StillSmart

Hi folks,

I have "inherited" something and wish to convert to a Boka

I have a 30L SS boiler with a 2.5 Kw element in it. The clampable sealed lid currently has 50cm of 3" SS tube screwed on it with a 2 1/2BSP thread.

I have 1.5m of 2" SS tube in my hands.
I don't have any plans for using a pot still, (which is effectively what I've currently got), I see myself as a neutral only guy I think.
So the quickest and cheapest way for me to adapt what I've currently got into a Boka is to weld my 2" to the 3"
Is there any benefit or any issues to welding a 1M of 2" to the 50cm 3"?


Regards,

If you say the 3" is used as a pot, personally I would keep it as that, and use it for doing stripping runs, then build a Boka with the 2" using the same type fitting to the lid and SPP as the packing and run the strip through that.

The cost of a 2 1/2 bsp SS weldable nipple is putting me off. It's like £28 delivered

http://www.nero.co.uk/index.php/150lb-b ... -wn40.html


Thats why I'm thinking of welding to the existing 3".


Anybody know of a cheaper source of 2 1/2bsp female ?? Manchester area or online


EDIT
That should read 2 1/2bsp male thread

Well, made up a double coil for the boka today. The ebay sourced 6mm copper pipe was very thin walled and wanted to totally flattern on the tight coils.

But my understanding is the coils don't have to flow much water to be effective and even with its flat inside coils its easy enough to blow thru.

With the remaining bit of 6mm pipe and 18" of 15mm pipe I've made up a liebig condensor for product.

Boozoid wrote:Well, made up a double coil for the boka today. The ebay sourced 6mm copper pipe was very thin walled and wanted to totally flattern on the tight coils.

But my understanding is the coils don't have to flow much water to be effective and even with its flat inside coils its easy enough to blow thru.

With the remaining bit of 6mm pipe and 18" of 15mm pipe I've made up a liebig condensor for product.

Well, all the designs I've looked at for my eventual attempt at a build, seem to have used 8mm ductile copper, but the tube was filled with salt while the actual bending was being done, to prevent just that i.e. flattening of the tube........

Any flat sections on the condenser will create pinch points, slowing the liquid movement and potentially creating hot spots and reduced cooling ability after the first flat point.........

Sure I know it's easy to say about bending the condenser, it's certainly not hard but there does seem to be a knack to getting it right.......

I wrecked quite a few meters of 6mm copper tube in getting my double wound coil made, I have 4 I think, each one got a little better with practice, I've been running with my first attempt so far and it had two kinks in it, it does the job but only just, if I run the boiler on 3kw some vapour does escape out the hole in the top cap,

I'm gonna try one of my better ones to see if it does work any better, I'll let you know how I get on

Marc

I've done allsorts whilst we were off air with forum server issues.


The 1.5M (1.2M packing) Boka was welded up last night..slant plates, needle valve and thermometer take off points and boiler connection. I have retained the 3" connector but also welded a 2" connection to the boiler. So If I ever do fancy using it in potstill mode I can with ease.

So today, I need to give it a clean, attach various cooling tubes and then turn it on and check for leaks and correct operation.

I guess with it being mostly stainless, there is not much pre-cleaning to do, just give it a wash with soap and water. ? Flush thru the copper pipe with a little Nitric acid and water. I did boil my stainless scrubbers the other night to remove any possible oils, but could not see any contamination in the remaining pan water.

I have my first wash finishing off now in the brewfridge, a 12% sugar solution with vodka star yeast. Brewed at 22C.

So..I need to ..

check for leaks

Check my £1.99 needle valve does the job

See if my condensor can knock back the vapour from boiling water.

Calibrate my power control in watts

MMM

Mostly Good and little bad.

The condensor easily knocks back all the vapour from boiling water at 2.5KW with loads of room to spare. I put a cheap needle valve on the water supply and it controls it very well.
The 18" x 15mm Liebig product condensor I made cooled the water vapour right down also.

A few leaks on plastic pipework, need better jubile clips and pipe.

The biggy is that the product needle valve will not shut off 100%, it weeps and could do with finer adjustment. But I can live with it If I can stop the weep.
Is there anything wrong with giving it a wrap of teflon tape?

Else I may have to use more drastic efforts to sort it, thumping with a hammer so it seats proper or maybe crack up the lathe and remachine the seat and needle.

Well done with your build....pop some photos of it on the forum.

30L Boiler. 1.2M Packing . 1.5M tube..its over 2M all together.
2.5KW stainless element in the very bottom. Temp controller.
Needle valve on condensor coil and product. Product liebig condensor.

I wrapped a little PTFE tape around the product needle valve and it has stopped the leak. I guess I'll see what happens when used in anger sometime.

Do I need to wait until the wash has cleared before distillation or can you go for it all murky?

The uncleared wash has yeast, and other particulates, suspended in the liquid and these will burn on the electric element you're using. This will affect the taste of your product badly.

If you were using a heat exchange coil it wouldn't really be a problem but electric elements get too hot on their surface so best to have your wash as clear as you can get it.

Even in hot weather I find Sparkolloid best at getting stubborn washes clear, unfortunately it's only available from the US. Try here if you want some http://www.brewhaus.com/Clearing-Agent- ... -P853.aspx

AM

Thanks for that. I'll wait a little longer then, although I'm itching to get this running.

For my beer I cold crash and then add gelatine, combined it makes my beer bright in 48 hrs.

I'll use the same technique on this sugar wash and see If I get a similar result.


...

My plan is to make some vodka, will I need to filter or double distill to get a commercial quality type product?


Regards,

if you get a "commercial quality type product" flush it down the bog.

If you do a bit of reading hereabouts you'll find the whole purpose of distilling our own spirits is that we can produce a much higher standard of spirit because we are not driven by greed for profit so we remove the bad bits commercial distilleries leave in.

For general purposes with a pot still, if you want to make Vodka, you should double distill because the fermented wash needs to be stripped first to produce low wines. Then, when you have enough low wines, you run a much slower Spirit Run and make judicious cuts to produce a fine clean spirit.

If you are running a Reflux Still and have good experience running and controlling your equipment a single distillation is possible but you'll end up with neutral ethanol rather than Vodka.

I always recommend carbon filtering for Vodka and I generally leave the spirit in the freezer for 24 hours before filling my Essencia Filter - makes for a better final result IMO

AM