Franki's sister The Evil Twins Still

[olddog]

I have been interested in building a twin column still after receiving a book about whiskey from my wife for Xmas. It showed a twin column referred to as a Coffey still, although this still was of vast proportions I thought about developing a small version for home use. Using ideas and concepts from Barney Fife and Decoy I have built a twin column still with modifications to their original concepts.
The primary column uses Decoys plate theory, with the plates being made saucer like, unlike Decoys flat plates, these are attached to a 1/4" tube, and downers from each plate to the column below.

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These will now fit inside the 2" tube and fixed permanently with a brace across the top of the tube, the 90 degree fitting is then attached.

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The secondary column was an adaption of Barney Fife's concept, but with drain tubes from each plate to a lower level, this

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will eventually drain back to the boiler via a "P" trap which will allow liquid down and preventing vapour rising up the drain tube. The feed to the secondary unit rises above the drain inside the secondary column.
The final assembly is now complete, all I have to do is give it a good internal clean, and then I will be ready for a trial run.

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Do we have any bets whether this concept will work

[Dnderhead]

It appers that your downcommers sit to high, they are supoes to act as overflowes for the plates.

[olddog]

The pic was taken during assembly, the downcomers have been ground back prior to final fitting.

[guerrila distilla]

it's certainly a nice looking piece of kit. cant wait to hear how it performs. are you going to be running this as a continious still, or as a batch still? i dont see a mash inlet in the first column. i think the idea of the coffey still was to run constantly, with the second column tuned in length and width, to separate heads, hearts and tails. in theory, it sounds easy, in practice, not so easy. if i remember the coffey principle, the tails, dropped back into the boiler, the hearts were collected higher up, and the heads were condensed off separately from the top.

i think if you could find an easy way of tuning the second column, you could be onto something here. perhaps a few external cooling coils at various heights on the column, with valves to control the cooling rate.

anyway, good luck, i hope it works out.

[HookLine]

It looks so good, I almost don't care if it works or not. (I'm sure it will, OD. )

Is the top of the second column free standing, or braced to the main column?

[olddog]

Just fitted a brace this afternoon.

[kiwistiller]

that's a thing of beauty old dog. can't wait to hear the performance report.

[ammo man]

Dang olddog, some people got it, some just think about it, and I hate to say it, but some don't even think. It looks like you got it. I, too, can hardly wait for your first report.

Bert (ammo man)

[tater-shine]

I too think she looks great. So are the 2 photos of diferent stills? I just noticed on the first one it looks like the down tubes are internal and the second one they loop outside the 2 inch column? Looks verry nice. Tater

[decoy]

nice work

two things i have concern about are the downcomers and the direction the plates a concaved in.

the down comers need to be submerged below the plate liquid level to form an airlock.
if you have problems forming the airlock you can use slightly larger copper tube end caps and fix them to the bottom of the downcomer.

i would flip the plates 180deg so the liquid is forced to run to the outer edges so vapour from below bubbles through it

[olddog]

are you going to be running this as a continious still, or as a batch still?

This is only going to be run as a batch still, I have no valid reasons to make it a continous still.

perhaps a few external cooling coils at various heights on the column

Would be an easy addition if required, but I want to see what it will produce as it stands.

So are the 2 photos of diferent stills?

No two columns on the same still, one primary, one secondary, with a tails return from the secondary to the boiler.

i would flip the plates 180deg so the liquid is forced to run to the outer edges so vapour from below bubbles through it

The plates are placed with the edges facing upwards to encourage pooling.

[Barney Fife]

Whoa! Bring that to a professional photographer and have it done up; I'll buy 3 poster sized prints!! Man, that is sweet. Leave it out, and most everyone will think you've joined the brass section at the nearest symphony <lol>

I, too, look forward to its maiden run; you're going to run something familiar, I hope? My mistake right now with my plate column is that I'm making rum from feed molasses for the first time, and it's not the same flavor profile I'm used to at all, so I have nothing to go buy as to how it is affecting flavor or not. I'm getting plenty of flavor, but I'm not really liking what I'm tasting near as much as my usual rum. I'm going to do the next two strips using my old pot still(short lyne arm) and see what that does; I've got 2 washes going, 2 days apart, so I'm making strip runs every 3rd or 4th day and a spirit run in between, just to get rid of this vile pail of junk and get back to fancy molasses.

Point being, we need to stay with familiar washes when we're trying to reinvent the still!

