Home Distiller

Here's a shroud I knocked up today for my boiler.
Total cost was $15.00 from the local rural supplies.

Great idea Austin, I distill in the garage, with the door closed ofcoarse, sometimes I use an old fire blanket...

Thanks for sharin man...

Nice, Austin Nichols... Will that drum have a stove pipe with a damper...???

rad14701 wrote:Nice, Austin Nichols... Will that drum have a stove pipe with a damper...???

Yeah I'm looking at ways to vent it outside the shop, and was looking at that flexi aircon tube to send it out the window.

Where the burner enters it there's a decent hole there for heat and fumes to escape.

Cheers.

You can possibly get oil drums for free from your local auto repair man. Ours has to pay to have them hauled away so would love someone to take one or two!
(The environmental strictures make disposal expensive).

Austin Nichols wrote:

rad14701 wrote:Nice, Austin Nichols... Will that drum have a stove pipe with a damper...???

Yeah I'm looking at ways to vent it outside the shop, and was looking at that flexi aircon tube to send it out the window.

Where the burner enters it there's a decent hole there for heat and fumes to escape.

Cheers.

If you are going to vent it you might as well seal where the keg joins the shroud and fit a decent exhaust vent up neat the top of the drum. If you don't mind it being static then seal it with fire cement and use a cement / vermiculite layer to insulate the drum.

This is my steam kettle built the same way, but using a galvanised garbage bin instead of the oil drum.



There is only a thin layer of insulation on the outside of the shroud but it cuts the heat loss right down. You can put your hand on it when it is running and it is only warm. It IS heavy though - but I don't move it often. Fill and empty in situ.

Old thread I used when first starting.

I found using a shroud like this burns a hard stuck residue inside the boiler above the liquid level a few inches, even with a carefully cleared and racked boiler charge.

Without the shroud I encounter no burned residue whatsoever. Takes more power to run it, but it sure beats scrubbing the boiler for 30 minutes with copper scrubbers and BKF.

bearriver wrote:Old thread I used when first starting.

I found using a shroud like this burns a hard stuck residue inside the boiler above the liquid level a few inches, even with a carefully cleared and racked boiler charge.

Without the shroud I encounter no burned residue whatsoever. Takes more power to run it, but it sure beats scrubbing the boiler for 30 minutes with copper scrubbers and BKF.

You could resolve the scorching issue by only having the portion of the keg that always has liquid in it throughout the run shrouded... May or may not be a practical solution...

rad14701 wrote: You could resolve the scorching issue by only having the portion of the keg that always has liquid in it throughout the run shrouded... May or may not be a practical solution...

Done. Works a charm. It strips twice as fast, and the spirit run takes 1/3 the fuel I otherwise was using. No scorching.

I couldn't push enough power to achieve flooding conditions with lava rock, and without the shroud. Now I can with the propane valve half shut. Anyone running propane kegs should build one of these to save some serious coin on fuel.

bearriver wrote:

rad14701 wrote: You could resolve the scorching issue by only having the portion of the keg that always has liquid in it throughout the run shrouded... May or may not be a practical solution...

Done. Works a charm. It strips twice as fast, and the spirit run takes 1/3 the fuel I otherwise was using. No scorching.

I couldn't push enough power to achieve flooding conditions with lava rock, and without the shroud. Now I can with the propane valve half shut. Anyone running propane kegs should build one of these to save some serious coin on fuel.

Did you notice any major changes in the %ABV of the resulting spirits throughout the run, by chance...???

Looks great. I do the same thing, but since I still outdoors, I just left a 2" gap on the ID of the lid. The melted armaflex is NOT from this--its from a previous experiment. One benefit is that the fire is now better separated from product (in case of accident). I have only done one run with the drum, but it was on the grain and went fine, without scorching.

rad14701 wrote:Did you notice any major changes in the %ABV of the resulting spirits throughout the run, by chance...???

Unfortunately I am not able to draw any conclusions, because I always run my neutrals at or near azeotrope.

With the shroud modified as per your suggestion, I did notice a few mark differences.

1.) Less than 2/3 the total fuel consumption, over 4 strips and 1 reflux spirit
2.) Stripping took half the time
3.) The final spirits are much cleaner, and to my liking than anything else I have ever made.
4.) Takeoff rates were marginally faster than normal, possibly because I was finally able to provide an ideal amount heat into the system...???
5.) No scorching

Sorry if this information is posted elsewhere. I've read a lot but it is impossible to read everything on this forum (which I am thankful for...)
Scorching has been a concern of mine, as I have built a keg boiler with the usual 2 inch opening at top leaving me with few options for cleaning. My question is this, does scorching still occur on an electric keg where the element is immersed in the liquid?

If it scorches, it will be on the element itself possibly damaging it. That is why most of us use ULWD elements.

A shroud like this would be pointless on an electric boiler, but insulation such as Reflectix wrapped around it would work a treat.

Hey bear, can you give a little explanation of the shroud your using? Maybe a pic or two? My bayou banjo is rippin through fuel. Lots of heat all around the keg... Doesn't seem to go into the charge very efficiently though.