The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Steam powered cooking and distillation devices.

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stillness
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The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Hi all,
Slowly moving back into stilling after a couple years off. I want to mash with steam, ferment, swap the lid, and distill on the grain, all in one vessel. Which requires steam, bringing me to the current subject: my steam generator build.

All these ideas I've stolen off the forum, so you're sure to recognize most of it.

Here's the general idea.
Attach0_20200929_145702.jpg
The drawing has super heated steam, but for now that's not happening. The detached garage doesn't have water, thus the gravity feed supply. The 1.5 inch spool for the boil chamber might be pushing my luck on the small side. We'll see how it does, and upgrade someday if needed.

I plan to post photos as I go.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Here's early gathering of parts.
Attach0_20200929_145758.jpg
I recently got a tig welder (Amazon special - read: not miller or lincoln), and have been happily burning metal in the garage, with professor u-tube to show me the way.

Here's my first go at putting a real spool under the torch. It's not God's own stack of dimes, but it doesn't leak. And also my practice weld tool thing to sand the 1/2 inch npt ferrule.
Attach0_20200929_145904.jpg
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Attach0_20200929_150044.jpg
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Here's a couple shots of gluing up the frame. My space is limited, so I'm trying to keep it narrow. It's a little over 6 feet tall and a little less than a foot wide. Those are 2x4s ripped with groves cut to accept the plywood, kinda like a cabinet door.
Attach0_20200929_150306.jpg
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Here's dry with parts laid out on top.
Attach0_20200929_150718.jpg

The copper will go through the wood to the manometer, which will be visible on this side. I forgot to add the water inlet, so I'll need to add that.
Attach0_20200929_150742.jpg

I plan to have the copper wrap around the spool to preheat the water before it goes into the boiler. This was mentioned on another thread and I thought I'd give it a go.
Attach0_20200929_160430.jpg
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by zapata »

stillness wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 2:40 pm I want to mash with steam, ferment, swap the lid, and distill on the grain, all in one vessel.
It'll change your damn life. I don't even swap the lid, just move the stirring paddle. :lol: I'm sure I got some benefit from all the siphoning, pumping, filtering, wringing, settling, crashing, cleaning, splashing and spilling (and cleaning and cleaning), but I do not miss a bit of it.

I got a steal on a steam jacketed kettle, but barring that I would be doing steam injection to solve the same problems and reap the same benefits.

One tip, degas before running. A fair bit of co2 and thus foaming is knocked out in all the transfers and straining we used to do so the all in one is a little more prone to foaming at boil up. Whatever you use to stir the mash, just use that to knock the bulk of the gas out, you can even do that while you heat up and it doesn't even take any time.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Hey Zapata,
Thanks, degassing is a good call. Hadn't thought about that yet.

Reminds me of reading about a continuous still that used a vacuum to degass on the fly before it went into the column.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Made a little progress over the weekend. I've been debating how to hold the water jug up. I was thinking of using strapping, and sowing a backpack type thing to wrap and hold the jug. That or weld up a stainless cage. Also, should I use a plastic jug or glass. I've got both around.

In the end aesthetics are prevailing. I'm going with glass and stainless, even though straps and plastic are probably more practical.

I think this means I'll be screwing the whole thing into the wall. I wanted it to be free standing. But I'm scared of the mofo tipping over mid-run. That'd be exciting.

Here's the cage with the glass carboy.
Attach0_20201005_125006.jpg
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And here's how the cage will attach, a few of the plumbing parts, and the tube I'm going to use for the manometer. RO fittings with a 12v water valve. The small ball valve will allow me to easily shut the water off to fill and put back, as well as limit flow rate to manually find the sweet spot.

For the manometer my plan is to use this cheap polyvinyl tube, which I think will be fine. Any thoughts to the contrary on that?
Attach0_20201005_125003.jpg
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by NineInchNails »

It appears as though you intend to hang that carboy upside down. Is that correct? If so, how do you intend to connect the water line to he carboy?

If you run the hose directly to the upside down carboy then it could cause water feed problems without an air vent to allow the carboy to equalize pressure/vacuum as water leaves the carboy.

