Brainstorming and planning a concentric pot ala rads apartment still

[Chauncey]

So I need a rig I can routinely use at home. No longer have space for the modular kegs setup, it's in my friends barn in the nearby countryside. I can go maybe once a twice a month and bust ass for a few days there but I'd like to have a lil action I can relax on and the cribby.

I was thinking a lot about rad and pythwickets concentric designs. I think I'm gonna do a lil closer to the apartment still of rads and use a coil not a coldfinger jam. Csst since I have it. Gonna use a bigger boiler tho, 6 gal.

I was thinking I'd solder 4 copper legs to hold a little copper umbrella over the reflux throat instead of the lose slant plate keeping condensate from dripping right back to the boiler.

As of now I have a 6 gallon pot, binder clips, a mixing bowl that matches the pot lip to lip, a hole in The center of said bowl with a 2 inch triclamp bulkhead.

This is meant to be a pot still only for the time being, so probably a 4 inch rise from the bulkhead to the first reducer. Then enough to house the rectifier and rc plus 4 to 6inches to atmosphere vent(open piipe)

Not even gonna use a valve for now, just a 3/8in takeoff tube.

Gonna get a steel plate to use as a heat sink on my electric stove for now, may also run on the balcony with propane.

I'm gonna draw a diagram and uploader. Any ideas are welcome.

[Bolverk]

Gonna need a picture, I searched to see if I could find a thread showing what you're talking about, but couldn't find anything

[higgins]

I think this is the thread that Chauncey is referring to:
My New Small Scale Combo Still

[Bolverk]

I think this is the thread that Chauncey is referring to:
My New Small Scale Combo Still

Thanks Higgins!

[Bolverk]

Not trying to poo poo your plans Chauncey....

I dunno man maybe it's just me but if I were trying to make an apartment still or something that's easy and compact I'd be looking to make something like an airstill but bigger. The pain in the ass part for me is dealing with the cooling water.

[Steve Broady]

I’m with Bolverk here. If you can swing some kind of air cooled setup, (same idea, just air instead of water cooled) I feel like you’d get more pleasant use out of it. I ran an 8 gallon boiler on a stovetop (so, ~2500W max?) for a while, and it worked fine. My biggest complaint by far was the water cooling hassles, even having a sink right there. If I was going to do it again, I would definitely try to go air cooled if I could.

[Salt Must Flow]

I’m with Bolverk here. If you can swing some kind of air cooled setup, (same idea, just air instead of water cooled) I feel like you’d get more pleasant use out of it. I ran an 8 gallon boiler on a stovetop (so, ~2500W max?) for a while, and it worked fine. My biggest complaint by far was the water cooling hassles, even having a sink right there. If I was going to do it again, I would definitely try to go air cooled if I could.

I hear ya, but he intends to build a LM still. Technically don't really need a product condenser. It's really only used to cool the collected reflux so it's not as hot. LM doesn't require as much water or as large of a reservoir.

[Steve Broady]

Damn, I missed that. I don’t know why I thought pot still. That’s what I get for reading while getting ready for work! Sorry, I’ll go back to lurking now. Carry on!

[Bolverk]

No, hes still got to condense the same vapor into a liquid even if the distillate is coming out at a higher temp... the wattage put in need to be taken out some how. The fact that it LM just means his coil condenser is doing all the duty of a product condenser.

[shadylane]

LM column without a take-off valve is doable.
Just design the take-off cup so it catches the right amount of reflux.
For pot stilling the cup needs to be able to catch 100% of the reflux.

[Yummyrum]

LM doesn't require as much water or as large of a reservoir.

Technically yes , but since most reflux stills would be run with a reflux ratio around 10:1 -20:1 then really you might be using 5-10% less water ….. probably not a deal breaker

[Salt Must Flow]

LM doesn't require as much water or as large of a reservoir.

Technically yes , but since most reflux stills would be run with a reflux ratio around 10:1 -20:1 then really you might be using 5-10% less water ….. probably not a deal breaker

Good point. I neglected the reflux condenser for some reason.

[Chauncey]

LM column without a take-off valve is doable.
Just design the take-off cup so it catches the right amount of reflux.
For pot stilling the cup needs to be able to catch 100% of the reflux.

Yeah I was gonna put a throat in it with no overflow, well the 3/8 takeoff will be the overflow.

[shadylane]

I was thinking a lot about rad and pythwickets concentric designs. I think I'm gonna do a lil closer to the apartment still of rads and use a coil not a coldfinger jam. Csst since I have it.

This is meant to be a pot still only for the time being,

Rads apartment still
viewtopic.php?t=8439

Notice that it doesn't catch 100% of the reflux, this is Ok for reflux distilling.
But when used for potstilling the reflux that miss the cup falls back to the boiler.
Kinda like driving a car with one foot on the brake.

I'm guessing this is what you're planning on doing.