StillSmart

I like to make stuff but have no desire to be a commercial builder. I prefer to make to order and will make anything - no mater how small or simple.

This pot still will end up for sale, and it is what I think of as a standard model. This is all personal choice off course, but it is what I would use myself as a simple pot still.


It is still in progress but here are some starter images.



Easy flange for a tri clamp to keg connection into a 54mm riser, tall enough to give you room for a condenser.



A bit of a coolant baffle inside the pre-condenser jacket.

I put in a 10mm compression fitting for a thermo port for those that like to use one. A blank will be provided.



And showing the 28mm refill branch that will come with a compression blank.



This is just after an initial clean, it will be polished - but not varnished - later.

And a closer view of the 35 inside 54 pre condenser.



Condenser will be a 2 core concentric shotgun, unless the purchaser asks for something else. Spiral liebig, multi core shogun, worm, etc etc.

Decided not to mirror polish the pot still, just to make it shiny. It should patina up with use to a nice graduation of tones between the cooler pre-condenser and the hot riser.



Made a start on the condenser, which I decided to make just a little bit longer with the inner at 26".

The pre-condenser and condenser should manage 3.8 kW and if you were to add the outer coil this would bring it up to 6 kW - based on the default settings on the HD condenser size calculator. Your coolant flow rate would change that.

When building one of these you assemble the liebig to get everything lined up and then only solder 1 end. Next you need to reduce the length of the branch on the T so you can get it inside the outer T.

You will need to clean the liebig and slide on the outer tube BEFORE you solder on the other end. Pictures to follow.

For now here are the refil port:



Just remove the blank nut and fit a valve or 28mm straight connector, dependent on your refil method. The compression nut stays on the pot still retained by the olive.

And the connector for the condenser. The condenser will be built onto a 45 degree bend so that it can be rotated from vertical to any angle for convenience.



I like the combination of polished brass fittings on the copper.

Sorry I forgot to put these up. I now drill and cut a 3/8" BSP thread and screw in the fittings that are then soldered in place. I am using the same method with a 10 mm compression fitting for the thermo port and bent 10 mm fittings for the coolant lines.

Myles its beautiful as all you work seems to be... How expensive is this type of column?

approximately ? PM me if you would prefer not to post it sir..

thanks in advance,

FS

I haven't decided yet, (depends how much more time I have to put into the condenser. I did say they were difficult to build and this one is being awkward ) but it will be less than a stainless steel StillDragon equivalent.

Probably in the order of £200 including a parrot. It depends if you wish to specify an alternative condenser for higher power use.

Plus packing and shipping which will be at cost price.

Myles wrote:Probably in the order of £200

That probably works out at 50p an hour for your time. It must be a labour of love, someone is going to get a beautiful bit of kit at a bargain price.

Here you go folks. Add a bit of bling to your still room.

I had to completely rebuild the condenser, but that's my problem. It ends up like this.



That condenser is double cored with a 25" 15 mm inside 22 mm liebig hiding down the centre. That is inside a slightly longer 28 mm jacket so you get both a 25" 15 mm liebig and a 25" 22mm cold finger inside the same condenser.

Do bear in mind that the outside of this condenser is hot, so it will develop colour fairly quickly. It is NOT varnished.

The increased length means it is a little bit longer than the riser.



However there is sufficient clearance that if you had your keg on a stand or burner then you could use it vertically if you wished.

However, I expect it to be used like this:



Coolant connectors are 10 mm tube and I will add the fittings to suit the wishes of the purchaser. I picked 10 mm because the bore on flexible braided stainless steel (and on many dishwasher) hoses is actually 10 mm.

I added a short extension of 28 mm tube (the inner core sits about an inch back from the end of the condenser) to give you the option of pushing on a female/female reducer, if you wish. I didn't want to fit this, as a lot depends on the angle you choose to use the condenser at, and whether or not you wish to use a parrot. Either connected or free standing.

Beautiful work Myles.

Very very nice. I wish I could make my copper shine like that.

Can I ask how you connect the water? I'm only familiar with running a liebig without a pre-condenser

Does the output from one go to the input of the other?

It would be possible to run them in parallel, but honestly I wouldn't bother.

I would run cold in at the product end and use a flexible hose, probably platinum cured silicon, from the condenser to the pre condenser and have the outlet at the highest connector.

I usually use semi rigid water supply hose (black 13 mm irrigation hose) but with a flexible hose section connecting to the condenser. I have ON / OFF type isolation on each supply line but my flow controls are on the OUTLET sides so the condensers are always full of water.

I use a water butt pump so my coolant system is pressurised to normal tap pressure.