StillSmart

Maker wrote:
It was commented about leaving the 2" ferrule as standard in the top, to be honest I will enjoy machining the barrel to take a 4" ferrule and trying to make a decent job of welding it back, also I dont know the history of the barrel and the ferrule insert is missing and it looks like it has been stored outside so a damn good clean is on the cards. I spent quite a lot of money on my tig so any oppertunity to use it is welcomed...

My advice is to go large.
Something that you can get your hand in for a proper clean.
I have been there and shed tears that I couldn't

Robert.

Managed to get the insert out of the ferrule today so i could peek inside, it's not too bad but has a coating of skunk pussy and black granular stuff, although may add flavour to a brew if you know what you are doing it's not for me, I think a 4" hole and a jet hose sounds magic.

Robert.

Maker wrote:Managed to get the insert out of the ferrule today so i could peek inside, it's not too bad but has a coating of skunk pussy and black granular stuff, although may add flavour to a brew if you know what you are doing it's not for me, I think a 4" hole and a jet hose sounds magic.

Sound like you could do with some Five Star PBW Cleaner, followed by StarSan steriliser.

Lol at ‘skunk pussy’

I have today made another purchase, I know I planned on a 3" column and I still will in the future but when 2m of 2" food grade stainless falls in your lap for 35 quid I may as well make a 2" column first, I'm still going to chop the barrel to accept 4" but I had already ordered a 4-2 reducer.

Is it a case of taller is better or is there an optimum height for a 2" column, I'm sure I read 4 feet was good?

Also, I'm going to make a shotgun condensor, what internal bore is best for the tubes, I'd guess at about 10mm?

Maker wrote:Managed to get the insert out of the ferrule today so i could peek inside, it's not too bad but has a coating of skunk pussy and black granular stuff, although may add flavour to a brew if you know what you are doing it's not for me, I think a 4" hole and a jet hose sounds magic.

Truck wash also known as TFR is a superb cleaner for stainless. It gets muck out of stuff that looks clean. Use gloves. No need to soak.

Maker wrote:Is it a case of taller is better or is there an optimum height for a 2" column, I'm sure I read 4 feet was good?

Also, I'm going to make a shotgun condensor, what internal bore is best for the tubes, I'd guess at about 10mm?

4 foot of 2 inch is a decent option. Taller means you can run a bit faster to get the same purity but running a packed column at high speed is not fun IMO. If you can spare the height 5 foot is about a practical upper limit.

Expect to get roughly 0.75 liters per hour on about 1.5 kW

12 mm copper can be got in straight lengths (2 or 3 mtr) for vapour cores, but the 10 mm will come on a coil. I like 12 mm for shotguns.

I will look in to truck wash, sounds great!

Thank you Myles, the new column is now a 4 footer as advised, I could have gone higher but I wonder how close the ceiling will be when I add a drain in the bottom of the keg.

Some of the bits for the build turned up today so I have made a start, I got 2 90 degree bends so needed to add an adapter for the temperature probe.



And here it is glued in.



Next I cut up the new length of tube to 4 foot and welded ferrules on, I have not touched my welder in quite a while so results were full of character.



I don't have enough small tube to make the product condenser yet so rather than thumb twiddling I decided to try to make a dephlegmator, gathered up what I could find.



Marked out and cut a pair of discs from a bit of 2mm plate I had.



Welded them in place, weld is quite wonky but will work.



Marked out where to put the holes for the tubes.



Finally started welding it all together, don't think it looks too bad.



I'll try to finish it tomorrow and put a pic of it in place and figure out where the hell I'm going to get some tubes for the product condenser, things are moving on though, slowly.

Nice work. Can you weld copper to stainless?
If so then you could use copper cores in the product condenser.

Thats a great idea, as far as I know you can only braze or solder stainless to copper and although not as strong as tig it would work perfectly in this application. I will report back when I get some tube.

Some more bits turned up in the post today.



I dont have a 100mm cutter to make a hole big enough for the 4" ferrule so I had to go old skool on it with some chain drilling, boring but effective.



And join the holes with a little chisle...



Once the new ferrule was welded on I used a file to tidy up the inside and finished with emery paper.

I would have shown a picture of the finished job but the uploader says my ip is blocked...

I don't understand your IP blockage, but top marks on what you have so far posted.
Inspiring.
Great to have another hands on practical poster.

Robert.

I don't seem to be blocked anymore so I will carry on with my pic heavy post..!
Here is the finished, welded adapter with reducer, looks good but I need to devise a way of presure testing to check the weld.



A quick pic of the whole thing so far, I am quickly running out of ceiling height so may not bother with the bottom drain in this build.



Finally for tonight I have been on a womble and found some old copper pipe, after a good clean it looks fine so tommorow I will try to make a product condensor.

Loving the "Womble"
Re-use,Re-cycle,Re-distill.
Robert.