Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

...and hopefully ends not too far down the track.!

Hi all, I've been back here for a bit now reading up as much as I can and I think I've got a good grasp on what I'm trying to achieve. Thank you all for your advice so far, and please let me know if you can see any glaring mistakes I've made or will make according to my plans. Also many thanks to FSD for advice and service.

I've been gathering bits and pieces over the last 3 or 4 months, which is easier said than done in country areas. I'll be building a 4" bubbler, initially to make TPW nuetrals with a view to make a quality gin, and also a nice scotch or bourbon once I get my head around correct recipes and fermentation methods for these. I'm looking to make 2 interchangeable heads, so I can simply remove the Gin head at the 4" and 2" clamps to use either depending the run (nuetral or Gin)

Please take a look at some of the PDF drawings and tell me if I'm on the right track or not.



I'll also be making a 500mm packed section (not in drawings yet), if I remember right when doing nuetrals does this go between the top module and the bottom of the RC?



I've made a start already about 5 weeks ago and will post pics of what I've done so far. This will most likely be a drawn-out process as I have a young family and a wife who for some reason get's annoyed at my time spent in the shed??

As far as cooling goes, I'm toying with the idea of a steampunk inspired 1/2" copper tube setup, just trying to design a method that will give a bit of stability at the same time with the Gin head and others hanging off the side!

Boiler is ready to go, might just use a basic single element to begin with while concentrating on the build and look at a better heating setup later on.




More to come...

I cut modules at 150mm high thinking I was going to flare easy flanges, but have ended up following what some of the experts here are doing easy flange without the flaring, as my copper and soldering skills have not been used since the mid 80's.!



This has left them at 150mm so I'm assuming this won't be too much of a problem.

Perf plates cut from 1.6mm copper plate.
A question on the downcomers, I've seen some drawings the take the bottom of the downcomers all the way to the plate below.
Is this right, or is 90-100mm underneath the plate acceptable (150mm module), plus 20mm above perf plate?



Some tools that have been brilliant, Dremel is the most versatile thing I have bought, about 5 years old now but going beautifully.


Cheapest linisher I could find but magnificent for squaring up pipe, rounding discs etc...

Looking the goods Chocko. Keep at it and keep the photos coming :handgestures-thumbupleft:

A few more pics that I failed to load earlier...finished off the branch with a die-grinder and one of those circular flaps.



Gotta love a $15 dropsaw...



Rings hard soldered, doing everything with LPG blowtorch, 3 different size heads

Looks good so far mate.

No need for downcomers to go to the next plate down, save some copper. Mine sit just below their plate, about 5mm clearance between the bottom of the plate and the top of the cup.

db1979 wrote:Looks good so far mate.

No need for downcomers to go to the next plate down, save some copper. Mine sit just below their plate, about 5mm clearance between the bottom of the plate and the top of the cup.

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if this had any effect on the operation is all and obviously not. Cheers!

Great start mate
With the top of your column, in your drawing you end up needing 2x 4-2 reducers, put a clamp at the top of a single reducer? you should be able to just have Clamp connectors on the carter head bit and save some expensive bends. Depends what your paying for bends vs triclamps i spose.. worth a re-think

Check out this thread viewtopic.php?f=56&t=5027 the carter head inlet kinda turns into a thumper/bubble cap, you may want to raise the inlet to about the sight glass level, you dont have to build it with the thump capability, but it gives you the option to use it that way and achieve a different flavour if you want to

Chocko6969 wrote:This has left them at 150mm so I'm assuming this won't be too much of a problem.

Thats actually a great height, it gives the bubbles plenty of room to do their thing

RC Al wrote:Great start mate
With the top of your column, in your drawing you end up needing 2x 4-2 reducers, put a clamp at the top of a single reducer? you should be able to just have Clamp connectors on the carter head bit and save some expensive bends. Depends what your paying for bends vs triclamps i spose.. worth a re-think

Check out this thread viewtopic.php?f=56&t=5027 the carter head inlet kinda turns into a thumper/bubble cap, you may want to raise the inlet to about the sight glass level, you dont have to build it with the thump capability, but it gives you the option to use it that way and achieve a different flavour if you want to

Chocko6969 wrote:This has left them at 150mm so I'm assuming this won't be too much of a problem.

Thats actually a great height, it gives the bubbles plenty of room to do their thing

Good suggestions thank you, I'll definitely have a rethink on that.

