My first Nixon Stone offset build.

[aliveandaware]

I wanted to post my first build in hopes of getting feedback. I want to contribute to the forum, so I'm also posting my lessons learned during the build. I've never posted pics before so I hope this comes out correctly. I'm going to post each part of the build in a separate post since it all won't fit in one.

The Column
I chose a 2" column with about 36" of packing space below the reflux return tube. I used two 2" Ts and a 2" cross-tube because I couldn't find 1 1/2" pipe, and I had plenty of 2" left. I used the Easy Flange adapter with a Tri Clamp so that I could attach my column right to the keg without cutting it.

Easy Flange Adapter with a Tri Clamp

I ended up using Map gas after trying Propane for a while because it heated up faster. I'm not sure if it's the Map gas that did it, or the torch head that came with it. But it just seemed to get a lot hotter a lot faster.

Keep the 2" copper pipe between two different mating connectors long enough

I didn't need to solder the cap that's holding my thermometer, I didn't see any steam leaks with it just pressed on.

No solder needed.

Lessons Learned:
• Keep the 2" copper pipe between two different mating connectors long enough so that when you try to solder one, you don't end up melting the other one. I had a real hard time not melting the joint when I tried to solder the cross pipe between the two Ts, it kept melting the joint right next to it.
• Map gas seemed to work faster.
• Don't buy copper Ts that are 2" X 2" X 1 1/2" until you know you can find 1 1/2" pipe. I ended up having to buy 2"x2"x2" and now I have left over Ts I spend about $26 on.

Advice
• I know this info is out there already, but heat the copper to the point where it will melt the solder, don't melt the solder with the torch.
• If you get a bunch of extra solder on the copper, heat it up and hit it with a wire brush to remove it. Then sand the rest off.

[aliveandaware]

The Valves

I bought stainless steel needle valves off of E-Bay. I ended up with 1/8" instead of waiting for any 1/4" inch to show up, but I don't think it will matter too much since I think 1/8" should be enough to handle the flow.

I drilled out the brass fittings connected to the SS needle valves so that the copper tubes bumped up flush against the needed valve, that way there was no brass in contact with any liquid. I'm sure it's not perfect, so I may have to pickle the brass anyway, but I think very little liquid will ever contact the brass that way. Eventually I'll remove all brass.

The Valves

Cooling
I ran 1/2" water pipes along the side of my column. I used 1/4 OD tubing as standoffs, about 5/8" long, to keep it away from the column so that I can insulate the column and still keep the water pipes outside of the insulation. I feed the Liebig first, and then the water continues up to the condenser. I could have used plastic tubing, but those 1/2" copper water pipes look damn sexy if I do say so myself. They are one of my favorite features of this still. Those standoff posts were easy to solder to the 2" column but a bear to solder to the 1/2" water pipes. The solder kept running down the 1/2" pipe, I guess I kept getting them too hot. I wrapped it with wet cloth to help that problem, but I still got runs at times.

I used standard water hose fittings on the input and output of the cooling pipes so that I can connect a standard water hose to the lines. I also bought the color coded, blue for cold in, red for hot out, washing machine hoses that look really nice, and connect in seconds.

Hose Attachments

I used a 330 GPH pond pump from Lowes (about $54) and adapted a water hose fitting to it. I does okay I guess, the condenser knocked down all the steam that came up to it when I was doing my cleaning run, and that's using water, alcohol will be cooler. I don't get much flow, maybe a quart a minute. I want to get a diaphragm pump, about 1 GPM at 60 PSI. Maybe I will, just not sure if it will make any difference. I really need to cool down that cooling water though. When I was doing my cleaning run, I just used 5 gallon buckets and that water got real hot real fast. I've read a lot about using a large garbage can and maybe frozen gallon jugs of water. I'll try that. I may run the water through an old AC condenser on the way back (kind of like a radiator), or have it cascade down some aluminum on the way back into the water tank to dissipate the heat.

Lessons Learned:
• The GPH doesn't really make all that much difference, I've read you only get (or maybe need) about a gallon a minute. It's the head pressure, or the distance the pump can push water up vertically. That just translates into PSI, but they use distance instead. So if you find a 1 GPM pump that has 60 PSI, that's better than a 5.5 GPM pond pump.
• My 330 GPH pump is 5.5 GPM, but with 20 feet of spiral 1/4 copper, and about 5 feet of 1/2 inch copper pipe, I'm lucky to get .25 GPM. But as long as there's no steam coming out of the top of your still, then that's enough.
• You need a large container of cooling water, maybe a 35 to 50 gallon garbage can or barrel from what I've read on here. Some people put in frozen gallon jugs of water to help, which will work as long as you have a lot of water. I just had about 5 gallons of water during my cleaning run, and it ate up a bag of ice in about 5 to 10 minutes.
• When I really cranked up the heat to where I was getting about 2 oz in 1 min 45 sec (32 ml a minute, I don't know if that's good or not), the water was coming out so hot you could hardly touch it. I have no idea if that's normal or not.

