In response to a post of mine in the 'What'd y'all make today?' thread, shadylane said:
First time I've heard of doing that, and it sounds like a good idea.
Ya need to start a new topic about crushed media in the Column Builds section.
So here it is.
My first two runs (CCVM) I was using about 600g of these whole, with half a roll of copper mesh each at the bottom and the top. The best I got was about 93.5%. Being a newb I thought that was pretty good, but was promptly informed that I could do better (thanks for you all telling me that). Using a hammer with rather light blows, I crushed it and put it back in the column. Now it only filled it about 60%, so I crushed some more and added it. I ended up using right at 1kg, and my third run netted 95%+ and tasted much cleaner.
Here's what it looks like after crushing (you can see two of them uncrushed at the top of the photo - 1/2" long by 1/2" dia):
crushed_media.jpg
And Geoff (The Baker) said:
Found them on the interweb for $25 Australian per kg.
Another, $120 for 10 kg.
There were also ceramic balls of various sizes which could be interesting
(an alternative to marbles maybe and could be cheaper and maybe lighter.)
(And may not need smashing.)
I found the ceramic media I used developed some downright funky flavors/smells that I could not get out of it with any form of soaking or washing so I ditched them. I chalked it up to them being porous. Your results may vary of course.
squigglefunk wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:01 am
I found the ceramic media I used developed some downright funky flavors/smells that I could not get out of it with any form of soaking or washing so I ditched them. I chalked it up to them being porous. Your results may vary of course.
I've seen directions for Raschig rings that say to bake them to clean them up but I just wash them occasionally in PBW and am happy so far.
I have a 3" VM with enough spools to make the column 6-1/2 foot tall. I tried that ceramic packing and could not achieve 95% ABV no matter what I tried. Stainless scrubbers actually worked better, but scrubbers were a pain to get packed evenly to get repeatable results. I have since tried using 3/8" Lava rock, I only used 40 some inches of column and it produces 95%+ easily.
Regardless if this broken ceramic packing works ok, it is so porous that like squigglefunk said, it is very difficult to keep clean. It's a tails sponge. Lava rock just rinses away. Now many believe that ceramic packing is self-cleaning due to reflux when stabilizing, but I've heard others say it appeared to contaminate their product.
Last edited by Salt Must Flow on Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'd think that a period of equalization would clean the porous ceramic packing and drain the undesirable components towards the boiler. Interested to see what others observe in practice..
All I do to clean up the media is to soak in hot water and rinse it very well. Then I put it in the mesh bag that it came in and lay it out flat on a drying rack (one of those SS shelf units on top of my grain bin) for several days. I have only used it 4 times now, but there is no apparent contamination.
higgins wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:08 am
Here's what it looks like after crushing (you can see two of them uncrushed at the top of the photo - 1/2" long by 1/2" dia):
If you're running a 2" column then you should have used the 1/4" raschig rings and not the 3/8".
________________
I drank fifty pounds of feed-store corn
'till my clothes were ratty and torn
higgins wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:08 am
Here's what it looks like after crushing (you can see two of them uncrushed at the top of the photo - 1/2" long by 1/2" dia):
If you're running a 2" column then you should have used the 1/4" raschig rings and not the 3/8".
Those are not rashig rings, it is an extremely porous ceramic packing. They didn't work well so he broke them all in half, gave it a try and now it works much better.
jonnys_spirit wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:35 am
I'd think that a period of equalization would clean the porous ceramic packing and drain the undesirable components towards the boiler. Interested to see what others observe in practice..
higgins wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:08 am
Here's what it looks like after crushing (you can see two of them uncrushed at the top of the photo - 1/2" long by 1/2" dia):
If you're running a 2" column then you should have used the 1/4" raschig rings and not the 3/8".
Those are not rashig rings, it is an extremely porous ceramic packing. They didn't work well so he broke them all in half, gave it a try and now it works much better.
1/2" x 1/2" is what I'm using in a tall 4" column.
I figure 1/2" is way too big on a 2" column.
That's why smashing the rings helped.
