Home Distiller

Hi, ive been browsing though the forums for quite some time and finally decided to post some info and photos of our all stainless electric reflux still. it started out with a small 2" reflux still with the small "milk can" from mile high. We decided we needed something larger. So we decided on using a beer keg, we cut off the top of the milk can and cut out the top of the keg to weld the milk can top to the top of the keg, this allows easier cleaning with the large opening of the milk can rather than just using the tri clamp adapter to keg.

heres a picture of the milk can top before welding to the keg


Before welding, had to cut off the top ring of the keg to get a good weld around the milk can top, notice we are using mile highs milk can domed top to 3" tri clamp, also, yes it looks terrible right now where i cut off the top ring of the keg, just zipped it off with the plasma cutter, it will be smooth and mirror like when done


The tower is 3"x .072" 304 ss tube and is 48" tall, it has a 6" x 4" od reflux condenser


Here are a few more photos, we will be adding another 3" tri clamp ferrule to the top so we can use a 3" tri clamp cap with fitting for temp probe instead of using a rubber bung.








Also i have added a 1/2" npt coupler to the bottom of the keg to add a 1/2" ball valve to drain the keg





Now instead of using an electric stove or the almighty dangerous fish cooker propane burner, we are going electric, i first used electric on my brothers beer brewing operation so it was easy to design this electric setup for the still. We will be using a 5500 watt low density 240 volt water heater heating element, the low density element means it has 50w or less of heating per square inch of heating element, which will delete the danger of scorching or localized boiling on the element surface. The downfall of these elements is that they are wavy, being wavy it means that to be able to screw them in you would need to weld the threaded fitting really far off of the bottom of the keg, so i came up with a solution, by welding on a 1-1/2" tri clamp butt weld ferrule to the keg and then to tri clamp butt weld ferrule and then the 1" nps threaded fitting welded to that, so you can screw in the element into the threaded fitting and then just stick it in and install the tri clamp, this will allow installing the element as low as possible in the keg.

they look like this




We will be controlling the electric element with an auber pid controller and auber stainless temp probe, the pid controller will eliminate temp fluctuations and temp overshoots, the controller itself has a processor that figure when to shut off the element before it reaches temp so it will not overshoot, and are accurate within .1 degree and will hold that temp, so i figure with us being able to hold a temp then we have won half the battle, the other is controlling flow rates for the reflux condensor but that will be trial and error. So this week we will be adding fittings for the element and temp probe in the keg and also the tri clamp ferrule on the top of the tower and the temp probe fitting in the tri clamp cap for the other temp probe. I will be updating this thread with more pictures and more info as the build progress's, and i also forgot, the entire works will be mirror polished. Let me know what you think, are there anybody else out there distilling electric?

Heres the beer brewing stand im currently working on as well, sorry im getting off topic but thought i would share



Propane burner mounts,,...... before we decided to go electric


all started with a few parts

Nice work.

Whats inside the column?

nothing but copper packing

Whats on the top? I hope its vented.
But you need something to stop the vapor just going into the room.

I think you would be better to run it with no packing and don't use the reflux condensor. Like a pot still.
I don't think you will make good vodka with it.

To get it running like a reflux column, you need a bit more goings on. You cant control the ammount of reflux, most of it will run down the side of the column, not really refluxing. At minimum you will need centering ring. You need something to catch the refuxed distillate and send it down the collection pipe, otherwise it will only take vapor, but only the stuff that dosn't make it out the vent. But then, how do you do that?

Not saying it won't work, but it will only work like a pot still for the most part. Might get a point or 2 ABV incrase with the reflux condensor running, but at the cost of long runs. Better off to run it like a pot and run it through twice.

I was trying to work out what the black thing half way up was, then I realised its your door hinge.

First you have got some great metal working skills.............. but seems to me you gonna have to run it as a pot still cause your takeoff is above your reflux condenser................ shouldnt be any vapors there.........