If you intend to keep the carboy upright, drop a line in, and prime the hose that would work, but I'd be afraid of it losing its prime over time. Gravity feed is ideal. I've used 5 gal buckets for gravity feed before. I drilled a hole in the bucket. I used a John Guest fitting with a rubber Oring and stuck it in the hole. I then used a coupling on the interior of the bucket and that's a little homemade bulkhead fitting.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Hi NIN,
Ya, the plan is to hang it upside down. Gonna vent it. I don't want to do upright and mess with a syphon.

Ok, had to Google john guest fittings. Been wondering what these things are called 😂 - I always look for reverse osmosis fittings and they come up.

On a side note, do you know if they need the locking tab - the blue washer disc thing. Some connectors come with them and some don't. I thought they had to have them, but haven't tried them out yet.

Anyway, I'm going to make a bung (that can handle the pressure of being upside down) that has a john guest push connector (maybe similar to your bulkhead), as well as a thin venting pipe. I'll use the venting pipe with a funnel for refilling.

At least that's the plan. Haven't got that far, so not sure exactly what the bung is going to look like, but venting for sure.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

The controller box could probably just be a SSR with a 500k pot, with the float switch powering the water solenoid directly.

But I'm going to use a micro-controller to drive this thing. It will give me more flexibility on timing the solenoid, and allow me to do whatever else I want. Not to mention the float switch is upside down for driving the solenoid directly.

Here's the general layout.
Attach0_20201009_150123.jpg
I'm gonna use an ESP32, running on 5v, with input from the float switch and a rotary encoder / button (for the power dial), and outputs to the water solenoid (by way of another solenoid - water valve needs 12v) and a digital pot that controls the SSR.

Here's the SSR - ripped from my last controller. And the 5v & 12v power supplies, both will be fed by 220v. That feels a little crazy, but they're rated for it, so why mess with another power cord. My wall outlet is 3 pronged 220, not the 4 prong type.
Attach0_20201009_095626.jpg
I'm using a digital pot, this Analog Devices ad-5242. It's 1 Meg in 256 steps. So, 500k in 128 is what's usable. Hopefully that's enough granularity - can add a small analog pot inline someday if I need it. I think this will work, but haven't seen it done. I'm open to better ideas, but I feel good about the SSR, as it's widely used.

Here's the digital pot on a breakout board. Soldered, but not tested. Found an Arduino driver for it, so that's gonna help.
Attach0_20201009_095625.jpg
Attach0_20201009_095627.jpg
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by Yummyrum »

Be aware that the pot connections are live on those SSR,s .

This means that unless you galvanically insulate your digital pot via optocouplers , all your microprocessor circuitry driving it will also be “live “ .

Although what you are trying is a cunning Idea , you might want to look at using a SSR 40 DA which is a true isolated relay and won’t “liven” your Micro ... but you will have to use PWM to drive it with a duty cycle of around 1 second . Should be easy as most micros now days have PWM output .
This will also give a more linear power control as apposed to the strange control curve that Phase controllers has

Better would be to use a Burst fire algorithm to drive it .
Look at Auberins DSPR 1 data sheet to get the idea.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by zapata »

stillness wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 2:21 pm And the 5v & 12v power supplies, both will be fed by 220v. That feels a little crazy, but they're rated for it, so why mess with another power cord. My wall outlet is 3 pronged 220, not the 4 prong type.
I did the same for the small 5v fan in my power controller, and felt the same. In the US using 240v for anything other than water heaters and still boilers just seems crazy. But the first 5v wall wart I pulled out of the junk drawer was clearly rated for it, and has worked perfectly fine for years. I originally had a 120v fan in there, but discovered that tapping 120v off one leg of the 240v triggered the GFCI. See what I did there? A nice roundabout way to ask if you have GFCI on this homebrewed water gadget?
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by NineInchNails »

stillness wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:31 am Hi NIN,
Ya, the plan is to hang it upside down. Gonna vent it. I don't want to do upright and mess with a syphon.

