My Still

[matjans]

Thanks guys, i can attach stuff now.

As promised...

As it was after a couple of years outside just doing nothing.

After some elbow grease, vinegar run to clean it out. I scrubbed the inside of the liebig with a stainless sponge, quite som green copper oxide came out.
Cleaned everything really good, and a second vinegar run.

Decided to go electric. Much safer and a wider window of opportunity to run it. The burner I have is way overkill for this small 10L boiler, so I have to turn it down as far as it goes without the wind blowing the flames out. Annoying. Added a bottom valve aswell, easier to dump the backset.

Converted to electric, with a small control box. Decided to go for a cheap DIN rail box, normally used for fuses etc.

Added an ESP8266 from the partsbin, with some DS18B20s. Can go from here to anywhere with this setup, just the box getting too small.

Current state of affairs. Got some Ali stuff in last week, for me the most important was the condenser as the liebig, simple and effective as it is, tends to huff/puff (make your pick) towards the end of the runs when ABV drops below 30ish. % that is, not proof (long live the metric system)

Still to receive from Ali: 2" sight glass for the front, will put that somewhere above the aluminum heat shield and a couple of 2" end caps. Still have a few ferrules in the parts bin, will use one as a filler cap and the other -- or at least that's the plan -- for a diy agitator.

Again, thanks for the replies,
Regards,

Matt

A neighbour promised me an empty keg, so I'll get to build another boiler somewhere this year. No rush, time to brush up on my tig welding skills

[matjans]

As requested, some more information on my setup.
As is the case with all my projects, this too is organically evolving.

So, I rediscovered the 'metal' parts section on Aliexpress and ordered some stuff.
First I ordered some tri clamp ferrules and a sight glass. I decided I needed an additional opening to the boiler for easy filling and sticking in a stirring thig to help with smearing (not done yet).

So, I made a template from cardboard.

Cut that out of a 2" copper pipe. Twice, as I accidentally cut it out from the wrong side of the pipe (inverted), and after some additional filing it fits like a glove.

Cut out a slightly smaller hole(1.5mm), put the extension pipe on top and soldered everything together.

So it now looks like this.

A friend suggested I paint it yellow and name it 'Kevin'. Banana!

Or like this, in operation.

And then, a mate of mine donated an old heat exchanger. So, bigger boiler!

[matjans]

No more than 6 images per post I guess, continuing...

Decided to keep some copper in the vapor path and use the old boiler as a whisky helmet and mount it on top of the new stainless boiler. So, welded/soldered 5" tri clamps to the boiler top/helm bottom.

Cut the bottom out of the old boiler, try to get it level.

Cut it out!

Solder it together. I tested it and with a filled condensor the imbalace was so minimal I could hold it down easily with my little pinky, so decided to soft-solder it. The solder joint has very little mechanical force applied and I didn't want to invest in a hard-soldering unit. When it (eventually) cracks, I'll resolder it. Or change to hard solder. We'll see.

And tig weld the other half to the top of the boiler. Cut the thing open, of course, but that;s not in the picture.

Cut some holes in the boiler for heating element &c (no more pictures of the ferrules, but I welded on some 2" tri clamp ferrules).

Added a rotameter for easy regulating cooling water.

[matjans]

6 images... Continuing...

So now, it looks like this when mounted on a stand. I can choose to use the "helmet" boiler separately, as I also have a 5" end plate for use as a removable bottom, or mount it as a whisky helmet on the stainless boiler like depicted here. Of course I can leave the helmet out and just go full stainless (which I never do).

You can 360 rotate the image above here:
https://glo3d.net/fullscreen/m3OtSP8GRl

And then I decided to build a boka column on top of that boiler... So.
Keep in mind that before this I've only used stick welding machines, never tig.

Take some stainless pipe (54x2mm from the scrap yard) and weld 2" ferrules to ends.

Drill holes (shit work, you have to go really slow and hope the saw's teeth don't break off).

