Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Currently assembling a still to fix some of the things I hated in my first on. Its still a 2 inch boka but modular, and plumbed a bit different.


The actual collection/valve assembly. I put the slanted plates inside, slots are ugly. Also I did not like the way distillate pools on the slant plates so modified it so that it flows straight out into a bypass and only 1-2ml is kept above the valve seat. Undecided about ferrules, got some stainless ones coming and will see what they are like to solder, otherwise easy flange.


Made a little liebig too to cool the output a bit.


Next to make the the condenser. Going to be a shotgun, 1/4 inch coils shit me to tears. So fragile and too much back pressure for cheap pumps.
And wait wait wait for parts.... :angry-banghead:

Questions:
Would a 300mm shotgun be long enough? I use a 2 ring gas burner that I can currently knock back with a 200mm coil condenser. God knows the actual heat output.
Any recommendations for a clear coat? Polished copper sure is pretty.

My bubbler will have a 120mm and will easily knock down 4.8 kw
The amount and size of the tubes plays a huge part in how efficient they are. 300mm will knock down heaps if you have it tightly packed with pipes. My thoughts but not from experience.

I like ya style,I would make the shotgun 400-500mm long at 2inch size with stainless 2inch ferruls at each end,it then becomes a multipurpose condencer ,used on many applications ,if and when you outgrow this still ,pot stillin or bubblein ya really canot go past a well built 2inch shotty,stainless ta copper can be problematic,took me several tries to braze well,even with all the good gear and advice,but it was worth it for me,try stainless for the shotty side and easy flanges for the still side and colomn.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

FP, try PENETROL...works great and can get from Bunnings... great for lots of stuff (Google it's uses)

Hillz, That's the objective , make everything with room to grow. I'm trying to avoid stainless if possible as work has just ripped out the lines for the reverse osmosis unit so I've LOTS of 2 inch copper available for screwups. Stainless would be easy though, toss a heap at the apprentice boilermaker and tell him he needs tig practice :D

Kenster, penetrol looks like it would be perfect. Thanks.

I've been busy. Got a shotgun now.

Its about 350mm long with 7 half inch pipes through it. Sizing chosen by the scientific method of using what I had laying around.

I now realise why people use a coil. Making jigs, calculating how many pipes would fit, and final fitup took ages.

Anyway, first made a little punch/die thingo to press discs of copper into a slight press fit for end plates. Result was sort of like a car engine welch plug.


Then made a jig with the hole pattern in it in 3mm. Drilled the holes up to 1/2 inch. Drill grabbed. Part destroyed. I swore. Lots.
Made another one. 1/2 inch drill grabbed. Part destroyed. I swore. VERY LOTS. :angry-banghead:
Sorry no pictures here, I was a little pissed off.

Anyway, made another one but apart from the pilot holes on the drill press used a step drill in my cordless to drill out to 12mm.
The moment of truth. Put in the half inch bit. Clamped up as well as I could. Started drilling. Realised cordless was in reverse. Swore a bit. Then realised it was actually working quite well and made the hole into a sort of flare. tried a bit of pipe in the hole.....tight sliding fit. SWEET :happy-partydance: Drilled the rest of the holes out with the drill in reverse feeling stupid the whole time. Oh well if its stupid but works it aint stupid I suppose. :D

Anyway, soldered the plates and pipes in totally unevenfully, although on one end it is recessed which made it a little interesting


Attached it to the garden hose and left it at full mains pressure for a couple of hours. No leaks. :-D

Silver soldered a 45mm ss ferrule to a strip of copper so it would be a tight sliding fit inside the main 2 inch pipe. Slapped er in and soft soldered. Checked again for leaks. Still dry. yippee.

Gave her a bit of a polish up and she looks pretty


Still need to clean up inside a bit

When drilling soft metals like brass and copper, it's best to "brass" the cutting edge of the bit so it doesn't grab
http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to- ... materials/
I have a set of old bits I was given by my dad that I've done this with, they work perfectly in copper and brass

sp0rk wrote:When drilling soft metals like brass and copper, it's best to "brass" the cutting edge of the bit so it doesn't grab
http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to- ... materials/
I have a set of old bits I was given by my dad that I've done this with, they work perfectly in copper and brass

Excellent. Thanks

Nice work mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Interresting take on end plates.
Just make sure that recessed end is on the bottom when set up or you might a a bit of pooling, which is not a big issue, which can contribute to smearing.
Nice work.

That's s ripper. Should knock down just about anything you van reasonably throw at it. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Still going. Finally worked out how to soft solder to stainless. Now I've got the hang of it it's awesome. Very pleased to chuck the silver solder away.

Soft solder copper to ss ferrule, no cleanup except wipe with damp cloth. :banana-stoner:

Very nice mate!

Good job, how did you get it to work for you?
Slow heat amd 802 flux?

How does the clamp fit now?

scythe wrote:Good job, how did you get it to work for you?
Slow heat amd 802 flux?

How does the clamp fit now?

Clamp fits fine, it does not actually go in far enough to hit the solder.

Used two methods. Tinned the bit that goes inside the pipe by fluxing where I wanted solder and dunking in a pot of molten solder. The main external bit was with a little torch heating the copper just enough to melt the solder.

Ezi weld 801 flux.

This torch was good. sometimes not quite enough heat.


This was good with VERY gentle application


This one not so good.

:laughing-rolling: the last one is for cooking steaks by hand 8-}

:text-coolphotos:

Did you expand the pipe to fit the ferrule? From memory aint they the same size? Nice work btw :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:Did you expand the pipe to fit the ferrule? From memory aint they the same size? Nice work btw :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I was going to use an expander originally, but I currently have an embargo on new tools from my finance minister. :oops: Luckily found that 2 inch ferrule also comes in 45mm od which with a strip of copper around it fits quite nicely inside the pipe.

:happy-partydance: WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO :happy-partydance:

Its together :D


Now just for the cleaning runs, a bit of spit and polish and its a go :-D

Lookin good mate ,I would use a 2inch copper cap with a few small holes(in the same patern as the coolant tubes) and a small piece of copper mesh underneath on top of the shotty,or lightly pack the last couple of inch's of the coolant tubes with copper mesh,it makes it more efficient and reduces huffing or the chance that vapour will only pass thru a couple of the coolant tubes,wich may happen if the vapour is comeing from one side (as with the boka or slant plate desighn)and not going into the shotty evenly or has a high speed,some mesh underneth the shotty may help as well ,another benefit is it will keep shit bugs or dirt from getting in while running or in storage .anyhooo cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft: