New CCVM build underway

[thatguy1313]

You're gonna need some kinda retainer if you want lava rocks. The weight will just push the scrubbies into the boiler. Otherwise looks good! Fire her up!

[Kegg_jam]

Nice! Fine looking rig. I'm getting jealous.

[CR33G3R]

So this thing is not totally finished. I still have to finish my plumbing and finish my base for the keg to sit on.
I was in Lowes the other night getting a fitting for the plumbing and was taking notice of how picked over and poor their selection of hose barb type fittings is when a lady that works there said " I don't know where all of our fittings are. Everyone must be making stills" I just kind of smiled and laughed.
Anyway back on subject when I was looking at my still I noticed a small void in one of the solder joints in the "T" The void is on the outside of the joint near the thermo. When I look inside down the "T" the joint looks filled and may in fact be just fine. Any suggestions on fixing it?
Also need to machine the base for my burner. I've got a big cast iron clutch plate that I got out of the scrap bin at work that I will machine to fit inside the ring of my burner for the keg to sit on. I will post some pics when I get around to finishing up...

[still_stirrin]

....Any suggestions on fixing it?...

You may not need to. Sometimes contaminents get into the flux (dust and dirt) and create a void. The flux may have flowed properly on the inside of the joint.

Test your joint by blowing into the pipe, capping the ends, of course. If there is a bad solder joint, you'll get a whistle. Oh, you may need an assistant to help if the geometry of your column can't be managed by you alone.
ss

[CR33G3R]

I dd makeshift test on my column with my air compressor today. I put it on the keg put my pot still cap on put a cork around my air nozzle and hit it with air. I d not hear any leaks anywhere, so that's good. I also made up a what I will call a silencer. I have always had to put a little piece of scrubbie in the end of my liebig to keep it from huffing and have read about people putting a spiraled section in their liebig to improve function. Now with that being said I have always thought that mine was more than good enough for the heat I was throwing at it. Mine stops huffing once the temp of the water in the cooling reservoir gets hot which leads me to believe it was actually shock cooling... but anyway I had some free time and some copper so here is my silencer...

[CR33G3R]

I finally got around to machining the new base for the keg to fit on to my burner. I also used my liebig on another still of mine and the silencer preformed great.
Anyhow here are a couple of pics of the base....
I sure wish this weather would change so I could do some real stillin..

[CR33G3R]

It's been forever but I finally did a vinegar and water cleaning run on this thing tonight.
Everything worked great and no leaks in any of the new solder joints. I did find a pinhole in my liebig but that isn't a big deal. It has never leaked before but tonight was the first time it has been hoked up to a water hose. The new tube I got for the exit of the RC kind of sucks but again this happens from time to time when you buy online.
With any luck I'll do a sac. run this weekend and I will finally be able to use this thing

[CR33G3R]

It's done!!!
Got my cleaning run and my sac run done this weekend.
Everything preformed well with the exception of my new P.O.S. discharge hose. No worries it is easy fix. I think I'll get a water hose for the discharge.
The one thing that I did not mention is that I used brass water hose fittings for all of my water in and out. Also use a hose fitting ball valve for flow control. It worked well and is a cheap and easy solution. I will try to remember to take and post pics for those with questions.

As for how she ran I was able to pull about 87% percent with only about 18 inches of packing. (ss scrubbers) I've got room to add about 10 more inches.
As far as take off rate I cant really say because I didn't really time it. It felt like it was a good as my 1-1/4 pot still take off rate.
I played with moving the RC coil up and down more or less heat just to watch the changes.

All in all I am happy with how the still preformed and I think it will do what I built it to do.
Make a good clean whiskey (check out Odins pure whiskey thread)
Make a good neutral
Now that I think I have the still I want It's time for my A.G. journey to begin

[S-Cackalacky]

Nice build thread. Sounds like fun just figuring out how to run it. The CCVM is what I hope to build at some point in the future.

[MoonBreath]

I like it also ..Very good job ..Very good thread.

[Danespirit]

Well done..CR33G3R , it looks great.
I like the reclaimed clutchbase on your burner.
I must say i am impressed about the 87% with only 18" of packing.
Stuff her up with scrubbies, and post some results of a run..

[CR33G3R]

Hey guys thanks for the positive feedback.
I did a post of the first run of a keeper here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 32&t=55089

When I get a few more runs on it I will probably start to play with different kinds of packing. Right now I have about 24 inches packed with SS scrubbers. I want to try lave rock.
Hopefully I will get another ferment of some All-Bran going so I can do another run soon. I have about 2 liters of stripped All-Bran to throw in to do a kind of 1.5 run.