Weld on sight glasses...

Be proud of your first (second) TIG project! whoohoo!

[Sporacle]

Well "that escalated quickly" as they say in the classics, looks awesome

[matjans]

@mods, thanks for moving to the right section. Can you move the two pic posts in the original thread as well? Just to keep everything organised:)

On to the reflux cooler. In stead of a straight pipe upwards I decided to go the genio/aabratek route and make a slanted cooler. The ceiling height didn't allow for a straight pipe. And, a cheap ali solution...

Got some corrugated stainless steel tube (1/2", 2m length) for i believe 6-7 USD

A friend of mine modeled it in inventor.

180cm tube has an area of about 1250 cm2 (yes!), compared with a (calculated) ~1100cm2 for a 5kW rated distillex double helix. Should be ample capacity for the 3.5kW heating element I have.
(Distillex: 39 windings dia 3cm and 17 windings dia 4cm. length ~ 580cm. dia tube 6mm, area 1092cm2)

If I would do it again I would try to find 3/8" csst, this is a bit of a lucky shot. Luckily, I had a pretty non-standard stainless pipe (50mm internal dia), and this fits, but barely.

Make a slanted tube

Weld together, weld on ferrule and temp sensor nut.

[matjans]

There is a small slanted plate in the 'elbow', about 1/3d width of the tube that retains a small pool of reflux, the rest just drips back into the middle of the column.

The small pipe in the elbow of the thing is the 'drain' of the reflux pool. Now, in stead of a regular needle valve I chose a small peristaltic pump. No specific reason, I just think it's cool. One advantage is that I don't have to climb a small ladder to regulate the flow, another is that settings are repeatable. 1800ml/H is 1800ml/H again next time.

Calibrating the pump. Not very accurate, more as a 'vague indication'. But, again, it's a repeatable vague indication.

Stainless Liebig product cooler. Although the product exits the boka head as a liquid, it's way to hot to store directly. Water counterflows through Liebig to the reflux cooler. Works great.

Mounted to the column.

Controller box updated for BOKA use, with a bunch of sensors.

VNT = vent temp, for security reasons
VPR = vapor temperature
COL = column temperature, roughly 40CM beneath VNT for controlling column
WSH = wash temp
WTR = cooling water temp

ABVs are calculated based on @Edwin Croissants T2ABV library (hacked it a bit to get it running on an ESP), sensors are DS18B20. Photo is of a water run, for testing purposes.

[Saltbush Bill]

Thats one interesting and different looking potty, I like different.
Beats hell out of shop bought stainless sameness.

[matjans]

And, me being me, I log the whole #! and can showoff all kinds of completely useless graphs.

One more ...

ok ok, last one...

[Saltbush Bill]

I just lost interest when you showed the completely useless graphs.
How long did it take for you to realize that graphs don't make the booze taste better?
Nice to see some insulation on a column, funny how many so called "reflux stills" these days are bare columns.

[matjans]

I just lost interest when you showed the completely useless graphs.
How long did it take for you to realize that graphs don't make the booze taste better?

About half a second. I said they were useless
Once a nerd, always a nerd.

A, forgot to mention that the column is filled with 8x8x0.8mm SPP. Used to have stainless scrubbers but that really sucked.

I think the insulation thing is a lack of understanding or confusion for most. With a potstill you don't want insulation if you want to have some (passive) reflux. With an active reflux system like a boka, you don't need the thermal gradient and you should think of it more as an energy equilibrium. Applying the insulation stabilizes your column so that the equilibrium isn't disturbed every time the wind blows. And increases efficiency a bit.

[Saltbush Bill]

Maybe I'm missing something , but it appears there is no copper anywhere in that still ?

[matjans]

Hidden gems...

I normally put 4x60cm 15mm copper pipes in the boiler itself and there's 20cm of (tighty) rolled copper mesh at the bottom of the column, under the spp.

