Dephlegmator Questions

[bluegrass]

Hey folks! I am looking at getting this to put on top of my 2 inch bubble plates. I am not familiar with these types of water connections. What do I need to connect my supply and drain lines to this.

[juana_b]

Hard to tell from a picture, but looks like 1/4" or 3/8" vinyl tubing.

[Yummyrum]

Looks to me like the Deflag has 1/2” BSP females .
Then those plastic fittings are BSP to John Guest adapters .

One thing for sure , you will need a needle valve to control water flow . I would connect the needle valve direct to Deflag . You can choose to use John guest fittings and tubing if you like or any other kind of hose so long as it can handle your water pressure and the extremely high water temp that will exit the Deflag .

[bluegrass]

Hard to tell from a picture, but looks like 1/4" or 3/8" vinyl tubing.

I meant to add the description says the fittings on it are 1/2 inch npt fittings.

Would I just stick the 1/2 inch vinyl tube in it?

[bluegrass]

Looks to me like the Deflag has 1/2” BSP females .
Then those plastic fittings are BSP to John Guest adapters .

One thing for sure , you will need a needle valve to control water flow . I would connect the needle valve direct to Deflag . You can choose to use John guest fittings and tubing if you like or any other kind of hose so long as it can handle your water pressure and the extremely high water temp that will exit the Deflag .

I have a valve I’m going to put on the water in line

[Sporacle]

I would suggest a good quality needle valve as a minimum, you won't fully understand how minute the water flow adjustment is in a deflagameter is until you've run one.
Buy once cry once

[shadylane]

Plus one on a needle valve.

[shadylane]

Hard to tell from a picture, but looks like 1/4" or 3/8" vinyl tubing.

I meant to add the description says the fittings on it are 1/2 inch npt fittings.

Would I just stick the 1/2 inch vinyl tube in it?

The fitting might be 1/2"npt but the tubing looks smaller.
To answer your question.
Yes, cut the end of the tubing straight and shove it in the hole.
Just remember, on some fittings like that. Ya can't get the hose back out.

[Bradster68]

Hard to tell from a picture, but looks like 1/4" or 3/8" vinyl tubing.

I meant to add the description says the fittings on it are 1/2 inch npt fittings.

Would I just stick the 1/2 inch vinyl tube in it?

Those look like push pull adapters. You push the hose in,and when you want to take the hose back out you must push the blue ring down the opposite way.
They are similar to a sharkbyte plumbing style fitting. If you don't hold the blue ring down(opposite way you pull when removing) those hose gets pinched tighter and tighter. Hope I explained this ok.
There are utube vids wich may help

[buchrob]

They are push-pull tube fittings common on Chinese gear. They work well for cooling and other low-pressure applications. Tubing is sized at 8, 10 or 12 mm. Size is normally stamped on the blue face. Matching needle valves are of surprisingly good quality.

A weak spot is the threaded joint where stainless meets copper. Had one split apart while trying to tighten. That's how I know that pipe threads are typically NOT NPT but BPT (British Pipe Thread), more common overseas.

[howie]

i regularly disconnect/connect the water pipes to my deflag, so everything has been converted to camlock fittings for ease of use.
those fittings look like John Guest.
i believe any tubing removed from a JG fitting, has to be carefully trimmed before re-inserting.
other areas of my brewing only uses duotight fittings without problems.

on a seperate note, that deflag only has 4 pipes, it might be ok, but there are others with 7-9 pipes

[Salt Must Flow]

I primarily use fittings similar to those and they're sold by different names. I don't know what size tubing is appropriate with the fittings shown in those pics. That will be easy to determine once you receive it though it may be listed in the item's description. The most common tubing that works with those fittings is made of Polyethylene. I had issues with Polyethylene tubing getting too hot, causing damage to the tubing so I switched to Polypropylene tubing and haven't had any issues since then. Polypropylene has a higher working temp than Polyethylene. All sizes shown here.

[bluegrass]

i regularly disconnect/connect the water pipes to my deflag, so everything has been converted to camlock fittings for ease of use.
those fittings look like John Guest.
i believe any tubing removed from a JG fitting, has to be carefully trimmed before re-inserting.
other areas of my brewing only uses duotight fittings without problems.

on a seperate note, that deflag only has 4 pipes, it might be ok, but there are others with 7-9 pipes

I followed your Advice and picked this one up instead. I also picked up a quality needle valve from Lowe’s this weekend. It is going to be a learning experience for sure, but I’m excited to try it out.

Any tips?

[andystanton74]

Distilling with reflux column is a whole new experience. It will take some practice. There are a lot of good videos and articles out there. I would recommend pumping water to the dephlagmater from a separate pump as opposed to a hose from the house to avoid water pressure fluctuations, that will really screw things up.

[Sporacle]

Just my two cents.
If you can rig a 1/4 turn ball valve or similar in parallel with the needle valve you can use your ball valve for full reflux then when you want to start collecting, close the ball valve and have the needle valve preset.

Also when trying to tune your deflagameter, adjust flow and wait for the system to balance out.
It takes about 5 minutes on my still for a flow rate change to have its full effect at the spout.

Don't chase power input and water flow at the same time till you understand how everything balances together

[Yummyrum]

Great advice Sporacle …. all of it .

[howie]

i regularly disconnect/connect the water pipes to my deflag, so everything has been converted to camlock fittings for ease of use.
those fittings look like John Guest.
i believe any tubing removed from a JG fitting, has to be carefully trimmed before re-inserting.
other areas of my brewing only uses duotight fittings without problems.

on a seperate note, that deflag only has 4 pipes, it might be ok, but there are others with 7-9 pipes

I followed your Advice and picked this one up instead. I also picked up a quality needle valve from Lowe’s this weekend. It is going to be a learning experience for sure, but I’m excited to try it out.
Any tips?

good choice.
if your 2" is like mine, you will be surprised how little water is needed through the deflag to run reflux, so a valve with fine adjustment (not the industrial type that i have, which are a PITA, but i've learned to use them )
pic of camlock with 90° bend, all S/S, not cheap but so easy to use.

2nd pic is my column in full reflux and probably one of few times that temp observations are useful.
top temp gauge is ambient temp and shows nothing is getting past the deflag.
also handy when you reduce water/increase power, you will see this temp rising, showing that vapour is heading towards the PC.

bottom temp gauge is just stuffed into the insulation and doesn't show an accurate temp, but a very constant temp until........
the column goes into equilibrium and the lower temp volatiles collect at the top of the column (30-40 mins)
then there is a small temp reduction of 2-3°C.
then bleed off the volatiles slowly, like sporacle said, it takes a couple of mins for things to react(i just reduce water very slowly)

[Chauncey]

i regularly disconnect/connect the water pipes to my deflag, so everything has been converted to camlock fittings for ease of use.
those fittings look like John Guest.
i believe any tubing removed from a JG fitting, has to be carefully trimmed before re-inserting.
other areas of my brewing only uses duotight fittings without problems.

on a seperate note, that deflag only has 4 pipes, it might be ok, but there are others with 7-9 pipes

I followed your Advice and picked this one up instead. I also picked up a quality needle valve from Lowe’s this weekend. It is going to be a learning experience for sure, but I’m excited to try it out.

Any tips?

I've ordered parts listed with 1/2npt male connections and they came with 3/8ID female npt from Chinese suppliers before just fyi

[bluegrass]

Just my two cents.
If you can rig a 1/4 turn ball valve or similar in parallel with the needle valve you can use your ball valve for full reflux then when you want to start collecting, close the ball valve and have the needle valve preset.

Also when trying to tune your deflagameter, adjust flow and wait for the system to balance out.
It takes about 5 minutes on my still for a flow rate change to have its full effect at the spout.

Don't chase power input and water flow at the same time till you understand how everything balances together

Sounds good. I’ll keep that in mind. I have 15 gallons on ferment now, and it should be ready to roll once it arrives.

[bluegrass]

i regularly disconnect/connect the water pipes to my deflag, so everything has been converted to camlock fittings for ease of use.
those fittings look like John Guest.
i believe any tubing removed from a JG fitting, has to be carefully trimmed before re-inserting.
other areas of my brewing only uses duotight fittings without problems.

on a seperate note, that deflag only has 4 pipes, it might be ok, but there are others with 7-9 pipes

I followed your Advice and picked this one up instead. I also picked up a quality needle valve from Lowe’s this weekend. It is going to be a learning experience for sure, but I’m excited to try it out.

Any tips?

I've ordered parts listed with 1/2npt male connections and they came with 3/8ID female npt from Chinese suppliers before just fyi

I ordered it from a guy on EBay that imports the stuff. I have ordered from him quite a few times, and I had him double check the measurements for me.

I have ordered my 15 gal Speidal fermenters, 15 gallon SS cook pot, and a bunch of other things from him. Always been a good experience, so I’m hoping that trend continues

[bluegrass]

Distilling with reflux column is a whole new experience. It will take some practice. There are a lot of good videos and articles out there. I would recommend pumping water to the dephlagmater from a separate pump as opposed to a hose from the house to avoid water pressure fluctuations, that will really screw things up.

I run all of my cooling water out of a large cooler. I have a separate pump for my condenser and the dephlegmator. I figured trying to adjust both with one pump would be a nightmare.

[Sporacle]

Just be aware a consistent entry temp is important as well not to sure what volume your cooler is

[andystanton74]

Distilling with reflux column is a whole new experience. It will take some practice. There are a lot of good videos and articles out there. I would recommend pumping water to the dephlagmater from a separate pump as opposed to a hose from the house to avoid water pressure fluctuations, that will really screw things up.

I run all of my cooling water out of a large cooler. I have a separate pump for my condenser and the dephlegmator. I figured trying to adjust both with one pump would be a nightmare.

I use the same pump for my condenser and dephlagmater. I have a splitter right out of the pump and I have a needle valve on the dephlagmater. Seems to work really well.

[buchrob]

House runs on a well, but no water supply to the garage. Maybe it's a blessing. Bought 2@50 gal barrels and run from one to the other for cooling. Sitting on a concrete floor for several days with no outside input will stabilize the temperature nicely. Use one 25 gpm pump that splits to dephlem and condenser lines, each with their separate needle valve running on 8mm lines. Works almost on auto-pilot because there's no cooling temp variation from start to finish.

Dump heads or Hydrogen Peroxide into the cooling water to avid nasties breeding there.

YWWM if you need a stronger flow, but this set-up handles 10 gals with ease.