@ jimmyjames1981,

In seeing you have a 3-inch diameter column and your Liebig Product Condenser is totally constructed of stainless steel I believe you need to make your Liebig Product Condenser longer to effectively knock down the vapor output of your 3-inch diameter column or your current Liebig Product Condenser is going to limit the output speed of your Still. In seeing you have demonstrated your ability to effectively work with Stainless Steel you might consider replacing your current Liebig Product Condenser with a Graham Product Condenser or a Shotgun Product Condenser.

Also as emptyglass points out in his Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:26AM posting you could improve your Still’s Reflux Condenser area. With your Stainless Steel expertise you could rework the Reflux Condenser area and replace it with a Harry’s Crossflow Condenser.

Regards,
Coaster

PS - With your expertise you should consider creating something unique and not duplicating a carbon copy of someone else’s store brought product.

I may consider adding a centering ring, I would need to cut the tower and add tri clamp ferrules and weld in the centering ring. I know there are other more efficient designs but, we have ran the mile high still that we have and know how to use it, so going a notch larger will be easy for us, some of you guys make your stills so complicated to me its overkill for the weekend warrior, maybe someday we will build a $5000 flute.like some but for now its this simple design that will work for us. As for the liebeg, it is 2xgoing the size of the 2"is mile high tower we have, if it restricts our speed that's fine, were in no hurry and not looking to break land speed records, its not a high production still, just for hobby purposes. And for the question about if its vented, why would I vent the vapors out of the top??? Our original plan was to use the mile high rubber stopper on the cap but are using a tri clamp cap now. Dang by some of the posts already some sound like I should throw it in the trash..... geez

midcarolina wrote:First you have got some great metal working skills.............. but seems to me you gonna have to run it as a pot still cause your takeoff is above your reflux condenser................ shouldnt be any vapors there.........

Really? No vapors above the reflux condenser?? We've been running a still with the same design for a long time.... no problems whatsoever...

Nice CM still build. And nice metal fab work.

To those that have been commenting on the design not working. You should do a little research on this still design. It is layed out Pretty good. Yes the condenser could be a bit bigger. But the still is built as it should be. Yes no vent on top. It's a CM not a LM or VM.

Now I will point you to the cm mod link in my signature. This may help you dial in and run this thing a lot better.

And on to the PID control. Your PID will need to have manual control. And you will need to use the manual control to run the still. You can not run the still by controlling the temperature. You don't control the temp. The ABV in the boiler does this. So you need to have a steady adjustable heat input. Not a controller that will be trying to chase a preset temp that it can't reach. And the PID would just be cycling the heat on and off full on full off trying to find it. That's not what you want. It needs to be a steady heat input. That can be adjusted up and down. With a PID that has manual control. You can do this with % input that controls the % of the on time within a short span of time. One to two seconds. Set it as low as you can.

There is some good reading on why you can't control a still with temp. And more about PID controllers. You should give them a good read through.

Yes the pid controller has manual mode and plan on upping the input as disstilation takes place, just like we currently do, we currently base it on our amount of output and the alk content

Eventually I will be replacing it with a pid controller with ramping capabilities, once I get the temps and times of different alk content washes I can set temp ramps on timers

jimmyjames1981 wrote:Yes the pid controller has manual mode and plan on upping the input as disstilation takes place, just like we currently do, we currently base it on our amount of output and the alk content

Just checking. By your post it sounded like you were going to use the PID to control temps.

After I get the cooling set on my cm. I just bump the heat up a tad here and there as the run progresses. Like a pm.

How long is your reflux condenser jacket? You mite put some scrubby in the jacketed section. To help it work better.

The reflux condenser jacket is 6" long and yes we will be packing the column with copper mesh

Got the controller done for the electric element, used a 5500 watt element, solid state relay and Auber pid, this baby heats up quick, did a little trial run with some water to check everything, shortly after I opened the ball valve and drained the 200 degree water on my driveway.... not a good idea, it buckled and cracked the shit out of my concrete..... I guess 50 degree concrete doesn't Luke that big of temp change.... I built this still for my dad just for running his neutrals since my flute won't be the best for that, only thing I have left to do is replace the 110 volt indicator light for the element, right now the light is always on , I have it wired to the out of the solid state relay and to nueteal, silly me I forgot that there's always one hot leg on the element... ordered up a 220 volt one to fix that