[aliveandaware]

The Condenser

I used 20 feet of 1/4 inch outside diameter tubing. I first tried to use rebar because I read someone else used 1/2 water pipe, rebar as a 1/2 inch outside diameter. Not only is rebar too small, but the texture on the surface will cause indentations on your copper tube. 1/2 water pipe actually has a 3/4 inch outside diameter.

I had to use salt, I know others can do it without salt, but it was my first so I wanted to learn how to crawl before I learned how to walk. I used a tiny funnel and had to uncoil the copper and extend it way up in the air in order to get it vertical enough to get the salt in it. I taped the other end to keep the salt in. Then I switched ends and repeated the process. I tapped the tubing often trying to get all the salt in. It took about 20 minutes. Once I was done, I connected it to the water hose using some left over dishwasher connectors, it took about an hour or more to the water to make its way through, but it did just fine in the end.

Using salt, a 3/4 inch arbor, and a bending spring helped out a lot. My very first attempt ended up with a kink on my very first bend. The second attempt was a success, it wasn't perfect, but it worked.

Getting Started

Finished

The top of the condenser sticks out the top of my tube a little, so that means those upper spirals that I can see really aren't doing anything. I pack it with copper packing to help with the condensing, I'm not sure it would condense everything without the packing because the steam can just shoot right through the center. I mounted the condenser with 1/4" compression fittings, they hold it in place real well and it's easy to remove.

Connections

Lessons Learned.
• When someone says they used 1/2 inch water pipe, the outside diameter is actually 3/4 inches, not 1/2 inch.
• Don't use rebar, not only is it too small, but the texture on the surface will cause indentations on your copper tube.
• I used hose clamps to hold the copper tubing to the 3/4" arbor. Careful tightening the hose clamps (if you use them), I tightened them a little too much and collapsed the tubing.
• A glove on the hand that's making the bends helps. I didn't need it at first, but needed it about half way through.
• I think I should have spread the inner coils out a little more, as well as the outer coils. I still may do that if I can get to them.

[aliveandaware]

Liebig Condenser

I didn't use a straight 1/4 tube running through the cooling water, I coiled it a little so that there's more surface area the liquid will come into contact with as it makes the bends, and more distance. The main body tube is 1" in diameter and 7 inches long. I tested it with a cleaning run, as long as I keep my cooling water cool, and don't send too much through too fast, about a drop a second, it cools well, about 40 degrees F. I think I should have made more coils instead of just the few that I did. But it was tough to get them into a 1" copper pipe.

The parts

Complete

I used 1/2" compression fittings so that I could remove the condenser and clean the take-off tube. Plus that allows me to remove my valves whenever I need to.

1/2" Compression Fittings

Lessons Learned:
• I should have used salt when winding the pseudo coil too.
• I should not have used rebar as an arbor, I should have bought a smooth dowel rod.
• NEVER use a 5/8", flat wood boring bit, it will snag the copper tube and rip up the holes. After I destroyed my first, I had to buy another piece of tube and have a friend of mine with a milling machine do the holes for me since I didn't have a 5/8" bit.

[aliveandaware]

The Keg

I started polishing the keg. I used the Gator Grit Surface Cleaning Disc Medium and then the Fine from Gator Grit. I used polishing sticks from Home Depot, but broke some rules, I used multiple compounds per buffing wheel, you're not supposed to do that I learned. So I'll need to get new ones and work on the keg some more. I used the Ryobi 4 in. Buffing Wheel Set (3 wheels) and the Ryobi Soft Metal Cleaning Compound Set, but I think I should have used the hard metal kit.

It's kind of hard to see the keg. I can post more when I get it shined up.

As of Now

Here's what it looks like right now. I still need to clean some solder joints and make my Parrot. I haven't made a mash yet, that's my next step. I've done two cleaning runs trying to measure maximum output so that I can dial in a 90% reflux in the spirit run.

The oooo aaahh view.

Another view

The rust color on the keg and Tri-clamp is because I was cleaning with steel wool and left the debris and it rusted.

I'm really pleased with these valves, I'd prefer they were 1/4" though instead of 1/8".

Please let me know what everyone thinks. Do you see any mistakes? This is my very first still after all.

[bellybuster]

nicely done

[slow trickle]

Looks good to me. Wish I could build my own. With my lack of skills, probably cheaper for me to buy. I'm sure great pride comes with a successful build. Followed by a great product.

[bowhunt76]

Nice build should serve you well. One thing that stuck out to me was your experience trying to drill the pipe. I will say for others that might read this build thread a "uni bit" or "step drill" as some call them is prolly the best way to drill holes in copper pipe short of a milling machine, makes nice round holes unlike regular drill bits that kinda make a triangular shaped hole. And they cut thru the pipe like butter, that will also put a slight champher on the edges if you go just a little father than the size you need. Save the spade bits for your wood working just saying could save some a lot of headache. Nice build thanks for sharing.

[aliveandaware]

Thank you for the feedback bowhunt. I've heard of the unibits, and I actually bought my father one years ago, I just forgot all about them. When I was about to try to drill the holes with the spade bit, I knew before I started that it was the wrong tool for the wrong job, and a bad idea. But the pipe was only $3.00, and I was impatient. Lesson learned. I'll pick up a unit bit, I just hope I can find one that will reach the 5/8" diameter before it bottoms out against the bottom of the 1" diameter pipe. This was my first build, but I have a very strong feeling this won't be my last build.

I'm about to start my first mash, I'm going to use the Uncle Jesse recipe because it's a simple recipe. I'd prefer using malt instead of sugar, but I want to focus on learning how to distill before I split hairs with the different approaches to mashes. I've read for hours and hours on this forum, just the Uncle Jesse thread alone has over 196 pages of posts, at about 12 posts per page, so 2352 posts, I guess you need to read through every single post to pull out the pieces of advice amongst all of the general chit chat discussions (nothing wrong with chit chat, just gotta weed through them). After about 80 posts there will be a tweak to the recipe, then 50 more posts of discussion, then another tweak or piece of advice.

It looks like the over-all approach is pretty straight forward, it's just that there are about 42,872 different approaches, methods, preferences, tweaks, suggestions, routines, etc.

It's like someone says they want to learn the basics about the 3 branches of Government and someone says... "See those buildings over there... that's the Library of Congress, just read what's in there."

Thank you again for your feedback and complement.

[rad14701]

You would have better control over the temperature of your product if the product needle valve was below the liebig rather than above it... With the liebig in the vertical position the product has very little contact time to cool down significantly... Allowing the product to pool in the liebig would greatly improve the efficiency of that nice looking product liebig, even though the twist marginally slows the product down...

[aliveandaware]

That's a great suggestion, thank you, I'll do that. I guess the volume of the take-off tube isn't so great that it would hold a lot of fluid and therefore delay any indication of ABV which could affect when I do the cuts.

Some simple calculations, the tubing is 1/4" OD, and I don't have the tubing in front of me right now but if I guess that the wall thickness is .030, then that gives me an ID of .19". If it's about 10" long, then that's 1.9 cubic inches, which is 31 ml. So at most, the tube would be holding 31ml of older liquid. At a take-off rate of about 1 drop per second (from what I've read), and one drop being about .05ml, then it would take about 620 seconds, or about 10 minutes to empty the full take-off tube and Liebig. Since I've never done a run before, is 10 minutes a long time when it comes to making cuts and stuff?

But now that I've just typed all of that, I was just thinking that during the equilibrium phase, where I'm doing 100% reflux of about an hour, my Liebig and take-off tube will be filled right away and the very first liquid off of the condenser and will stay there during the entire time. When I start to pull off the foreshots, I'm wondering if the tube will be already filled with pure foreshots or a mixture because it filled prior to equilibrium.

But either way, the delay introduced by moving the valve to below the Liebig shouldn't make a difference really because it's all just queued up and will come out when it comes out. I'm most likely REALLY over thinking this.

Thanks again for the advice.

[rad14701]

The PDA-1 and PDA-2 have always had the needle valve below the product cooling liebig and I have been running my LM hybrid columns that way for a while now without any performance hits... One more ounce of foreshots means nothing in the grand scheme of producing better than commercial spirits... With this mod you can run your spirits directly into a parrots beak for real-time %ABV monitoring without temperature corrections... My cold water temperature is ~60F which is the calibration temperature of my alcolmeter...

[wv_cooker]

Triple A, you have done a nice job for your first. I like the addition of the little liebeg. I do agree with Rad drop the valve below it will make things easier and help with your cooling as well. You asked about cooling water, I use a 55 gallon drum and a pond pump from lowes. It works out great for my 6 to 8 hr runs. I remember just a few short month's ago my mind running crazy with numbers and wondering is this right or should I do this. You are doing fine. I'll give you a couple links to follow that might help slow the mind. First is Huskers post on running an LM rig it works great for this type rig.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 63&t=13265

Next is Odins thread on making whiskey with a reflux column, it works well and will give you a different way to use your rig.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=39091

I would recommend Birdwatchers sugar wash for neutral or vodka, and you have the right one for whiskey in Uncle Jesse's recipe.

