StillSmart

Hi all,
Hope you all had a home made Merry Xmas...
Right time for a mod, i now got a 100ft of copper mesh and i want to improve my t500 reflux and if i can improve my alembic head too that would be interesting.

Can I get smoother runs with less distills by using some copper mesh?

I had read of all the post and the SPP sound good but difficult to get hold of, so i want to use the mesh to try and improve both stills.

1, is it worth putting some mesh in the alembic head and how would you do it.

2, what is the best way to repack the column in the reflux? Should i just remove the ceramic and stuff rolls of cooper in the column.

Be great to here others experience with copper mesh.

JD

Hi John Doe

There's little point in adding any copper mesh to the alembic, I don't have one but I beleive it's made of copper so will have enough for its purpose, also it won't add much to the ABV, it's probably a worth while upgrade in the T500 column, I've been wanting to try some in my column but I've settled on stainless steel pan scrubbers as they're cheap, easy to get hold of and work well.

If you do add them try and get some mesh around the cooling pipe that runs down the inside of the T500 column, between the pipe and the inside wall, I've read of people doing this and getting better results as there's no short cut for the vapour to bypass the copper mesh.

As Anavrin said there is a space around the reflux pipe, see my post about it:

http://www.stillsmart.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2825

It needs wrapping to improve refluxing.

Anvarin thanks for you're reply, i am also interested in using the scrubbers if they work better than all copper, so i have bought 9 packs of the SS scrubbers as VT mention for 99 in that cheap shop. the reason i mention some mesh in a pot is from a post by aidanmac quote
the post is titled "all t500 users are fools" http://www.stillsmart.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1296&p=11403&hilit=clean+alembic#p11403
quote
"Rickey: +1 on the copper. I don't have the luxury of an all copper still but I use a copper pot head and this is packed with copper mesh, not for the purpose of reflux but to remove the Sulphides. " so I was interested in this point did he put a bit in the neck maybe.

VT the SS scrubbers they look well worth using, as no point using all copper if there is no benefit. I found it interesting to see that post where you found that gap so I think I may as well do a neat job and have a go.

I am thinking, I part copper mesh under coil equal to a scrubber thickness there about, then SS scrubbers all way down but cap with copper again at bottom. Is this the most efficient way to pack? Also I will pack the gap by the cooling pipe to cover the 3 mm gap.

Thanks for you time and pointers.

DJ

I would have thought a roll of copper mesh at the top and bottom would be fine, should work better than the few copper bits supplied with the column.

Anavrin wrote:I would have thought a roll of copper mesh at the top and bottom would be fine, should work better than the few copper bits supplied with the column.

I am in complete agreement, plus the fact copper will take more maintenance to keep clean.
Wrap the tube with SS and you should never have to dismantle to clean, and don't pack inside the reflux tube just up to the bottom of it.

Update,
I now repacked, SS scrubber around the down pipe, 2 copper scrubbers with from coil down to almost the pipe end and about 11 or 12 scrubbers used including wrapping pipe.

filled boiler with a stripped wash 23ltr, about 2 gallons worth (55abv ) adjust at around 30 abv.

Tried some reflux which i never did before , set timer 15 mins, and let water go fast until nothing comes out about 33c. it dripped very slowly after 14 mins it started coming faster so i increased the flow to temp of 23c you can only go so fast with water as it will leak from the thermo. it then surged a bit and came out fast for a while so i switched off. waited 1 min switched back on a bit more came out then went dry and refluxed for a while.

not sure why i had this initial surge of very fast output?

I discarded the fist 50ml
checked what was left and it was 98% abv
i decided to let it carry on temps about 52c and its coming out around 96% abv
so far so good, accidentally tasted a bit , mmmm very smooth


DJ

how much copper mesh should i buy to put inside the top and bottom of the T 500

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reflux-Copper-Mesh-Still-Column-Packing-Moon-Shine-Reflux-Still-Copper-Packing-/271788032129?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=570615477450&hash=item3f47d44081

prob 3 metres just for 1 or 2 scrubbers worth at the top

thanks

Are you not putting back any of the copper bits that come with the T500?

i was going to put the copper ones that came with the T500 in first then copper mesh then ceramic saddles then some copper at the bottom to hold everything together.

i added my copper bits back too, and if you forget before you pack the column like i did, then you can shake them in the from the top takes a few mins longer but not too difficult to do.

What tool do you use to get the scrubbers back out from the column when you want to clean them?

Old post but has what i need so dont think a new one will help.

As mentioned above i will be doing the copper top n bottom, at the moment i have copper saddles and ceramics in the coil and then all stainless scrubbers below cooling coil..

I want to drop in the copper saddles then add copper scrubber to touch cooling coil followed by ss scrubbers and a final copper scrubber.

when i stand it back up the copper saddles will fall to the first scrubber against the cooling coil and leave an air gap in the top.

Question ..... Is it ok to have this air gap or should i buy more copper saddles to fill it.