about 9 months later.....
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 8:54 pmAnd i have built my still.... its now all ready for use. cleaned leak tested and proven.
i started with a t500, and fitted a 2" flange (64mm od) to the lid using the t500 column attaching fitting for now. onto that i have a 54mm copper tube just over 3 ft long for packing with 100ft of copper mesh, both ends of the tube are terminated with stainless steel end feed flanges.
for stripping and flavor runs i have a simple pot head made from 2 x 90 degree end feed elbows and a 54 to 15mm reducer, to adjoin to the column i hand bent out a flange to circa 64mm with a pair of mole grips and bashed it with a toffee/jewelers hammer on a small shoe last.
and after a lot of faffing about i soldered on at a 45degree downward slope a 1m long leibig condenser with a central tube of 15mm copper in a 22mm copper jacket..
for spirit runs i made 2 further clamp on sections with further hand bent flanges for fitting, a boka collection section and a condenser section.
the boka collection section is not the neatest job, and the 6.4mm od copper tube used for the drain is i think in retrospect a little constricting.
the output condenser for the boka head is a simple tube of 15mm copper terminated with 90 degree elbows i drilled through each elbow with a 10mm bit and slotted a length of 10mm x 500mm x 0.2mm Stainless steel, which is attached to the 1/4" SS needle valve controlling the output flow with stainless steel cone union and compression fitting.
the cooling water is fed in to the bottom of the output condenser before a 3/8" lever valve and a T controlling and diverting the flow into the 2 x 1/4" copper coils feeding the return 15mm cold finger.
in the sacrificial runs to clean post vinegar runs in boka/reflux i am chasing azero - surpassing according to my hydrometer, but im happy to accept that the hydrometer is probably a tad out
Now i can finally start planning my brews.. for neutral spirits im sold on the basic lentil sugarhead which i hope to use some of to infuse an absinthesq tipple. And i have 25kg of malt and 5kg of peated malt to mash for a whiskey - hopefully will end up mellow with a hint of peat smokyness...
bits assembled before soldering - a few months back..
and after soldering and cleaning
I can still polish up the externals a bit
and in use (cleaning)..
Pot mode.
the hand bashed flanges wire a real pita to seal til i made a gasket from card wrapped with pfte using a ptfe gasket as the template for the card, and then when 2 flanges were assembled wrapping ptfe tape round the edge,
which also holds the 2 pieces together when applying the clamp to secure
i started with a t500, and fitted a 2" flange (64mm od) to the lid using the t500 column attaching fitting for now. onto that i have a 54mm copper tube just over 3 ft long for packing with 100ft of copper mesh, both ends of the tube are terminated with stainless steel end feed flanges.
for stripping and flavor runs i have a simple pot head made from 2 x 90 degree end feed elbows and a 54 to 15mm reducer, to adjoin to the column i hand bent out a flange to circa 64mm with a pair of mole grips and bashed it with a toffee/jewelers hammer on a small shoe last.
and after a lot of faffing about i soldered on at a 45degree downward slope a 1m long leibig condenser with a central tube of 15mm copper in a 22mm copper jacket..
for spirit runs i made 2 further clamp on sections with further hand bent flanges for fitting, a boka collection section and a condenser section.
the boka collection section is not the neatest job, and the 6.4mm od copper tube used for the drain is i think in retrospect a little constricting.
the output condenser for the boka head is a simple tube of 15mm copper terminated with 90 degree elbows i drilled through each elbow with a 10mm bit and slotted a length of 10mm x 500mm x 0.2mm Stainless steel, which is attached to the 1/4" SS needle valve controlling the output flow with stainless steel cone union and compression fitting.
the cooling water is fed in to the bottom of the output condenser before a 3/8" lever valve and a T controlling and diverting the flow into the 2 x 1/4" copper coils feeding the return 15mm cold finger.
in the sacrificial runs to clean post vinegar runs in boka/reflux i am chasing azero - surpassing according to my hydrometer, but im happy to accept that the hydrometer is probably a tad out
Now i can finally start planning my brews.. for neutral spirits im sold on the basic lentil sugarhead which i hope to use some of to infuse an absinthesq tipple. And i have 25kg of malt and 5kg of peated malt to mash for a whiskey
- hopefully will end up mellow with a hint of peat smokyness...bits assembled before soldering - a few months back..
and after soldering and cleaning
I can still polish up the externals a bit
and in use (cleaning)..
Pot mode.
the hand bashed flanges wire a real pita to seal til i made a gasket from card wrapped with pfte using a ptfe gasket as the template for the card, and then when 2 flanges were assembled wrapping ptfe tape round the edge,
which also holds the 2 pieces together when applying the clamp to secure