Home Distiller

hi i just finished building an offset head design and i have a few questions...

ok i am using a 7 gallon beer keg for the boiler, i didnt have an affordable method of obtaining 2" copper so i went with 1"...

my colum is 24 inches from the keg to the tee fitting with an 14" jacket style condenser... both the colum and condenser are packed with copper scrubbers and everything is ready to go... all but the heating element...

what would be a safe wattage to go with... the lowest wattage i have found locally is 1500W water heater screw in type...

any suggestions?

thanks in advance

I'm assuming the 1500 W element is for 120 V. Whats the smallest wattage 240 V element you can find?

i had no doubt i would have to run a slow run for higher levels of product... i was hoping to shoot for an 80% for normal runs...

as for the 240V elements i havent found any in my local shops... only 120V...

do you think i should go with a hot plate maybe with a rheostat?

by calculations with the 1" pipe i was told to use around 600 - 800W...

i was also thinking about the whole propane idea but my problem is i live in a townhouse and on one side i have a neibor who is a witch with a capitol "b"... and on the other side i have an out of state police officer...

so i'm trying to shoot for the whole indoor still... and i cant really put it on the stove top due to its size since while its on the keg it stands almost 5' tall...

all suggestions are welcome...

With a one inch packed column, I'd use the hot plate with a rheostat. That element you mentioned will be too much power for the one inch column unless you can find some way to reduce the power to close to what Holy mentioned.

If you push 1500 Watts through that small column, you will almost assuredly flood the column with reflux. Unless you find a lower heat input source you got a nice halfsized stripping still there.

Scooter, Firstly I agree with the other replies that your tower is too small, both in width and lenght for the element you have. But there is a way of reducing the power by using a second 1500 watt element.

If you place another 1500 watt element in series with the one you have you will infact double the resistance in the circuit, and as power is inversly proportional to resistance you will half the wattage and thus you get 750 watts.

Power (wattage) = Volts squared / resistance.

or this formula is for elements in series

(W1 x W2) / (W1 + W2)

(1500 X 1500) / (1500 + 1500) = 2250000 / 3000 = 750 Watts

With a couple of switches in a very simple circuit you should be able to select each element seperately and then in series. So you can have a fast heat up and then a slow run.

But really to tell you the truth I would be trying to increase the tower size and then work with power of heating elements after that.

Arnie

sorry for the confusion... i havent bought the element yet... i was just stating the lowest wattage one i saw at my local hardware store (1500W)...

but i think i am going to try a hotplate since i saw some at walmart for 10 - 20 bucks and rig my tattoo machine rheostat to it or just swing by radio shack and build one...

i am going to start fermenting this weekend so hopefully i will have some good luck with this rig...

thank you for all your suggestions they are greatly appreciated...

i'll let you guys know how it turns out...

you can also put on more one inch columns. perhaps a bundle of four or five.

would a 1250watt element to ok for running 4 gallons through a potstill?

why not use stovetop?

ok i just transferred the mash into my boiler and its ready for tomorrow when i start cookin...

i do have a question... since i am using an offset head design and from what i hear it strips any flavor from the mash so i dumped a half gollon of margarita (alcohol already mixed in) mix into the mash and also the remaining from a pint of whiskey i had... just to boost up the % of the wash... was this a good or a bad idea?

i also picked up an 1100W electric hot plate with a rheostat for the element...

hopefully it will turn out good tomorrow

scooter wrote:snip..so i dumped a half gollon of margarita (alcohol already mixed in) mix into the mash and also the remaining from a pint of whiskey i had... just to boost up the % of the wash... was this a good or a bad idea?

If you hated the booze and were going to throw it out, it was a good idea. Otherwise, it was a bad idea!

Fourway wrote:you can also put on more one inch columns. perhaps a bundle of four or five.

4way,

I would love to build a rig like that

But what about the other thread on multiple columns. Isn't it advised not to go that route?

KJH


p.s.
it's 3 a.m.
don't bother.....

LeftLaneCruiser wrote: But what about the other thread on multiple columns. Isn't it advised not to go that route?

as far as I can tell... four one inch pipes fused together and terminating at both ends in the same places aren't going to behave any different than one two inch pipe except for being a little more sensitive to air temp.

I don't think it would be very workable as a valved force return rig but a colling tube type... why should it matter?

linw...

thanks for the reply... it was just sitting there for a while since nobody here likes the brand of mix that was bought so it was either distill it or toss it...

while i'm cooking this tomorrow i have 4-1/2 gallons of red merlot fermenting with oak... cant wait till its done... the juice itself was delicious and i'm willing to bet that the finished product will be even better...

anyway wish me luck... this will be my first time distilling hootch and i got ALL day to do it

well in all experiments there are good results and bad results...

this one went bad unfortunatly... the heating source was way too weak "odd" it never heated past 80F and to top it off the hotplate was malfuntioning to the point where i had fire extinguisher in hand...

and to top it off the submersible pump i was using to circulate the water flow was not strong enough to push the water up to the condenser...

i was so dissapointed i was about to throw in the towell on the whole making my own hootch idea untill my better half came home with a pressure cooker for me to build a pot still...

so for the time being the reflux is going into the attic untill i start working again and have enough to build the n/s design i want...

300W + whatever heatlosses you have will give a vaporspeed of 20"/second.

Greetz, Riku

scooter wrote:well in all experiments there are good results and bad results...

Yes there are.

scooter wrote:this one went bad unfortunatly... the heating source was way too weak "odd" it never heated past 80F and to top it off the hotplate was malfuntioning to the point where i had fire extinguisher in hand...

Get a better hot plate,use heating elements inside yer boiler,or use a burner under yer boiler.But always have that fire extinguisher at hand.

scooter wrote:and to top it off the submersible pump i was using to circulate the water flow was not strong enough to push the water up to the condenser...

Should have done yer home work there.Ya need to know how much water ya want to move and how high ya want to move it and get a pump that has thoose specs.(But I guess ya know that now)

scooter wrote:i was so dissapointed i was about to throw in the towell on the whole making my own hootch idea untill my better half came home with a pressure cooker for me to build a pot still...

Ya should have started here in the first place untill ya gained enough skill & experiance. Then advanced to the more complex still heads.(but dont throw in the towl)

scooter wrote:so for the time being the reflux is going into the attic untill i start working again and have enough to build the n/s design i want...

Well if it's going to the attic :ya want to sell her (not the still head but yer better half) JUST KIDDING any woman that would do that for her man is a KEEPER hang on to that one.

haha yes she is a keeper... as you said yes i learned the hard way about not doing too much homework... this time i'm taking my time in the workings of the potstill and plan on doing it right...

lets just hope i have better luck this time