Home Distiller

As an experiment I tried a new method of grain pressing to remove the liquids from the grain after all the free run has been pulled off and it is to brag about! The secret is in the filter material I used. I took a bucket that once contained chlorine tablets and drilled many holes up the sides and in the bottom. Removed the original handle and fashioned another of rope with only a little slack over the top of the bucket when picked up. Now for the magic. To this bucket I draped a piece of four once, non-woven, needle punched geotextile fabric that did not mquit hand all the way to touch the bottom of the bucket. The extra material on the side overlapp was tucked between the rope handle and the bucket itself. This bucket I now hung in the top of one of my 50 gallon ptfe drums suspended with a cross bar under the rope and across the top of the barrel. To this I now added my grain from the bottom of the mash barrel. As it filled the geotextile it tightened the cloth against the rope and bucket and remained suspended in the tab bucket. All of the remaining water gravity fed through the cloth and bucket into the barrel. It take a moment for a load to drip dry (30 minutes) but when dry it was CLOUD FREE!!!!! Easies method ever! This material is used a lot by construction companies to wrap the joints of concrete pipe to help ensure the soil does not leak into the joint when the pipe is running hard. In this manner it is a cheap insurance to the contractor installing the line. Otherwise, I do not know where it could be obtained outside of an unreasonable amount of material at a high cost.Maybe a septic supplier would carry it as well.
Good hunting!
Ga Flatwoods

Interesting . I have been considering using ground cloth in the same way and I got a 16' wide roll of it . Anything to reduce labor when I go to AG .

Could you post a picture? It would make this a lot easier to understand.

That would be nice. I'm still trying to decipher "a piece of four once, non-woven, needle punched geotextile fabric".

I think the issue is more than a simple geological difference.

tp

Here is the fabric in question, or at least something like it. Link: http://www.ktnonwoven.com/pet-needle-pu ... woven.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Geotextiles come in Polyester, Polyamide, Polypropylene, Polyethylene. I am not sure which of the 4 would be the best for this application, but there ya go.

I am a general contractor and can get this stuff from my material supplier. It's not the sort of thing you will find at a big box hardware store. If you know somebody that operates an asphalt or concrete business, then they might have a line on this stuff.

T-Pee wrote:That would be nice. I'm still trying to decipher "a piece of four once, non-woven, needle punched geotextile fabric".

I think the issue is more than a simple geological difference.

tp

That one left me scratching head as well!

It made sense to me, minus the "a piece of four once" part. It's probably jargon that geotextile installers use. I'm guessing that he folded it twice, making it 4 layers thick...

Flatwoods, do you really have 55 gallon ptfe drums? Hot damn! You can store liquor in those. They retail over $700 each.

Four ounce?

Take your pick: http://landmsupplyco.com/Geotextiles_ba ... abric.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Weighs 4 ounces per square yard.

That missing "u" sure made a big difference.

bearriver wrote:That missing "u" sure made a big difference.

Sre the fck does!

Sorry to have been out of touch since posting this. Yes, a typo makes a big difference in this case. I also misquoted my barrel as ptfe as it is hdpe! I was in a hurry when posting on my phone! Anyway, it is a four ounce per square yard fabric. I have seen this in a white material that looks like heavy spider web but not as heavy per square yard. These materials are very tough and almost impossible to cause a rupture without a cutting tool. The nonwoven aspect means it is a stranded material with many fibers of all orientations making a sheet. Most comes in 12.5 and 15 ft rolls 360 ft long. It can be used as an underlayment for aggregrate base, or soil, for reinforcing where unsuitable soils are found, or as mentioned for pipe wrap of joints, or anywhere else where drainage is needed without allowing the soil to migrate beyond the medium. They make it heavier per square yard for sho nuff difficult situations. Beyond this material a contractor would use a grid tyoe of fabric that looks like fence webbing, generally square or rectangular in shape. This geotextile is not what is typicallymreferred to as silt fence which is woven and will not contain the filtering quality this does. The needlepunching makes this material filter more readily. Anyway, i have included some pictures as requested. Hope this helps. The cross bar also helps secure the cloth across the barrel while the rope holds the other direction.

