Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

5Star there might not be as much time in putting the sight glasses in as you think if you try the way I did it.....admittedly it took me a while but I found it to be one of the easier and less fiddly parts of the build. If I had to do it again I reckon I could do it in half the time.

It's always easier the next time around, but the hours in the build are still there, my last one took 29 hours :crazy:

For someone who works full time and has other hobbies, a mrs, life & a rather large beer consumption (my hero) I can understand why 5Star doesnt want to take it on.

This is the same reason I am unable to build anything on a regular basis as of now, all I have to do is get my beer brewing skills up to scratch and I'm in heaven :text-lol:

Yep, that's $900 worth of labour before you buy a part.

Makes a bubble ball build look cheap as. 8-)

Most people don't appreciate what is involved to build this type of still, I make a lot of parts myself, sight glass fittings etc. I have always quoted $1000+ and this does not include shipping, I don't hear from many guys after I give them a price. My builds usually take up to two weeks, but I just build each element at a time.


OD

olddog wrote:Most people don't appreciate what is involved to build this type of still, I make a lot of parts myself, sight glass fittings etc. I have always quoted $1000+ and this does not include shipping, I don't hear from many guys after I give them a price. My builds usually take up to two weeks, but I just build each element at a time.


OD

Yep it's same here too,

I've spent a lot of time here answering questions about these things via PM but as soon as I say $1200 I never hear from them again :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

I wont work for nothing, it's not a charity ;)

After building one I wouldnt even consider building another to sell for that kind if money. At the speed I work it would be abut 2 dollars an hour

and...thing is... if you ask, for example, a passionate leadlighter or bookmaker or woodcrafter etc they will tell you the same thing...i.e. 'most people' know the cost of 'everything' and the value of 'nothing'.
IMHO, still artisans know better than that and it may not pay the bills so much but it is of true worth regardless and long may you be able to find the means to persevere.... :clap: ;)

I just had another enquiry to build a column, after giving him a price, I got the reply that he would have to think about it. I can guarantee I will never hear from him again.


OD

I got as much done as i was able. The new owner had the brilliant idea of ordering a potstill that would doble as the condensor for the column.

The empty column will be shipped out with it just in case he can make use of it some how.

Here she is sitting loosely together with the sightglass assy's just stuck in there and no gaskets. Typical 5Star brazing and trademark ugliness distinguish it beautifully from all the shiny ones out there. :laughing-rolling: :teasing-neener:

Would look quite good spray painted in some cool colour engine paint.





Potstill





Liebig is adjustable 360 degres, although 170 deg is the useful range :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Yep 5Star, I have set my Liebig at many angles and I still believe that having it slightly less than horizontal gives the best value for money as far as cooling the end product is concerned. I have yet to understand how obtaining a cool product from a vertical Liebig can be achieved. As soon as the product condenses, it drops straight out of the tube i.e. no more cooling.


Cheers
MaybeItsJustMe

Tracker wrote: I have yet to understand how obtaining a cool product from a vertical Liebig can be achieved. As soon as the product condenses, it drops straight out of the tube i.e. no more cooling.

Cheers
MaybeItsJustMe

Works just fine Tracker, the condensed liquid runs down the inside wall of the liebig and transfers it's heat into the water. Of course vertical liebigs are generally used on columns and they don't have to condense and cool much product anyway.

Yeah, understand that Mini but it would run out very quickly. The more horizontal it is, the longer the product stays in there and the colder it gets. But then as you say, mainly for columns and I am using mine on a Pot.


Cheers.

One way I have seen to reshape your column back to round would be to push/pull a round die through it. This may not be as hard as it sounds. Trumpet builders push ball bearings one after another down the tubes and around the bends and out the end. This reforms the tube without straightening out the bends. If you were able to hold an end [flange in a tri clamp] and draw a hardwood plug through with a ratchet or a car jack press I think you would be able to get back to round.

That's a good suggestion, should be in the owners hands by now. I have sent the wobbly pipe as well, so that may help him. :clap:

The post is a little slow up this way, hoping I will see it today.

I have thought about the same thing for trueing up the pipe from the inside, just have to balance out the cost of buying the stuff to do so.
At this stage I am looking at changing out the blade on my sliding drop down saw so I can cut the pipe square, soldering the perf plates from the bottom of each cut section and then using a teflon sealing tape clamping it all back together with those heavy duty SS T-Bolt pipe clamps. The size of the thread on the bolts and their solid design will pull it into perfect alignment, or so I hope, they are only $6 a pop so worth the test.

if you had a 97mm wooden ball with a rod through the middle of it would be perfect. As modernity said, a car jack or a hand winch to drive it through.


Know any wood turners?

Id be sticking a whole heap of lube of some sort on that wooden ball or what ever you end up using.....its gunna help a lot.

5Star wrote:Know any wood turners?

Maybe I do... Maybe I dont, but if I did he would probably suggest a tapered plug. A plug tapered from say 95mm to 97mm by 100mm in length might do the trick. Quick and easy for someone who knows what they are doing. However turning a perfect sphere exactly 97mm in diameter is not so quick and easy, and its about now that all the amatuer woodturners chime in and say yeah but I can ..... and end up charging next to nothing for their time, tools and (limited) knowledge and devalueing the true worth of someone who does that sort of shit for a living. Rant over :angry-banghead:
But seriously :laughing-rolling: a tapered plug would be cheaper and easyly done by any weekend woodturner in about 10 -15 minutes

not alan jones

I agree Alan Jones .. or not lol
Anyone can say they make a sphere but an egg is not what the customer ordered. But in the cone shape I think the point may help to guide the sphere, I am one of those guys that need to re-shape a cylinder of 4' pipe of free-ish copper, otherwise
I have a mighty good stripperl on the way.

You could also probably do it with a few hardwood discs cut with a hole saw and screw them together with the grain in alternating directions.
these could also be used as a form next time you build one to stop the distortion in the first place ;)