4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

[DetroitDIY]

This thread is for the plans and progress of a flute build I’m starting. Critiques, concerns and guidance are all welcome. I’m still on the steep portion of my learning curve, but having read through the entire Flute Talk and Dan’s Flue threads among others has been extremely helpful. Thanks to all of you who share your opinions and knowledge.

Up to this point, I’ve been running a pot still with an anemic leibig on a beer keg over propane. I enjoy rum, want to try whiskey, and wanted to include options for more clean spirits in my build.

I’ve kept careful record of sources and costs for all the components which I’m happy to share if people are interested.

The design is a 4”Ø, using perforated plates. I’ve drawn up a plate pattern targeting 8% opening on the wet area with 1/16”Ø holes spaced equidistant in a hex arrangement. The column is broken into 4 segments each with a different number of plates (1, 2, 3, and 4 plates) allowing mixing and matching for a column of anywhere from 1 to 10 plates. Probably excessive, but this will allow me to experiment for different degrees of purity vs. flavor.
The plates are 4.75” apart in Z, regardless of which combinations of column segments are used. Downcomers are 0.75” ending with a 1.25” cup that is fixed 0.5” above the plate below. The downcomer extends 0.25” above the plate it’s fixed to, with different lengths of 0.75” couplings to slide over the top and extend the height (0.5”, 0.75”, and 1” heights).

The sight glasses are modified from the 2” Cello sweat trap adapters used by others, 2.25”Ø x 1/8” thick borosilicate glass, sealed with 1/32” musical cork on both sides (perhaps excessive on the outside, but I thought it would look nicer).

All four segments of plates are connected via tri-clamps. Column will be mounted on a 15.5 gal keg with a 9” tall stainless expansion fitting from 2” to 4”.

After the plates, I have a 4”Ø x 6” tall dephleg planned with 19, 0.5”Ø tubes and 3 internal plates for serpentine cooling flow around the tubes. I’m including thermowells above and below the dephleg. After this It reduces to 2”Ø pipe, and loops back down to a 2”Ø x 20” tall condenser of 5, 0.5”Ø tubes and 11 internal plates. This ends with some progressive reducers down to 0.5” where it feeds into a parrot.

The condensers share a 0.5”Ø water supply, split with a “T” fitting and feeding the lower portion of both the dephleg and the product condenser. They are joined again at their output from the top of the condensers into a 3 way, T type ball valve to simultaneously control flow through both condensers. Both sides of the “T” inlet and outlet include unions (as well as the parrot) for disassembly and cleaning. The connections are all rigid, so I’m expecting that they will help to support the cantilevered product condenser.

Most components are copper… a few stainless 304 or 316. The 4” column ferrules are machined brass which I’ll be tinning on the vapor/distillate surfaces. All polymers (gaskets and valve seats) are PTFE. The 4” pipe is DWV, which I understand is plenty strong. The copper for the plates is Cu110 grade… pretty sure this has no Pb based on my research, but if anyone knows otherwise I appreciate the heads up. The plates are only 0.022” thick (16 Oz., 24 gauge). Pretty thin, but I’m planning to solder it to the wall of the 4” pipe. Has anyone else used this thin of material for their plates?
One lesson I’ve learned in the process… 2.5” diameter copper for the loop and product condenser seems cool, but that diameter is difficult and expensive to find. Better to stick to the whole numbers above 2”.

An interesting thought I’ve had… what about designing plates with “snap rings” that are slightly larger diameter than the ID of the 4” pipe so they can be placed in, help to seal against the ID, and are easily removable/replaceable. There are some issues with the idea, so I decided not to pursue it.
Another interesting idea (which I later saw another person mention) is to add a couple of rivets to a perforated plate to allow for the variable flow and have audible feedback when things begin to bubble.

I’m close to collecting all my parts, but haven’t actually built anything yet. So it’s not too late for me to adjust if you see things amiss. I have a number of modifications to my boiler planned too… going electric among other things, but that’ll be the subject of a different posting.
I will be slow in building (too busy), so forgive the quite spells that are sure to come. I also have a few artistic plans for the column and such which will slow me down a bit.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

DetroitDIY