New boiler!

[335Guy]

I found a nice stainless vessel that I'm hoping to use as a new boiler. She's 25 gallon of useful space. It has a 2" threadalet and a 3/4" threadalet. It's a little longer and narrower than I'd prefer, but for the price, I'm not going to quibble. It's too long for me to use vertically. I'll have to use it on its side w/ the 2" threadalet for the still head (unless, of course, I modify it for a bigger connection). Using it in the horizontal orientation has the 3/4" threadalet as a drain. I can't wait to make up some bigger ferments and give it a try.

Any other suggestions on how to use it or modify it? At this point I heat w/ natural gas.

Here she is...

[jedneck]

Best thing to do with that is send it to me for disposal. Just kidding good score. Not sure how it will work on the side with gas heat. I would use it with wood heat if it were mine.

[shadylane]

The shape calls for open flame heat.
But, when a mash gets burned, cleaning it might be a problem.
Having said that, go for it.

[335Guy]

Man, would I love to try wood, but I do my cooking indoors. What I was thinking about doing was putting it up horizontally on cinder blocks and putting a natural gas double burner under it centered in the middle. I don't cook on the grain; I rack everything out of carboys/ferment buckets after it clears. I haven't had a burn yet, but I didn't consider that. That would be a PIA to clean out. I'm thinking about welding a 4" ferrule on it, which would help.

I would love to set this thing up vertically, it would be so much easier in terms of heating, but I just don't have the headroom indoors. It is 44" long.

[S-Cackalacky]

If it's to be used as a pot still, you wouldn't need much of a riser. Or, with it in the horizontal orientation, could you install electric elements at each end (low)? Maybe cut a 1/3rd section off and use it as a thumper and the larger section as a boiler.

[Bob Loblaw]

I'd set it vertically. Weld on some legs (or build a suitable stand), use the (now) side plug for a heating element and the other opening as a drain. Get a 4" ferrule welded into the top to mount a colum

[bearriver]

I'd set it vertically. Weld on some legs (or build a suitable stand), use the (now) side plug for a heating element and the other opening as a drain. Get a 4" ferrule welded into the top to mount a colum

+1 Thats exactly what I was thinking. It looks like it will be really tall, but what the hell... You could do alot worse. Just gotta go buy a decent ladder...

Edit: Saw someone post an affordable manway solution recently. That would be nice..

[Da Yooper]

+1 on what Bob said, that is the best option. I believe it just looks long in the picture, guessing about 28" in length ? Nice find. Now get busy and make it happen

[335Guy]

+1 on what Bob said, that is the best option. I believe it just looks long in the picture, guessing about 28" in length ? Nice find. Now get busy and make it happen

No, it's 44" X 15". Even putting it low to a concrete floor (figure at least a foot for a burner under it), it doesn't give much headroom. If I only used it as a potstill, it wouldn't be an issue, but I am in the process of building a 3" 4 or 5 plate column. If I move to my garage (which I don't really want to do), I have more headroom. I admit, it's kind of a nice dilemma to have...

[Brutal]

I'd either turn it vertical and put a stripping head on it, or build a long copper pipe burner with holes all the way down and run it near horizontal. The column you are building will absolutely love running on the low wines from this thing. This could be your strip unit and the column your finishing rig.

You're right life's tough. Keep us posted.

[bearriver]

I've seen commercial stills with the column next to the boiler instead of on top, seemingly to save on overall height.

It has been talked about before but I haven't seen any hobby guys pull it off yet.

[googe]

Just make a big ass long burner for under neath it, big gas bottle, big regulator, your set.

[BoomTown]

Have you considered a belt heater? They are ridiculously slow, but ....

http://www.benkoproducts.com/powerblank ... aters.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[BoomTown]

I've seen commercial stills with the column next to the boiler instead of on top, seemingly to save on overall height.

It has been talked about before but I haven't seen any hobby guys pull it off yet.

Looks to me like with this tank, if it were 2" hole down, the 3/4" could vent to a column alongside pretty easily....

[RandyMarshCT]

I've seen commercial stills with the column next to the boiler instead of on top, seemingly to save on overall height.

