DCT wrote:rumball
here is my chunk of copper, 22" inches long, here is what im thinking, cutting 5" piece for mounting to keg & bottom of ball, leaving the rest coming off top of ball, then figure what angle I want cut top of pipe to angle & match lyne arm, think it should be plenty long with lyne arm at 24", just think less joints to fail from stress?? this pipe od is huge, i will even be able to polish the inside, & is easy to clean as I can fit my entire arm in it..
Pics? This sounds huge.
I just realized that my life is a very complicated drinking game...
ok, here is where im at, ready to start cutting...think i will make the extra short piece the lyne arm attaches to rather than just cutting the long piece above the ball & attaching lyne arm direct, decisions decisions....wish i would have got a ten inch ball now as the 8 inch looks small on the 6" od pipe...any input???
thanks
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width of ball after ends removed, no it would not fit pipe, thought about reataching ball ends but holes were milled on lath & now there would be about 3/8 gap to try t fill, think im stuck with ball on bottom.
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Rad
question, would there be any bennifit to adding copper to the inside of the 6" pipe? like a piece of 1" caped going threw multiple copper bowls with holes drilled in the bottom them...any redistillation to this?? maybe a dumb question?
DCT wrote:Rad
question, would there be any bennifit to adding copper to the inside of the 6" pipe? like a piece of 1" caped going threw multiple copper bowls with holes drilled in the bottom them...any redistillation to this?? maybe a dumb question?
ANYTHING in the vapor path is going to contribute to at least a small amount of reflux... What that ANYTHING is comes down to is materials on hand, complexity of integration, and personal preference...
I've actually pondered orbs attached to a rod/tube in similar fashion to your idea of bowls... They would cause the vapor speed to fluctuate, theoretically causing vapor to collapse onto the orbs, running down over them, dripping off onto the the next lower orb, and re-vaporizing... Spacing between orbs is subject to speculation...
Daddy used, to say " Any landing you can walk away from is a good one"
Calculations don't mean shit when compared to the real world practical experience of many...RAD 9/2010
Rad
that is what I was thinking, may put a small copper rod near top of column, then make simple copper hooks at the top of reflux piece so it hangs in the tube, then it can be removed for cleaning
ok, the still continues...got my cuts done today, try cutting 6" od at angles, luckily my friend had a 15" mider chop saw, man the copper was flying...and yes I did polish the inside
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getting everything preped to solder this week, damn building a simple pot still even takes alot of time, but here is the general design, any suggestions before I solder it all up?
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DCT, I actually got 2 15.5 gallon kegs for free by contacting some of my local breweries. The one that gave them to me had them stacked up in the back because they rent theirs but sometimes the distributor brings them someone elses which they can't use so they literally just throw them in the back yard.
I got everything built this weekend except installing the heating element and making the controller.
Here are some rough photos.
4inch with Flange.jpg
Copper Onion Top View.jpg
Side view of Column.jpg
Front View of Column.jpg
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VERY NICE!!
Is that all 6" tube? how did you attach to keg? can i get some pics of that? also is that a temp guage? please show a pic of how you attached it. how did you make your flange? great job on the build!
DCT, Mine is primarily 3" tube with a small 4" piece at the bottom to attach to the keg. I welded a new 4" ferrule onto the keg and am attaching with a standard 4" triclamp to 4" copper. I did the weld myself with my mig welder and it turned out OK. Not the prettiest weld I've ever seen, but definitely water tight. I hammered out a flange on my 4" pipe and inserted some copper sheet inside to add a lip to it that gets inserted into the ferrule on the keg which I'm hoping will cause any reflux to drip down into the keg and lessen leaks plus it gets everything lined up when clamping it down. It also gave me a wall so that I could put solder on the top of the flange and get it good and flat. The very first picture I posted shows the flange upside down, but I'll see if I can get some better pictures of that when i get home tonight.
I made the lyne arm out of 3" copper tubing and like Rumbull, I cut out a wedge and then worked it back together with clamps. That part turned out a little rougher than I would have liked. Unfortunately I learned why you anneal copper AFTER doing that piece so there are more dents and dings than I'd like, but we'll just say it gives it character.
And yes that is a thermometer on the top. The thermometer has a 1/4" NPT connection on it so I used a 1/4" female fitting and drilled a hole in my tubing at an angle to make it easy to see and soldered in the female fitting. The thermometer can then just screw right in and if I ever decide I don't need it I can easily plug it or remove the whole fitting. Since I'm new at this I'm OK with using it as a crutch until I can do everything by taste and feel.
I made my column taller than some I've seen on here primarily because most of the traditional Scotch stills I've seen look like they have a really tall column and that is the type of whiskey I'm after. I can always shorten it if I'm getting too much reflux.
To me, building this was easy compared to making a controller for the 240V heating element. I'm still a little lost on that one. I'm hoping I'll get some responses on the Heating Element Control thread to help me figure that one out.
Sorry I went to a Macallan tasting last night and didn't get to take more pictures. I did however get to sample some really good scotch
Yours is looking great. I like your idea of the optional pieces to add reflux. That is also what I was thinking with cutting the tabs into my onion. I left every other tab sticking out into the vapor path and I can always bend them down out of the way if it has an undesirable affect.
here is how i decided to mount to keg, stoped by local bus muffler supply shop, had them cut a chunk of ss & flare the end to fit copper, just slides in, then clamped with ss pressure clamp.
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i tired, but the man running the flare machine would not try it, b/c he said the copper would tear, i dont think it would have, but it was my last piece so i dint risk it.
doing 1st cleaning run with no condenser, may need some help learning to run this beast, took about 45 minutes to boil outside in low 40's...how to bring to a temp of 172 with out boiling to fast, will this hurt the spirit? a therm may be in order?
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Last edited by DCT on Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
