Cobbing together a keg potstill, how to attatch lyne arm?

[irish69]

So I'm in the process of building my first still out a an old keg that I have. I've seen instructions for mounting a column onto the keg, but I really just want an arm. Plus, I think that the arm I would like to use will act kinda like a column. So my question is, how should I attach the arm to the bowl that is going onto my keg? I'll put a pic of my arm below. Its not completed yet, but the bulk of it is there. I intend on adding another 45 degree elbow to the end of the pipe on the right side of the photo. Then I'm adding another piece of pipe to the elbow, this will be what goes into the bowl. The largest diameter pipe I'm is 3/4''. I then reduced this to 1/2'' and finally 3/8''.

[junkyard dawg]

thats pretty small stuff for a keg still. You might be setting yourself up for disappointment. I would come off the keg with 2" and then reduce down to 5/8" or 1/2" but nothing smaller. What are you using for a condenser? Why are you using a bowl to attach to? I'd just go straight off the keg. unless you already cut the top...

[Hack]

My keg reduces down to 3/8". It works fine, but in hindsight I'd rather have something bigger. I like having a mixing bowl so I can reach in and scrub, but others seem to be fine with just rinsing out.

I'm guessing when you say bowl that you are using a stainless mixing bowl that will be fastened over a hole cut in the top of your keg. If that's what you are doing, I have a similar setup. I have a 2" copper pipe soldered directly to a mixing bowl.

I took the end of the 2" pipe and hammered over the edge with a body hammer to make about a 1/4" flat flange on the end of the pipe. It only takes a few minutes to do. I drew a circle the size of the hole I wanted on the mixing bowl, drilled a starter hole and cut it out with tin snips. This left a ragged edge that I cleaned up with a fileafter things were soldered together. I'm sure there's a better way to make that hole but I was using the tools I had.

Soldering the column on is easy if you know the trick, and an unholy pain in the ass if you don't. Sand the mating surface on the bowl so its nice and clean. Make sure you have flux that is rated for stainless. I tinned the mating surface using an electric soldering iron. A propane torch with a soldering tip would probably work as well. I squirted the flux on the mating surface of the bowl and set the tip of my soldering iron in it and laid the solder on the tip of the soldering iron. (bad practice normally, but it works for this.) If you are used to soldering, it will feel more like pushing the solder out on the surface than the usual waiting for the heat to be right and it flowing out. Be generous with the solder. Once the mating surface is tinned, set your column piece with the flange in place. Apply heat to the copper column piece about an inch to an inch and a half above where it meets the bowl. This distance is important as it allows the heat to flow through the copper and heat the mating surface evenly. Once it heats up all the solder will melt at once. While maintaining the heat feed in whatever additional solder you need to close up the gap. Then pull the torch away and let it cool. This makes a nice clean, simple, strong, and inexpensive attachment. The most important parts are getting the right flux, tinning the stainless, and heating the copper column far enough up that the heat hits the mating surface all the way around at the same time and evenly.

Hope that helps, of course there are other ways to attach it too, but that's my favorite.

[irish69]

I haven't cut the top yet but I want to use the bowl because I want to have a nice big opening to clean it. I'll put a picture of my condenser below this. Its made out of 3/8'' copper so that was my reasoning behind taking the copper dimensions down to 3/8''. I didn't realize that it would be too small, I've seen pictures of stills made out of pressure cookers. These only use 3/8'' coming out of it, so I figured 3/4'' would be proportionally similar.

[Hack]

My original setup had 3/8" copper tubing coming right off the mixing bowl to the condenser. I changed it awhile back to a 2" column 12" high with a 36" tapered lyne arm that went from 2" down to the same 3/8" condenser. This more than doubled my collection rate. I get about a 1/2 gallon per hour now running slow on a spirit run.

[junkyard dawg]

I don't care for the bowl, but thats just me... do as you please, its no right or wrong. What Hack said about the collection rate is what I was concerned with too.

