My first build - the Pot Still

[BigYin]

I've spent a good few months gradually accruing bits and pieces. No doubt as the build progresses I may need to pause for a bit I either didn't anticipate - or to replace a bit I've messed up....

I decided to start with the condenser as that's all standard copper soldering that I'm very familiar with.

Only slight niggle was needing to drill out the small lip inside the T reducers to allow the 15mm pipe to pass through - a blacksmith's 15mm drill sorted that.

The rest was a doddle.

Then added a valve for coolant flow control and the hose connectors.

I then hooked it up to the garden hose and tested - no leaks, even with the valve closed and the pressure building.

Next bit is all the brazing - making this as modular as I can - so lots of tri clamps - that will allow me to easily tweak in the future, but also easy to adjust things like the angle that the condenser arm is coming down at etc

I'm waiting for my first attempt at that to cool down to test it, but one thing is clear - I'll need more flux, so that's just been ordered and paid through the nose for quick delivery, so pause for the weekend and back to it next week

[NZChris]

You've put the hose tails nice and close to the ends

[BigYin]

So, the build is *almost* complete and ready for cleaning run, and leak testing...

After a few false starts with the brazing I started to get the hang of it

I started on the smaller pieces - less to throw away if (when!) it went wrong. I actually only ended up binning one wee piece of 2" copper tube and one ss flange.

I put in flange fittings where I thought would help with a modular design.

Everything downstream of the 2" reducer is fixed - I can split it at the stainless steel compression joint, but it's not nearly as convenient as a tri-clamp

I left the column to last

It took the most patience to braze - the copper sucks heat away from the joint like mad, so I had to take my time...

All the parts shown post-build have been scrubbed clean with hot water and then again with citric acid, rinsed & dried.

[BigYin]

Test fit - You might be able to spot a metal bar poking out from a shelf, supporting the lyne arm - the setup is too heavy for the pot lid - it pulls it to the side - so I'll rig a support for the arm once I work out where it'll be set up for runs...

Last little bit of the puzzle, is I was SURE I had some 10mm copper tube left over from other brewing projects, but after an exhaustive search, I've either used it all or binned it - D'OH!

So I'll need to acquire a short length of it to fit to the end of the condenser arm to guide the condensate into the collection jar...

[BigYin]

Well, finally got time to put it all together and do a test with just water/steam.

The good news : all the copper-copper joints are good ; the condenser knocked back the steam no bother with the burner on full, albeit with mains water rather than my planned use of the the big water butt in the garden.

The bad news : pretty much every brazed/tri clamp joint had some form of leak. Bugger. Back to the workbench then - end cap ordered so I can hopefully seal one end of each piece at a time, fill with water and trace the leaks... The joys!

[Durhommer]

not bad work at all for your first...my first was a crude stovetop model it was ugly but worked! nothing like the crafting yer doing there.i now reluctantly run an 8 gallon milk can from mh cos i was lazy and didnt want to build.well darn if i havent found other projects rigged up a kitchen mixer with angle iron to sit on my keg cooker

[BigYin]

Well, after several (ok, lots!) of attempts to remedy my crappy silver soldering, and several (failed ) steam test runs, I finally got it all leak free today

Also fired up the cooling circuit for the first time - takes water from garden water butt, through a filter (to protect the pump), through pump to condenser, and then returns to the water butt. It knocked the steam down 100% with the gas burner on full chat, so I'm very happy with that.

So tomorrow I'll get my first wash started, and hopefully next weekend will see the vinegar cleaning run followed by the sacrificial run

Only been 3 months of on and off swearing and frustration, but finally over that hurdle feels good!!!

[Sungy]

Looks good to me.