Ok, had to Google john guest fittings. Been wondering what these things are called 😂 - I always look for reverse osmosis fittings and they come up.

On a side note, do you know if they need the locking tab - the blue washer disc thing. Some connectors come with them and some don't. I thought they had to have them, but haven't tried them out yet.

Anyway, I'm going to make a bung (that can handle the pressure of being upside down) that has a john guest push connector (maybe similar to your bulkhead), as well as a thin venting pipe. I'll use the venting pipe with a funnel for refilling.

At least that's the plan. Haven't got that far, so not sure exactly what the bung is going to look like, but venting for sure.
No you don't need those locking collars. Those can be installed to make it impossible to accidentally depress & pull out a hose. Usually larger fittings come with those if I recall correctly. Press lock fittings are great, just jam in the hose and that's all there is to it. Depress the ring while you pull and the hose comes right out.

Yes, as long as the bung has a vent tube that goes all the way to the bottom of the jug, it will vent properly.

I like to use RO water for steam. No mineral buildup possible. I use RO water for my washes & mashes too.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

YRum,
First off, huge thanks for your comments.

I'm feeling a little sheepish here. I didn't do my homework quite as well as I should have. I remember glancing through the data sheet on my SSR and saw the zero crossing and opto isolators and thought I was good.
But I didn't read it very well - all the versions are in the same data sheet. I assumed the DA version worked similarly to the VA, with 3-32V input being a linear power control input. But... Looks like it's not. It's on/off like a real relay. I didn't want to use the DA because regulating voltage between 3-32 V is a pain. TTL PWM is nice.

So, the VA and DA are quite a bit different. This also means I've been using a non-zero crossing power controller for years (haha.. sad groan). I'm probably not alone in that camp.

So, I'm adjusting course on this and am going to lose the 'clever' digital pot and go with this other standard solution. I'll probably do the burst mode thing at 60 or 30 hz - will read up on it first.

Zapata,
Haha, yes, I see what you've done there. Yes, this thing will have a GFCI breaker somewhere. I'm not sure where yet. Maybe in the breaker box, maybe on the controller. Ya, I thought about stealing from one of the 220v legs, but knew it wasn't the best idea due to GFCI - nice to know it works. But having all the power supplies built to handle such a wide range of power is a lucky break.

Got me thinking about other things. One of the things I read talked about having a fuse inline with the load, cause those SSR's can potentially fail in the closed position. Would just be stuck to max power, but is something to think about.

Also, I plan to use a push (slam down) type button on the top of the controller to turn it on off and double as an emergency off. Seems to me that a DPDT switch would be safer than a single (break both the hot lines, not just one). But with GFCI in there... IDK, maybe it doesn't matter. Definitely going to look for it, but don't know what I'm doing here yet.

Anyways, moving forward. Thanks again for the input!
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

I'll post more on the controller as I get it sorted.

For now, here's a quick update on a little progress. I ordered some 1.5 inch pipe hangers and didn't realize they were for 1.5 inch nominal pipe, so closer to 1.75 inch. So, they wouldn't hold the 1.5 inch SS spool. I tried messing with them to see if I could make them work and ended up breaking a couple. They're rigid and break before they bend.
IMG_20201009_205331833_BURST000_COVER_COMP_1.jpg
The plan was to use these brooklyn pipe flanges to mount the pipe hangers. Not sure exactly what to use I realized the tri-clamp's are similar. So, why not just weld a stainless bolt to one of those? It's probably going to make assembly / disassembly more of a pain, but I don't see that happening too often. Anyways, that's how the mounting is going to work now.
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IMG_20201009_214528923_1.jpg
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Alright, here's another update. Slow moving progress, but I'm going to drown this feed in photos anyways.

