VM/LM concept drawing.....feedback appreciated

[condensificator]

naw, man...i'm locked in. i'll just sell off one of my kids...i gotsa couple extra.

i'mma gonna do it proper. i appreciate your guidance.

[Drosteo]

Thanks guys. Appreciate all the feedback. Good luck on your build condensificator. I have decided to keep to the plan and have ordered the 2" gate valve and will be 2 inch all the way to the 3/4 x 1" liebig.

I am going to be buying some of the copper mesh that comes in sheets that you can roll up and put in. I figure that if it is rolled like that and i am sliding it in from the bottom it will be stopped by the reducer before coming out the top of that section. This should give me the "space" that you say it needs there kiwi, or does it need more space.

[kiwistiller]

I personally like to have a few cm (maybe an inch) of clearance on both sides of the collar before packing, but that's not proven or anything, it's just what I do.

[Drosteo]

Thanks kiwi will see what i can manage.

On the copper mesh.....does anyone know where to get the "amphora structured packing" style copper mesh in australia or does it have to be brought in from US.

[Drosteo]

OK copper mesh ordered.

Now I need to get a thermometer.

Any suggestions???

[Drosteo]

OK finally finished....well almost

Here are some progress pics.

This was the original crossflow condenser design but proved to be too hard to weld such a thin walled tube so we had to use 6 3/4" tubes (all the tube we had left) instead of the 19 1/4" that we had planned on using.

This is the new one with the larger dimensions

For the Liebig we had to use 1" in 1.5" instead of the planned 3/4" in 1" as we had to use the 3/4" for the crossflow. I beat the inner tube to cause indentations for turbulence.

[Drosteo]

This is the inside of the liebig

The finished liebig, 90cm long now.

The finished crossflow

The finished still.....well almost.
I still have a bit of grinding and buffing to do yet.

[TheMechwarrior]

I'm a noob stainless fan who's recently taken an interest in this style thanks to HD and I for one love the look of this build.
Can you post some performance details for us?

PS...could you please post some pics of the centering rings you made up from 3" to 2" reducers? I'm interested in seeing how you fitted these.

Cheers,

Mech.

[Drosteo]

Hey Mech,

I will definately post some performance specs once i completely finish it and get it sparked up hopefully the weekend after this. I still have to add the elements to the keg boiler and polish it up and also make up the connection for the liebig to the 1st column section so that it can be a pot still as well.

I will take some pics of the reducers (centering rings) when i get a chance but basically it is just a 3-2" reducer, placed in the top of a 3" tube and then welded in place. You end up with a small amount of indentation but nothing dramatic. Once you grind away the excess weld, then use a flap wheel to smooth it off and then a polishing wheel to make it shine it is hardly noticeable. The hardest part was making sure that the reducer was sitting in there straight, but that is nothing a square rule wont sort out for you.

Any more info just let me know

[Drosteo]

OK.
So tonight i was able to give my still its first run.

With 3700W it took approx 1 hour to get to heat

I then let it sit for approx 30min

I noticed that some steam was coming out of the safety vent so i dropped the power back to 2400W and that seemed to stop it.

It was charged with 25L of white wine at approx 10% abv.

I took off the first 250ml (i know this is probably excessive but i dont really care) of foreshots at approx 1 drip per sec

I then opened the gate valve on the VM side and was getting approx 2.5L/hour at 90% (I assume it will have a faster output at a higher abv when i use low wines at around 40 - 50% instead of 10%???)

After the first litre it started to slow and i measured an output of 1.8L/hour at approx 84%.

I opened the gate valve fully at this point and it has now slowed to around 1.4L/hour and i have collected a total of 1.5L so far

I dont imagine i will get the full 2.5L due to some sitting in the column and some in the space above the liquid in the boiler.

Anyway was mainly just a run to iron out the kinks and give it a clean out.

Of note: I opened up the needle valve (LM side) and collected everything that was in that. At this point the temp also dropped 20 degrees and the output stopped on the VM side. Can somebody please explain why as i have no idea???

Next time I will use the still in pot form and strip the wine down first. Then use the reflux to refine it.

[Drosteo]

Bump?

OK.

I then opened the gate valve on the VM side and was getting approx 2.5L/hour at 90% (I assume it will have a faster output at a higher abv when i use low wines at around 40 - 50% instead of 10%???)


I dont imagine i will get the full 2.5L due to some sitting in the column and some in the space above the liquid in the boiler?

Of note: I opened up the needle valve (LM side) and collected everything that was in that. At this point the temp also dropped 20 degrees and the output stopped on the VM side. Can somebody please explain why as i have no idea???

Next time I will use the still in pot form and strip the wine down first. Then use the reflux to refine it.