Condenser control still

[manu de hanoi]

you can have a coil that is double near the ports but single near the other end

[Austin Nichols]

Hey Spud,

Did you build this? have you ran it?

I would like to know more about this design, I have enough copper here to build another still and am trying to decide what to do.

Cheers.

[therealraycharles]

manu I think you are my hero. This design is so simple it's awesome. It's a great candidate for people (like me) who plan on one day building a modular column. The condenser can be re-used for different types of design as well!

I think the sliding portion could be better controlled if you soldered some copper wire to the ends of the condenser as well to make a "track" to ride on the inner wire.

[LWTCS]

One question once you have built all these different stills what do you do with the ones you don't use anymore? it's kind of adictive

Create a bone yard,,,,,be your own private scrappy

I try to repurpose as much as I can.

[manu de hanoi]

Hi Spud, have you looked at the video link in the first post of the thread ? Which part of the design worries you ?

[manu de hanoi]

manu de hanoi, nothing about it worries me I think it is an awsome design, I am thinking it'll take over from the boka. I am just wondering how many people have built one so far?

I had a look at the video - love it. I tried to save it but it win't let me save a copy.

I'm the only one who has built it so far.

[Austin Nichols]

G'day Manu,

What output would you expect from this design constructed from 3 inch copper ?

Have you come up with any ideas on how to control the condenser position without the aid of a glove and step ladder?

Cheers.

[manu de hanoi]

G'day Manu,

What output would you expect from this design constructed from 3 inch copper ?

Have you come up with any ideas on how to control the condenser position without the aid of a glove and step ladder?

Cheers.

the condenser handle can be insulated, as for the ladder, the problem is the same with all reflux still

[Austin Nichols]

Manu,

Sorry if what I said came across as being a smart arse, It wasnt meant to come out that way.

I was interested to know if you've come up with some kind of device/handle mechanism to control the condenser position.

I'm also interested in how much distillate per hour a 3 inch rig could put out at 95% ABV, I know you've done a video of it but I cant access video's because of my very limited download.

Cheers.

[rad14701]

I've been wondering what "Rube Goldberg" ideas folks would come up with for making adjustments to the reflux condenser... Maybe we should have a contest...

I've been pondering a cantilever design, one with an overgrown thumb-wheel type of contraption, one with an electro-mechanical actuator, and a few others not worth mentioning...

[Austin Nichols]

I reckon one of those brick clamps would work, the ones they use to carry six bricks at a time, would only need some minor mods to fit it too.

Here's a link to what I'm thinking.


http://cars2.ebay.com.au/Brick-Clamps-T ... 0603171673" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[manu de hanoi]

Manu,

Sorry if what I said came across as being a smart arse, It wasnt meant to come out that way.

I was interested to know if you've come up with some kind of device/handle mechanism to control the condenser position.

I'm also interested in how much distillate per hour a 3 inch rig could put out at 95% ABV, I know you've done a video of it but I cant access video's because of my very limited download.

Cheers.

Hi
The flow of distillate & purity depends on the height of the column and the power and the numbers are the same for lm/cm/vm or cc.

As for the handle i'm sure it could be extended downward for easier control

[Austin Nichols]

Hey Austin,

my next question how much is that?

I would love one built in three inch in the future.

I'm not building a slanted plate design again, I'm trying to decide between this design and a larger version of Rad's still.

3 inch copper is a big jump up from 2 inch in price, almost double and the fittings

Manu,

I'm still trying to figure out the maths on output compared to 2 inch column, the problem is that I only got eleven fingers to add it all up with, well that and half a brain doesnt seem to be helping me much

Cheers.

[manu de hanoi]

you can put 1.5 to 2 kw on a 2" and about 4 kw on a 3" the output it gives you is on the parent site

[Austin Nichols]

ok I'll put it in the too hard basket, thanks for your help

I've read the details in the parent site, and couldnt really work it out, wouldnt have thought I was asking for a gold nugget FFS.

[Austin Nichols]

Austin,

Have you thought about building it in 3 inch stainless, it's a hell of a lot cheaper. One ferrel, 2 mtrs of 3 inch pipe, a meter of 6 mm tube and an inch of 1 inch tube and one concentric reducer and your good to go. The only problem is you have to buy the tube in 6 meter lengths so you end up with enough for 3 stills straight up. I recon it would be well under $100.00 when worked out for one still.

I might get on to Midway metals tomorrow and get a quote for materials. The scrap metal yard my be worth a look to.

$220 out of copper for the whole rig.

Column, condenser & take off tube and an easy flange..... for 3 inch copper @ 1.8m ..... wonder if that's on the parent site too?

I've done the research

Cheers.

edit: I had to count each finger twice & double my brain capacity to come up with these figures...

[Manback]

Volume 380mm packed 3" column =

36.5^2 * 3.14 * 380 * .85 = 1351194 mm^3

=1351.2ml vapor

= 2.7ml liquid generated per second

= 9.7 litres generated per hour


That's how much you generate I guess.. then you reflux at say an average of 3:1? So you're taking like 25% of 9.7 litres.. 2.4 litres per hour.. that's at vapor velocity 15"/sec as per Compleat Distiller..