I went to the local scrap yard the other day to hopefully find some sort of steam punk-ish controller box. I found this thing, which had a satisfying ka-chunk when the red lever was pulled to turn it on. But it was functional and they wanted $75. So, passed on that.
IMG_20201014_122913425_1.jpg
Also saw this crazy thing there. I think it's a vacume distiller for essential essences, and whatever else you want. Lots of nice solid stainless parts. Didn't ask the cost of that one.
IMG_20201014_123118323_1.jpg
So, decided to make my own box. It's going to have a steel frame with wood panels. Here's the idea.
IMG_20201022_220818738_1.jpg
Here's gluing it up with just tape.
IMG_20201022_220704368_1.jpg
Here's the GFCI I settled on. The red switch is a 30 amp DPDT which will be the first thing inline. The SSR is of the DA variety now. Actually already had it in a box from a previous unfinished project.
IMG_20201023_214043367_1.jpg
This is the face. It's going to have an LED power display in addition to the actual amps going out. I'm using a 20 amp gauge. The element I'm using is 5.5kW, so can do 25amps. I don't care about measuring the last 5 amps, but need to double check this thing is fine for that power.
.
IMG_20201022_220541547_1.jpg
.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Here's the idea of the layout in the box.
IMG_20201023_220230744_BURST001_1.jpg
And this is with the lid and steel frame. You can see the water valve is going to attach to the side.
IMG_20201023_220120962_1.jpg
I've got so much on my plate right now, this is going to crawl at a glacial pace. But I'll keep posting updates as I get there.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by zapata »

I always figured the phrase "free time" implies that time only matters when someone else is paying for it. You'll getter done when you do, and I think she's lookin pretty cool so far.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by Yummyrum »

Loving your work stillness . :thumbup:

No rush .
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by LWTCS »

20200406_101438.jpg
Man, sorry you went through all that frustration on your hangers.

These are readily available as well as smaller split ring versions for smaller piping too.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Thanks for the comments all!

Ya, it's gonna get done when it gets done. Sometimes when I can see the whole thing in my head I think I'm pretty much there. Then I'm reminded that going through the steps of actually building it takes time.

Ya, L, in hind sight I probably should have got some hangers like that. I saw some similar on glacier tanks - but they don't have the base like yours. So, I knew they were out there. What I really wanted was a thicker iron look to match the brooklyn pipes.

I'm going for a old school stream punk look. I plan on staining all the wood dark, with a polyurethane finish. I've succumbed to having a digital read out on the front, a small OLED. But originally I wanted all analog gauges, and was going to make my own temp dials out of ammeters. But I'm setting that craziness aside and going for the goal line. My vice and joy is remaking the wheel. I just gotta focus on the right wheels.

This stupid hobby:
designing and making stills,
the use of science and art in mashing/stilling/cutting/blending/aging,
and the drinking...

The whole package is so good.
I mean, wtf, forget about it.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Hi all,
Well it's been awhile, but this thing is still moving forward. The house projects are choking it out like weeds!

Not a lot to report, but wanted to get some photos up just to document the build. I've stained and poly'd the wood. I've been testing out different functions with the micro as I go, and have confirmed the oled display, the LED power display, the rotary encoder and the logic for the SSR output. A few others left - valve / 12v relay output and the water level sensor input, and temp sensors.

Here's where it's going to go eventually. I want to be able to close a door and button it all up when not in use.
stm_01.jpg
Here's the LEDs lit up for Christmas. They're RGB but don't blend as well as I'd like, so will probably just end up using blue. TBD
stm_02.jpg
stm_03.jpg
Here's the rats nest of wires. Thought I have myself plenty of room, but the thicker gauge wire is a pain.
stm_04.jpg
Here's how the bolts are going to hold the box together.
stm_05.jpg
Here's the copper pre-heater. We'll see how that works. Fingers crossed. I like the look anyway.
stm_06.jpg
Anyways, more to come! But... don't hold your breath.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

And 1 more to show the general shape coming together.
stm_08.jpg
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by LWTCS »

So is your float for shutting it down if you run out of water?

Man with a solenoid and a double float you could have auto replacement water refill.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

The float will be used to shut down if it's down for too long. But it's primary purpose is to tell the micro-controller that the water's low, which will turn on the solenoid/water valve. Then when the float switch clicks back up, the micro will turn the solenoid/valve back off. Possibly with delays - I'll see how it performs. I'm going to put a valve online from the carboy, so I can set the flow rate to something optimal.

