Keg stripping Potstill

[Muppet]

I've been thinking about building a stripping rig for my keg boiler, It has 2x 2400w electric elements and a 4" triclamp fitting for mounting. After a search for 4" Potstills (can't find any) Ive started thinking if the 4800w of power I have would be enough on a large 4" pot. The original reason for me thinking about 4" is obviously the keg mount but also the current 4"-2" red/ 180deg loop on my bubbler I'm not happy with. Want to rebuild the bubbler ones and maybe utilize the originals on the potstill. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Urrazeb]

I reckon 4800W is fine.

The strips I have done with 4800W are fine, and is a good speed as I just let it run while pissing around in the shed. The PC gets very hot and I still get hot distillate even at 2400w in pot mode so the PC also has to be relevant to the power input. I'd go at least 600mm for 2in shotty or even a 3in PC, not that hot distillate is a problem when stripping but it makes taking ABV readings a bit easier is all

[Zak Griffin]

Got a pic of your 180°/ reducer?

[Muppet]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ylozowmad2pik ... m.jpg?dl=0
Can't work Dropbox out properly sorry
I'd like to do a tapered cone for the reducer and square up the 180.. It's fairly out of plumb :handgestures-thumbdown:

[Zak Griffin]

There ye go!

Can't just clamp everything above the RC to your keg, or maybe get a ~500mm piece of 4" pipe to get it to the right height?

[Muppet]

Sounds good, just wanted to make sure the 4" wasn't going too stupid. As no ones built a 4" pot. Thanks mate. Just picked up everything for my t500 pot head :happy-partydance: practice before touching the bubbler. Although I'm having trouble finding a 3/4 Stainless barrel union. Might hafta go back to Blackwoods

[MacStill]

As no ones built a 4" pot.

:teasing-neener:

P2131307.jpg

I used this 4" stripper on gas before I went electric, could get it fairly pissing out before the condenser got too warm ;-)

If I was to build another I would angle the condenser to 45 degrees and make it twice as long, but I was fairly pumping the gas up this thing so your condenser should handle 4800w no problem (depending on on your cooling tank size)

Cheers.

[woodduck]

Hi Muppet,

I'm gonna do the exact same thing as this with mine. I'll be using my 500mm packed section then my reducer and 180, so I hope it does work :)) . I was hoping to try it this weekend to strip some tpw so if I get a chance to, I'll let you know how it goes.

You've got a bit of length above your reducer so you may only need a short piece of 4", say 200 long.

[1 2many]

As no ones built a 4" pot

I have and only took a couple of minutes each. :D

FSD pot.jpg

rsz_20130920_202622.jpg

[Muppet]

Ok, Ok I'll rephrase I couldn't find a 4"potstill build :laughing-rolling: thanks for the help.

[1 2many]

Well yours can be the first mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

And don't forget we love our pic's :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Muppet]

Hi Muppet,

I'm gonna do the exact same thing as this with mine. I'll be using my 500mm packed section then my reducer and 180, so I hope it does work :)) . I was hoping to try it this weekend to strip some tpw so if I get a chance to, I'll let you know how it goes.

You've got a bit of length above your reducer so you may only need a short piece of 4", say 200 long.

Hey if I'm buying 4" pipe I may aswell make a packed section too :handgestures-thumbupleft: good idea :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bayshine]

Here is my 6/4 inch pot

[Muppet]

Well got some time today to have a play in the shed, knocked out my first easy flange :happy-partydance: then soldered up a couple of fittings, after the way the solder flowed perfect into the easy flange I had a few issues with the fittings. Looks like too much heat or me applying too much... :think: It's done but a little messy. How do you guys clean up solder? Can it be soaked up or just good old fashioned filing?

[woodduck]

Is it soft or hard solder?

I've found soft is really easy to file/sand off. Hard solder I use a flap disc but you have to be real careful not to take too much copper off.

So the cleaning run tomorrow then :))

[Muppet]

:)) thanks woody, still need a Staino barrel union to complete it, all the suppliers were shut this morning. Aqua safe soft solder I'm using but I think I'm needing a smaller tip for my gas burner, it's just too much to control... Or I just need a lot more practice

[woodduck]

I found it easier to heat the pipe away from the joint and let the heat transfer.

Copper to ss is a bit trickier. The ss needs to be cleaned real well, it may look clean but it sometimes has a bit of a coating on it.I use a bit of scotchbrite just to rough it up a bit. The other thing is it needs a different flux cigweld 801 seems to come to mind, it's in one of mac's tutorials, "building a shotty with soft solder" I think.

[Muppet]

Thankyou mate! I've seen it before but have been struggling to find it again ^:)^

[woodduck]

About page 5 on this one mate

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1237&start=80&hilit=flux

[Muppet]

Thanks buddy