[Saltbush Bill]

[BlueSasquatch]

Really digging the unusual boiler style!

[matjans]

It's what I had

I will be building a keg based boiler though sometime. I want to have a short sight glass and/or a polish style buffer at the bottom of the column, but no more ceiling height...

Already have a 4" ferrule and end plate for easier filling/cleaning, just need a keg. Currently I need to get the whole thing down to fill it when using the Boka column. When using the copper helmet I just fill it from one of the openings there.

[Setsumi]

great build, i do not realy understand the peristaltic pump as replacement for the needle valve? i hope you do not put your product through sinthetics.

[stillness]

I'm digging the build. Also, I like the graphs. Sure, you don't run a still by numbers, it's not going to improve your product. But no harm in having some data. I find it interesting to see the theory match the numbers. To each their own.

[oluf]

Awesome work! Thanks for letting us tag along.

[matjans]

Sure, you don't run a still by numbers, it's not going to improve your product.

Well... That depends, really. Of course there is no replacement for organoleptic tests (bottoms up!) but there are advantages in having some numbers, especially with reflux columns like a Boka and even more so when you want to make the most neutral neutral.

Ie. The max rate of product drain for a certain amount of power without pushing tails out (maximizing quality and efficiency-why waste power and money). You can get the same level of accuracy manually by counting drops or timing and measuring volume of course.

Monitoring column stability, prevent column flooding, safety and whatnot.

As long as you see the tech as supplemental to your own senses and use it like a tool, much like a hydrometer, and never ever leave your still running unattended, I'm ok with smacking any kind of tech on it. You can use the tool (the numbers) to quantify the process and look for possible improvements. Not very artsy crafts and boring, but useful.

I measure pH for optimal fermentation, measure sg as well, those are numbers too. And they provide insight as to why a fermentation may be stuck (pH too low) etc l. All useful numbers, for their own purposes.

When running the potstill I use only my senses, not even a single thermometer. That's the beauty of running a potstill.

[matjans]

Finally added a stirrer to the small still. In the pics it's setup as a helmet on top of the bigger boiler, but i can use it stand-alone as a small still. The stirrer will only be used in stand alone mode (obviously).

Stirrer (needs cleaning):

.

Mounted on helmet:

.

Speed knob on top:

[EricTheRed]

Explain the stirrer? function? in liquid or only vapour?

[matjans]

A stirrer, well, stirrs. Liquid. There's quite a lot of wash under the heating element (heats slowly), and stirring the wash reduces smearing of fores, heads, hearts and tails.

[EricTheRed]

Ah - from the picture it doesn't look like it will reach the bottom - that's what had me confused.
i've always thought that a small safe pump to move the liquid around (out one port, pumped back into another)
but i run on propane so never went further with it

thanks

[matjans]

And another update.

The small still/helm is now also a thumper. Second one is in the works.

[Chauncey]

Beautiful work! You definitely have some skills, very clean. Liked it from jump and enjoyed the evolution.

[zapata]

and/or a polish style buffer at the bottom of the column

What's a polish buffer?

And yeah, awesome still!

[bcook608]

And, me being me, I log the whole #! and can showoff all kinds of completely useless graphs.

Screenshot 2021-06-09 at 13.44.49.png

One more ...
IMG_20210423_225735.jpg

ok ok, last one...
IMG_20210515_171230.jpg

Dare I ask. Is that plastic tubing used to draw off the distillate?

[Saltbush Bill]

matjans , your last post regarding synthetics has been removed, I suggest that you respect this forums rules or that you might like to find another forum whose rules you do agree with.
Rules here~~~~~> app.php/rules
Just for the record , your not dealing with "food"
What we are distilling is a number of substances many of which are high grade solvents.

[matjans]

Stupefait.

I was aware of plastics being frowned upon, didn't know it was forbidden to talk about them. But ok, no offense taken, if that's your rules, that's your rules.