my electric keggle build

[Massassi]

Hey guys,
I don’t know if the protocol is to segregate the parts of our build into separate threads, but here is my build – start to finish. please let me know if you think i did something wrong, or that there is a much better way to do one of the same things. I'll be updating it as i finish things off

After reading the forums here and other resources for quite some time I decided that I wanted something fairly modular, and that I would be able to use for more than just stilling. I wanted to have something that I could potentially use for beer, and also for essential oils (if my hobby stuff that takes up all the space is also her hobby stuff that takes up space, it’s not just me cluttering up the joint. Instead it *us* cluttering up the joint. That’s smart right?).

I decided to make a Boka.
There are lots of threads and tutorials out there; I won’t get into a lot of detail here. I bought an extra end cap when I made it because I was worried about drilling the holes wrong or generally messing it up when it came to the soldering. I can make a safe solder, but they’re not very pretty. I had a about 9’ of 2” copper that came out of the house when I was renovating the basement. That seemed like a good place to start. It was in several pieces, so I ended up with two pieces along with the Boka that area bout 3’ each. I’d read and calculated that 6-8’ should allow me to approach azeotrope if I so desired to do so (clear is clear right?). All of these pieces got 2” copper threaded fittings. i then built myeslf a worm for added cooling of the distilate, and its a convenient way the get from height on down to jar level.

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I scrounged a keg.
Honestly this wasn’t as tough as I thought it was going to be. I happened to be chatting with the brewmaster at my local pub. He offered me and my buddy a couple euro kegs he was planning to give away to home brewers, because they didn’t match the standard NA sankey fittings. I picked the one on the left and took it home with me. It didn’t take much research before I had the pressure relieved and the spear disassembled. The worst part was getting the threaded ring started.

I was excited. Once that ring was out I looked forward to threading my column up onto it and stilling away into the sunset. Therefore I took a 2” – 1 ¾” reducer, which fit onto a sink neck that I had tossed into my scrap pile, the flange at the top of this just fit between the threads on the keg. So I took the nut from the spear assembly and ground out the centre with my dremmel, and soldered all of that together with another 2” copper female. Viola! I now had a Euro Keg to 2” NPT adapter.

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I wanted a bottom drain and all my reading was telling me that I wanted to make use of the 2” Sankey flanges that should mate to my keggle. So, when I brought my keg down to the welding shop across the street I had a ½” NPT half coupling, 2 x 1” NPT half couplings welded onto the keg. I also had the former bottom of the keg cut out and a 8” tri clamp fitting welded on in its stead.

Why the 8” tri clamp vs other sizes? I wanted to have easy access for cleaning and from grain brewing. 2 ½”, 3”, 4” all seemed too small for this so they were eliminated out of hand. My buddy a plumber had some 6” drain pipe in his back yard so I tried sticking my hand in there and it was snug against my biceps. It wasn’t tight, and I guess I could have used it if I had to, but it didn’t have to. And larger would be more convenient for grain work. Pricing made the decision for the difference between 8” and 10”. The 10” was far more expensive. I don’t remember what the factor was but if I recall correctly it was 1.5x the price. I don’t know if I will curse myself for this later. I’m sure we’ve all thought to ourselves at some point that another 2” would be perfect.

How to close the top? I’d carefully made a template of the size for this flange before it was welded onto the keg. You could do it after. But this was easier. I then built a jig using some ready rod, the funnel shape off of my spear, a little electrical tape and my angle grinder. I made sure to use a fresh disk on the grinder, so that impurities don’t induce corrosion on the keg. We then drained, and removed the spear from my buddy’s keg. We filled the keg with water to reduce noise and cut slow, working our way around in about 3 passes. The top came away fantastic and with a little cleanup fit nicely on my ferrule. if i was to do this again though i would aim to cut a little large. after cleaing up the edges it could get dangerously close for being too small if you weren't careful. The inner threads on the adapter were the same as my existing flange on the bottom of the keggle. The keg to sits on the 8” ferule with a gasket in between and the tri clamp tightens down enough that I can’t spin the disk anymore. I figure that should make for a tight seal. I’d originally bought silicone gaskets, but realised the error of my ways. Cardboard/PTFE gaskets are now the norm.

However, the flange on the bottom of the keggle as I now realised was not one that matches a 2” tri clamp. A little more research showed me that Guinness kegs have a 2 7/8” flange. This is much to big to fit a 2” tri clamp (that has a slightly larger than 2 ½” flange, confusing I know) but also is too small for a 2 ½” tri clamp which dials in at 3.047”. To combat this problem I flipped the 2” ferrule upside down on top of the larger one and traced it on using a permanent marker. Then I busted out my trusty angle grinder. Once ground down the flange is far too thick because it is not tapered like a normal Sankey fitting. That can be ground down too.

The plan is to set myself up with a drain valve right on the bottom, and I have parts ordered for that, but just in case they don’t arrive in time I took a spare 2” copper cap that I hadn’t needed and pounded out a quick easy flange. It’s not pretty, but it seals up nicely. Then I added a ½” 90* with O ring (yes, it liquor safe. They’re the same ones they use for through keg fittings) and nut. Then I threaded on a ball valve and a drain line. Since this sits a little lower than the keg bottom for now I have the whole thing mounted in a ghetto stand (a bucket with a couple holes cut in it). What I might do in the long run is take the Carlsberg spear top and see if I can thread a nipple into it. The opening looks to be about right for 1 ½”. I wish I thought of that before I got amazon trigger happy.

