NChooch's 3" flute build

[NcHooch]

Thanks Yall,
'preciate the comments. I like workin with copper, too bad it's so damn expensive.

NChooch

[banter_king]

Looks amazing NcHooch. I wish i had the skills to pulls this off. I have been getting the flute itch. And also the funds haha. Guess ill have to work my way up to you fellas on here. Very inspiring.

[mash rookie]

Looking great NC.

I like your take on the dephlag being a separate unit connecting at each end rather than having it drop into your column pipe.

I am not sure but it looks like you have a lot fewer holes in your plates than I have. I used the KS pattern for my four inch build.
Not even sure what affect that would have.

[NcHooch]

Thanks MR ,

Ya, as long as I can get a nice seal at those 2 joints, should work like a charm.

64 holes , 1/16 inch. If it's less than a 4 inch build, that's because the 3" plates are almost half the area. (12.5 vs 7.5 sq in)

NChooch

[NcHooch]

Looks amazing NcHooch. I wish i had the skills to pulls this off. I have been getting the flute itch. And also the funds haha. Guess ill have to work my way up to you fellas on here. Very inspiring.

Thanks BT
I've done more than my fair share of copper work over the years so I dont regard the building as anything too difficult. OD was nice enough to share his design, and most everyone is using that design or tweakin it a little. One of the things I had a hard time with when I was fixin to build my first still was there were lots of drawings but no measurements. That's is why this build has a bill o' materials. So someone with the skills & tools can have some detail to work with instead of guessing about lengths and sizes, which can make a build look impossible for some folks.

NChooch

[mash rookie]

Thanks MR ,

Ya, as long as I can get a nice seal at those 2 joints, should work like a charm.

64 holes , 1/16 inch. If it's less than a 4 inch build, that's because the 3" plates are almost half the area. (12.5 vs 7.5 sq in)

NChooch

I don’t see that being any problem at all. The slip joint will seal easily with flour paste or a Teflon gasket of four or five turn of tape on the inside before slipping it together.

I had a little trouble with my flat cap because the matting surface was so small. Had I used a slip over cap like on my old still it would have sealed easy.

My four inch has 166 one sixteenth inch holes. 13.2 per square inch as compared to your 8.5. Not sure if it will make any difference.
OD would be the one to ask there.
MR

[Usge]

Lookin good there NcHooch!! Can't wait to hear how she runs.

[NcHooch]

Hey yall,

So I ran a vinegar and water wash through and there dont seem to be any leaks , plates dont seem to work that well with water (as I've read in other build threads)... I shined it all up and shot a couple coats of clear laquer on it (we'll hafta see how that works out).
I gotta say, it's purdy , aint it?

Some notes on the cooling , since you cant see it back there.... single feed line, with a T to both the dephleg and the product condenser ... however, the T-side that feeds the dephleg has a ball valve inline.
Since the output of the product condenser is higher than the dephleg all the water flows through the dephleg when the valve is wide open.
As I start closing the valve for the dephleg, it forces the water through both dephleg AND the produce condenser.
And the more you throttle down the dephleg, the more you get through the product condenser.
'Course with the ball valve fully closed, All the water will go through the shotgun.
The output tubes from both the condensers feed to another T , to a single hot water output .

I've got pretty close to a gallon of foreshots, heads and tails that I can mix with water for a cleanin run, what do yall think about that Idea?

NChooch

[Usge]

That'll do NC...just make sure and rinse it good again after to get all the oils,etc..out. Looks good!
Glad you didn't have issues with water flow like I did....what a PITA.

[Samohon]

She's lookin great Hooch... And another flute joins the annals of HD... Well Done man..

Fores and feigns will be fine to run through as a cleaning wash... But as Usge says, just give her a good rinse with hot water to make sure you got all of those oils out...

Well done man...

[mash rookie]

Beautiful NC !! I love it. A very clean and flowing design. Cant wait to hear how she runs.

[Bushman]

You guys are really raising the bar, I am going to get together (I hope) with mash rookie this weekend and will have to look into building one. It is almost a shame to have to hide something of that quality!

[NcHooch]

Wow, not sure if my downcomers are big enough
Doing my cleaning run right now ...
I throw all the coolant to the dephleg and I can stack up, hell, prolly 8 ounces in the top chamber
(so much product that I discovered a leak in the top sightglass )

all 4 of the plates bubble real nice, and after you throttle back the cooling to the dephleg, the level of product goes down to the downcomer level and things look a lot more normal. Cooling system seems pretty responsive....within just a few minutes after making an adjustment, the thing behaves considerably different.

...it's alarming to see so much alcohol in the top chamber tho ....after the run I'll take it apart and have a look at the top downcomer .
The takeoff is a huge jump from my Bok ....I collected a quart in about 30 minutes.

It's a keeper.
NChooch

[Suburban Guy]

Killer build, definitely something for me to strive for…nice work all around NC!

[mash rookie]

NC
It is kind of normal for the top plate to be a little more full than the lower ones. With the dephlag knocking back all the vapor at full reflux there is going to be a lot there. When taking off things should even out.
You might be running her a little hard. If you back your heat down a little you can use less coolant at the dephlag and the top plate wont run quite so full. My thoughts.

Happy to hear that she is up and running.
MR

[erkthejerk73]

good looking build NChooch!

I think i have figured out a way to make those sight glasses pretty cheap, i am going to copy this build and use that idea on it!

[NcHooch]

I was runnin it today, and thought yall might wanna see what it looks like in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkigmIgRdcc
...those plates sure do bubble, don't they?
Cheers,
NChooch

[mash rookie]

What, No Parrot? Just kidding NC. She is beautiful. Congratulations on getting her up and running. I love the look of the milk can boiler. They are just cool. Nice work. I still admire your dephlag design. great thinking. Did it seal okay with teflon tape?



We want reports of how your whiskey tastes through her.

MR

[NcHooch]

What, No Parrot? Just kidding NC. She is beautiful. Congratulations on getting her up and running. I love the look of the milk can boiler. They are just cool. Nice work. I still admire your dephlag design. great thinking. Did it seal okay with teflon tape?



We want reports of how your whiskey tastes through her.

MR

Thanks MR, ya, it seals up perfectly fine with the teflon tape.....exceeded my expectations !
I dont use the parrot until I get to the hearts ....I feel that you get some mixing of the fores and heads with the good stuff if you use a parrot from the start.

NChooch

[NcHooch]

Just wanna say thanks to olddog, kentucky shinner and everyone else who's shared their flute build info on the site here.
That's what makes this place so special.
'preciate it,
NChooch

[olddog]

I am happy to help anytime.


OD

[LWTCS]

Nice build. Talk about the likker.

[NcHooch]

Nice build. Talk about the likker.

I can hardly bear to run it It's so puffy.
Sit tight tho, I'll post some reviews shortly.
Nchooch

[NewGuy]

Hey Hooch,
I'm building a 3" perf plate, and came across this thread, I see fromthe video that yours came out great! and I'm wondering, did you stick with your original idea of 3% holes- 32 holes per plate @ 3/32?

Actually, I already finished mine but on my first alcohol cleaning run I couldn't keep the plates flooded. I have seen posts that recomend as high as 30% holes, and as low as 3%, just wanted to check w/ you. thanks-

[olddog]

I already finished mine but on my first alcohol cleaning run I couldn't keep the plates flooded.

A plated column will act differently when you are doing an alcohol run instead of a cleaning run, the lower plates stop bubbling as the alcohol in the wash is depleted.


OD

[NewGuy]

Thanks OD,

I did a vinegar/water cleaning run and all 3 plates flooded and bubbled. I then did an alcohol cleaning run with water and some cheap 40%ABV Vodka, and I could not get the plates to flood right from the start, I could watch the liquid drop onto the plate bubble for less than 1 second and then run right down to the next plate and so on. I'm at around 13% open space now.

[NcHooch]

Hey Hooch,
I'm building a 3" perf plate, and came across this thread, I see fromthe video that yours came out great! and I'm wondering, did you stick with your original idea of 3% holes- 32 holes per plate @ 3/32?

Actually, I already finished mine but on my first alcohol cleaning run I couldn't keep the plates flooded. I have seen posts that recomend as high as 30% holes, and as low as 3%, just wanted to check w/ you. thanks-

from page2
qty: 4 : 3" x .050" copper disk. 64 x .062" holes. 1/4" center hole.

mine will bubble all 4 plates a little with water, but nothin compared to when doing a run.
NChooch

[NewGuy]

cool thanks- I have some new copper on the way for plates- I'll shoot for 3% maybe that 30% that I saw was a type-o?

[LWTCS]

Can put a cute lil dump valve on the bottom of her parrot to keep heads from mixing in

[NcHooch]

true dat.
Maybe I'll give that a try one of these days.

NChooch