Just finished making this

[Robbo12]

Hi I've just made a column for my T500 now the question is how do i go about cleaning the inside of it and what with because i don't want it tasteing of flux ect

[Brewhunter]

Nice one, to clean the insides you need to do a vinegar run,
I use about 5 bottles of white vinegar diluted in about 8 litres of water.

[Easydrinker]

If you haven't saved "Rubbish-ahol" from earlier distillations then Vinegar is the way to go.
I have used Malt vinegar a couple of times, but you need to ventilate well, boy did it hurt the eyes!

Robert.

[Brewhunter]

If you haven't saved "Rubbish-ahol" from earlier distillations then Vinegar is the way to go.
I have used Malt vinegar a couple of times, but you need to ventilate well, boy did it hurt the eyes!

Robert.

Yep, cleans the old nostrils out too
I used the 'spare alcohol' for the sacrificial run which should be done after cleaning.

[Myles]

Turn it upside down and fill it with vinegar/water and leave it to soak for a day or two. then discard and flush out with water.

Put some vinegar and alcohol in the boiler and blast that through it, then blast some plain steam through it.

The first one or two product runs might taste a bit metalic but once you have oxidised the raw copper inside you will be fine.

Straight out of cleaning raw copper is pink and makes product a bit nasty - hence the sacraficial run. That first run with hot alcohol oxidises the copper - it is still clean - just no longer pink. In that state, with a patina, it is clean and can do all the good stuff it does.

Subsequently you dont want to do a deep clean unless you really have to - as it takes you back to raw pink copper. An occasional steam clean with just water in the boiler is generally enough. Possibly a rinse out with slightly acidic backset left in the boiler after a run, will help clean off any mineral deposits or a bit of foam if you have used too much heat.

[Robbo12]

Ok i will do that thanks for replying

[Brewhunter]

Can anyone explain to me why the water outlet has the long copper section on this design?

[Myles]

Can anyone explain to me why the water outlet has the long copper section on this design?

You actually see this on a few designs. It brings the water in and out connectors close together for ease and also for tidiness. For those folks heating with gas it gets the coolant hoses away from the hot zone.

This is a 3" column I built for someone. The LM product outlet passes through the center of the supply line to the reflux condenser. The white coated copper tube is a push on extension that takes the product to the parrot.



What he did was to pass his coolant hoses through a breeze block to insulate them from his gas burner and also to take the weight so they are not hanging off the still.

This is the head of that still. Crossflow cooling tubes all plumbed in with copper tube.

[Brewhunter]

Okay thanks Myles

[Robbo12]

Hi i want to put a temperature gauge on the top of it what parts do i need for it I'm not experienced enough yet so any pointers would be appreciated thanks. Its for the top of the condenser.

[Myles]

Hi i want to put a temperature gauge on the top of it what parts do i need for it I'm not experienced enough yet so any pointers would be appreciated thanks. Its for the top of the condenser.

Do you want it to measure vapour temperature or water temperature?

You can do both and you have a couple of options. You can put in a thermowell or you can put in a fitting to insert a temperature probe directly into the water or vapour.

The thermowell is basically a closed end tube soldered into the still or condenser. It is a sealed pocket so it is leak free and you just slide your sensor/probe into the tube.

With direct insertion you need some sort of threaded or compression fitting to make a seal on the body of the probe - otherwise the vapour/liquid leaks out.

[Robbo12]

Hi Myles the water temp i want to measure what parts do i need for it? Thanks mark