[big worm]

irish i will post a pic of how mine was done. see what i mean about a long ride?

[irish69]

Hahaha yes, I do worm. I'm starting to get a little spent out, so I'm thinking that for now mebbe I'll stick with the 3/4 and in the future upgrade to a larger diameter arm and condenser. Does this sound reasonable? Ideally everything would be- well, ideal- but in reality I have to consider my budget and make compromises.

[junkyard dawg]

I wanted to show you an older post... just to add some ideas...

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... t=potstill

[big worm]

nooo you dont see...the long ride i was reffering to was the 9 hour cook off trying to pull a solid 12 gal charge thru a 3/4" pipe. the money aspect in this hobby is the "never ending" ride i can't tell ya how long its gonna take but it will be a spell. you can put a 3/4 fitting on the bowl and use what you have, but we all said so...hehe. i promise you that if you do and you get hooked YOU will go the 2" route down the road.
a copper fitting solderd thru the bowl 3/4 or 2" your choise. bolts welded to the top of the keg 3 of em. large washers, wingnuts, flour paste.
condenser hmm you need to keep the coils clean and even leveld as the spiral down...dippy low spots in it will allow distalate to pool and make back pressures that will surge and sputter. think nice easy water slide...not roller coaster. wrap around a bucket or other round thing the right size and tack a straight peice to the side of it for strength. 27' of 1/2 coil in 20 gal of water will nock down everything from a 15gal boiler in back to back strips but not much more. you mite have to keep water running on a 5 gal bucket tho.
edit.....
sorry about the big pics...wheeew they like granys pantys large

[big worm]

another great older post to parouse thru
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =15&t=7153

[Hack]

It won't be nine hours. When I had 3/8" all the way through it took about 5 1/2 hours if I remember right. But then add time to clean things up and it gets a bit long.

[jack]

Hey Irish, you might want to rethink using a plastic bucket for your condenser. I did the same thing on mine (built my first still a few weeks ago) and when I ran it the condenser got hot enough that it would melt the plastic. It never actually melted completely.. but I got an oil slick floating on the top of the water, the fumes will mess you up before you even realize it. I couldn't figure out why I felt so out of it and then I noticed the bucket was melting.

Anyway, I ran to the hardware store and bought an empty paint can for 2$ and have been using that.

Good luck!

[irish69]

Hey jack-
Did you have the water circulating through the bucket, or was it static? I've seen pictures of condensers made with buckets and other plastic vessels. If you didn't have fresh cold water running through it I know it will heat up quickly. I'll try it the way I have it, keeping an eye out for the oil and fumes. Thanks for the warning, I'll let you know how it went.

[Hack]

I use a five gallon paint bucket to hold my condenser. I don't circulate the water. It get's hot, but not hot enough to melt. I'm sure it depends on the still, how its run, and what type of plastic the bucket is.

[jack]

Hey jack-
Did you have the water circulating through the bucket, or was it static? I've seen pictures of condensers made with buckets and other plastic vessels. If you didn't have fresh cold water running through it I know it will heat up quickly. I'll try it the way I have it, keeping an eye out for the oil and fumes. Thanks for the warning, I'll let you know how it went.

It was a 1 gallon bucket, and I had cold water circulating through it. Maybe with a larger volume of water it would be ok, the 1 gallon was big enough that my distillate came out cold but the plastic didn't hold up. With a bigger bucket you might be ok.. but, it wrecked my night so I figured I'd warn you. A 2$ metal bucket from the hardware store fixed it.

[theholymackerel]

If yer coil bucket/barrel is bigger than yer boiler ya won't need runnin' water. If it's smaller than yer boiler you will need add water at the bottom of the bucket.

BTW: don't stir the water in yer coil bucket to make it all the same temperature. Ya want it to seperate into different temperature layers. The top layer of water should be steamin' hot and the bottom layer (where the coil emerges) should be cool. The distillate should be cool.





I wish yall luck.