Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Well thanks to the inspiration of a number of folk on here I've made a start over the last couple of weeks. And as requested started a thread in the hope I'll inspired more!

Nice one mate. plenty of pics required :-D

Excellent work mate.

We love builds here. Keep up the good work. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sweet :handgestures-thumbupleft: keep the photos coming

thanks for the encouragement!
The vague plan is 100mm (4" for the yanks)
Solid state (as in plates soldered in) 4 plate bubbler with 5 bubble caps (25mm) per plate.
Maybe 150mm between plates.
2"Sight Glasses

Question for you seasoned mob out there...
any recommendations on bath depth? was thinking on going 20mm.

also anyone run 20mm downcomer with 25mm downcomer cap? does it give enough flow?
Thanks!!!

20mm downcomers should be fine, if you get flooding then you can flare the top.
It is not so much about the flow rate through the downcomers but getting the bubbles to pop before they try and go through the downcomers
Bubbles can "block" the downcomer which causes the plate to flood.

scythe wrote:20mm downcomers should be fine, if you get flooding then you can flare the top.
It is not so much about the flow rate through the downcomers but getting the bubbles to pop before they try and go through the downcomers
Bubbles can "block" the downcomer which causes the plate to flood.

Thats a good tip i will have to flare my 3/4" downcommers on my 2" cap plates and give them another whirl.

scythe wrote:20mm downcomers should be fine, if you get flooding then you can flare the top.
It is not so much about the flow rate through the downcomers but getting the bubbles to pop before they try and go through the downcomers
Bubbles can "block" the downcomer which causes the plate to flood.

Thanks! I never would have thought of them being blocked by a bubble! Maybe I'll just expand or flare them to start with

Made a start on the deflag going shortish (Thanks for the advice!) with pipes protruding below just to be a bit different.
Slowly but surely...

Nice work. Just remember to put your water inputs in the right spot so that the water flows right across the rc then up and back across the rc to get out. That will make sure it's more efficient.

And make sure you drill your water inlet and outlet before you put it all together, makes for a stressful time to try and drill them when the internal pipes are in place.

Found a weekend to make some more progress.
Thanks for all the advice!
I ended up going 100mm water reservoir, with 6 tubes at 3/4".
Idea is the tubes sticking down will give me a bit more surface area while maintaining responsiveness due to smaller volume.
Hope it works! :-D

Beautiful work mate, makes me want to get the solder flowing again...

Nice :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Have you filled it up with water to see if you have any leaks? Be better to do it with the inlet and outlet soldered on, then you can pressure test it with the garden hose.

Looking forward to the next bit of progress.

Also make sure to rinse it to wash the flux out.
Flux is acidic and loves to male little holes if you leave it.
Also try to minimise the citric acid cleaning you do as it will eat the solder as well.

Thanks for the tips, They are much appreciated!
Yep all pressure tested.
More to come.

Next for the plates.
Already been said I think, just assembled now.

Awesome work :dance:

For the column, decided to go 4 plates single column.
Added rings to help position the plates which are just short pieces of 4" split.

I soft soldered these in place and soft soldered the plates on top.
I'm having trouble sealing the last few gaps on the two middle plates which is truly fiddly and a PITA!. Any suggestions from you guys for that would be much appreciated!
Getting there :dance:

A few more pics assembled and acid soaking.