Home Distiller

Got my pieces parts from oak stills and dry fit everything together.

Figured I'd solicit feedback since I goofed up my controller so bad the first time around.

Wrapped the flat silicone seals with ptfe tape for top and bottom of sight glass.

Instead of figuring out how to encapsulate the silicone seals that came with Peter's kit4" ptfe triclamp gaskets between sections, ridges sanded off, wrapped with PTFE tape for extra cushion and better seal. The plates sit on top of the gasket, but are not mechanically locked in place. I'm assuming the weight of the plate will be enough to prevent vapor bypass.

~18" of coiled 3/8 csst for dephlegmator over the top plate. Planning on plugging the top of the 2" Tee with a dough ball to seal it. Later on I might make one out of copper, but for now I am broke.

I poached the dimroth condenser from my stripper head for the product condenser. 48" of 1/2" csst.

I haven't build a stand yet, so you will have to wait for pics of the 2" butterfly valve and 24" drain tube going on the bottom.

Please pick it apart. My blind spots are vast.

There is something not right about that build
It looks like you are doing a CCVM but you will need to be wanting to lift the coil up to and maybe above the takeoff Tee during operation . So you will likely need a short section (spool) above the Tee to slide the coil up and down in .

Alternatively , if you are building a CM , then you somehow need to seal the top where the CCST comes out . You would also need to replace the ball valve with a needle valve as coolant flow will be ultra critical .

Looks nice, not sure how well a dough ball will hold up to the task though. There might to too much mass and it may just get soggy, or possibly shrink and fall in.

I suspect it might be ideal to cap the top and insert a dephlegmator between the tee and the sight glass. No CCST through the top.

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 5:39 pm There is something not right about that build
It looks like you are doing a CCVM but you will need to be wanting to lift the coil up to and maybe above the takeoff Tee during operation . So you will likely need a short section (spool) above the Tee to slide the coil up and down in .

Alternatively , if you are building a CM , then you somehow need to seal the top where the CCST comes out . You would also need to replace the ball valve with a needle valve as coolant flow will be ultra critical .

If CM

planning on sealing the top by stuffing with a cotton rag and packing that in with dough.

I thought I had a needle valve kicking around from the before times, but i can't find it.

I had planned on using my other tee to make a steam injector, but I can use it to set this up for CCVM like so:
The coil is very, very tight.

Wooday wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 5:12 pm
Instead of figuring out how to encapsulate the silicone seals that came with Peter's kit4" ptfe triclamp gaskets between sections, ridges sanded off, wrapped with PTFE tape for extra cushion and better seal. The plates sit on top of the gasket, but are not mechanically locked in place. I'm assuming the weight of the plate will be enough to prevent vapor bypass.

I tried that and vapor leaked around the edges of the plate. Here's a better option that's made for the job.
Wrap the ptfe loosely around the gasket and have the plate pull the tape tight when it slips into the groove.
It takes some experimenting to get the proper initial wrap so the tape doesn't tear.

https://shop.stilldragon.com/4-crystal- ... asket.html

Plan B for a dephlamator using the Tee you already have.
The top of the still head needs to be sealed to keep vapor from escaping.
This is going to be difficult when using corrugated SS tubing.
Instead use copper tubing for the defleg that extends below the Tee used for the takeoff.
Solder the tubing to a copper plate and clamp it in place with a triclamp and gasket.

What Shady said

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 8:55 pm What Shady said

Tomorrow when I'm sober, I'll have to read "What Shady said" to see what I said.

shadylane wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 8:41 pm Plan B for a dephlamator using the Tee you already have.
The top of the still head needs to be sealed to keep vapor from escaping.
This is going to be difficult when using corrugated SS tubing.
Instead use copper tubing for the defleg that extends below the Tee used for the takeoff.
Solder the tubing to a copper plate and clamp it in place with a triclamp and gasket.

This will be the next "upgrade" when I can find a screaming deal on copper tubing. Cooling with tap water is expensive, but I don't have the space for a barrel to recirculate.

shadylane wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 6:41 pm I tried that and vapor leaked around the edges of the plate. Here's a better option that's made for the job.
Wrap the ptfe loosely around the gasket and have the plate pull the tape tight when it slips into the groove.
It takes some experimenting to get the proper initial wrap so the tape doesn't tear.

https://shop.stilldragon.com/4-crystal- ... asket.html

Well, balls...

I took the gaskets that came with Peter's kit and did something similar. Couldn't wrap it loose enough to press into the groove without exposing silicone, so I made a slight change.