After looking I think it's a good idea to raise the inlet as suggested, to allow a little more room. I'm looking for a basket insert but FSD site is down atm? Do you know if they sell just the insert to suit 4"..?

Chocko

stiggy hasnt fixed all the links on the forum yet - some still point to the .net - if you hit on the 5 star store button on the top left, it should work

Very nice start indeed!
Those nice big sight glasses with make squizing at your plates doing their thing real easy... good choice.
Good luck with the rest of your build. Keep the photos coming. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

All the links should be working now.
I think. If not working please try clearing your cache/history etc
If they are still not working please let me know via pm.

A cpl things to consider is perforated plates depending on the open area and diameter of holes will likely require more power to run smoothly than bubble caps.
With this in mind your probably going to want a larger gap between the downcomer and the plate or it may suffer from entrainment.
Most people like to leave some dead space on the plate around the the downcomer as with a higher imput you'll have a more active plate so the dead space allows the bubbles to collapse and the liquid goes down easier reducing the chance of plates flooding.

coffe addict wrote:A cpl things to consider is perforated plates depending on the open area and diameter of holes will likely require more power to run smoothly than bubble caps.
With this in mind your probably going to want a larger gap between the downcomer and the plate or it may suffer from entrainment.
Most people like to leave some dead space on the plate around the the downcomer as with a higher imput you'll have a more active plate so the dead space allows the bubbles to collapse and the liquid goes down easier reducing the chance of plates flooding.

Thanks Coffee, I'll investigate the bigger power source during the first vinegar/sacrificial run/s and see what sort of performance I get.

Good start... You will thank your start that you have some of those bench tools and a good workspace. Keep up the work and keep us updated

So I tried laying the downcomers flat because I know the end of my home made anvil is spot on for square...bad choice, solder everywhere except where I needed it.



So then I got a couple of empty mint boxes which were 20mm and supported it all there. I got good solder on the up side and minimal on the other but I'm pretty sure it's plenty strong enough.

RC Al wrote:Great start mate
With the top of your column, in your drawing you end up needing 2x 4-2 reducers, put a clamp at the top of a single reducer? you should be able to just have Clamp connectors on the carter head bit and save some expensive bends. Depends what your paying for bends vs triclamps i spose.. worth a re-think

Check out this thread viewtopic.php?f=56&t=5027 the carter head inlet kinda turns into a thumper/bubble cap, you may want to raise the inlet to about the sight glass level, you dont have to build it with the thump capability, but it gives you the option to use it that way and achieve a different flavour if you want to

Chocko6969 wrote:This has left them at 150mm so I'm assuming this won't be too much of a problem.

Thats actually a great height, it gives the bubbles plenty of room to do their thing

Hi RC,
I had a look at your link here, am I right is saying there's really no point to having a SG on my Gin head design?

I also see now that I'll need solid sides on the basket itself and this will need to seal at the bottom (and top?) to direct the vapour. Am I thinking straight here?



See this PDF, I've raised the height of the inlet, the bottom of the basket would be at the top of the inlet.

Chocko

The sight glass is there so that you can keep an eye on the fluid level - there is no downcomer, so you have to manually operate the drain. As noted in the mk2, the sg will have to go lower

The other thing it does is to add some extra flow area around the inlet tube, not a huge issue if you're doing single plate/packed section run, but if you pot still hearts through it, it could be a bad restriction area depending on how much power you have - you want to keep the vapor speed down as it hits the botanicals.

As your limited to the 2" inlet, keep the flare on the bottom of the 90° bend and make the sure that the sg is not a low profile design

The basket doesn't have to seal as such, but a close fit is good, a little reflux down the sides self seals it

RC Al wrote:The sight glass is there so that you can keep an eye on the fluid level - there is no downcomer, so you have to manually operate the drain. As noted in the mk2, the sg will have to go lower

The other thing it does is to add some extra flow area around the inlet tube, not a huge issue if you're doing single plate/packed section run, but if you pot still hearts through it, it could be a bad restriction area depending on how much power you have - you want to keep the vapor speed down as it hits the botanicals.

As your limited to the 2" inlet, keep the flare on the bottom of the 90° bend and make the sure that the sg is not a low profile design

The basket doesn't have to seal as such, but a close fit is good, a little reflux down the sides self seals it

Thanks RC, what would be considered low profile SG? I have 20mm on my modules at the shortest measurement from front of column to face of SG. Would 30-35mm for the Gin head be better?

Chocko

Nice one mate,just wondering were ya got ya downcomer specs from as I have my doubts wether they will work properly.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft: