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Thanks Harley. It's been really nice seeing all of the photos of your work.
It will be very interesting to see your comparison of the bubble plate vs sieve plate.
Cheers
SD

The bench is made as the 1pc 8 "with 20pc sieve plates of vodka, 1pc 12" with 3pc bubbel plates for whiskey and an 8 "a 1m high product cooler to stand on.

To the left you can see the bottom part to 8 "vodka column.

8 "column is mounted on the vessel and the 3p bubbelcaps plates containing solid I selected 4x sections so I can also see the return from the lower plate and any supplement with 4pc plate, the plate if it would be relevant.

The next step is to product cooler is in place before all pipes can be manufactured ...

Cheers

Hi Sd

My boiler is NOT a Sd boiler, MY bolier is a insulated Kina boiler order direkt from Kina on Alibaba...

My 8" ss column and 3pc copperplate with bubbelcaps is from Stilldragon sd and all my other copper parts are home made here in Sweden.



You can NOTE heat this with gas, only 3pc elektric heaters in 2" conections....

Best price a get on one of this was about 2000 dollar ( about 6-8 month ago in Kina but + freight and tull and more shit... and it toke about 3 month before a gets it home to me here in sweden by boat transfer...

it is in 60 gallon and insulated so a save a some power with this...



http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/52388 ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/52863 ... oiler.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/64028 ... iller.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

But it is orginal 4" conektion i top but you can order it with bigger top conektion if you do this from from start.

6" ore 8" that a have ...

Ore you can order this boiler but with only 4" top conections from Hillbilly stills,
hillbillystills.com/50_gallon_stainless_tank_p/bl50g.htm

It,s same boiler that a have and a lots of factorys i Kina are made this model....and it is in 60 gallon, note 50 gallon...

Here can you se Stilldragons boilers, and they can do any type of boiler that you want, gas, electric and in any size and more …. “We can build any size boiler, fermenter or still and do it better, faster and cheaper”



Cheers

What a thread! Both in length and depth of information. I guess it's off to the flute 2 thread now to see if I can confuse myself a little more as to what I want to build. One thing that I wanted to ask and I probably missed it somewhere in all of the posts on this thread. I think it was MR that converted his keg boiler from a 2 in to a 4 in flange for his flute. I was just wondering if who ever did that if they saw any performance increase by doing that. Thanks again to all that have contributed to the flute thread especially OD who took the lead on this project

JP. Just so you know, I'm running standard 2" off the keg and my 4.5 od plated column runs plenty fast.
Maybe faster to run 4" right from the start, but I' m not sure if it worth the effort to make the change.
Have fun.
SD

Hello to you all

This 4 "condensor is about 80cm in the cooling section and also has 4x plates inside with cut corners to forcibly control the water so it does not" tubal "but it bounces back and forth around the cooling pipes about 6 times ....

Notice the two tubes as it will sit 1pc tap on each pipe on the right side of the radiator, So this is one Dramatically improved copy of Hillbilly stills flute cooler to be able to receive about 22.000 watts with minimum water consumption ...

I want to have the cooling water as hot as it goes, when it leaves the product cooler so I can send it directly to reflux ... but if this works, I come back on ... so a have 2pc pipe and tap if this diddnt wourk so am safe....

Cheers

Hi all! You guys are amazing and I can see you're busy at work making beautiful pieces of copper art so I'll be brief.

Can someone please direct me to a visual representation of how this type of still works. I've been looking for hours and, while I've learned a lot, nowhere have I found a diagram of how it all works together. I am particularly interested in the path of the water's flow.

Thanks in advance!

Hi
Hope nobody takes offense when I send links Howe- what way the water goes into a flute , and my 60 gallon system works exactly the same way as in this video ...Everything is only much bigger....

My English is not so good so this is the best that I can do, maybe someone else can explain better.


Take a look in this little video .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbO7Z83uCKk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afX0N-bMQFk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Cheers

Many thanks Harley03! I get it now. I was thinking the water intake would alway come in from the uppermost part of the unit but the example video had it from the bottom.

It makes sense though because it seems to me one thing that this type of still can do really well because of its cooling system is control the hearts. That is if I'm understanding it correctly - at the beginning of the run have high cooling to the dephlagmater to maximize the amount dropping back into the column (reflux?) until the impurities have all risen to the top and therefore will more precisely be separated from the hearts? Or something like that (I know what I mean).

Anyway, I won't bother you guys anymore for now. You can get back to the grownup's talk and I'll go back to finding the copper I need, and getting inspiration by reading about your amazing builds.

Shout,
You are right on. By refluxing the column, I believe that the fores and a lot of the heads get compressed at the top of the column. As you take off product, the hearts seem to expand, if you will. This makes for long, beautiful heart cuts.

I have been lurking on this site for the past few years and have learned an incredible amount about mashing, still construction and distilling.

