Home Distiller

Dan, I do have a question for you.

What thickness were your plates?

I'm looking at rolled sheeting copper or just flat sheets? Any preference.

I'm also wondering, what thickness of rolled sheeting would I need if I were going to roll my own collumn, like 10-12 inches across, a short, fat collumn?

What do you think about that? If I pumped it with a 5500 watt element that should be enough to pump it, I barely run my 1500 watt, cut in half for 110 and it
runs the snott out of my 42 x 3 Smiley collumn with scrubber packing.

DC,

My plates are 0.125" thick but I think that 0.0625" would have been just fine. My column is built with type "L" copper pipe which is thicker than DWV (Drain Waste and Vent) so I am not sure what thickness would work best for your application. I bought all of my flat stock from Alaskan Copper right here in Portland Oregon. http://www.alascop.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow There is 8" and 10" copper pipe but I would not know where to find it. In my experience the thicker the column material the longer it takes to get the top of your column up to temperature.

-Dan

Thanks.

This place actually has 8 inch copper!

I can't remember if I posted a link to this video I made of a birdwatchers wash run but it is one of my favorites.... If you have not watched it enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EeePlmI ... re=channel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

-Dan

Sweet work Dan love the video.....

Okay Guys.....

I need a little inspiration for my next project. This 63" long piece of 4" type "L" Canadian born Wolverine brand pipe showed up at the scrap yard and I just had to bring it home.... I would like to be able to produce Gin and Vodka in a single run and would like the opinions of anyone running a 10+ perforated plate column. I was thinking about making two five plate sections and then reusing my original dephlegmator and product condenser with a few tune-ups. Any Ideas??

-Dan

dan wrote:Okay Guys.....

I need a little inspiration for my next project. This 63" long piece of 4" type "L" Canadian born Wolverine brand pipe showed up at the scrap yard and I just had to bring it home.... I would like to be able to produce Gin and Vodka in a single run and would like the opinions of anyone running a 10+ perforated plate column. I was thinking about making two five plate sections and then reusing my original dephlegmator and product condenser with a few tune-ups. Any Ideas??

-Dan

holy moly, 10 plates are gonna be a blast to drill.... why not just make an add on 5 plate for your existing 5 plate?

Dan,

Could you describe how you made the condenser?

Purduebrew

Very nice Dan! I love your video. Your build is as sweet as it gets. My compliments.
I love a nice piece of art. Rock on dude.
MR

dan wrote:running a 10+ perforated plate column. I was thinking about making two five plate sections and then reusing my original dephlegmator and product condenser with a few tune-ups. Any Ideas??

-Dan

Get a good step ladder!

I havn't run one, but I'm hoping to get some parts enough to put together a 5 plate extension to make a 10 plate still, I'm hoping by next week.

IIRC, Olddog made a 10 or 13 plate column once, I think it was a combo of bubble caps and perf plates.

Another enjoyable video, Dan. Good stuff

I am looking to Make a flute like a hillbilly style site bosses protest guide on a symbol

Jaws,

You must mean that you want to build an OD Style 4" column..... Everyone else just borrowed the concept and made some modifications to it. The ORIGINAL design belongs to OldDog. Happy building and stilling in the new year and glad we all survived the apocalypse so we can continue the evolution of home distillation.

Dan

Dan,
just read through your build with great interest.. Your build quality is second to none. I followed some of the links you posted, but had a couple questions. Where did you source the copper easy flanges you used for the sight glasses to mount into? I also like how you made your plate assembly removeable for cleaning... How are you pulling it out of the top with the temp probe sticking in there? Wasn't that a blind pipe soldered in or did I miss something?

Great job and thanks for any info.

Jason

Jason,

I made the sight glass flanges from two inch copper pipe and four gage copper ground wire. The wire was annealed and then wrapped around the two inch pipe and cut to fit then soldered onto the pipe. After that I cut away about half of the four gage wire to make a flat surface to seal the glass to. The thermo wells are in the top and bottom of the dephlegmator which is removable from the column. Glad you liked the build.