Here's the solenoid. I stuck the plumbing in to show - wasn't there before.
IMG_20210315_144313.jpg
And here's the float closer.
IMG_20210315_144333.jpg
I could use one of these double switches, but decided not to. I want as little displacement as possible, for consistent boil. That's my thinking anyway.
IMG_20210315_144326.png
I'm using a 5 gallon carboy as the water supply. But if I ever outgrow that, there's no reason it couldn't just be plumbed in. Is that what you mean by auto fill? It's a little different than most designs cause I've gone the micro controller route.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by LWTCS »

Ah ok. Awesome.
Yeah this is a nice build.
Is your replacement water filling into the side canister? EDIT: yes I see it is done correctly.
Your side canister should keep the main boiler free / insulated from a break in the boil when refilling with replacement water. You're going to get some good behavior.

Also, I see that you have your side canister plumbed / vented correctly so you should have no problem getting your floats to respond correctly to the water level in the system.
Really nice build.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Thanks L! Nice to hear it!
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by Butch27 »

Ok I have procrastinated at posting a reply here hoping that someone else might chime in and I would not have to do so much typing but I see the thread kinda slipping away now so I will give it a go as I have a few comments/ideas regarding the water delivery for this unit.

Firstly a glass carboy filled with water would probably weigh 60 to 70 pounds. For someone of my advanced age that would be no small feat to lift that into place and I would certainly not want to change it during a run as that would be risking disaster in my opinion. Now according to your profile I see that you are 41 so it is probably more doable for you but trust me that advanced age thing comes sooner than a person likes. You stated in your original post that the purpose of this project was to make mashing and distilling easier and less work. At a very bare minimum I would change out the glass for plastic. It is lighter and less prone to breakage. I don't know the size of your operation but for me 5 gallons would not be enough and I would have to change the jug mid run. Perhaps a container with an open top that you could add water to a little at a time would work well. However I do feel that containers lower down that I could just move the suction tube from a pump from one container to the next would be the easiest or again you could just keep adding water to the one container.

My preferred solution (probably most expensive) would be to use a peristaltic pump to push the water into the steam generator. The microcontroller could vary the speed of the pump rather than just turn it off or on. When the water level is high and the float is up you could have the pump turning at a speed which delivers slightly less water than the generator is using. When the water becomes low and the float is down the motor would be sped up slightly to pump a little more than the generator is using. In this way there should be less risk of collapsing the boil with wildly changing rates of water delivery. Now commercially available peristaltic pumps are somewhat prohibitively expensive in my opinion but people are starting to DIY them with 3D printers which brings the cost to an acceptable level.

Here is one example.
[utube][/utube]


I do not have access to to a 3D printer and this is what I have planned for my steam generator which I manage manually at the moment. I am going to use a syringe and 2 check valves to create a pump and drive it with a microcontroller and motor the same as the peristaltic pump above. The speed of the motor would be varied the same as above. The water delivery will be somewhat intermittent do to the reciprocating action of the syringe but my boil chamber is large enough that it should not be a problem.

Now if you really have your heart set on using that solenoid and hoisting that heavy carboy 6 feet up then I have a suggestion for that as well. It will add some cost but I believe would give you much finer control. I am planning on using this system to control the water entering my flake stand. Presently I control it manually but feel that I waste some water doing so. It is not that big of a deal since we have our own well but still the supply is not unlimited. I would use two needle valves in parallel with each other to deliver water to the boiler. The first one would run all of the time and be set to deliver water at a rate that is slightly less than what the generator is using. The second needle valve circuit would be turned on and off by the solenoid. This valve would be set such that the total water flow from the 2 needle valves would be slightly more than the generator is using. When the water in the boiler is high and the float is up the solenoid would close and shut the flow from that circuit. When the water in the boiler is low the solenoid would be opened to provide additional water to bring the level of water back up. This would provide a steadier water flow to help minimize the risk of collapsing the boil. I think you could use relatively inexpensive needle valves as there would not be that much head pressure on them.

Phew that was a lot of typing for an old bugger that just hunts and pecks and I have taken up enough of your time. Hopefully you find a useful nugget in my ramblings.

