Mecha Still Build progress

[HookLine]

Reason for suggesting the double coil is that he is doing it in stainless, as I understand it, and so will need a lot more surface area for condensing.

[TheMechwarrior]

Yup,

For my my Graham condenser I was planning on using 1/4" stainless tube (3m) coiled around a 5/8" tube.
This should result in ~60 windings and a total coil length of ~800mm. Packed inside either an 1 1/4" tube or an 1 1/2" tube for cooling.
If I needed to go to twin coils then I'd go to a 2" cooling tube.

Sitting on top of the Graham I have my double helix copper coil (190mm long) pre-condenser at the "T" off-take of my VM.

[TheMechwarrior]

My maths is crap!
My 3m of 1/4" tube resulted in 42 windings and not 60...and 500mm of coil...not the 800mm I thought.
Here's a pic of me winding the stainless coil:


Here's a side by side comparison of 3m of double wound versus 3m of single wound.
Double wound resulted in a coil of ~190mm in length while the single coil resulted in a length of ~500mm

[TheMechwarrior]

I few updates today...= progress

Here are the centering rings created from 2" to 1.5" concentric reducers to fit inside my 2" reflux column.
The reducers (right one) have been cut down (left one) to provide a snug fit so they can be easliy slipped in and out at will.


Slipping the reducers into the column:


How they look sitting in place:


Here's my 6" triclover cap that sits on top of my keg:
Here you can see that I've ground out the 2" ferrule to allow for the perforated plate insert and the PTFE seal.


This is what it looks like assembled:


Still to do:

Build temperature controller
Build Leibig/Graham product cooler

Cheers,

Mech.

[kiwistiller]

whats up with the insert? looks like it could be a choking hazzard...

Edit - other than that it's very nice

[rad14701]

TheMechwarrior, using a larger diameter mandrel would have resulted in a shorter Graham condenser, which is what I was envisioning... A SS condenser will just require a greater coolant flow rate to attain the same amount of thermal transfer... Gotta love copper, and I pity those members who have a hard time sourcing it...

You've got some nice looking SS work there... Keep the build pictures coming...

[TheMechwarrior]

Roger that rad,

I did wind a larger mandrel stainless coil when I first started this project but thought it was too small for anything practical.
Here it is, 2m of tube wrapped around a 2" mandrel ~130mm:
Based on that I guess a 6m length of tube would give me a 390mm coil.
I wound this to go into a 3" housing. Note: I haven't tidied up the windings.


Do you think a 6m lenth of tube would do the job?

[Kentucky shinner]

you got things looking good man.. are you gonna tig that up or try to use hard soler?

[TheMechwarrior]

you got things looking good man.. are you gonna tig that up or try to use hard soler?

Thanks mate.

She's all Tig welded up now and looking the goods just waiting on 1 last weld and I need to sort out how much tube I'll need to buy to make sure my Graham condenser brings the condensate back to a reasonable temperature.
I'm not asking the Graham to do anything with vapour as I'm using a massive double wound pre-condenser for that job.

I was thinking roughly 4m of 1/4" tube coiled to fit inside the 3" 250mm housing I already have? From what I understand of other peoples Leibig builds this will be huge?

[Ayay]

Bloody hell Mecha-MachIIIWarrior...Steel artist!

[TheMechwarrior]

Some more stainless pics for you.
My gate valve arrived today so I had the 1.5" BSP to butt weld nipple Tig welded onto the 1.5" ferrules and viola:





Cheers for now,

Mech.

[Caprimulgus]

Ooooh, shiny! I wish I had your bank acount

[TheMechwarrior]

Ooooh, shiny! I wish I had your bank acount

When you drink as much as I do...this project has less than 6 months pay-back...I'm actualy saving money by investing like this

[TheMechwarrior]

How does this look to the masters in here?

I can get quite a lot of coil into the compact worm, with the addition of 2" to 3" reducers at both ends I can increase the size of this to 550mm total or 22" with over 10m of coil to cool the outgoing product. The idea being to send the product down the coil and flood the 3" vessel with cooling water.


Cheers,

Mech.

[Ayay]

Not correct...the product condenser always goes on the right hand side of the column :

Hope you have some good ferments stewing cos it's time to run it!

[todd54]

Not correct...the product condenser always goes on the right hand side of the column

Please explain? What dose right or left of the column got to do with workings of the condenser?
Mecha, that unit looks great, stainless dose have its own qualities, myself I love the color of copper. Hey what ever floats your boat Great build.

