Home Distiller

shadylane wrote:Here's a thought for making a simple water seal, on a copper pot, that fits inside a keg with the top cut off.
Hope yall can figure out what I'm thinking

Like!

shadylane wrote: I think I need to trim the lip on the pot so the lid rests on the inner lip.

I thought this might be helpful, for not reinventing the wheel, that is. These guys have been at it for a couple of centuries. They should have some of the bugs worked out by now.

skow69 wrote:Here is what Al-Ambiq says. http://www.copper-alembic.com/ns/catego ... category=9

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 What is unique about this still is that it uses water to seal off vapours from the interior, thus having no need to use any other sealing technique as in other models. The pot is built with two separate walls on the top side creating a chamber or corridor where the water is placed.
The inner wall is higher than the exterior one, and this is one of the essential elements of the water sealing system, as this wall must touch the lid to aid in sealing off all vapours. The complete system, independent of its size must be mounted on a perfectly level surface to avoid water spilling from the water corridor when in use.

FWIW their water chambers are outside the boiler wall.

I think having the water seal outside the boiler wall and having the inner lip lower might be the best option.

We will have to see what happens. I need to figure this out asap otherwise I'll get python to just weld it like I originally planned. It will eventually get a 6 inch port so I ay just do that.

Yak, here's the value of a water sealed lid.
I cooked the mash yesterday, pitched the yeast this morning.
In another 3 or 4 days the ferment will be done.
I'll clamp on the condenser and turn the heaters on.

Man that is art! The problem we are facing with the water seal is the large rounded edge on his boiler. It's a lot of questions and ideas on fairly new territory, know what I mean? We both agree, having the lid still functional would be the cats ass, just got to work on the design for this application while keeping it under a budget.

pythonshine wrote:Man that is art! The problem we are facing with the water seal is the large rounded edge on his boiler. It's a lot of questions and ideas on fairly new territory, know what I mean? We both agree, having the lid still functional would be the cats ass, just got to work on the design for this application while keeping it under a budget.

Just a thought, you have at least two options

1. Build what you can, with what you got.
Make your changes on the next build and/or modifications of the first

2. Wait until you gather the parts you might need?
But your not sure, since you never did it before.

Just keep possible changes in mind,
It's easier to make a hole bigger or something shorter, than the other way around.

We are thinking on welding it on for now. It's a simple job to remove the lid after. I do like the idea though. Will be posting more pics of the build once things dry off a bit.......friken rain

Just a thought.
If you want to Cook, Mash, Ferment and Distill.
Having a big, water sealed lid, makes it all possible.
The only thing better, is to have several CMFD

I'd love to be able make it water sealed but with the design I don't think it is feasible. However for cooking in (which will only really be beer as distilled mashes sre bigger to allow for better cuts ) I have a 4 inch opening for grain and water to be added. This will also allow for relitivly easy cleaning. This is by no means my last boiler. I'm still designing (when at home) a few different setups that should put this type of boiler within reach of most people looking to build one.

Have you taken a look at the picks of the boiler shady? If you have thoughts on how to make a water seal viable I'm all ears.

Yak

If you have a tig welder, an inner and outer ring could be welded on the top.
Or plan B weld a 8" ferule on top of the lid and weld the lid on.
The reason I suggest a 8" ferule is so you can scoop out the pot after a run.

yeah, bigger is better for the fill port, I can get my arm in a 4" but not much wiggle room, if you have big arms it will be tight.

8 inch will be nice but I have a 2 inch drain that drains the inner pot. Which is the only reason I considered welding on the lid. Sadly no tig. Can always change it later if necessary.

yakattack wrote:8 inch will be nice but I have a 2 inch drain that drains the inner pot. Which is the only reason I considered welding on the lid. Sadly no tig. Can always change it later if necessary.

Just a thought.
With a removable lid, the bain marie would be easier to use as mash cooker.
Usually my 2" valve will be plugged up after a run. To get it unplugged. I have to take a stick and give it a poke..
And I also have to stick my drill powered stirrer inside to get it to drain good.

yakattack wrote:Sadly no tig.

Don't understand why TIG gets all the glory. MIG works just fine and always will.

Just a thought.
MIG is good for production.
Stick will getter done.
But, TIG can weld two pieces of copper together.
Using copper wire for the filler if needed.
Or even weld copper to stainless steel.

Brazing is great for both SS to SS or SS to copper using the right flux. No special fluxed up brass 50$ rods. I don't know why this is constantly popping up as an issue. Simple solder is a great option too.
Folks in one post will ask if solder is strong do I need tig is mig good enough and then next forum flour past will hold has for years ha ahahhe.

AC

I'm not tied to tig. I know mig with Gas will work for ss to ss, and so will stick. I would love to be able to tig but lack of tooling and experience prohibits it. Small joints of ss to ss I solder and have perfect joints with it that are vapor and water tight and structurally sound. The only problem is the design of the lid as it stands.

2 inch drain should work for distilling as all grains will be flour now. I want to get a stiring motor that mpunts to the secondary 4 inch furrel.

I'm thinking while this boiler is great it will have its limitations, which is fine. Understanding the limitations will help me as I design and build custom boilers.

I'm really itching to to get this boiler dome and working. Hoping by then end of next month.

Yak

Just a thought.
Build it with what you have and gather the parts and tools for the next build.
Each build will either get better or you will get an education as too why it didn't

My thoughts exactly.

How is this working out after a couple more months? Very interesting project!

Knafs wrote:How is this working out after a couple more months? Very interesting project!

It works excellent.
Put in the ingredients and a couple days later strip out the alcohol.
Drain and repeat

i've been meaning to ask- do you remove any of the yeast trub, or just give'r? does yeast flavour come through, on the first strip? if so, do you notice any coming over on the spirit?
(apologies if alread asked/answered, too lazy to go back and read...this thread really grew)

HDNB on my setup (simple thump rig) I dump the whole shot in match into the stripper. With my palate I don't notice any yeasty flavours.

When the ferment is done, I clamp on the condenser and turn on the heat.
Some of the yeast flavor does come through.
But after the low-wines are run with 4 plates it cleans up pretty good.

I'm guessing anything other than pot strip distillation is out of the question because of the limitations of the water seal. Might a large 8" Tri-clamp on top offer the ability to run a plated column and shorten this process even more?

Your right, the water seal can't hold back very much pressure.
It's enough for a pot-still or maybe 1 plate.
And a 8" hole would be big enough

Knafs wrote:How is this working out after a couple more months? Very interesting project!

There's something it's good for, that I didn't think about.
It's excellent for making gin and other botanical flavored alcohol.

Hi Shady, I've been thinking about building something almost identical to this. I figured I would do a search to see if anyone had done something similar.
Sure enough I found this thread.

So fellow mad scientist, do you recommend building this as a complete mash/ferment/strip appliance ?
Or is it not worth the trouble?

Is there anything you would change in your design?