Dan

Well I just ran my flute for the first time in over a year and it was great! I am pretty much hooked on Mike's Sweet Feed recipe that I have tweaked a bit to my liking. I started out with about 35 gallons of racked wash that I ran through the still in two runs. The result was twelve quarts of 75%ABV spirits that I cut back to 140 proof and now have that aging in a five gallon carboy with 49 sticks of very heavily charred oak from a Jim Beam Whiskey barrel. I have been force aging this for the last five days in and out of a chest freezer every 24 hours. I will do this for the first two weeks and then leave it alone for the last six weeks. Enclosed are a few pictures.... Dan

a few pictures of my final product from my last few runs of the column..... The color is just from the heavy char of the oak that I use in the carboy.

Dan, please tell us about your bottle labels.

FMH.

FMH-

What would you like to know?? That is my "White Dog" on the label. Wet Cob is kentucky shinners sweet feed whiskey recipe that I have modified to include 51% or more of the grain being corn to qualify as bourbon. The "49" is the number of 3/4 x 3/4" white oak heavy char sticks that I put in the carboy to age my clear spirits. The Rhum was made from a molasses wash and was aged on oak sticks like the whiskey but I added vanilla beans, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and a few other spices before I started the aging process. I hope that answers your questions.

-Dan

Dan, my bad Sir, I should have asked where you bought them or if you made them yourself.

I don't know beans about graphic design.

Thanks in advance, FMH.

FMH-

Yes I made them myself on a laser printer and a MS Word program.

Dan

I am thinking about adding some Stilldragon sight glasses (http://www.stilldragon.com/sight-glass-kit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) to my column and redoing my copper easy-flanges with the Stilldragon brass ones (http://www.stilldragon.com/ferrules.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) between the column and boiler and the dephlagmater and product take-off. What do you guys think?? I am also wanting to build a 30" section of 4" to put above my plate tree filled with lava rock to make a very clean neutral. Do you think I need to add a sight glass to that section?? If so where would you put it and why?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

-Dan

It would add quite a bit if cost but less heart ache and would look better. I did a window in my packed section, just cause I wanted to see what was happening.

looks good Googe, is that a 3" sight glass?

-Dan

Thanks, yep 3".

It's come a long way since these ole boys was young.

Yall doin outstanding work.

So I'm tole

Hi Dan, good to see you still making stuff.
Those brass sight glass kits look pretty good on a copper column. I don't think you need a sight glass on a packable section, but just like on the column, they give lots of good feedback.
FWIW, I found 24" to be enough for lava rock.

I hope you got the energy left after making it to do another one of those vids

Dan, there is some bad blood between Still Dragon and the people that run this forum. Don't know the details of the pissin match but I too looked at some of the SD products but when they were mentioned here I got beat back into the brush and told to stop. That being said, I prefer the 2" copper trap adapters here http://www.pexsupply.com/Cello-WDSJ-32- ... -C-x-Compr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. And the glass disks from here http://www.mcmaster.com/#glass-stock/=pks1a9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. Those ferrules have always interested me but always wondered about that brass and possible lead. If you get some please report back or PM me with any more info you come up with. They sure look nice and easy to work with as well. Good luck with your new project.

WIski-
The trap adapters that you sent the link to look like they are made out of brass?? The easy flanges made by SD are 99% lead free and the sight glass flanges do not come in contact with any vapor or distillate. The small area of the easy flange that is exposed can be pickled or tinned with solder if you are not comfortable with it. the glass lenses that SD sells are borosilicate glass (Pyrex) and are only $4.00 each for the 2" sight glass size. Worth checking out to save time and money on your build.

-Dan

I emailed pexsupply and asked them about their trap adapters. The girl wrote back and said they had someone go in the warehouse and look and found that they are indeed all brass. They were supposed to update the website but I doubt they did. I ordered some from Lowe's.com and they are copper with a brass nut. Since the nut is on the outside it should be OK. I haven't gotten around to using them yet though

If you use an easyflange style flange for the sightglass mount, then a gasket, the brass from the above mentioned clamps does not contact the vapour at all.
Don't know if that helps or not