Slow the mind and try a few runs with these and you will see how proud you are of your accomplishments.

Nice job!

[aliveandaware]

Thanks for the feedback cooker, and thank you for the links, I'll definitely read through them.

I made the modification and moved the valve...

The valve has been moved to below the Liebig.

I always drill my brass fittings all the way through so that the copper tubes can butt up against each other. That way there's very little, or no contact between the brass and the product.

Drilled through

I've read that there can be lead in the brass, and I bought mine at Ace Hardware (for those of you who live in the U.S.). Some of their brass has a sticker that states the amount of lead in it, but this one didn't. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry, so I drill them all through and butt the connections together, even on the valves. I guess I can pickle them too before a run.

Oh, I did have one more question. I bought a keg that someone cut the top out of, so I'm going to use that as my cooking pot. I wanted to double the Uncle Jesse recipe and do a 10 gallon wash, but I only have one 7 gallon plastic fermenter (from my beer and wine making days) and three 7 gallon glass carboys. I can't use the carboys because it will be very hard to get the spent corn out and not disturb the yeast for the next run. So, can I use my boiler keg as my fermenter as long as I seal the top real well and use the airlock? I can create a lid (or buy a large Tupperware lid) and make sure it's sealed to keep bad stuff out. But I read in the Uncle Jesse thread something about not getting yeast in your boiler? Plus, over the years of wine making I've read that the fermenter shouldn't have a lot of scratches in it because bacteria can be hard to get out. The inside of the keg looks fine. Do you think I can use my cooking keg as my fermenter?

Thank you again guys for all the input. I'm really looking forward to my first run. The discipline will be taking that first run of Uncle Jesse and not doing the spirit run and save it for the next batch.

[wv_cooker]

You could use your keg as a fermenter but when you get ready to run your wash how will you rack it off, save your corn and yeast and clean up the keg and refill with your racked wash. You certainly don't want to run it with the corn and yeast left in there and the heat would kill the yeast anyway. That would mean no second generation. I seal my UJ ferments in the summer and use a homemade airlock, but in the winter when I have to use a heater to keep my temp up I just lay the lid over it and watch it ferment. The valve looks great you should enjoy your work nicely.
Hope that Helps.

[Oxbo Rene]

Looks real nice ! ! ! !

[aliveandaware]

That was my mistake cooker. I called it my boiler and also called it my cooking pot. What I meant was I have two kegs, one is intact and is the one in the pictures, it will be my boiler and only my boiler, no solids will go in that one. The other one someone cut the top off already. I will use that one as my cooking pot, and I want to use it as my fermenter too. I see the professional distilleries use stainless steel, so I guess if I clean it real well and seal the top and use an airlock, I may be okay. I live in central Florida, so the winters aren't all that cold. Thank you for the feedback.

And thank you for the compliment Oxbo.

[biggeroots]

You would have better control over the temperature of your product if the product needle valve was below the liebig rather than above it... With the liebig in the vertical position the product has very little contact time to cool down significantly... Allowing the product to pool in the liebig would greatly improve the efficiency of that nice looking product liebig, even though the twist marginally slows the product down...

Hi. Just thought this pic might help.
The reflux tube is as far as possible up the column. It means more packing can be used. in your case its quite a bit!
And the product does'nt gather so much before taking off. Tweeking has an instant reaction.
There is also NO need for two taps. I, like others, started following a design that may not have been thought through! Thinking that seemingly knowledgable folks know best!
I studied in my mind the principle of flow etc and decided something wasnt right. So I questioned everything from then on. Now I do it my way. I have learned that we need to fully understand why and what we are going to do, before doing it. Hope I dont sound condescending, I just see it all the time.
I used to grow weed. Followed others for a while thinking it best, and then did it my way. Ended up designing a new concept which produced almost 100oz per plant in hydroponics. (some wont believe it of course!)
Hope this helps. Biggeroots!

[W Pappy]

Damned fine work I believe that's why I like this place so much a whole bunch of brain stormers that produce. That is your masterpiece be proud my good man be safe.

[tofire409]

Nice looking still!!

I am thinking of building something similar for my first build…you added some really nice features. Hope you don't mind if I use some of your modifications.

I have been reading some of your threads (learning and trying to get all the information I can before I build a still) and I was wondering how you are liking the still? Are you contemplating any changes? Have you solved the ABV% with more column packing or do you need more space below the reflux?

Sorry for all the questions…

I'm looking at AG Whiskey and Vodka to start and then who knows.

Thanks!