun. I'll post a pic of the 90% final controller layout.

Insulation:
I'm happy to do the first amount of runs as it is but I will differently be insulating the boiler with armaflex insulation when the build is complete and I'm thinking 10mm thick, then after a while of know how to drive my rig, ill cover up all the nice looking copper and SS with more armaflex

Pulling foreshots:
I have a small SS ball valve soldered to an end cap on the lower end of the CT and I'm thinking I can bin the foreshots/ early heads that have condensed there at the start, then when more is condensed there that may be full of flavour, I can dump back into the boiler via some hose or CSST connected to a PRV valve to be redistilled.

Hope that all makes sense Otis and cleared some concerns, like I said I'll upload a new column diagram and also my controller layout. Honestly, appreciate your feedback and comments. Been a please reading a more in-depth opinion.

J