My keg still

[truckbed]

i got some questions of course.

1) do they make an elbow that bends more than 90 degrees? after the first elbow i need the rest of the line to slant down towards the condenser. i was thinking of a 2" 45 degree elbow, then a 90 higher up, but that may be too steep.

2) what do you think of the basic design? i know pots are hard to screw up but just thought id ask

3) are there reducers/couplers that go from rigid to tubing?

[lawdog]

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=10539 <----click the link

if you use 1 1/4" you dont need any special fittings.

[truckbed]

i wouldnt mind going with 1-1/4" but my keg has a different collar assembly than yours. i just pulled it apart and it comes apart in more pieces than yours. the piece with the holes in it comes off the collar and nothing bigger than a 1" will fit through it but if you do that the 1" copper will not meet up with the inside of the collar... if that makes sense.

in addition to that, im not crazy about the idea of using the rubber gasket.

i appreciate it anyway man!

[Hawke]

Here is how I did mine.
Use a 90, then the 45 can be turned to come up with the angle you need.

[truckbed]

Hawke i like that older model keg you got, theyre hard to find. yeah thats a great idea to turn the 45 and 90 in different directions to get my angle. kind of like a 'duh'. maybe i would have figured it out once i got all the pieces and started fiddlin with it... maybe not.


Hawke what is all that other stuff on your still? like the piece with insulation on it and other things not usually seen on a pot?


EDIT: also what method do you use for connecting 2" copper to the keg? its hard to see in the pic.

thanks

[Hawke]

That particular keg connection is a tri-clamp to female pipe thread. Got the clamp and adapter from Mile-Hi. I now make my own flanges.
The piece with the insulation on it was my first potstill. (Build #3) It's just hanging up on the door in the pic.
As for all the other things, I built a stilling rack with adjustable arms to support the condenser and the parrot. There is a collection table under the parrot. The whole thing can be wheeled around without having to tear things down.

[Hack]

are there reducers/couplers that go from rigid to tubing?

Took me awhile to figure this one out, myself. Then I felt really dumb once I did. Up your copper tubing one size from the size of rigid you want to mate to and the fittings match up. For example on my rig I used 5/8" copper tubing mated to 1/2" rigid tubing using 1/2" rigid fittings.

[eternalfrost]

heres what i did for mine:

vertical 2" from the keg, reduced in a few steps to 1/2", elbow to horizontal enough to clear the keg rim. the liebig is separate, and has another elbow at the top end. the two are joined buy a copper union, the same kind i showed you earlier truckbed.

they can be joined in any concentric position so you can raise and lower the liebig angle to anything you want then clamp it down. since the keg connection can rotate as well, you can put the output practacally any position within the sphere.

changing the angle also has an effect on reflux rates for the final spirit run.

[ddhix]

Hey LawDog, what % do you pull out of your keg still on the first run? I am shooting to build a keg still that gets 40% out, and need to know how tall my column should be (compared to yours) before I curve it to the condenser.

Thanks!

[Hawke]

From a 6 to 10% wash, it should be pretty easy to achieve 40%. Height of the 'column' is not all that important on a potstill, just make it fit your stilling area.

[ddhix]

I understand what you mean. My goal is to achieve around 40% on the first run; which I would like to be my only run. The latter of the heads and the former of the tails, if measured correctly, should be able to get a 45% or so output down to 40% by dilution.

My concern, though, is getting that general area, and finding a constant.

On a pot still, what really determines the percentage output, really?

I'm definitely going to follow the keg still designs I've seen on here. I've read some on here about when you boil faster & hotter, the percentage comes out lower, while a slow smooth boil gives a higher percentage on a pot still. I definitely have no intention of getting anything above 45%; that is my #1 goal. I don't want to do any redistillations, nothing like that. A reflux still is out of the question (for now) since I really have no desire for anything of high purity, and watering the spirit down.

Thanks for ya'lls help! Great forums.

[Hack]

On a pot still, what really determines the percentage output, really?

The percent alcohol in the wash and the heat you put to it are the greatest factors. Your upper limit on percent alcohol with a straight traditional pot still will be one plate of distillation. There's some good stuff about this on the parent site.