Ga Flatwoods

Flatwoods, you make very random holes.

Don't remember, but has anyone identified a retail source for the material? The way it's described, it sounds almost the same, in structure, as wool felt.

S-Cackalacky wrote:Flatwoods, you make very random holes.

Don't remember, but has anyone identified a retail source for the material? The way it's described, it sounds almost the same, in structure, as wool felt.

It is indeed much like wool felt. Advanced Drainage Systems is a pipe supplier in my are of the country and sell wholesale to Companies like our local hardware company, Lowes , HD, erosion control spe ialty companies, municipal governments, contractors, etc.
I could hardly believe that the liquid drained clear!

I wonder if it's the same thing they sell as weed blocking material for gardens. Might take a look in Lowes on the gardening aisle and maybe the concrete aisle.

I bet that stuff would work really well in the ass press. Pretty much the same design as what Flatwoods is doing. The straining bucket just sits down inside a beer bottling bucket with the drain valve used to run the liquid into a 5 gallon plastic water jug - similar principle.

Depends on if the landscape material is woven or not. It probably is woven SC.

S-Cackalacky wrote: I bet that stuff would work really well in the ass press.

Not trying to hi-jack the thread but do you have a picture of that ass press? I need a visual.

@Haus6565 for your eyes only

Kinda like this:

https://paulboylan.files.wordpress.com/ ... .jpg?w=450" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

But Different!

Haus6565 wrote:I need a visual.

Be careful what you wish for: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=54261

GAF, what was your mash? Did it have a lot of corn in it, or was it mostly other grains? If this stuff works for corn, I'd like to check it out.

FullySilenced wrote:@Haus6565 for your eyes only

Kinda like this:

https://paulboylan.files.wordpress.com/ ... .jpg?w=450" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

But Different!

Oh, That's a whole lot of Rosie

MCH it was corn, wheat, and rye. Very heavily ground to almost flour paste and therefore very dirty wash. I wish I had taken a picture! I was truly amazed after dealing with grain draining since I started the hobby.
Ga Flatwoods

Is the material cleanable?

VAHillbilly wrote:Is the material cleanable?

I have washed mine many times and most often just rinse with a hose.

Sounds great thanks

That is such a good idea. I use a planter for my hot peppers that are called Geo Pots, available at hydroponics stores and online. They come in 1 to 50 gallon sizes, a 3 or 5 gallon would fit nicely in a bucket and are made of a porous fiber material that lets water drain out and lets the roots breath . They are very durable and washable. I have a bunch of them so I think I will try them and see if they work. They are only 5 to 7 dollars a piece and have handles sewn into them. Good experiment for this coming weekend, just happen to have a mash that need straining.

coulda used some of this today. i used some barley/oat crumb it works pretty much like flour, so i use a little and add cracked corn so i have some hulls to strain with.
except my cracked corn turned out to be whole corn.(never trust the guy at the feed store to just throw it into the back of the truck)

so i ran the corn thru the blender...basically flour.

so flour +flour =goop.

the slough ate well tonite. i dumped the whole mess

That fabric looks like the one used inside kitchen/stove hoods as filters. At least here in my part of the world, dunno if elsewhere it is easily found.

here is the whole poop on it:
http://nilex.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

used this stuff when i built my driveway, wish i would have kep some scraps.

corene1 wrote:That is such a good idea. I use a planter for my hot peppers that are called Geo Pots, available at hydroponics stores and online. They come in 1 to 50 gallon sizes, a 3 or 5 gallon would fit nicely in a bucket and are made of a porous fiber material that lets water drain out and lets the roots breath . They are very durable and washable. I have a bunch of them so I think I will try them and see if they work. They are only 5 to 7 dollars a piece and have handles sewn into them. Good experiment for this coming weekend, just happen to have a mash that need straining.

geo pot.jpg

Bought a 7 gallon one. How are the handles holding up? I am thinking I could pour a whole bucket in there and let it drain into the pot rather than rack + clear