Home Distiller

Posted: **Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:38 pm**

For whatever reason I went out of my way on the way home from work tonight and stopped at the scap yard. Asked for 2" copper pipe. "Nope, we just cut it all up yesterday and this morning". Oh well, they always have it so I'll check in another day.

Heading back to the truck I turned around and asked if they had any Stainless Steel kegs. "we just got rid of about 30 of them, some guy cleaned out his basement" WHAT?????!!!! Where are they? "Oh we run them through the metal chipper"

About the only good news is he said "oh we get tons of them in all the time though" I asked how much they charge he answered "about a dollar a pound and they weigh about 20lb's..well maybe $15.00 or so something like that. We get them all the time, just keep checking back".

I'm gathering bits and pieces to build a VM head for my keg..and I need a keg for a BOP...and I should make a liebeg condensor instead of my coil-in-a-bucket...and....ohh, shiny......

Posted: **Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:51 pm**

goinbroke2 wrote:"Oh we run them through the metal chipper"

how ever the good news that they get them in all the time...thats good. im in wayyy to rural an area to get any type of deal like that. dont even know where a junk yard around here would be. consider yourself very fortunate to have this opportunity.

change your name to savingdough.

jerk!

Posted: **Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:11 pm**

goinbroke2 wrote:I'm gathering bits and pieces to build a VM head for my keg..and I need a keg for a BOP...and I should make a liebeg condensor instead of my coil-in-a-bucket...and....ohh, shiny......

A keg makes a GREAT bucket to put a worm in. My first keg I cut the top out, and put a copper bowl to connect with. I cut the top off another, to make one for a bud, but then the 'how to build the easy flange' threads came around, and I have never looked back. What I have done since is to convert one of those cut kegs into a great BOP with top handles. The other has been turned into a great coil in the bucket. That hole in the top was perfect size. It allowed me to get the coil in, and to solder things up properly.

Lebigs are great, but nothing beats the simplicity of a worm. You never 'forget' to turn them on, and never have to worry about having a pump die on you mid run.

H.

Posted: **Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:43 pm**

How long and at how much power can you run before the 15 gallons of water gets really hot?

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:18 am**

Barney Fife wrote:How long and at how much power can you run before the 15 gallons of water gets really hot?

If I am doing one run, then the entire run, stripping or spirit run. I run a my rig on propane, and 'can' push it as high as the burner can go, and it will not heat up any more than if run slow (heats up faster, but you are also done faster). I usually do not run a huge flame, since that is pretty much a waste. Most of the heat simply flows past the boiler, heats up the air, and is not driven into the still.

Now, the top of the water WILL get pretty hot. It will steam, and even have some bubbles forming on the tubing. That is not an issue. You actually want that, so that the hot vapors collapse slower (do a search for 'huffing and puffing'). However, even with the top hot, the bottom is still nice and cold.

If I am doing more than one run (usually I only do 1), then I will put a garden hose to the bottom of the worm buckets between runs, and slowly add some water, allowing the hot water it to overflow the top. If you do that slow, it will keep the hot water on top (you want that), but push the hottest out, and make the level of cold water in the bottom deeper. The condenser is probably large enough to handle 2 strips without cycling, but I have never run it back to back, without cycling at least some water.

I do not empty my condenser from spring to fall, even though I do not run it 'too' much. I simply put a cap full or 2 of bleach in it, to keep it from getting ripe, and put a piece of plywood over the top of the keg, to keep crap and critters from falling into it. When done, I unscrew the lyne arm, run a little HOT water down the tube, put a cap to the top connection, and put a carved oak peg into the bottom (again, to keep critters out).

I really like the keg as a worm bucket. I had some plastic stuff before (started with a 7 gallon bucket that I had JB welded on the bottom. I then moved up to a 22 gallon barrel, again, 'rigged' to work, but always seeming less usable than I wanted. The keg is very sturdy, and the coil is perm mounted inside, soldered in actually, with gasketed screw together fittings on the input and output. When I made it, I got the coil done, put it in the keg, and marked out where it would exit the keg, and where it would enter, then drilled, put in gasketed screw together fittings (not sure of the proper name for these), with a proper sized tube running through them. Then put the worm in, used a 90 degree elbow at the top to solder the coil on to the top pipe, and a 45 degree elbow on the bottom, to connect to (had to bend my coil just a bit to get the 45 to work). Soldered on some copper 'leg supports' to keep the coil stable on the inside, and make sure it stayed even spaced, and down sloped, and it is like a mini version of some of the commercial worms I have seen pix of. The thing is solid as a rock, and always reliable, and there is NO WAY there will ever be a low spot in the whole system.