You do incredible work, Olddog!

[olddog]

Well the Test Results are in:
All I can say is I am blown away with the results of this still, I had 25lts of UJSSM ready to distill so that was the test medium.

Initially I got 200ml of forshots at 90ABV.

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The as the heads were being taken , the ABV dropped to 80ABV ,and continued for the remainder of the run at 80ABV.

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I collected 2 1/2 litres of spirit at 80 ABV, at the end of the collection the output decreased from a pencil lead stream to droplets. The tails return was working well, with a tube placed on th column next to the returns connection I could hear liquid dropping back into the boiler.The only drawback I can think of is that you are unable to collect tails for addition to future runs, but I am willing to forgo that to be able to get the super clean spirit with masses of flavour. The whole run took about 3 hours after boil, and I run the boiler at a steady simmer.
So not quite a Coffey still which strips out the heads and tails, but a great success overall.

BTW I apologise for my focusing in the pics, my camera does not have macro.

[kiwistiller]

Awesome results! I'm so glad that it works as good as it looks. Such effort should be rewarded

[cob]

i thought the fuzzy part was your vision (or mine), nicework and a happy ending . cob
pm me on maple

[Barney Fife]

Woohoo! So, would you say that the flavor is akin to a twice distilled UJSM?

What did you use to make the round plates?

Damn... I think I need to buy me some copper!

[olddog]

Woohoo! So, would you say that the flavor is akin to a twice distilled UJSM?

Definately.

What did you use to make the round plates?

I had some 3/4" spare, cut down the centre and flattened out gives you bigger than required for a 2" circle. I placed it over a short bit of 2" tubing and hammered it into a saucer shape using a ball pein hammer using the ball side to make the saucer, while you are doing this it marks the back of the plate to enable you to cut a decent circle using aviation snips.I made all six discs and put them on top of each other, gripped with a pair of vice grips and drilled the holes for the center tube and downers all at the same time.

[HookLine]

Looks great, works even better. Success!

Gotta say I think it is one of the best looking stills I have seen, original design and beautiful construction. Your workmanship is outstanding.

Though it might be a bugger to clean if it gets gunked up inside. Ah well, nothing is perfect.

[olddog]

Though it might be a bugger to clean if it gets gunked up inside.

A high pressure hose pipe full of plain water did the trick.

[kiwistiller]

what was the run time like, OD?

[Barney Fife]

Ain't nothin' you can scrub by hand with that hot alcohol vapors won't clean out better. I just don't understand the hangup some guys have with having to dismantle a still head to wash it out.

Ya know, I'm so set in my ways with doing strip runs and a spirit run of 2-3 strips, that I seem to be overlooking my own goals with the barney plate column, which is to do both the strip and spirit run at once. I think I've just changed my plan for the next few washes, and run them as spirit runs and see what one go will give me.

I had some 3/4" spare, cut down the centre and flattened out gives you bigger than required for a 2" circle. I placed it over a short bit of 2" tubing and hammered it into a saucer shape using a ball pein hammer using the ball side to make the saucer, while you are doing this it marks the back of the plate to enable you to cut a decent circle using aviation snips.

Awe, you suck! <lol> I wanted you to say you used 2 inch test caps, or that you used a 2" hole saw and cut up a sheet or something. Tin snips? That's like, like, like, you know, that's like work! Arghhh!

[olddog]

what was the run time like, OD?

Just under 4hrs from light up to finish.

[kiwistiller]

what was the run time like, OD?

Just under 4hrs from light up to finish.

Sorry, I meant compared to normal?

[olddog]

Sorry, I meant compared to normal?

Run time is the same as the Frakenstill.

[kiwistiller]

ah, that's right, you don't use a straight pot still, right?

hmmm. I guess knowing it's equivalent to a single run thumper is good. How hard were you driving it?

[olddog]

A lot less than the Frankenstill which I usually drive pretty hard, with the new still it was just a gentle boil, to allow the plates to condense the vapor and return either to the lower plate or back to the boiler.

[decoy]

well done olddog

ill post a drawing of a two column still for ya some time later..

good work.

[olddog]

ill post a drawing of a two column still for ya some time later..

Thanks Decoy that would be great.

[LWTCS]

Way to go OD.

Not sure what to think bout choo cheatin on the Frankinstill like that

[olddog]

It's quite amazing, it outperforms the Frankenstill, without the need for a thumper. I ran another wash yesterday and repeated the original test results.