Many thanks

[Prana]

Decided to give a 2" VM column a go having looked through the information here and on the parent site. Realize I have a long, long way to go, but just wanted to say thanks for all the ideas and help I have received so far. Special mention ( in no particular order!) to HookLine, Rad, minime and punkin plus everyone else that has contributed to this forum.
I built a 160cm column, 130 cm SS scrubbers, 25mm take off reducing down to 15mm. Using a 50l beer keg with a 2500W element. At present I have about 95% coming off on my first run. First 50ml cloudy and smelly, rest is coming off smelling pretty sweet at 1l/hr. Was going to use this as a practice run, have already done the vinegar/cheap wine runs so almost reluctant to throw this away (or use it for future cleaning runs).
Plan is to go for a neutral to start with, but I have a piece of 2" left so will more than likely build a setup for pot distilling.
Attached is a couple of photo's, hope they work OK, smallest I could get them on Picassa.

IMG_2738.JPG (15.41 KiB) Viewed 705 times

1/4" coil, used salt as recommended and managed this as my first attempt, not the prettiest, but works a treat.

IMG_2748.JPG (13.66 KiB) Viewed 705 times

Liebig is crimped 15mm interior, 20mm outer and about 700mm long. A bit of overkill but who knows where the future lies

IMG_2749.JPG (14.27 KiB) Viewed 705 times

No points for guessing who's parrot I copied, very exciting watching the alcoholmeter settling at 95%!! Don't let the drop into the jar be too great or the liquid splashes out!!
Anyway, hope anyone just starting out realizes that with the help on this site and the main site there are all the tools required to get started fairly quickly.

[Hawke]

Don't let the drop into the jar be too great or the liquid splashes out!!
Anyway, hope anyone just starting out realizes that with the help on this site and the main site there are all the tools required to get started fairly quickly.

If you ran some cheap wine through it, this run could be a keeper.
For Mason jars and similar, I use a canning funnel over the jar. For small neck bottles and jugs, I have a funnel made from a 2x1/2 reducer. Keeps the splash from getting away.
Looks like you are well on your way.

[HookLine]

Welcome and congrats.

Plan is to go for a neutral to start with, but I have a piece of 2" left so will more than likely build a setup for pot distilling.

Do it. Even if you never make flavoured spirits (and you almost certainly will end up making some), a simple pot head is very useful just for doing low wine (stripping) runs.

[rad14701]

Congratulations on the build, Prana...

You may be a bit limited on the take off rate due to the small branch size... The column:branch ratio is also loosely considered the minimum reflux ratio... By your description it sounds like a 2" column with a 1" branch which equates to a 4:1 theoretical minimum reflux based on area calculations... Having the 1" immediately reduce to 1/2" might marginally compound the issue... So, while you should be able to attain decent purity, your take off rate may be less than optimal but will get the job done...

Good luck...