Barney Fife wrote:How long and at how much power can you run before the 15 gallons of water gets really hot?
If I am doing one run, then the entire run, stripping or spirit run. I run a my rig on propane, and 'can' push it as high as the burner can go, and it will not heat up any more than if run slow (heats up faster, but you are also done faster). I usually do not run a huge flame, since that is pretty much a waste. Most of the heat simply flows past the boiler, heats up the air, and is not driven into the still.
Now, the top of the water WILL get pretty hot. It will steam, and even have some bubbles forming on the tubing. That is not an issue. You actually want that, so that the hot vapors collapse slower (do a search for 'huffing and puffing'). However, even with the top hot, the bottom is still nice and cold.
If I am doing more than one run (usually I only do 1), then I will put a garden hose to the bottom of the worm buckets between runs, and slowly add some water, allowing the hot water it to overflow the top. If you do that slow, it will keep the hot water on top (you want that), but push the hottest out, and make the level of cold water in the bottom deeper. The condenser is probably large enough to handle 2 strips without cycling, but I have never run it back to back, without cycling at least some water.
I do not empty my condenser from spring to fall, even though I do not run it 'too' much. I simply put a cap full or 2 of bleach in it, to keep it from getting ripe, and put a piece of plywood over the top of the keg, to keep crap and critters from falling into it. When done, I unscrew the lyne arm, run a little HOT water down the tube, put a cap to the top connection, and put a carved oak peg into the bottom (again, to keep critters out).
I really like the keg as a worm bucket. I had some plastic stuff before (started with a 7 gallon bucket that I had JB welded on the bottom. I then moved up to a 22 gallon barrel, again, 'rigged' to work, but always seeming less usable than I wanted. The keg is very sturdy, and the coil is perm mounted inside, soldered in actually, with gasketed screw together fittings on the input and output. When I made it, I got the coil done, put it in the keg, and marked out where it would exit the keg, and where it would enter, then drilled, put in gasketed screw together fittings (not sure of the proper name for these), with a proper sized tube running through them. Then put the worm in, used a 90 degree elbow at the top to solder the coil on to the top pipe, and a 45 degree elbow on the bottom, to connect to (had to bend my coil just a bit to get the 45 to work). Soldered on some copper 'leg supports' to keep the coil stable on the inside, and make sure it stayed even spaced, and down sloped, and it is like a mini version of some of the commercial worms I have seen pix of. The thing is solid as a rock, and always reliable, and there is NO WAY there will ever be a low spot in the whole system.
If there is water (not too warm) in it, and you get the lyne arm connection sealed tight, it will work every time. I like that. One less thing to worry about. Still'in should be enjoyable, relaxing (at least IMHO).
This is a GREAT use for a keg, if you had originally cut the top, but then got tired of Fuk'n with that bowl, and moved on to an unmollested keg (or if you end up scoring numerous kegs, and have a surplus). The other great project for this, is the BOP. absinthe wrote a great tut on how to do that.
H.
Hillbilly Rebel: Unless you are one of the people on this site who are legalling distilling, keep a low profile, don't tell, don't sell.
jerk! 
On a positive note, the scrap yard told me to keep checking back for bigger pieces (said a guy came in earlier today and cleaned them out), but they usually carry a whole lot of scrap copper sheet. I forsee an all copper rig or a bright shiny thumper if i ever get a good size sheet.
