glass marbles

brewster · Post by **brewster** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:15 am

i used some small glass marbles to fill my column instead of copper or rings....taste of the spirit was very good and and the marbles were a lot easier to clean and work with...has anybody ever tried this method...i would like to hear from you...thanks

Rocky_Creek · Post by **Rocky_Creek** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:30 am

According to the compleat distiller, marbles are pretty worthless if you are wanting reflux. Lowest possible surface ratio other than maybe a brick.

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:28 am

What kinda AV did you get? If your getting your spirits 93% of so their fine to use, but if your not getting AV in this range you should consider some structured copper packing.

brewster · Post by **brewster** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:47 am

MY ACHOLMETER SAID 97%...is that possible ???

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:08 am

brewster wrote:MY ACHOLMETER SAID 97%...is that possible ???

Was you distillate warm?

brewster · Post by **brewster** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:15 am

no not warm

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:49 am

I would say your alcohol meter is off, according to theory you can never get better than 95%. The distillate should be 20 deg C when you measure. But if you are in fact getting alcohol in the 90's the marbles are just fine for packing.

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:56 am

Wouldn't be the first time theory and practice disagreed.

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:30 am

it would have very much with the size of the marbles...
smaller marbles gives higher surface area per volume...
if you use marbles that are about the size of softgun bullets (6mm) you would get quite high surface area...

brewster · Post by **brewster** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:17 am

what about using copper bb's...ie. for bb guns

furball · Post by **furball** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:38 pm

Take it from a former delinquent, BBs are not copper, they are steel shot with a copper wash to control corrosion. Test them with a magnet.
A better alternative would be to find stainless steel balls in the 5-10mm range. I believe you can find them in a McMaster and Carr catalog, but they are probably going to be pretty expensive for the volume you wiould need to get to fit in the column.

Furball

Brett · Post by **Brett** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 2:35 pm

i might be able to get a load of stainless bb's the sort used in draw runners the family business used to make them and the draw runners housing, (its the other half of the family tho)

but im not sure they would work out better than copper mesh, as the copper helps take nastys out and makes for a better cleaner product.

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:48 am

i think copper mesh is better than marbles, not just because of surface area/volume, but also weight/volume...

your still will become more and more heavy as you add more and smaller marbles...

And i also think its a taste issue. some like marbles, some like mesh.
as long as noone uses plastic or something like that, i dont really care

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glass marbles

glass marbles

distillate not warm

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