Home Distiller

I have built many condensers in the past, and some of these end up in the spare parts bin. So when I wanted a condenser for my new pot still that was where I looked first.

1st thing I spoted was an old coil jacketed liebig. I cut it to bits and ended up with a coil jacket soldered to a length of tube like this.
This is the coil part of my Friedrich. Added a simple 1/2" coldfinger and passed the tails through a 2" 90 degree bend and I ended up with this.
Where the tails pass through the wall of the bend was a bit problematic (oval holes)
In the end I made some flared bits of 3/4" tube with profiles to match the curve on the fitting and soldered them to both fitting and tails with some slip couplings and reducing adaptors. The tails are now rock solid.
Then it was just a case of fitting a 2" jacket and a 2" compression fitting to attach it to the pot still. OK I will admit that 2" compression fittings take a bit of work. I do the innitial compression of the olive onto the tube in the workshop. I use two 4 foot long sash cramps as spanners. Then I take 1 side of the joint apart and wrap PTFE thread tape over the olive. When it comes time to reassemble the joint, 1 side is permanent and 1 is removeable. The removeable side has a PTFE seal so it does not need to be as tight. Hand tight would probably be OK but I use a 2 foot stilson.

Anyhow she will be bolted to the wall at a 45 degree angle with the outlet tube vertical.
Once she is up I can attach the other bits to the outlet. Alright she is big and possibly a bit OTT but she serves 2 functions.

1. She is the product condenser for a 6kW pot still.
2. With the coolant switched off, she is a vapour path between the pot still and a thump tower.

I am quite pleased with her.

Very nice

Very nice, clean/not cluttered , I really like the thought of the hoses being out of the way...

It just gets better!

Very pro coil wrap Myles, bravo

Damn sweet Myles!

If I had been building this from new I would not have included the internal tube, but the coil was already soldered to it. Didn't want to waste it.

That coil by the way is 8mm (5/16 ish) tube that was salt filled and then wrapped around a 3/4" mandrel. It was then expanded out onto the 1" tube so it would be a tight fit and soldered in place (the tube was origionaly the outer shell of a liebig and the coil the outer jacket). That system works very well and it is my preffered option for a liebig jacket.

Expanding the tails inside the condenser body makes for a more secure joint where they pass through the cap. Going through a flat surface is easier than going through a curved one, and it helps if it is at 90 degrees to the tails. Going through the curved section of a bend was a bit more difficult than usual, but I wanted the turbulence that is introduced by a 90 degree shift in the direction of the vapour path.

She is now up and attached to my pot still.