Happy stillin.
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by LWTCS »

Butch makes some valid points.
I'm not a big fan of the water reservoir either.
Though I think a solenoid valve and an adjustable master supply valve that is throttled back to a slower flow rate should be easy enough to calibrate so that the fill rate is slower.

408 watts per gallon / per hour is what we came up with on the napkin math for heating.
if you have a 5500 watt element, that should allow for 13.48 gallons an hour. Though I don't know how to account for heat loss? But if we factor in a 20% loss of heat that still gives you a 10.78 gph heating capacity,,,,based on napkin math.

I have no idea how much water is needed for typical grain in, live steam cooking?
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stillness
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by stillness »

Fair enough... You're not wrong (as we say at work before throwing it under the bus :) ). I tend to agree that the reservoir is not ideal, due to the given reasons: weight, can break, and limits capacity.

I'm gonna keep it for initial design. Here's my line of thinking.

I'm fine with the weight for now, and accept the risk of it breaking. I just can't bring myself to do the plastic. Functionally, yes, it's a little more practical, but the glass & stainless bring me joy, which apparently is the guiding principle of this contraption.

And I just don't have inspiration for a pump for the water right now. I will probably hook it up to the water supply at some point - which I'll have to plumb the garage for. This thing's already got a valve to limit the flow rate & a solenoid valve that can handle the mains water pressure, so, it's really just a mater of plugging it in when the time comes.

Larry, what are your numbers of GPH? Is that for a continuous rig, based on Manu's calculations? Warms my heart to think you might have assumed this was connecting to a continuous rig. :) Someday soon I hope (stainless steel pipe dreams). But for it's first life it will be mashing and batch distilling.

I don't really want to refill during a run. So, what can I do with 5 G of steam?

5 Gallons -> 19 Liters -> 19 Liters * HEAT_OF_VAPORIZATION (2257000 J/L) -> 42,700,000 J
42,700 KJ is the max power this can put out in one run.

16,742 KJ is needed to boil 50L (13G) = 50 L * SPECIFIC_HEAT (4186 J/(C*L)) * (100 C - 20 C)
So, mashing is no problem. Lots of headroom there.

How about a 10 Gallon spirit charge at the recommended max of 40%. 40L @ 0.40 converted to 20L @ 0.80
12,673 KJ to bring the charge to a boil = 40L * SPECIFIC_HEAT * (100C - 20C)

Generating steam from the charge is where the energy is eaten up. And what's the HEAT_OF_VAPORIZATION of a 40% mash? IDK. Ethanol is 841000 J/L, whereas water is 2257000 - more than double the energy to convert to steam. So, let's just throw numbers at it. Here's the best & worst case.

45,140 KJ = 20L * HEAT_OF_VAPORIZATION_water
16,820 KJ = 20L * HEAT_OF_VAPORIZATION_etoh

Still need to add the 16,000 KJ to get up to boil to those numbers. So...
34,000 KJ for best case
62,000 KJ for worst case

And that's no reflux, heat loss, etc.. Ya, I may be a little shy of my full happy meal. It will be interesting to use it and see how close the numbers match. I'm still not changing it for now. It's the easiest way forward, and that's what this project needs. Simple enough to upgrade later after I know more. But ya, good thoughts, weakness in design noted and appreciated.
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LWTCS
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Re: The Stillness Steamer (aka, just another steam build)

Post by LWTCS »

"Larry, what are your numbers of GPH? Is that for a continuous rig, based on Manu's calculations? Warms my heart to think you might have assumed this was connecting to a continuous rig. :) Someday soon I hope (stainless steel pipe dreams). But for it's first life it will be mashing and batch distilling."

Yes, that's basing my thinking off of scaling down the ASPEN calculations for the beer feed rate of a much larger system.
Actually my napkin math is very flawed because my math requires a 10% abv as beer feed. The boiling point of a 10% beer is likely a bit more than 20°F cooler than the boiling point of water? Oopsy.

Manu never shares any of his secret sauce :think: lol
Trample the injured and hurdle the dead.
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