Middle plates:
wrapped sight glass gaskets
assembled sight glasses
cut PTFE around circumference
Pressed sight glasses together
Carefully removed sight glass
Wrapped circumference of plate with 3 turns PTFE tape
Pressed plate into sight glass gasket
Placed PTFE wrapped hard PTFE gasket over plate, top ridge sanded off
Wrapped the edge of the sight glass with more tape, because what the hell...


Bottom plate: wrapped with 5 turns of tape, placed on the stainless.
wrapped flat silicone gasket over that
Glass.

That's it until after christmas, when I can do my cleaning runs.

Wooday wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2024 5:03 am

shadylane wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 8:41 pm Plan B for a dephlamator using the Tee you already have.
The top of the still head needs to be sealed to keep vapor from escaping.
This is going to be difficult when using corrugated SS tubing.
Instead use copper tubing for the defleg that extends below the Tee used for the takeoff.
Solder the tubing to a copper plate and clamp it in place with a triclamp and gasket.

This will be the next "upgrade" when I can find a screaming deal on copper tubing. Cooling with tap water is expensive, but I don't have the space for a barrel to recirculate.

You could cut the end of the case and solder it in to a copper cut off.

Then drill two holes in the end cap and feed the copped through the end cap, solder the Cooper pipe in.

I did something similar in my build, still going strong 8 years later

Wooday,

Also what shady said about a copper coil. But not just any coil, here is what I think you will need for a CM dimroth deflagmater condenser.

The two straight arms of the coil must extend down below the tee opening, so they must be at least 5" below the top seal. And a double coil is needed, about 110" length of 0.25" copper tube. Your set up is very similar to Higgins still, here is his post on the coil that he made. Read it.


viewtopic.php?t=89627&hilit=double+coil&start=60


And here is his double coil. It is 0.25" diam. If you use a 0.375" diam coil, that also would need to be 110" total length. His straight arms are shorter than the ones you need.


The coiled length will be about 8 or 9 inch long and that will extend down from the opening. So you also need an 8" spool piece between the top plate and the tee piece.

I have previously done some calcs on Higgins still and agreed with his data. I have a plate column calculator. I ran several sets of run conditions for your still using a 110" x 0.25" diam double coil. Here is a good estimate of what you can expect to use for run set points and the results expected. The distillate rate is 2 L/hr for all cases and cooling water inlet temperature is 60 F. The pot can be charged with wash or low wines, 20-30% abv. Low wines are used in these cases.

Watts......Reflux .....Reflux............Cooling Water................Product .............Ratio........L/hr..........ml/min.....Exit Temp F..........ABV
2000.........2.1.........4.1.............287...........146.................91%
2500.........2.8.........5.7.............433...........138.................91.5%
3000.........3.7.........7.4.............617...........130.................92%
3500.........4.5.........9.0.............833...........122.................92+%

From the above, you can get an idea of the cooling water ( cw ) flow rate you will need. A cw flowmeter is good to have so you know the cw rate that you are running. And the product abv that you should you expect should be close to the above. Again, look over several of Higgins runs to also see what to expect.

Do not run above 3500 watts power. You could possibly get flooding above that. Higgins ran about 2750 watts.

The 2 L/hr product rate you dial in by adjusting the cooling water flow rate ( with a needle valve ). You initially equilibrate the column plates by running at total reflux for 10-15 minutes. Total reflux requires a higher cw flow rate. For 2500 watts, that cw flow rate would be at least 750 ml/min.

Your PC product condenser, a csst dimroth with at least 30" cooling length, should be able to condense and cool the 2 L/hr product rate with about 1 L/min cw flow. Be sure to have a separate cw line and needle valve on each cw flow line, deflag dimroth and the PC.

So, a lot to take here but is is good to know what to expect. Hopefully, you know the procedures for start up and running these plate columns. If not, read up on this. I have tried to put some numbers on the key set points and results that you should use and expect.

Haggy

haggy wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2024 9:49 am
a double coil is needed, about 110" length of 0.25" copper tube.

I think a smaller dephleg would work better for 4" bubble cap plates.
A dephleg only needs to condense part of the vapor, if it's too big the cooling water flow adjustment will be fidgety.

shadylane wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2024 5:22 pm A dephleg only needs to condense part of the vapor,

It is very usefull if it can also achieve full reflux when needed, too small can also be a pain in the butt.

Small update.

Did a dry fit and pressure tested the condensers in the laundry room using the washer hoses to supply water.

The whole shebang is too tall to put on top of the washer and dryer, which sucks because I don't have anything to build a stand, and it's one more thing to lug through the house to set up and take down.
Pity.

Out of time to do a cleaning run before the littles go to bed, so I'm pushing it out again.