[Ayay]

Sorry todd54 I was being facetious. It's only how the picture is orientated. There is no difference between left an right an I'm jealous of Mechwarrior!

[bgrizzle]

I just saw the picture of the pre-assembly... Just one question/suggestion...

The condenser on the right side of the picture (before the VM take off)... why not do a bok of some sort. My rig is just like yours, but I have a liebig condenser for the takeoff. And just below the double coil condenser I have a bok double slant plate and a 1/4" needle valve. I love this because I can use the bok to take off the foreshots and heads... When I get into the hearts I open up the Gate Valve...

Not a necessity, just something to consider

[TheMechwarrior]

I just saw the picture of the pre-assembly... Just one question/suggestion...

The condenser on the right side of the picture (before the VM take off)... why not do a bok of some sort. My rig is just like yours, but I have a liebig condenser for the takeoff. And just below the double coil condenser I have a bok double slant plate and a 1/4" needle valve. I love this because I can use the bok to take off the foreshots and heads... When I get into the hearts I open up the Gate Valve...

Not a necessity, just something to consider

Easy enough to do on that section and I have a "spare" replica that I can turn into a BOK head down the track.
I don't want to make it too difficult for me to start with.
I figured I get a handle on VM...then modify the still to accomodate my growing experience level.
My priority is stop spending good money on commercial grog. As soon as I have a supply of my own I am VERY keen to start experimenting with the operation and layout of the still.

I only decided to modify the condensate offtake as I wasn't convinced by the Leibig to handle full vapour in all still modes. I like the idea of the precondeser and the compact worm. So long as nobody can see a problem with it?

[TheMechwarrior]

Finally have my 1/4" BSP fitting welded and the 6mm compression fitting for my temperature probe:



Larger condenser coil done, pre-condenser coil done, all PTFE fittings on hand.
Just waiting on my temperature controller to be built and sent over (courtesy of MuleKicker) and for me to build the product cooler. At my rate...I guess another 2 weeks? Not sure about MuleKicker and freight times.

Cheers for now,

Mech.

[Kentucky shinner]

hay that is very impressive...
Nice work.
KS

[TheMechwarrior]

Build progress slowed down towards the end of the year.
Thanks to MuleKicker my heating controller has now arrived.

My product cooling leg is now ready:
Note that this is simply to cool the condensed final product.
Product is condensed and partly cooled by a 250mm double helix coil.

1m in length
Turbulent baffles built into the shell and tube design


3/8" hose tail fittings and 1.5" triclamp fittings at both ends


4 x 1/4" tubes


All I need to do is some minor electricals, put the thing together and post the completed pics.
Then start my first of many brews.

Cheers,

Mech.

[TheMechwarrior]

Progress shots as promised.
Forgot to take a pic of the heating controller!
Looks a little crooked as I didn't tighten up the joints.

The product cooling leg will have an angle on it shortly to make it easier for me to access.

The VM Still


The Keg


The VM Section


Close up of the VM product condenser section


Just need to connect the power regulator that MuleKicker built me and then fire her up!

[RyanS]

that is one hell of a ball valve!

[olddog]

That's not a ball valve, it's a gate valve.


OD

[Austin Nichols]

That's not a ball valve, it's a gate valve.


OD

[RyanS]

Mecha did you do the TIG welding yourself? looks great. the 6" cap? you either have a monster lathe or know someone who does

Which supplier did you go with for fittings I'm trying to find one in Victoria. Although what confuses the crap out of me with all those BSP fittings and pipe sizes, suppliers appear to interchangeably use metric and imperial in their catalogues.

Does anyone else think it's strange that we order 1 meter of 2 inch pipe

[NineInchNails]

Mecha did you do the TIG welding yourself? looks great. the 6" cap? you either have a monster lathe or know someone who does

Which supplier did you go with for fittings I'm trying to find one in Victoria. Although what confuses the crap out of me with all those BSP fittings and pipe sizes, suppliers appear to interchangeably use metric and imperial in their catalogues.

Does anyone else think it's strange that we order 1 meter of 2 inch pipe

6" caps are actually pretty affordable. stpats.com has 6" caps for $33 (currently out of stock till January), but there are quite a few places to get them. gvc.net has them for 53.41

Lately I've been getting 316 SS Tri-Clamp parts from csidesigns.com even cheaper than stpats supplies their 304 SS parts.

[Samohon]

Looks great Mecha, now go an get her all fired up and let us know your results...

Thanks for the piccies man...

[Sr WiNdTech]

What do you do for a living to have that kind of money to build that masterpiece?