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I LOVE my Mile Hi tower, but I am considering looking into purchasing either an add on from Still Dragon with the bubble caps, or just buying a new Hillbilly Still with the plates and sight glass.

For those of you who have tried one or the other, which seem to work better? Caps? Or Plates? I have a a feeling that they will both work the same, but the caps look a whole lot cooler.

Thanks in advance for the opinion/info!!!

Well that went over like a ton of bricks...

Let me ask this then to maybe soften the field...

How much better has your product been since you started using your still with the plates? For those of you with the caps... same question.

If you have a still with plates or caps, do you think going to the other would offer you any more advantages?

I'm assuming you mean a perforated plate when you say plates. And a bubblecap plate when you say caps?

If you are talking under a packed column. There won't be much if any difference in performance between the two. The packed column will dictate the flavor profile. Not the plates.

You can see my setup in my bubble bumper experiment thread. I have bubble caps on my plate. They increase speed and ABV. Or make it easier to get a high ABV.

Hybrid stills are really kinda new. So there aren't many of US that have ran them. Hawkingrage just got a Stilldragon setup. Emptyglass just tested a setup with perforated plates. LWTCS has played with it a little. There are some others on other forums. So getting someone to answer this mite be a little harder then you thought. I personaly only know of around 10 people that have tried it or somethin similar. That's between three different forums. The are probably more. But they just don't post about it. So there is a real lack of good info on the subject. And we ate still trying to figure out the information we do have. I think its a great setup. And once we get it all worked out and more people trying them and giving their results. We will have a good idea of a best setup. But at this point its still experimental. And your mileage may vary.

If you have a specific question about this setup. One of us may be able to help.

Personaly I would just go with one of the Stilldragon bubblecap sections. Or two. It will defiantly increase your takeoff speed. And if your adding it to your column. It will be at least better ABV output then what you have now.

Prairiepiss wrote:I'm assuming you mean a perforated plate when you say plates. And a bubblecap plate when you say caps?

If you are talking under a packed column. There won't be much if any difference in performance between the two. The packed column will dictate the flavor profile. Not the plates.

You can see my setup in my bubble bumper experiment thread. I have bubble caps on my plate. They increase speed and ABV. Or make it easier to get a high ABV.

Hybrid stills are really kinda new. So there aren't many of US that have ran them. Hawkingrage just got a Stilldragon setup. Emptyglass just tested a setup with perforated plates. LWTCS has played with it a little. There are some others on other forums. So getting someone to answer this mite be a little harder then you thought. I personaly only know of around 10 people that have tried it or somethin similar. That's between three different forums. The are probably more. But they just don't post about it. So there is a real lack of good info on the subject. And we ate still trying to figure out the information we do have. I think its a great setup. And once we get it all worked out and more people trying them and giving their results. We will have a good idea of a best setup. But at this point its still experimental. And your mileage may vary.

If you have a specific question about this setup. One of us may be able to help.

Personaly I would just go with one of the Stilldragon bubblecap sections. Or two. It will defiantly increase your takeoff speed. And if your adding it to your column. It will be at least better ABV output then what you have now.

I think I might just order the bubble caps, as I feel I could build a set of plates on my own.

Thanks for the insight on how far along this type of system is. I figured this was something which had been tested and ran by the masses. If you hear of any other info, I sure would love to hear more thoughts and ideas. Thanks!

I'm sory my comments were about adding plated sections to your existing still. Not a complete plated column still. This have been ran by many. And there really isn't no better then the other. You just have to choose the correct one for your situation. The flute talk thread is a great ling read. But you will see those hobby sized plated columns go from concept to everyday still in that thread.

As far as making your own. I'm all for making your own. I know I do. Look at Fu Man. But if your going to buy premade bubblecaps. Then have to build the housing to hold the plate. Make the plate. Supplies. Consumeables. You almost can't beat those premade sections. If purchased as an assembly. Unless materials are free or close to it.

