Home Distiller

I reluctantly sold my twin column still to another member, I was sorry to see it go as it was such a good performer, and gave me the cleanest full flavour I have ever achieved.
So its now time for a new build, I managed to get a metre of 4" tubing, and the intention is to build a column with 5 plates and a sight glass on each plate, with a dephlagmater on the top of the column. It's all bits and pieces at the moment as I am making and forming the components.
When I get things in order I will post some progress pics.

OD

if you dont mind when you finish your build could you put up a detailed drawing of the bubble plate design. I would like to build one next if I can find some 4" copper.

Times up.
Where are the piccies?

shit olddog.

Now you've gone and made me feel guilty for using my 4" on a reflux column. if it wasn't for the last 16 hour spirit run on my 2" burned into my memory, your insidious attempt to make me build a plate column might have been successful.

That's what the 6" is for

kiwistiller wrote:That's what the 6" is for

Nah a 6" is tooo big for me.

Oy, YOU,,,,coppersmith (tapping my toe).

Okay Larry you wanted to see some pics, not much to see at the moment. The 1 meter length of 4" waiting to be cut to size and drilled to take the sight glasses. New easy flange made to fit my keg, and 4" to 2" reducer, the height of the 2" section will probably be shortened to about half that height. The plates under construction, cut to size and perforation holes drilled, receiver cups which will be made from some 3/4" tubing to be attached for the downcomers, which will be made from 3/8 tubing. Five sight glasses, one for each plate to be fitted into the 4" column.

No soldering or assembly done at the moment, just getting things fabricated and the assembly clear in my mind.

OD

4" to 2" reducer is $85 in my area. Ouch!

Good to see ya in the shed again OD, looks like the knee is getting better.

Do you plan to concave the plates or at least the edges?

I would make the adapter as short as you can.

What will be the distance between the plates?

In my 6"er I used 15 cm.

If you use a ball valve for the inlet of the dephlagmater (with bypass) you can play with the reflux and flavor.

Looks like a winner OD.

Joe

As we talked by PM, this is how my dephlagmator works.

It's important that the inner cone is a little larger than the buttom of the watertank.

The gray pops are simulated drops.

rednose wrote:Good to see ya in the shed again OD, looks like the knee is getting better.

No still hopping around, I had an MRI scan done last weekend, but I have to wait until June before I can get to see the specialist surgeon.

rednose wrote:What will be the distance between the plates?In my 6"er I used 15 cm

With this beig a 4" column the space between the plates will be 12cm

rednose wrote:If you use a ball valve for the inlet of the dephlagmater (with bypass) you can play with the reflux and flavor.

Yes I have a spare stainless ball valve I can use for that.


OD

Hang on a minute olddog while I put on the popcorn; this is gonna be fun . Cheers, bd.

are you going with a jacket, shotgun (shell and tube) or coil for the dephlag?

kiwistiller wrote:are you going with a jacket, shotgun (shell and tube) or coil for the dephlag?

Getting sorted Kiwi? Me too.

I'm thinking a jacket with some scrubber material loosely packed would help create some good turbulance.

LWTCS wrote:4" to 2" reducer is $85 in my area. Ouch!

Now I get trade price I pay $16 each for these.

kiwistiller wrote:are you going with a jacket, shotgun (shell and tube) or coil for the dephlag?

No I am going to build one like Joe's, I reckon if I get a 4" coupler, and another 4-2" reducer, cut the rim off the reducer so it fits inside the coupler, looking like an inverted funnel, then put a piece of 4" about 5-6" long into that and solder. Then I fit another 4-2" reducer in top of that with a piece of 2" going between the two, it will create a dephlgmater like Joe's. What are your thought with this.

OD

OD, can you make a small paint draw on what you discribe?

I'm afraid that I can't follow on what you wanna do with the reducers.

The inner cone should be at least 15 cm long to through enough condens down to the plates.

Joe

I would have thought that if you'd want to have total reflux at any point, coil / shotgun would be the way to go. could be good for foreshots compression? I don't really know how the separation would happen in a plated column though, bit out of my expertise...

It works pretty good, kiwi, it is more easy as a shotgun but more difficult as a coil to make.

The idea to built it like that came to me when I saw this draw of a Mansfield still.

can it take it to total reflux? I just ask because I would have thought that you'd get issues with the space inside it.

Like I said, beyond my experience, just curious.

No, that's not the idea behind the dephlagmator, it shall give enough reflux to fill the plates, which work like thumpers, only.

That's why they call stills like mine, or the famous Holstein or Carl, potstils, they work like 2 or more thumpers in one only run.

kiwistiller wrote:can it take it to total reflux?

if it could take it to near total reflux for foreshots and heads compression, would that be an advantage?

Where you would have the product take off in that case?

The way how my still works you have very clear lines between fores, heads and hearts, even a newcomer will be able to smell and taste the difference so it might offer some kind of compression in this built.

To OD: I would try to make the plates individual, so that you can work with 3 or 5 plates OD.

I fired today the other still and added one more so that it worked with 5 plates.

You will have very few flavor with 5 plates but 3 works well for whisky especially if you play with the cooling of the dephlagmator.

I can work with 2 up to 5 plates, depending what I distill.

rednose wrote:OD, can you make a small paint draw on what you discribe?I'm afraid that I can't follow on what you wanna do with the reducers.

This is what I had in mind.

OD

You would need to solder a ring in the reducer like I draw it in your paint job.

That way the reflux doesn't run down on the column surface.

I add also a pic from inside the dephlagmator during the built phase (uncleaned)

With just the 2" tube you will need more lenght as you have less cooling surface.

Maybe you can work with several reductions but you are a master copper smith and it should be easy for you to make a cone out of a 3" tube.

rednose wrote:You would need to solder a ring in the reducer like I draw it in your paint job.

Yes I can cut and solder a ring into the taper without any problems.

rednose wrote:With just the 2" tube you will need more lenght as you have less cooling surface.

The 2" takeoff will be reduced down to 1/2" to take my leibig condenser.

OD

I was thinking in case that you don't wanna make a cone it may be better to do it this way OD.

You just need two additional 3"to 2" reductions and you will have a good cooling surface.

Or this would be another option, maybe the more elegant and functional one.

One reductor 3" to 2" and a piece of 3" tube, that way you also save the additional ring.

Yesterday I managed to build the plate assembly and cut the 4" tube to the height of the column. The bottom downtube is turned upwards to prevent vapor rising through the downer, this assembly then slides inside the 4" column. The column with an easyflange mounted on the keg, this will not be the final height as the dephlagmater will sit on the top. The column now has to be drilled to take the sight glasses, one for each plate.


OD

Is that center axis continuous ridgid tubing?

LWTCS wrote:Is that center axis continuous ridgid tubing?

The plates are mounted on 1/4" tubing.

OD