Home Distiller

I just boil up some oxyclean and the keg is clean. Not sure how that'll work for molassis stain though

bellybuster wrote:HB, I haven't tried a ferrule, difference with it is it is a thinner material so I would think some preheating on the keg side would be necessary but I would still do it pretty much the same. Big thing is to avoid hitting the actual fluxed area with the flame. I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

talon, I haven't timed it actually but I'd guess around 30 minutes??

I would also do it the same way, ferrule is thicker than the top of the keg.

Richard7 wrote:I don't use a keg but I have read a piece of stainless steel chain dropped in and sloshed around with some hot water works real well.

Not sure I would drop a chain in with a heating element.

Bushman wrote: Not sure I would drop a chain in with a heating element.

Good point.

Hmmm. The oxyclean sounds like a good plan, but I wouldn't want soap residue in the keg at all... But I could unscrew the element and toss in a chain I guess. Or maybe if I could find a renaissance fair, trade a proper ole' knight a pint of stout for some of his chain male shirt... So it would more scrub than just bang around...

bcboyz86 wrote:Hmmm. The oxyclean sounds like a good plan, but I wouldn't want soap residue in the keg at all... But I could unscrew the element and toss in a chain I guess. Or maybe if I could find a renaissance fair, trade a proper ole' knight a pint of stout for some of his chain male shirt... So it would more scrub than just bang around...

Yes , but do you really want to bang that iron around on the inside of your still . Tain't a presence I'd care to expose my drinkin stuff to .

Just find a high tech Knight with stainless chain male!

Richard7 wrote:Just find a high tech Knight with stainless chain male!

I think that knight is going to be as difficult to find as the perfect woman .

We're takin this way off topic but, oxyclean rinses just fine.

Finally got my stainless solder flux in the mail... Oh man that works so much better than the flux I had. I shoulda waited for the right flux before soldering.... It really did make a huge difference. but it looks good now, just gadda wait for my element and controller now! And my dam tax return that's taking forever!

Thanks bellybuster for the write up. Followed it and got this. I mixed muriatic acid with the flux I use on copper . Its not perfect but it works

glad to see you got good results.

Truckinbutch wrote:

Richard7 wrote:Just find a high tech Knight with stainless chain male!

I think that knight is going to be as difficult to find as the perfect woman .

If you found the perfect woman she would already have a still (it would be a big one) that she would let you use when ever you wanted while she was at work while you were not fishin on her boat.

nah she would be using it while your out on her boat so you would have something to drink when you got home. now thats the perfect woman

Belly buster was really helpful with this.

I used SS 5/16" nuts the other day. To clean out my keg boiler. After a little mishap. I just dropped two handfuls down in there. And sloshed them around. Worked good. Would be less distrustful then a big chain.

Is there a ink to your controller set up? I liked your YouTube video and links on this page.

hi, you helpful people, i really fancy doing this over christmas, do you think i will manage to do this with a decent butane torch or is it worth spending another £50 on a MAPP torch??

for reference i did manage to solder 2" pipe to a 2" reducer with a bit of assistance from the gas stove to preheat (and im thinking combined with some oven gloves and the keg will roll just fine )

First off outstanding thread and thanks for taking the time to write it up! Excellent video also. I just purchased a pound of stay brite #8 (I assume the #8 is the silver content). It looks like your solder is 1/8 inch where what I have is 1/16 inch. Would you recommend a double ring of it for a solid joint or do you think a single ring would suffice?
Also I plan on using it for putting a 2" piece of copper thru the top for a thumper. Any experience with copper to stainless? Would the stay clean flux still be the right choice?

I think you've already answered all you own questions there Jarhead. Ya I think I would go with a double ring of solder.
I haven't tried the stainless to copper but I would assume that the same solder is used. I have used it on copper alone and it works fine.

bellybuster wrote:I think you've already answered all you own questions there Jarhead.

No that can't be right. That's never happened before.
So the flux should be good to go too. Sweet!

We are going to two 15.5g keg and doing twin elements with a drain. This right here is saving a bunch of trouble and cost. I got all 6 of the holes sized and ready to solder. We have a local welding supply that I hope to pick up the flux from tomorrow. Looking forward to getting these kegs going. I am building our controller from directions on the forum. Really excited to see these things running...tired of toting and purchasing propane. We are going to do double rings of solder for stability. Thanks BB for the write-up...

BB

As soldering is so easy, it would of been nice to see it tested to destruction. With such small contact area between the parts, and no sign of any beading I'm skeptical. I'm an electrical safety man, and I couldn't put that in to service. It needs further proving.

What is the element made of or coated with? It's not what I expected.

friendly1uk wrote:As soldering is so easy, it would of been nice to see it tested to destruction. With such small contact area between the parts, and no sign of any beading I'm skeptical. I'm an electrical safety man, and I couldn't put that in to service. It needs further proving.

What is the element made of or coated with? It's not what I expected.

Great suggestion, now go out and spend $100 on a keg and $30 on an element, follow these directions to solder it up and them destroy it and let us know how it turns out.

Sorry but.......

It would probably cost nothing but a few cc of gas to break that joint and then wet it again

What is that element made of?

friendly1uk wrote:As soldering is so easy, it would of been nice to see it tested to destruction. With such small contact area between the parts, and no sign of any beading I'm skeptical. I'm an electrical safety man, and I couldn't put that in to service. It needs further proving.

What is the element made of or coated with? It's not what I expected.

I was a little skeptical at first too, but then I went to the trouble to do a little research and found this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqDdkzVDvRY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The method has also been put into practice by many of the members of this forum and others. I think if it were prone to failure, we would have heard about it by now.

S-C

S-Cackalacky wrote:

friendly1uk wrote:As soldering is so easy, it would of been nice to see it tested to destruction. With such small contact area between the parts, and no sign of any beading I'm skeptical. I'm an electrical safety man, and I couldn't put that in to service. It needs further proving.

What is the element made of or coated with? It's not what I expected.

I was a little skeptical at first too, but then I went to the trouble to do a little research and found this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqDdkzVDvRY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The method has also been put into practice by many of the members of this forum and others. I think if it were prone to failure, we would have heard about it by now.

S-C

One look at that video's opening scene and I know that is strong enough. Someone else in the thread also put up a pic that looks strong enough. The op's doesn't though. He has a tiny contact area and has not built up a bead. I'm repeating myself here though, and must carry on and tell you again that passing such stuff for use is part of my job, and I wouldn't pass that.

Sorry. It just isn't good enough and I doubt the other examples your turning too are the same. I bet they are beaded properly.

You see, people will try and copy this. We have 'master distillers' here that can't get solder to stick to stainless at all. It is not easy. What is going to happen when a weak joint fails and the wash pours out over the 240v element. I'm not even sure that his vessel is going to get a safety connection as he is using ptfe on the threads. Something I may not get round too talking about as there is resistance to movement here. That joint needs a broom handle up it and some load applying to satisfy me, and then we can move on to the next point, and the next. Or we can just leave it here with the electrical safety man saying he don't trust it. Which is my duty of care.

I think everyone on here is mature enough to decide if their joint is solid. I too think they are mature enough to make the decision to do it this way or have it tig welded, or glue it on with rubber cement if they so desire.
I highly doubt they plan on getting their handiwork inspected.
I'm a pretty smart cookie, smart enough to ensure the joint was solid before applying power to the element. I am also smart enough to properly ground the element to the keg and the panel.

My joint used to be pretty solid - not so much anymore.

I've been trying to get a proper bead with my soldering, but no matter how hard I try it just keeps getting sucked up into the fitting. What could I be doing wrong?

Just sayin',
S-C