The modular system is nice because you van mix and match parts to make anything you want. Where a whole assembled still you can't. And are stuck with one configuration. Lots of things to consider.

DoD, as PP said,buy the premades they are slick, I am going to use the compleate units I ordered awhile ago, and man do they save time and issues, and yes I have made a few sets of plates already so I have been there,the feeling is great to make them yourself but, just sayin!

bentstick wrote:DoD, as PP said,buy the premades they are slick, I am going to use the compleate units I ordered awhile ago, and man do they save time and issues, and yes I have made a few sets of plates already so I have been there,the feeling is great to make them yourself but, just sayin!

@benstick - So have you used both plates and caps? If so, can you tell me some of the pros and cons of both? I have a feeling they will work pretty much the same. But I would be happy to be proven wrong!

DoD

If you don't want to research it and come up with your own conclusion from the available info. On plated stills. The best person I know of to ask that has ran both would be Rockchucker22. He has built an ran both perforated plates and bubblecap plates. Usually people will make one or the other. Never making the other.

Like I said there is a ton of info in the flute talk thread. And many other flute build threads. With in-depth discussions on the differences and best qualities of each. Even a fight or to about it. But if you going to build one. You owe it to yourself to read all of it. So you will have the best understanding of the why's behind the design.

DoD
Sorry if I confused you, I have only made and ran a sieve plated column,( a 5 and a 3 plate) I am in the process of making a bubble cap, my reference was on the plate that holds the bubble caps and everything that has to do with making plates either perf plates or bubble cap plates.
The difference between perforated plates & bubble capped plates( from my understanding if I am wrong please correct this and set me straight) is!
1. Cost of fabrication
A. Perforated plates pretty much drilling holes.
B. bubble caps( more parts)
2. Running a cleared wash/mash as apposed to running a wash/mash on the grains bubble caps for cleared wash/ mashes, perf plates running on grain wash/ mash. ( do I have this right fellas? Kind of brain fogged) bubble caps can plug easier than perforated plates?
3. Personal preference,what style you like best!
Build some type of column,imo you wont be disappointed,I have had some damn fine spirits out of the product end of my columns.
+ 1 on PP suggestion read the flute talk I did 3 times before I went head first on put heat to copper!

If the bubblecaps are designed right. They are less prone to blockage then perforated plates. Thats what the puke gap is for under the cap.

Here are some good reads. I think there was some good explanations on the differences in plates. And how they work.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 3&start=15

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=29956

Thanx PP

Prairiepiss wrote:If you don't want to research it and come up with your own conclusion from the available info. On plated stills. The best person I know of to ask that has ran both would be Rockchucker22. He has built an ran both perforated plates and bubblecap plates. Usually people will make one or the other. Never making the other.

Like I said there is a ton of info in the flute talk thread. And many other flute build threads. With in-depth discussions on the differences and best qualities of each. Even a fight or to about it. But if you going to build one. You owe it to yourself to read all of it. So you will have the best understanding of the why's behind the design.

Not trying to bypass the reading... I am a third of the way in on the flute talk thread. I honestly think I have my own conclusion, and that is, either one is beneficial, and that have one or the other will make no difference in the end. However, talking to people who have a hundreds if not thousands of posts behind them helps me to either validate or deny my own conclusions.

DoD, no harm no foul
It took me awhile to get my head around it,but it will be there!

I like perf plates, but that dosn't mean they are better. It also dosn't mean they are worse.

They are very easy to make, and with no consenus on which is better, to me it adds another reason for them.

But you might like the complexity and expense of bubble caps.

And any big puke is going to give the bottom plate on both styles a hard day.

I'm leaning to building a bubble cap column, I think the biggest advantage is power requirements. I haven't built either yet, but it's my understanding that running a perforated plate too slow will make it not run, where as with the bubble caps it'll just run slower? I think taking the power balancing out of it would make it easier to run. Especially if you dont have access to alot of power. Plus, if you built it to handle twice as much power as you can throw at it, you could always just add more power later, as opposed to resizing holes and stuff. Just my thoughts