Converting a T500 for a large botanical basket

[jonx69]

Jonx , how did you geget on with your build .?

I bought pretty much all parts from china and am still waiting on the sight glass, work and illness have kept me from even cleaning the parts and having a "practice" with water, I'll stick some photos up once I start, hopefully next week.

[jonx69]

all parts arrived and have put together, only concern is the bottom 2" tri clamp fitting, even though it is tight to the copper dome, once all the pipe work is attached there is some movement, I have sat the bottom fitting on a seal from a pressure barrel so maybe that's causing some flexing.
my options as I see it:
1. use as is
2. only use one section of 500mm pipe
3. lose the sight glass, as this is quite heavy.

any opinions welcomed

[BlackMountains]

hi jonx, what is your plan with the still ie what are you producing ?

i am doing similar with just one 500mm upright as a gin basket so not so top heavy . why do you want 1000mm above the boiler ?

are you packing your column ?

you could move the sight glass down one section as its really only for show but you will get to see the transfer.

where did you source your dephlag from ?

the only adaption i would make is to offset my gin column via a tee so heavy oils wouldn't find their way back to the boiler , the risk then is as you are feeling now, unbalanced and top heavy

sorry for the lots of questions and not many answers

[jonx69]

The plan is to produce neutral with the column, and use the dome and condenser for flavoured runs.

looking around the web, and this site, 4 foot(1200mm) seems to be about right for a 2" column, so if anything I'm a bit short, my pipes are a 500mm and a 480mm.

I've got some heavy duty SS scrubbers for packing.

I watched a video on youtube where the sight glass
sat under the dephleg, seemed like a good way to see the reflux, then control the water flow accordingly, I suppose I could lose the glass, run on full flow then slow until product is produced.

baby dephleg from still dragon https://www.stilldragon.eu/en/condenser ... mator.html

I think you'd be ok running with the single pipe in the middle, I haven't done any gin runs but the method sounds like a strip run ie hard and fast, wouldn't think anything could drop back in.

[BlackMountains]

This is how mine looks , now I have a gin basket , the sight glass is just for show and I don’t know if it’s going to be any use yet

[Brewhunter]

I'm looking forward to hearing how these turn out, how much do you guys think the final cost will be not including the dome?

[BlackMountains]

it was circa £90 for the stainless bits, the sight glass is a show off item so you could drop £35 off that if you didn't want it , but i fancied having it .

i'm also using a SS gin basket underneath as a strainer , but they are really small hence the column for my botanicals

The dome, condenser and boiler are all still spirits , but you could make a condenser cheaper if you were inclined

[Brewhunter]

So have either of you guys tried them out yet?

[BlackMountains]

No, not yet, it’s all ready for the next delivery of NGS , will be running it in a couple of weeks

[jonx69]

So have either of you guys tried them out yet?

not quite there yet, I bought a cheap workbench which I've cut 2 semi circles in, one each side of the wooden top, which with a piece of silicone tightens nicely at the base of the first pipe, the boiler sits underneath, this eases my "top heavy" worries.
hopefully test run it with water early next week, I have 24L of neutral strip ready to go, so that will be next.

[Brewhunter]

any updates on your builds?

[jonx69]

Unfortunately the build is on hold for a bit.
my dad ended up in hospital last week with a perforated bowel, which turned out to be caused by a tumour, they operated (48% chance of surviving apparently) thankfully he made it , but slow recovery then chemo ahead, so I've been driving back and forth in between working.
I've managed to ferment and strip a corn/lme/sugar wash, hopefully get another one in the FV at the weekend, then do a strip and spirit the weekend after.

cheers

[H12rpo]

Been there! Wish him a safe journey mate. The chemo is crap but hey ho I’m still here 2 years on

[jonx69]

Thanks for that, glad it worked out for you.

cheers

[BlackMountains]

Sorry to hear about your dad, I’ve pm’d you .

Mine is ready to go just waiting on some ethanol to do a gin run