If there is water (not too warm) in it, and you get the lyne arm connection sealed tight, it will work every time. I like that. One less thing to worry about. Still'in should be enjoyable, relaxing (at least IMHO).

This is a GREAT use for a keg, if you had originally cut the top, but then got tired of Fuk'n with that bowl, and moved on to an unmollested keg (or if you end up scoring numerous kegs, and have a surplus). The other great project for this, is the BOP. absinthe wrote a great tut on how to do that.

H.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:52 am**

husker thats probably a bulkhead fitting. cob

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:56 am**

Okay, good stuff. I use a old water heater tank as my reservoir, which holds a good 40 gallons, if not 60, and it's quite warm at the end of a run, so I wondered if the 15 gallons was enough. I like my pump system just fine, but a smaller tank(keg!) would be a good space saver.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:28 pm**

Just called the local salvage yard. They have 2 kegs. My man is holding both of them till i get there tomorrow. Hell, I cant wait!! I've taken junk to him but never bought any from him. I have a 30 gal barrell with a 20 ft worm. knocks down everything i put through at it.. If i get enough kegs I will try the condencer in the keg. I had a problem finding a good sillant on the plastic but I found a left over tube of tar for roof repairs. It silled up tight. love It beats the hell out of my liebig and less work for me. But liebig is great for tight areas just a little more to keep an i on. I haven't got a price yet but I'll let you know tomorrow.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:03 pm**

goinbroke2 wrote: Heading back to the truck I turned around and asked if they had any Stainless Steel kegs. "we just got rid of about 30 of them, some guy cleaned out his basement" WHAT?????!!!! Where are they? "Oh we run them through the metal chipper"

My condolences on your loss, that is a tough one. On the other hand, Those bastards should be prosecuted........For something.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:36 pm**

I stoppedby the scrap yard today and picked up some copper pipe. i got 7 ft of 2" type L for 20 bucks. Maybe a good boka soon for neutrals. Pretty good price seeing as new a 10' stick is 100. I dont know about other places, but where i'm from, the scrap yards cant accept any part of a keg, even if it's been cut up. In fact, if you buy a keg, and keep it for the deposit and "modify" it in a way that makes it unusable, it is a class C felony here.

The deposit on most kegs is 50$, but the brewery has to replace them at a cost of 150$. To many people were using them for BOP's and off road vehicle fuel tanks, and apparently it became a pretty big issue around here. If your keg is old enough, i think it is ok, but the new styles are illegal to cut up. But hell, if my keg gets seen as being cut up, i've got more problems on my hands than "you cut up your keg". More like "what the hell is all of that copper on top of your keg?"

On a positive note, the scrap yard told me to keep checking back for bigger pieces (said a guy came in earlier today and cleaned them out), but they usually carry a whole lot of scrap copper sheet. I forsee an all copper rig or a bright shiny thumper if i ever get a good size sheet.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:01 pm**

Barney Fife wrote:How long and at how much power can you run before the 15 gallons of water gets really hot?

Will depend a lot on the starting temp of the water.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:07 pm**

Yep Husker, the old coil in a bucket is a great system.

blanik

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:56 pm**

Barney Fife wrote:How long and at how much power can you run before the 15 gallons of water gets really hot?

Will depend a lot on the starting temp of the water.

I was assuming room temp.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:05 pm**

Room temperature in this part of the world is 34C

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:16 pm**

Exactly.

Room temp here can be 38C on a bad day. Never falls below low 20s.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:19 pm**

The outside temp today is 42.8C in my locality.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:44 pm**

Heavy overcast monsoon weather here right now. Already had about 75 mm of rain today. Temps still in high 20s.

Posted: **Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:39 am**

Hook sez: Room temp here can be 38C on a bad day. Never falls below low 20s.

And Dawg sez: Room temperature in this part of the world is 34C

Don't y'all have air conditioning???

OldDog, if you're stillin' in 100°F weather, I can see why our stills don't perform the same; that would surely effect how the still head works. I can barely keep my stillin' shed at 65°F(18°C), even during a run.

Posted: **Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:49 am**

I've made up my own little "Heating Time To Temp" calculator in Javascript that I have on my personal Wash Calculators page... It is a fixed version based off of broken code sourced on the internet... Copy and paste this stand alone version into a text editor, like Notepad, and save it as Boil_Time_Calculator.html or similar... Open the file in your browser and it'll do its thing... I also have it in spreadsheet form as well but virtually never use it in that format...

