4" glass column "coil-less" ponu

[still crazy]

One of the best parts about this still is that if any law enforcement was to look at it ...... well heres a sample of that conversation.

Officer Dribble : Ok lets find this guys stuff he's alleged to be in some sort of illegal activity.
Officer Quibble: What the hell is that glass thing?
Officer Dribble : Hmmm looks like some medical device we better not touch that.
Officer Quibble: Ya last thing I want to do is have some Doctor suing me.
Officer Dribble : Where is the Doctor?
Officer Quibble: Wonder if he's a brain surgeon or a heart guy.
Officer Dribble : What ever he is I bet hes great at it hes developing his own equipment
Officer Quibble: Ya beside how could we write up this report.
Officer Dribble : Tell ya what lets close this out and hit the bar.
Officer Quibble: Hey I was just thinking the same thing for some reason I'm craving a drink

[catburgler]

Now thats what im talking about. Damn you beat me to it. Iv been dreaming about glass stills for months..that baby is gonna look the business when built, iv just knocked up a prototype glass condenser which im gonna try on my potstill in my next run. That column of yours is gonna look sweet as, keep us posted.
Cheers
Cat

[Manback]

Everybody has already said it but..


This is fucking bad-ass!!

[condensificator]

super cool el duderino. i think i'm starting to understand, but maybe not. bummer about ditching the spheres...i really dig those. i still don't really grasp any of the ponu stuff, but i'll be paying attention!

great stuff, thanks for sharing.

[ozone39]

Condenser is completed. Now I just have to attach the two together....

[Azframer]

I am speechless.

[LWTCS]

super cool el duderino.

Hahahahhah. Dude,,,,,,promise me you will never say that again.

I recon you ain't never gonna get no sleep with all the enthusiasm coursing through your veins now.

Hate to sound like a broken record Ozone. But I hope you post a flow chart when yer done.

Killer dude. Just killer.

Cheers everybody

[Kentucky shinner]

Ill be a sombitch... crazy man crazy... Love it.
KS

[Mr.Spooky]

hows this thingamabob work
spooky

[ozone39]

Well, the inlet sides of the primary and secondary coils are hooked up....Getting close

[Mr.Spooky]

dang,,, it sure is nice to look at,,,, even though i dont know what it is
spooky

[condensificator]

super cool el duderino.

Hahahahhah. Dude,,,,,,promise me you will never say that again.

will do...i guess yer into the whole brevity thing...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be7Og9Gc ... re=related


man...
...dudeness! looking SICK. i think i am starting to get it a little more...well, maybe not, but it's still cool as sh*t to look at. i was bummed that you said the spheres weren't going to go down, awesome that they are there...SUPER AWESOME.

[condensificator]

here's another one for the dude...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXT0gOk1Ogw

thanks for sharing with us! keep it coming.

[LWTCS]

Ok, that was hilarious.

I did not formerly understand,,,,,,,,,,and now I am on board.

I recind.

Carry on at your soonest pleasure.

[ozone39]

Smokey....your toe slipped over the fuc%^& line....Mark it zero!!! Should have the new girl up and running by the weekend.....And drawing a fire arm during league play is against all the league rules and bylaws....Yea, and putting the spheres in the condenser started to dabble into the ceiling of my garage...

[condensificator]

....ahhhh. i thought that you meant you were scrapping the spheres all together. i dig the condenser that you went with. VERY cool.

[ozone39]

Well, she's 99% completed. Have a union I have to cut in but that's about it. See what happens when we put the steam too her...

[blind drunk]

"The ringer definitely isn't empty."

Hey ozone, at the risk of sounding dumb, is this a pot still?

bd

[ozone39]

Falls under the ponu category. Similar to a reflux column but no packing and it flashes the alcohol twice (for a double distill) before it exits the still...This is why there are three coils or similar type of condenser design in these stills (two in the condenser and one in the steam chamber)....

[maheel]

looks like your keeping a copper mine in profit somewhere

i am not even sure how ti works but it looks very nice

can someone explain what the top horizontal glass cylinder does and how it does it ?

whats does it weigh ? must be heavy

[BillTheChemist]

Please let us know when you fire this thing up - the suspense is killing me.

[Azframer]

Ozone she is a beautiful thing a work of art for sure!

[ozone39]

Thanks again for the compliments....The horizontal glass tube at the top is the condenser. Water flows from the bottom left up to the top right. As for running her, hoping to get her on the boiler tomorrow night .....

[Kentucky shinner]

That is just friggin crazy... I love it... Please you have to let us know how she runs.
KS

[warr87]

looks like your keeping a copper mine in profit somewhere

i am not even sure how ti works but it looks very nice

can someone explain what the top horizontal glass cylinder does and how it does it ?

whats does it weigh ? must be heavy

I'm just gonna clarify further incase people are not that familiar with the ponu design. As ozone said, the horizontal glass cylinder is a condenser. The wash is boiled and the gas must flow through the tubes in the condenser. When it gets condensed it then flows into, in this case, the spheres down the bottom. This is also refered to as the 'steam chamber'. Steam/hot wash from the boiler heats the spheres and flashes off the alcohol. The alcohol then travels up another tube that leads back into the same condenser to a take off tube. Thus, the horizontal glass cylinder condenses the alcohol vapor to reach the 1) double distill/flash the vapor, and 2) take off product tube. it is difficult to follow the flow of alcohol in the pictures, but that is essentially what is happening. (unless I have got something wrong, ozone?)

[ozone39]

You are correct....The T at the top of the steam column (under the condenser) and the T welded to the s.s plate is what kinda makes it confusing. The steam vapor travels through the steam ports in the top s.s plate. From there it shoots out the branch side of the welded copper tee. (The pipe that go into the top of this tee runs all the way through and connects to the sphere stack). Up to the condenser where it is condensed back to a liquid.

The liquid drops down to the "divert-er T" There is a 1/2" 90 inside this T that keeps the liquid and any left over vapor from traveling into the secondary. At this point the liquid alcohol drops down into the "sphere stack". There is a water trap at the bottom of this assembly that keeps the steam vapor coming off the wash from "short cutting" into the lower stack. Theory is the steam heat rising from the wash heats the spheres and this heat flashes off the alcohol a second time. This vapor now travels back up (through the sight glass) sphere inlet pipe and goes into the 1/2" 90 in the diverter T. From here the alcohol vapor travels up to the second set of coils in the condenser and comes out as final product.

[ozone39]

Well, put the onions to her today. Did a water/white vinegar scrubbing run. No leaks and nothing cracked due to expansion. Going to run some cheap wine through her tonight and see what I can get out of it...

[LWTCS]

Great skills Sir. Top notch fancy.
Can you comment on the type of product this outfit best produces?

[Kentucky shinner]

She is just wonderful looking. That my friend is really outside of the box.
Very nice.

[ozone39]

Thanks again for the compliments.....Well I ran a 12 gallon wash through her. Gotta say it pretty cool watching the water and alcohol vapor/condensate ripping around the lower steam tube. You can definably tell when the alcohol starts to vapor off. it has that water smear ripple look when it hits the glass (especially when some of the water vapor hit it). As far as the out put is concerned it hit 90% and stayed there for 2 1/2 hours until she was done (no more output on low fire, the temp gauge hit 195F, so I called it). I got a gallon of 90% out of the deal, I pulled a pretty hefty head shot from this run as well being it was the first wash (after the vinegar and wine run). As well, you can see when the tubes in the condenser start getting hot (bubbles form on the tubes). Gotta say it was a lot of fun and cool to see what goes on in there. The product had a the usual good grain flavor to it (I like that). It went into the barrel today...