Home Distiller

Been running a stove top 2" Bok for a few years now and am finally getting close to finishing my new build. 15 gal electric keg with 5500w element and controller. 3" CCVM (DAD300) with a shotgun condenser. Planning on 4 1/2" tubes inside a 2", 19" long for the shotgun. Is this enough or would using 3/8" and 5 or 6 tubes be better? Also, would separate coolant lines to the shotgun/reflux condenser be better or is running water through the shotgun and then through the reflux condenser ok? Thoughts?

The shotgun will be great but you may have to add a little turbulence. My 2" x 20" shotgun vapor path is seven 3/8" tubes.

Have it at an angle, not completely vertical, or a little SS Scrubbie in the bottom of each tube or just a little cotton gauze in the bottom of the outlet.

I have a 2" shotgun about 14" long with nine 3/8" tubes in it. It can take anything I throw at it. My deflag is 4"x6" long with seven 1/2" tubes that will also knock down everything I throw at. So in short you don't need much to get the job done.

Thanks guys. Got the condenser built and leak tested. Cant wait to get the rest finished so i can give it a go. Any advise on the water supply line?

When I built mine with copper unions for disassembly. After repeated use they are harder and harder to reseal. I am now switching over to shark bite fittings for ease of use.

I have my new column plumbed so water goes through the liebig and then into the reflux coil (3/8" corrugated SS gas line) and it seemed to work fine in the initial cleaning run. Haven't ran it since, but the sac run went very well.

What did you end up running in the shotgun?

Went ahead and built it with four 1/2" tubes as that was what I had on hand. I should have the rest of my parts to finish up in a week or two. Can't wait!

vicrider wrote:Went ahead and built it with four 1/2" tubes as that was what I had on hand. I should have the rest of my parts to finish up in a week or two. Can't wait!

I'm pretty sure four 1/2" tubes in a 19" shotgun will do quite well on a CCVM.

The CCVM's are an awesome design. I need to get pics of mine up soon. 2" glass column 48" long with SPP and SS scrubbie packing (will be all SPP soon, just need to finish making enough to fill it! Takes a while) and I'm very impressed with it. It's my first real reflux column (had a cross-tube, but it sucked) and I find it very easy to run, especially with the glass column, as it allows me to actually see whats happening in the column, rather than relying on thermometers and such.

I think you will end up loving it. I couldn't be happier with mine. Awesome design, cheap and easy to build, easy to run and produces very pure alcohol.