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I built a controller
For this I took a lot of inspiration from Jimbo’s build http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 85&t=46472
50a breaker is in the panel. I was going to go the spa panel route as it’s almost 50% more to buy a spa panel complete than the breaker on its own – but I found a new in box breaker on the local e classifieds site for $80. 6/3 wire to the 50a range plug. 8/3 range plug powers the GFCI in a mini panel and then the controller, and I cut up a 12ga extension cord that Rona had on sale for clearance to run the controllers. I'd originally hoped to then give it a new end and would bebe the cord for a closed loop cooling system whenever I got around to that, but by the time i sued a bunch of it for wiring in the box, and the cords... there isn't much left. 25' goes fast. I used a pair of 10 000 watt SCR’s of Asian persuasion. I don’t remember if they were off ebay or amazon. Either way they are cheap, $40 for two? I couldn’t find exactly what I bought in my email history, as I bought them almost 2 years ago now, but they look the same as all the others. Here are the ones I find on ebay now http://www.ebay.com/itm/10000W-AC-220V ... "nofollow it looks like they did a couple upgrades and made them cheaper. Score.

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I then added a two pole starter switch http://www.amazon.ca/Leviton-MS302-DS-D ... tor+switch (if you buy such things make sure that it’ll cover the amperage) to each and a voltmeter like this http://www.amazon.ca/Phoneix-Digital-Mu ... meter+250v I’d considered using the test button on the GFCI as a cut-out but I wanted independent control of the two elements. I used an ammo can for the control box because I had one lying around, and free is my favourite price.

The can gets a 230v muffin fan, wires in super easy/quick. i bought that at quael electronics. along with its wiring harness and finger gaurd. i think it was $35 for the whole lot. with the size of fan i got a 3.5" holesaw was perfect for size. i pointed it so that it is blowing fresh air in to the box. the idea is that its facing the heat sinks, and this should create a small amount of positive pressure at every gap in the controll box. this will help prevent any moisture incursion from an unexpected splash. yes everything is GFCI protected, but its a big time investment to build a new one if this shorts out.

Two 4500w camco HWT elements screw in to the couplings. I was going to go with 5500w, and built everything for it, but these ones were brand new in the packaging at the flea market for cheap. If/when they die I will replace with 5500w versions.

The elements each get a L6-30 twist lock connector; the control box gets the matching female ends (as they are more expencive, and harder to find). Procureing these was an ordeal. The local electrician supply wanted $78ea for female cord ends, and $41ea for male. Rona has them for similar. I ended up buying off of ebay: $12.50us for matched pairs. For the price of one female locally I got 4 sets mailed to my door. The plug end and the coupling are covered with a flex coupling with pipe clamps from the plummer supply. 1 ¼” fits the coupling. i think 1 1/2" for the L6-30 Male - i'll get back about that.

For grounding I was looking at tapping the element or the half coupling for each. It turns out that you have to be really careful of your placement if tapping the element – I cracked off a drill bit by partially hitting the threads on one. I decided to hold off after that. I might end up buying a SS locknut and solder a ground to it. what have the rest of you done? I also added a ground lug on the keg and a clamp (that was in a previous life part of a pair of jumper cables) to the controller for safety.

remember to always test fit everything. i'd planned on using some old electerical boxes that were hanging out in the garage covered in a fine layer of sawdust. i didn't even think to see if the on/off switches would fit - but they dont. they are slightly too narrow to house these beasts of a switch. so i got most of my box wired and put together last night - but had to stop. I will now have to take a goodly portion of it apart in order to place new (bigger) boxes, and then mount said switches.

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I have another tank
It looks like this.

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I don’t know what it was in a previous life, but it came off of what used to be a naval training vessel. It’s going to be a hot water tank when brewing beer, and a boiler when essential oiling. I’ll use a 2” NPT male to 2” Tri Clamp ferrule adapter to attach the two tanks. So this way the keg sits above and slightly offset from the other tank. The tank gets a pair of 5500w elements, along with the same water tight treatment as the keg.

Still to do:

Lights: I’d like to wire in lights to my panel to show that things are hot and running. It’s not that I expect to forget the still is on – but every extra bit of safety helps for that one time things don’t go as planned. I just need to find some 220 warning blinkies or a wiring tutorial for making that happen. It’s a nice to have, not a need to have, so it’ll probably have to wait.

Essencier / florentine flask: I’m looking at a SS sink drain fitted to a kitchen organizer with a 3” tri clamp and the spear from the Guinness keg soldered in as a funnel. Two pieces of ¼” copper as the take offs

i have a sight gauge for volume, but i neglected to order the adapter that would alow me to install it - so i have to wait until i put another order in before that gets mounted

Closed loop cooling:
I have a ¼ HP sump pump running on a dimmer switch to control flow rate. Out of the condenser, into the Rad that’s the only thing left from my Toyota Hilux, then back down into an old garbage can filled with 100 litres or so of water. A plexi glass top holds the Rad up and allows me to see the water levels and if I have a steam buildup starting.

at some point i'll probably build a pot head and leipeg, but thats later, and not now.

the final parts go into the controller tonight, so i'll let you all know how it goes, and maybe add some photos of things assembled

TLDR: i built a still, what do you think?