It has been talked about before but I haven't seen any hobby guys pull it off yet.

Y'know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Almost every big pro hybrid still I've ever seen has the column beside the boiler. I was wondering what would happen if I tried to mount one of mine like that. I was thinking about setting up my 4-plate 4" column and coming off the top and going into the bottom of my packed 3" boka. I've never seen any pics of people doing that on here. Then again... my lazy ass has never looked all that hard either.

[RandyMarshCT]

Sorry about the hijack 335guy.... but this could be a good solution to your dilemma, in my opinion.

[DAD300]

Column beside the boiler...there are people doing it here. They have column on a thumper, next to the primary boiler.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 17&t=46563

courtesy of jarheadshiner...

boiler, thumper, and column.jpg (10.39 KiB) Viewed 3221 times

It's the same idea...the thumper provides a place for the waste from the column instead of larger units having it return to the primary boiler.

[RandyMarshCT]

Dang! Sure does sound like that runs great for Jar!

335guy, this may be an option for your big vertical boiler if you don't mind running a keg thumper.

[Bob Loblaw]

DAD - That looks like a nice way to get the thing vertical. IMHO, it's going to heat a lot better that way - heat rising and all. Easier to keep the heat even. It's basically the size of 2 stacked kegs. You could probably use a pony as a thumper and have a nice low setup. Plate stills aren't nearly as tall as Reflux - which does give you some additional leeway. I am building a 4x4" and the column is going to be less than 3' tall..

[Brutal]

That's a great idea, I can't believe I didn't think of putting a thumper on it. I freakin' LOVE my thumper. Putting that sweet 25 gallon unit upright, and insulating it a little, then bring the team down to a secondary boiler (thumper). You could insulate the 1' pipe to connect the two all the way. You could use a 15.5 gallon normal keg as the secondary. That would be an awesome set up! I wouldn't even consider doing it any other way. Assuming you want to make whiskey, and want flexibility and ease of use, I don't think you could do better.

[shadylane]

I found a nice stainless vessel that I'm hoping to use as a new boiler. She's 25 gallon of useful space. It has a 2" threadalet and a 3/4" threadalet. It's a little longer and narrower than I'd prefer, but for the price, I'm not going to quibble. It's too long for me to use vertically. I'll have to use it on its side w/ the 2" threadalet for the still head (unless, of course, I modify it for a bigger connection). Using it in the horizontal orientation has the 3/4" threadalet as a drain. I can't wait to make up some bigger ferments and give it a try.

Any other suggestions on how to use it or modify it? At this point I heat w/ natural gas.

Here she is...

Plan B
Use it for a boiler and build a steamer still.

[335Guy]

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

[Brutal]

Holy shit that looks cool! And you just stuck it on the stove lol!

[DAD300]

And now we know you are a bachelor...or you have the coolest wife on Earth!

[335Guy]

And now we know you are a bachelor...or you have the coolest wife on Earth!

Not a bachelor... and the wife's not too cool...

She wasn't real happy about using the stove, but I don't have my burner(s) configured for the basement set-up yet. I do like the orientation w/ it being horizontal. Running on two burners (or perhaps a long pipe burner when I move it to the basement), it came up to temp pretty quick. I think there is something to having more surface area rather than tall and narrow. I'm at 4.5 hours w/ a 12 gallon charge, and I'm DEEP into the tails. I'll probably only take one more pint jar and shut it down.

[S-Cackalacky]

Nice build. Glad you took the time to do the research and incorporate some innovative techniques in attaching your thumper. Looks real good.

[RandyMarshCT]

That's so awesome... I can't believe you got it on your stove.

I feel pretty confident I've never seen a 25 gallon boiler rig on someone's stovetop.

[Stilldrunk]

Love this! Reminds me of something my girlfriend would walk in on when she comes in the door!

[bearriver]

That thing is gorgeous. My wife would divorce me in a heart beat if she saw such a sight in her kitchen.

Sigh... I miss those days...

[skow69]

That is pretty freaking cool! Maybe consider 2 electric elements, one on each end. Use 'em both plus gas for heatup, and then have electric on a controller to dial in the run?