Stuff for a 3 inch upgrade

[BALDR]

I would have put one of your site glasses above the boiler to keep an eye on foam.

[Yummyrum]

If it is intended as a Neutral machine , would normally be running stripped low wines in it so shouldn’t have to worry about foamups .

If it’s a Nuetral machine , the more packing the better .

Personally I’d pull out the plate and pack all that glass and most of the one above it . Only need a few inches above packing to see falling reflux . Splashing out the top of the packing isn’t a problem on a CM so don’t need as much space as a VM would .

6.5kw is over kill while running but should be very quick bring g low wines up to temp .

[Corn Cracker]

Well, thats an option to think about

[Corn Cracker]

I'm kinda thinking a 20ish inch spool below the plates and deph for flavor runs, maybe put the rest on and pack it for neutrals?

[Corn Cracker]

, ive been replacing valve cover and intake.manifold gaskets all day, fam got together for some fun activities yesterday, it seems like the closer I get to having this complete, the less time I have to work on it.

I have a small leak on the deph I need to fix, I came up with a plan, instead of heating to anneal and flare the ends of the 3 inch shell like the depth, i will cut a 3 inch coupling and a small piece of 3 inch type L copper to fit the tri-clamp flange onto the 3 inch type K copper shotgun condenser, so I can proceed with that, i have 4 blanks cut out, ready for the ⅝ holes to be drilled for the ½ inch pipe then fit and solder it all up to complete this 3 inch column. My 2nd plate will be here on the first for my empty sight glass. I might end up getting another plate or 2 idk if i will need them yet, but I have a plan if I do

[Corn Cracker]

20260809_123516.jpg

Between work and honey-do's I've not had much tinker time but, I did get the deph leak free and brushed up, one flange will complete the column. Just need to finish the shotgun and install the 6500w element. All of this is about to get a citric acid bath after the flange

[BigSwede]

I like it CC, slow and steady wins any build race. I think it'll be a productive beast.

What do you plan to pack the column with?

[Corn Cracker]

Im thinking lava rock in the bottom and the 2 plates up top, hopefully that will be enough to keep most of the heavy grain oils left behind while retaining some flavor for a lighter spirit

[Yummyrum]

Most of the guys that run plates and packing have the plates on the bottom .
Personally I was not a fan of mixing the two but some folk swear by it .
Normally it is done for a one and done Neutral , but plates can only handle about 1/2 to a third of the power needed to run a packed section efficiently . So you are either over power and effectively smear through the plated sections or run the packed section under powered to keep the plates happy . That means the packed section doesn’t run with as much reflux as it ideally should and therefore doesn’t clean up the spirit as ut would for a nuetral .

But that sounds exactly what you want . A clean product but still with a lot of flavour

[Corn Cracker]

Just trying to cut 2 or more runs per batch down to 1, seems there would be a happy medium somewhere between a full bodied grainy and viscous pot run and super light and bland neutral. Was planning on running my 2 inch ccvm for meutrals and this 3 inch with 2 plates for my whiskey, wasnt planning packing the bottom but the lava rock is there if needed

[Yummyrum]

It’s a long tube so you could have fun finding how much you need to fill it to get what you want .

[Corn Cracker]

Ive been wondering if i need that much column for what im wanting. First run will with only 2 plates, i think it will clean it up pretty good for what im wanting. If i start having trouble with smearing i will back up and revisit the drawing board

[Corn Cracker]

I've been thinking about needed height for this column and have come to the conclusion that I will cut in half, i have the ferrules and clamps. Instead of 42 inches of 3 inch under the first plate/sightglass it will be 21 inches. If i need tall, packed column, I will have the have the other 21 inch spool ready. I've almost got the shotgun condenser ready for a pressure test.

[Salt Must Flow]

I like a relatively tall riser on a pot still even just when doing stripping runs. I collect Low Wines directly into an elevated keg. Once I'm done stripping, I'll drain the boiler then drain the Low Wines out of the elevated keg (using a bottom drain) back into the boiler to do the Spirit Run. This keeps me from having to lift buckets, pressure transfer Low Wines (using air pressure) and it just simplifies things for me.

Here I'm using two Shotgun Condensers and 6' riser:

Stripping 04.jpg

Here I'm using one Shotgun Condenser with 3' riser:

Stripping.jpg

If you cut your riser, I'd recommend installing Tri-Clamp ferrules on the remaining piece so you can always reattach it in the future.

[Copperhead road]

I like a relatively tall riser on a pot still even just when doing stripping runs. I collect Low Wines directly into an elevated keg. Once I'm done stripping, I'll drain the boiler then drain the Low Wines out of the elevated keg (using a bottom drain) back into the boiler to do the Spirit Run. This keeps me from having to lift buckets, pressure transfer Low Wines (using air pressure) and it just simplifies things for me.

Here I'm using two Shotgun Condensers and 6' riser:
Stripping 04.jpg


Here I'm using one Shotgun Condenser with 3' riser:
Stripping.jpg

If you cut your riser, I'd recommend installing Tri-Clamp ferrules on the remaining piece so you can always reattach it in the future.

Thats an excellent idea SMF, i have had a multi-level spinal fusion so anything that eliminates lifting is a great idea.

[BigSwede]

Here I'm using two Shotgun Condensers and 6' riser:
Stripping 04.jpg

Here I'm using one Shotgun Condenser with 3' riser:
Stripping.jpg

Salt, that seems to be a HUGE amount of condensing power, especially the doubled shotgun. Curious, do you need this much? What kind of power are you applying for the stripping runs?

CC, don't mean to deviate too much from your build, apologies. I hear you on the spine thing. I can lift a full 5 gallon bucket without too much pain, but beyond that I'm risking things a bit. Maybe I need to invest in one of those cheap hydraulic shop carts. Strip into a vessel on the cart while lowered, jack the cart up, gravity flow right into the boiler for a spirit run.

[Salt Must Flow]

Here I'm using two Shotgun Condensers and 6' riser:
Stripping 04.jpg

Here I'm using one Shotgun Condenser with 3' riser:
Stripping.jpg

Salt, that seems to be a HUGE amount of condensing power, especially the doubled shotgun. Curious, do you need this much? What kind of power are you applying for the stripping runs?

CC, don't mean to deviate too much from your build, apologies. I hear you on the spine thing. I can lift a full 5 gallon bucket without too much pain, but beyond that I'm risking things a bit. Maybe I need to invest in one of those cheap hydraulic shop carts. Strip into a vessel on the cart while lowered, jack the cart up, gravity flow right into the boiler for a spirit run.

I typically strip at 11000W. One shotgun works fine with high water flow, but two helps to keep the temp of the Low Wines lower.

[Corn Cracker]

Here I'm using two Shotgun Condensers and 6' riser:
Stripping 04.jpg

Here I'm using one Shotgun Condenser with 3' riser:
Stripping.jpg

Salt, that seems to be a HUGE amount of condensing power, especially the doubled shotgun. Curious, do you need this much? What kind of power are you applying for the stripping runs?

CC, don't mean to deviate too much from your build, apologies. I hear you on the spine thing. I can lift a full 5 gallon bucket without too much pain, but beyond that I'm risking things a bit. Maybe I need to invest in one of those cheap hydraulic shop carts. Strip into a vessel on the cart while lowered, jack the cart up, gravity flow right into the boiler for a spirit run.

I typically strip at 11000W. One shotgun works fine with high water flow, but two helps to keep the temp of the Low Wines lower.

Good stuff, never thought 2 condensers. Makes sense though