My upgraded still

[Hyko]

Here is a drawing I just made for my new still plan. (not strictly to scale)


Right now it's just the 5 gal milk can with 1" pipe coming off original lid and to a flake stand (3/8") at a 45 degree angle. It's served me well for around 10 runs this past 6 months but its time for an upgrade.

My new plan is to ditch the original lid, fix a mixing bowl on top which will have a 2" tri-clamp ferrule welded on top. Also a thumper is added in this plan. As you can see, the plan utilizes 4 tri-clamps with 5 EZ flanges and 3 SS ferrules. The reason behind that is for facile breaking down and transporting.

Please feel free to critique constructively and offer suggestions. Right now I'm thinking the condenser will be 12-14" long, shotgun style, with 4 3/8" tubes inside that I might try to give a bit of a twist so that there will be more than 4 times the length of the outer casing of distillate path inside the condenser. The reason I want a shotgun is because it is more compact than a liebig but if you can suggest something better go right ahead!

Also it's design is such that eventually, when I have room, I can turn the milk can into the thumper for a keg boiler and keep most of the original tubing.

Additionally it will be powered by a 1500 watt element (already installed). I don't have 220v access right now for anything more powerful.

[bellybuster]

Looks great, I want to add a thumper to mine. Don't forget a vent above your parrot

[ohyeahyeah]

I assume because of the mention of 2" ferrules you intend to use 2" pipe. Seems like big pipe for such a small set up. I would stick with the 1" because I would rather have faster vapour velocities into my thumper to transfer as much heat as possible. You will find the heat input needed to run a thumper is quite a bit more then just a pot still. Besides the pipe its the same size as my old set up which served me well for years.

[Hyko]

Yes I intend to use 2" piping throughout. I agree that it may be a bit too large but I plan on using the same set of pipes when I eventually upgrade to a keg boiler so that's why I want to use 2".