I just finished my third still, It is a 3 inch/ 4 plate flute (Thanks NC Hooch). I have a question about the operation of this flute. I have run it several times and had great results. Taste,speed and control are all excellent. (I ran a 2 inch boka for about 4 years).

My question is: is it better to let my still run on full reflux/deflag wide open for the first 30 minutes or so, Or just begin pulling off heads as soon as the plates begin to flood. I have seen several short references to this in the text, Just trying to get a handle on my new flute.

Name for her to come soon...

Thanks to any and all for your help.

Hi chipp, that's a good question. I have been refluxing mine for about 30 minutes, I guess cause that was what worked for the more experienced members. That was suppose to compress the heads for a longer hearts run. I have been happy with how my column runs using this method. I look forward to hear other members methods though. Always ready to learn something new..
SD

You should keep it in full reflux for at least 30 minutes. Longer if possible. Lower BP alcohols do not instantly jump out of the boiler or separate from very similar compounds real easily. By holding in reflux longer, better separation occurs and heads become more concentrated. Move too fast and you take hearts with heads or leave heads that will smear through hearts.

This qquestion is more for the people that have used both flute designs. Is there any differences in the running or performance of the original flute design and this new design besides all of the extra plumbing for disabiling plates. I'm thinking of a mix and match so as to do without some of the copper fittings to save money

I finally figured out how to post a pix on here, Thanks to lots of folks on here for your advice and wisdom.

Hey guys! I am wanting to build a flute and have a 5' stick of 4" stainless and a 15.5 gal keg. I was wondering if any of y'all had any plans that could walk me through the build?

Stainless dude wrote:Hot foot, Just a sip is right, all the info is right here. You can put a plan together, once you do then start asking questions about your build. There are no step by step instructions on how to build a column, but all of the information
is here. You just need to do some research... I built a stainless column a while back, fun to build and fun to run. Go for it..
SD

I agree. I thought it was a strange question if they had read this thread. Its all here including multiple options. Start from page one and make notes. I will answer any tough questions or theory questions once they get the basic concept.

I'm taking some 11 gauge copper plates to the laser cutting shop tomorrow...Going to get some bubble plates cut out for a 3 inch flute...
Wish me luck.

Has anybody ever tried this??

The start to my still! The guy threw in an extra foot so I have 6' of of 4" schedule 10 304 ss. Do y'all see a problem with me having the main column 4' and using the other two feet for the cooling side? I see most don't make it the same diameter but I don't want to waste it and have to buy more smaller pipe.

Hotfoot wrote:The start to my still! The guy threw in an extra foot so I have 6' of of 4" schedule 10 304 ss. Do y'all see a problem with me having the main column 4' and using the other two feet for the cooling side? I see most don't make it the same diameter but I don't want to waste it and have to buy more smaller pipe.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1364511075.202341.jpg

Nice piece of stainless. The extra pipe won't hurt the running but will bring up the cost of the internal pipe. The extra weight of metal and water would be my concern. If it was me I would reduce pipe size and buy some 2". Save or trade the cut off piece. There will be more building in your future if you are like most of us.

AC

Good call! Did not even cross my mind of the extra weight of water! The bigger pipe would definitely cost me a lot in soft copper tubing too.

Gettin ready to solder my site glass holders to my "Tinker Made Flute". Unfortunately the only ones I could find local are brass. Should I pickel them before or after soldering to my colum.,,,and whats best way to pickel them??

Re: Brass fittings
by Samohon » Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:07 am
Pickle the brass in 50/50 vinegar/hydrogen peroxide solution for 15mins. Rinse well and you'll be good to go.

That will have to be repeated on a regular basis.

Or copper plate them as described in my recent thread.

where's the thread where you were plateing the brass,, i cant seem to be able to find it

Sackett wrote:where's the thread where you were plateing the brass,, i cant seem to be able to find it

Here you go. The steel sculpture came out great. I did a brass key when practicing. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=38570

tks mash ,, just pulled my sightglass holders outta acid bath. bout 30 mim at 6 volts,,10 amp,,nice n red

Hotfoot wrote:The start to my still! The guy threw in an extra foot so I have 6' of of 4" schedule 10 304 ss. Do y'all see a problem with me having the main column 4' and using the other two feet for the cooling side? I see most don't make it the same diameter but I don't want to waste it and have to buy more smaller pipe.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1364511075.202341.jpg

Hotfoot, that's a decent height roof in your shed there.

I'm thinking you could run a 16 plate column in there!

Here you can see through the release of an 8 "Sieve plate with about 10% of active surface and with 1,5mm hole in 4mm pattern and 28mm hole for the return pipe.
It is clearly visible the holes drilled by me and punched in a cnc punch .... and yes the center hole shall be solder again and som more hole shall be drilled there.


Cheers

Hi all, thought I'd put this here, hope its in the right section. Mash rookie, you mentioned in another thread that bubble caps are not as good as perfs at separating fractions?. Is this the case with single bubble caps also?, could you share why this is the case. Thanks for any feed back.