New column given to me.....

[Jack Slapperaski]

My friend gave me this column along with an electric beer keg style still, He was using a water heater element style heater on a 220 connection.
Does this design look kosher to you all? My propane set up is a lot more simple (also on a beer keg still).
Thanks,
JS

PS: Sorry I couldn't get the photos to post right side up, I tried everything.....

[Salt Must Flow]

That looks like an old, outdated CM (Cooling Management) design. I'm honestly not sure how well that design even worked. No one usually makes those these days.

The Liebig Condenser appears to be perfectly fine. That heating element is likely a more recent addition. I use the same element myself.

If you wanted to update this column to a modern design, it wouldn't be hard to do. The column looks short to me, but it appears to have a Tri-Clamp Ferrule at the base. That makes it simple to add a Tri-Clamp Spool to create an adequately tall column.

The materials alone, along with the keg and heating element makes that an excellent gift. It's a real score

[LWTCS]

Prolly works fine for light flavored spirit.
Not the most efficient for legit neutral.

Looks easy enough to modify so no matter what you'll be fine.

[Jack Slapperaski]

Thanks for the responses, sorry so late on mine, I never got the email notification that I had responses...
JS

[acfixer69]

Thanks for the responses, sorry so late on mine, I never got the email notification that I had responses...
JS

Check your user control panel-board preferences -edit notification options may not be selected

[Jack Slapperaski]

TCO, Thanks!

[acfixer69]

TCO ??? I'm old what's that.

[shadylane]

Lot's of good building material.

Relocate the union and the condenser angle will be adjustable.
The dephleg takes up 1/3 of the column. unwind it.
Remove the cross tube and patch the holes. The tube gets in the way of packing.
Unsolder the 2" reducer on the top of the column and put on a 2" tri-clamp ferrule.
Use a slip-in dimroth style dephleg, just guessing, 2 maybe 3 turns of 1/4"od tubing would be enough.
Or start with 3 or 4 turns and plan on shorting it a little at a time till Ya find the sweet spot.

Plan B, is skip the ferrule and mod the reducer by drilling holes in it for the cooling coils.

[Jack Slapperaski]

TCO ??? I'm old what's that.

Sorry, "Taken Care Of"...... shop lingo.....

[Jack Slapperaski]

Great idea!
I'll have to wait until fall to get around to it... too many out of state projects going on right now.
Cheers,
JS

Lot's of good building material.

Relocate the union and the condenser angle will be adjustable.
The dephleg takes up 1/3 of the column. unwind it.
Remove the cross tube and patch the holes. The tube gets in the way of packing.
Unsolder the 2" reducer on the top of the column and put on a 2" tri-clamp ferrule.
Use a slip-in dimroth style dephleg, just guessing, 2 maybe 3 turns of 1/4"od tubing would be enough.
Or start with 3 or 4 turns and plan on shorting it a little at a time till Ya find the sweet spot.

Plan B, is skip the ferrule and mod the reducer by drilling holes in it for the cooling coils.

[LWTCS]

Shady, your drawing skills get better every year

[samwell]

What an interesting column.

[Jack Slapperaski]

What an interesting column.

It is.... I have no idea where the guys that made it got the idea from....
I hope I can get it to work with some of the above mentioned modifications...
JS

[Yummyrum]

What an interesting column.

It is.... I have no idea where the guys that made it got the idea from....
I hope I can get it to work with some of the above mentioned modifications...
JS

It is a coolant management (CM) still. That sort of still was more common around 15-20 years ago .It’s all about having an area above the packed section that is cooled and causes some of the vapour to be refluxed . It is a deflegmator .The aim was always to get a higher ABV through refluxing above a packed column . Some of these designs barely pulled better than 80% ABV while some could get above 90 due to the generally poor behavour if the Deflag .

Some used a coolant jacket ( similar to what mile-hi still do ) . Some would put a series of cross tubes at right angles through the top of the column and link them together with hoses .
While others would simply wrap some copper around the outside ….. the better designs actually soldering it to the column for greater heat transfer . The real adventurous ones actually made a coil and fitted it inside the top of the column …. more inline with present designs before Shotgun deflegs become more popular .

Remember that these were made by guys before the proliferation of the internet and forums . Some were bad , some were Ok . We have used the experience of these pioneer designs to be where we are now .

[samwell]

Remember that these were made by guys before the proliferation of the internet and forums . Some were bad , some were Ok . We have used the experience of these pioneer designs to be where we are now .

It’s so incredible to see how far this hobby has come. I have no idea how I would have the success I’ve had building my columns without this forum.

[shadylane]

Remember that these were made by guys before the proliferation of the internet and forums . Some were bad , some were Ok . We have used the experience of these pioneer designs to be where we are now .

I hear Ya.
It's easy to pick fun at what folks built in the past, but without them, there wouldn't be the knowledge base we have now..

But I have to say, of all the dephleg designs of old.
On a scale of 1 to 10 the one pictured is a 2.
Even the much maligned three cross tubes design would be an improvement.

Here's a trick that will make an external cooling coil dephleg a viable option on a 2" column.
Add copper whiskers so the vapor has extra area to condense on and fall in the center of the packing.

[Jack Slapperaski]

Good stuff, Thanks!
JS

Remember that these were made by guys before the proliferation of the internet and forums . Some were bad , some were Ok . We have used the experience of these pioneer designs to be where we are now .

I hear Ya.
It's easy to pick fun at what folks built in the past, but without them, there wouldn't be the knowledge base we have now..

But I have to say, of all the dephleg designs of old.
On a scale of 1 to 10 the one pictured is a 2.
Even the much maligned three cross tubes design would be an improvement.

Here's a trick that will make an external cooling coil dephleg a viable option on a 2" column.
Add copper whiskers so the vapor has extra area to condense on and fall in the center of the packing.

[shadylane]

Since you have a 15 gallon keg and what looks like a 5.5kw heater.
Probably the best advice would be to reuse the product condenser.
Set the 2" copper tubing aside for now and upgrade to a 3" or 4" SS spool for the column.

Here's some of the experiments I did awhile back, maybe it will give you some ideas.
Wished I'd taken more pics, especially of the failures.
viewtopic.php?t=74391

[shadylane]

Since you have a 15 gallon keg and what looks like a 5.5kw heater.
Probably the best advice would be to reuse the product condenser.
Set the 2" copper tubing aside for now and upgrade to a 3" or 4" SS spool for the column.

Here's some of the experiments I did awhile back, maybe it will give you some ideas.
Wished I'd taken more pics, especially of the later builds and failures
viewtopic.php?t=74391

For a 4" packed column, bang for the buck is this one.
There's some kinking on the tubing but it didn't adversely affect to performance.

[Jack Slapperaski]

Holy shit, my head is spinning..... that's a lot of excellent info to take in....
I hope to get to do some work by the end of the summer...
Thanks again!

Since you have a 15 gallon keg and what looks like a 5.5kw heater.
Probably the best advice would be to reuse the product condenser.
Set the 2" copper tubing aside for now and upgrade to a 3" or 4" SS spool for the column.

Here's some of the experiments I did awhile back, maybe it will give you some ideas.
Wished I'd taken more pics, especially of the failures.
viewtopic.php?t=74391