[Austin Nichols]

Volume 380mm packed 3" column =

36.5^2 * 3.14 * 380 * .85 = 1351194 mm^3

=1351.2ml vapor

= 2.7ml liquid generated per second

= 9.7 litres generated per hour


That's how much you generate I guess.. then you reflux at say an average of 3:1? So you're taking like 25% of 9.7 litres.. 2.4 litres per hour.. that's at vapor velocity 15"/sec as per Compleat Distiller..

Thanks manback,

I'll get the mrs to explain that to me, she has one less finger than me so hopefully it works out in metric

Cheers Cobber.

[Manback]

Sorry,

Mike Nixon suggests the ideal vapor velocity for reflux is 15"/second. Vapor velocity in a column is determined by how much vapor is underneath, pushing it up - or, in other words, how much fresh vapor is being created. So, for a velocity of 15"/sec, you need to be generating 15" of vapor in a second. So. We need to know how much vapor is in 15".

Formula = Pi * radius^2 * height * 0.85 (15% of column is occupied by packing)

= 3.14 * 36.5^2 * 380 *0.85
=1351194 mm^3

So, each second 1351194mm^3 of vapor is being generated.

This is much smaller in liquid form, only 1/500 in fact..

So, 1351194/500 = liquid volume per second.

= 2702mm^3 liquid per second

=2.7ml per second.

So, we just figured that at ideal vapor velocity of 15"/sec, in a 3" column 2.7ml liquid is vaporized every second. Multiply this by 3600, and we have the volume of liquid vaporized off in an hour. This gives us 9700ml. So, 9.7l an hour, past that your output depends on your reflux ratio.. if you went down to 1:1, you'd pull 5l/hour in theory.

[Austin Nichols]

Awesome!

I was trying to use my toes but I only had 8, then the dog got one..... 3 bourbons later and my brain capacity halved..... 2 (prescribed) happy pills and IN ABOUT AN HOUR IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE

Oh yelling SORRY

CheErS.

[still crazy]

you guys want to move that condensor in and out of the pipe for control

Bell crank

[rad14701]

That was more or less what I had in mind when I mentioned using a cantilever, still crazy, but with a single pivot point... Either way would work...

[rednose]

mechanism to control the condenser position.

Easy thing, solder a 8mm nut to the tube and a 8mm washer to the coil.

Than use a long 8mm screw with a nut closed to the top to hold the washer and you have it done cheap and fast

Joe

[Yunus]

Solder/weld a beam on top of the tower that extends past the end of the tower by an inch or so. Place a long nail/spike in the hole that fits between the coils on the condenser. Adjust by removing nail moving coil then replacing nail.

[still crazy]

Don't be silly Spud

[Yunus]

As one of the first to purchase this style of still from Manu I thought a review was in order.

I bought the 2" version from him and it worked great. I was able to hit 95% purity on my first ever spirit run. It was pretty easy to run as well. Fine tuning adjustments are still being worked out, Manu is sending me another coil at no charge because he wants to make sure he delivers the best products to his customers. This is more a statement of the quality of Manu's products than the still itself. I'm a total newb when it comes to distilling so the difficulties I have encountered may very well be to my lack of experience. The only modification I am making is to add insulation up to the takeoff port, it came with insulation up till the bend in the pipe but I'm adding another 10" or so because I distilled outside and the wind affected the rate of distilation, I believe that adding a bit more insulation will resolve this issue.

Other than the insulation addition, I really can't think of anything that I had problems with. What he sold me was exactly what I wanted, a simple to operate still. I base this on the fact that I was able to run this with a few friends and we are all brewers but very little distillation experience between us, yet we were able to get a good quality product from this still first try.

If anyone has any specific questions I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability.

[HookLine]

Thanks for that, Yunus.

[Popcorn Fan]

Got a photo?

[The Baker]

You could stagger the coil diameters.
Larger diameter at the start, middle and end. The rest can be slightly smaller.
That way only 3 coils to impede the flow slightly rather than all of them.

scarecrow

- a cone shape would still lay on one side
- even if the first rings were supposed to "center" the coil, given the weight and flexibility of the coil it would bend. you can see on the video that 2 hands are required to hold a big coil if you dont want it to bend under it's own weight.

Manu, it's great to see someone with a new idea.

Suppose you mounted the coil inside a pipe that would slide inside the big one. (With rails if necessary or desirable...., might be needed to help it slide and/or to take up 'sloppiness' between the two pipes....).

Use tabs or rails or any means at all to fix the coil in position within its own pipe so that it can't 'bend under its own weight'. Should be simple.

[manu de hanoi]

You could stagger the coil diameters.
Larger diameter at the start, middle and end. The rest can be slightly smaller.
That way only 3 coils to impede the flow slightly rather than all of them.

scarecrow

- a cone shape would still lay on one side
- even if the first rings were supposed to "center" the coil, given the weight and flexibility of the coil it would bend. you can see on the video that 2 hands are required to hold a big coil if you dont want it to bend under it's own weight.

Manu, it's great to see someone with a new idea.

Suppose you mounted the coil inside a pipe that would slide inside the big one. (With rails if necessary or desirable...., might be needed to help it slide and/or to take up 'sloppiness' between the two pipes....).

Use tabs or rails or any means at all to fix the coil in position within its own pipe so that it can't 'bend under its own weight'. Should be simple.

simpler than just a rail ?