Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hello folks,

Well, after some good advice on this page and much deliberation and scouring the interwebs for design ideas and drawings, I think I have found the design for my next still. I’ll be starting mid January after when my stainless supplier is open.

The only thing I would (possibly) change is the size of the reducers up too 7/8” or 22.2mm, as I have read that flooding the reducer tube is a possibility? Please feel free to correct me if I’m incorrect.

All stainless build, purge welded using the copper saddles I already have for packing and of course a copper double wound condenser.

I’m thinking of using an FSD 2” sight glass tower to house the condenser, let’s face it, we all like to watch! Also thinking of Nitto fittings for water connections.

I’ll build a new keg boiler as well.

Here is the design I’ve decided on, please keep in mind it will be Stainless, TIG purge welded so it won’t have all the “sleeves”. Feel free to pick it apart or point me in the direction of another design

Cheers,
Trent.

One thing to consider 2" is slow maybe 3" instead.

Would be nice, but, I already have all the stainless ferrules and enough 2” tube left from my motorbike “exhaust” build.

I don’t mind my run taking me 5-7 hours, gives me a Sunday away from “The List” of jobs I have to do, and due to my father in law being a fellow distiller, I’ve got back up.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:
I may be wrong but I think there is a difference between exhaust stainless and food grade but I may be wrong, may be worth checking.

It’s all good. I’m a stainless fabricator and used 2” 2mm wall 304 grade (food grade) for my exhaust

Have you considered a stainless shotgun condenser instead of the copper coil condenser? My boka style column has one, which attaches to the column with a ferrule and tri-clamp and also comes with stainless Gardena fittings. The shotgun tubes are open at the top which provides venting. Looks pretty easy to make.

I don't want to get into the slanted plates vs. overflow cup debate, but slanted plates look easier to build rather than having to build the double reducers.

I'd also consider adding a product condenser after the take-off valve, just a small Liebig would do to reduce the temp of the product to cooling water temps. Means you can still run it on warmer days if your cooling water warms up a bit.

Damnit I had a nice paragraph typed out for the exhaust tubing - damn you lols :teasing-tease:

A few extra $$ now spent on bigger size tube will give you many hours of your life back per year of ownership and im sure you have other hobbies to hide in the shed with? You could do the column in 3 or 4" and the head in 2" to save fittings costs, it will work fine that way. Consider adding a ferrule just under the head to give you options with future ideas.

Make it as tall as possible too.

The Double cup design is a sold well tested unit, but it is an older design with standard copper fittings in mind for the home builder. The bottom reducer is pretty redundant, you just need to flip the top reducer and suddenly life is much easier and its cheaper to build, No doubt Bob has something like this design somewhere too, but its much harder to pull off with standard copper fittings. You could get funky and thread the top part and make the cup height adjustable with a threaded riser.

All good RC I’ve been gluing pieces of stainless together for a loooong time.

I’m happy with the 2”, I like taking my time with things, wannabe island time.

I like that design, I can see how redundant the lower cone is. Easy for me to build.

https://youtu.be/QGm6C1uyZUU

I just found this. Thoughts?

How big can a boka be built before running into problems.

wynnum1 wrote:How big can a boka be built before running into problems.

I've seen 12" column commercial versions that run no problem at all.

LikkerSheWillLoveIt wrote:I just found this. Thoughts?

Looks like it works just dandy, they tried very hard to hide the plastic tube after the valve and failed lols

A quick PM to Andrew, question answered and I have ordered the glass sight tower.

Now I need my stainless supplier to hurry up and open after Christmas.

It’ll be in the post tomorrow :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Cheers

Many thanks to Andrew. My sight glass tower arrived today. I’ve already disassembled it and I’ll be in the machine shop tomorrow!

It’s on the way. Fabbed the cone, off take tube, reflux deflector (not installed or pictured) I need to weld in the dropper tube first.

Now I need some 7/8” (22.?mm in smart person measurement) for the dropper tube

Thats gunna look slick :handgestures-thumbupleft:

It looks fantastic

Ready for the coil to be wound and ferrules welded to some tube and we are nearly done.

Off to get electropolished too.

Awesome work mate, looks amazing