Code: Select all

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <title>
      Boil Time Calculator
    </title>
    <style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[*/
    body {
        font-family: arial, sans-serif;
    }
    input, td.name {
        text-align: right;
    }
    /*]]>*/
    </style>
    <script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
    // B8 -> Gallons
    // C8 -> Watts
    // D8 -> Start Temp
    // E8 -> Final Temp
    // F8 -> Efficiency Percentage
    // =((B8*8.33*453.59237)*(((5/9)*(E8-32))-((5/9)*(D8-32)))/(C8*0.238845896628*F8))/60

    var calculate = function ()
    {
      // easier to just recaulculate these on each change
      var volume = document.getElementById('volume');
      var energy = document.getElementById('energy');
      var startTemp = document.getElementById('startTemp');
      var endTemp = document.getElementById('endTemp');
      var efficiency = document.getElementById('efficiency');

      if (isNaN(volume.value) || volume.value < 0)
      {
        volume.value = 0;
        alert('Volume must be a >= 0');
      }

      if (isNaN(energy.value) || energy.value < 0)
      {
        energy.value = 0;
        alert('Energy must be a >= 0');
      }

      if (isNaN(efficiency.value) || efficiency.value < 0 || efficiency.value > 100)
      {
        efficiency.value = 95;
        alert('Efficiency percentage must be between 0 and 100%');
      }

      var volumeUnits = document.getElementById('volumeUnits').options[document.getElementById('volumeUnits').selectedIndex].value;
      var energyUnits = document.getElementById('energyUnits').options[document.getElementById('energyUnits').selectedIndex].value;
      var startTempUnits = document.getElementById('startTempUnits').options[document.getElementById('startTempUnits').selectedIndex].value;
      var endTempUnits = document.getElementById('endTempUnits').options[document.getElementById('endTempUnits').selectedIndex].value;

      if (startTempUnits == 'F' && startTemp.value < 32)
      {
        startTemp.value = 32;
        alert('Start Temp must be above freezing');
      }

      if (startTempUnits == 'F' && startTemp.value > 212)
      {
        startTemp.value = 212;
        alert('Start Temp must be below boiling');
      }

      if (startTempUnits == 'C' && startTemp.value > 100)
      {
        startTemp.value = 100;
        alert('Start Temp must be below boiling');
      }

      if (endTempUnits == 'F' && endTemp.value < 32)
      {
        endTemp.value = 32;
        alert('Start Temp must be above freezing');
      }

      if (endTempUnits == 'F' && endTemp.value > 212)
      {
        endTemp.value = 212;
        alert('Start Temp must be below boiling');
      }

      if (endTempUnits == 'C' && endTemp.value > 100)
      {
        endTemp.value = 100;
        alert('Start Temp must be below boiling');
      }

      var volumeInGallons = (volumeUnits == 'litres') ? volume.value * 0.264 : volume.value;
      var energyInWatts = (energyUnits == 'btu') ? energy.value * 0.293 : energy.value;

      var startTempInF = (startTempUnits == 'C') ? startTemp.value * 1.8 + 32 : startTemp.value;
      var endTempInF = (endTempUnits == 'C') ? endTemp.value * 1.8 + 32 : endTemp.value;

      if (startTempInF.value > endTempInF.value)
      {
        startTemp.value = 40;
        endTemp.value = 100;
        alert('Start Temp cannot be greater than End Temp');
      }

      var timeToTemp = document.getElementById('timeToTemp');
      // this forumla is a bit ugly; I stole it from a spreadsheet that was gallons/watts/Farenheit
      timeToTemp.value = Math.round(100 * ((volumeInGallons*8.33*453.59237)*(((5/9)*(endTempInF-32))-((5/9)*(startTempInF-32)))/(energyInWatts*0.238845896628*efficiency.value))/60);
    }
    //]]>
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>

    <div style="margin:auto auto; width:40%;">
      <form action="#">
        <table border="0" style="width:auto;">
          <caption>Heating Time To Temp<br/>(Water boils at: 100&deg;C/212&deg;F)</caption>
          <tr>
            <td class="name">Volume:</td>
            <td>
              <input onchange="calculate()" type="text" size="6" value="2" id="volume" />
              <select onchange="calculate()" id="volumeUnits">
                <option value="litres">litres</option>
                <option selected="selected" value="gallons">gallons</option>
              </select>
            </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td class="name">Energy:</td>
            <td>
              <input onchange="calculate()" type="text" size="6" value="1500" id="energy" />
              <select onchange="calculate()" id="energyUnits">
                <option selected="selected" value="watts">watts</option>
                <option value="btu">BTU/h</option>
              </select>
            </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td class="name">Start Temp:</td>
            <td>
              <input onchange="calculate()" type="text" size="6" value="65" id="startTemp" />
              <select onchange="calculate()" id="startTempUnits">
                <option value="C">&deg;C</option>
                <option selected="selected" value="F">&deg;F</option>
              </select>
            </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td class="name">End Temp:</td>
            <td>
              <input onchange="calculate()" type="text" size="6" value="212" id="endTemp" />
              <select onchange="calculate()" id="endTempUnits">
                <option value="C">&deg;C</option>
                <option selected="selected" value="F">&deg;F</option>
              </select>
            </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td class="name">Efficiency:</td>
            <td>
              <input onchange="calculate()" type="text" size="6" value="95" id="efficiency" />%
            </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td class="name">Time to Temp:</td>
            <td>
              <input type="text" size="6" readonly="readonly" id="timeToTemp" /> minutes
            </td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </form>
      <script type="text/javascript">calculate();</script>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Posted: **Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:09 pm**

Stopped on the way home tonight because I'm off tomorrow. Had 10-15 pieces of 1" and 1 1/2" copper pipe but no 2".
Since it was a different guy I asked if they got any Stainless Steel kegs, you know, beer kegs. The second guy said "you're getting all fancy now wanting shiny stuff" and the first guy said "either your building a float for a dock or a still"

I said "I'll stick with dock float, yeah that's it, a dock float". He laughed and said he'll keep an eye out for me.

Pretty casual, basically, that's interesting...hohum..next topic.

Posted: **Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:50 pm**

Barney Fife wrote:Hook sez: Room temp here can be 38C on a bad day. Never falls below low 20s.

And Dawg sez: Room temperature in this part of the world is 34C

Don't y'all have air conditioning???

Sure do, but I don't still in the air-con, much as I would like to.

Posted: **Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:46 am**

Stopped by the scrap yard yesterday and picked up 2 kegs. One looked ok and the other had the shanky connection cut out with a tourch. Got some pic i post later. SS is @1.10 here and the kegs must have weighed in at 30 lb each. Set me back 60.00. But I will find something to do with it. Hey husker could you post a pic of your coil condencer. I would like to see it. Ok coppy it. Thanks ct

Posted: **Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:41 pm**

[quote="rad14701"]I've made up my own little "Heating Time To Temp" calculator in Javascript that I have on my personal Wash Calculators page... It is a fixed version based off of broken code sourced on the internet... Copy and paste this stand alone version into a text editor, like Notepad, and save it as Boil_Time_Calculator.html or similar... Open the file in your browser and it'll do its thing... I also have it in spreadsheet form as well but virtually never use it in that format...

Hey Rad thats pretty cool. works like a champ... Now i just have to find out how many btu's my burner puts out.
Thanks

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:55 am**

ct1870 said:

Set me back 60.00

Earlier in the week, I went by the local recyclers (its on the way to where I was actually going, and I ALWAYS stop in!) Anyways, I saw a really neat 3 gal corny keg (use it for holding stripping runs) and while looking for the 'lids' I spotted an almost perfect 15.5 ss gal keg, (Filthy as home-made sin, tho), several aluminium kegs and a few kegs I've never seen, ss 5 gal or maybe less, a fitting on each end and a bung (?) hole (not threaded) on the side. What is the story on these?? Any way, I got the 15.5 & the 3 gal corny for $20.00. Even has the required (Calif.) possession decal on it.(15.5) -hey-

Posted: **Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:29 pm**

Good job heynoony. Here is what i got for $60.00 :

: This one needs to be cleaned and it will be ready for work.

: could be a good bop or condenser

Posted: **Mon Mar 01, 2010 2:55 pm**

RAD,
today i learned 2 things:

1. you can cut and paste .html docs to open in the browser...thats a first for me.
2. that was too cool to see all that gobboldy gook you typed in that box turn into a useable thing.wow. that was too cool man

ill stop gushing now

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:45 am**

20 bucks the pair:

The corny has a HUGE knuckle 'ball-lock' connector on one side, full of O-rings etc, I believe I'll remove and weld up the hole there. It also has (had) a plastic flex tube w/ a piece of heavy ss tube on the supply side (same side).

The yellow sticker is a sTATE oF cALIF. bIG bRO required sticker for possession there-of.
I have lived in Calif. all my life, and let me tell you, this is one f**ked up state. The weather is nice here, but y'all can dress in layers anywhere / everywhere else, , , -hey-

Home Distiller

Just missed a pile of copper and kegs

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