Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Professor Green wrote:

Toddles wrote:Tomorrow it shall be packed and tested with around 70% tpw wash and 30% commercial cooking wine with salt in it.

Salt?

Cheers,
Prof. Green

It comes in the cooking wine. They get around paying excise by adulterating it with salt!

scythe wrote:And here is me thinking that adding salt to water lowers the boiling point.

By adding a few scrubbers you will hit azeo fairly easily by the sounds of it, seeing as you are alrwady getting high 80s.
Just make sure you temp correct the output, it looks a little warm that that photo.
All measurements should be at what the alcometer is calibrated at.

Product is coming out at ambient temperature. It was cold last night and so was the exiting product.
Not bad for an air cooled spare of the moment coil!

Sooo it turns out that heating PTFE stress re-leaves it. My connectors don't want to hold the vapour pressure with the packing i put in. It could also be a compounded issue as i am using a 1500w element for a 3 inch column. Temp at PC (or top column) will not rise above ambient.

Removed some packing and am reboiling for lows. Will have to modify the connectors tomorrow.

so it softened? can you tighten?

WTDist wrote:so it softened? can you tighten?

Not softened as such. Rather as some materials expand (all materials really) as they are heated. Some keep their "memory" and some do not, to different degrees. I have lost the press fit i machines these to. Probably around .1mm on a 40mm o.d. and more like .2mm on the larger 75mm o.d.

Not to worry. A couple of 3 inch hose clamps will be a quick fix.

Toddles wrote:

WTDist wrote:so it softened? can you tighten?

Not softened as such. Rather as some materials expand (all materials really) as they are heated. Some keep their "memory" and some do not, to different degrees. I have lost the press fit i machines these to. Probably around .1mm on a 40mm o.d. and more like .2mm on the larger 75mm o.d.

Not to worry. A couple of 3 inch hose clamps will be a quick fix.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

Probably a good reason why people don't usually use fittings like this I guess.

Why not get some copper reducers and solder it properly? Then you will know it is 100% fine.

Sam. wrote:Probably a good reason why people don't usually use fittings like this I guess.

Why not get some copper reducers and solder it properly? Then you will know it is 100% fine.

Few reasons at the moment.

1. Am trying to prove that my 1500w boiler can provide enough power at the height and wanted packing density of the column. If i lock it up and it doesn't work i would hate myself.
2. These materials came to myself for free so no loss involved.
3. I don't do things like normal people, i like to experiment as i go along.
4. As the setup is now is provides easy access to change variables.
5. If the feds come knocking i can claim i have no still. They can try to put it together and run it, good luck!
6. The column length may change yet.
7. I may add a gin basket that has to be accessible.
7. I don't want to yet! b-(

Yeah fair enough mate.

Just remember that a lot of people read this site and someone can get on here and see this thread first and build a replica because they can't be fucked researching anything ;-)

I understand where you are coming from, it's just these things need to be said sometimes. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sam. wrote:Yeah fair enough mate.

Just remember that a lot of people read this site and someone can get on here and see this thread first and build a replica because they can't be fucked researching anything ;-)

I understand where you are coming from, it's just these things need to be said sometimes. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

All good mate. If you would like to move the thread to a more suitable category that is buried away i would have absolutely no problems. I understand your concerns.

However this is a work in progress so anyone reading should keep that in mind. :-B

No need to hide it, better if people read it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Unfortunately being a forum we have people that can give advice quicker than needed sometimes. This is a hobby that does bite hard and some can go real hard too fast ;-)

Sam. wrote:No need to hide it, better if people read it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Unfortunately being a forum we have people that can give advice quicker than needed sometimes. This is a hobby that does bite hard and some can go real hard too fast ;-)

There's no problem with speed if you have the brakes to go along with it.


I was actually thinking today of making a mini still powered by a candle. Might be enough to give the devil on my shoulder a drink.

lol, I wasn't necessarily talking about you ;-)

My shoulder demon needs a blow torch :obscene-birdiedoublered:

My 1 meter of 54mm packed column is the perfect length for my 2000watt element without any insulation. I turn it on and off it goes pulling 95+% abv.
3 inch on a smaller element might be pushing your luck. Good insulation might help it though.

Not sure if this info will be welcome, but....
You may find that you have not lost your press fit, you merely dehydrated it.

When I have made nylon and other plastic parts in the past final fit for bearings can be effected by the water content of the part.
Some that are under size can be made to grow by poping them in the oven for 30mins at 80°c (dry them out), ones that are over size can be shrunk by soaking them in water.

But maybe not, not sure how teflon goes.

Havent read any post past this so if i missed something my bad just short on time ATM and thought i would jump into it.

1. Am trying to prove that my 1500w boiler can provide enough power at the height and wanted packing density of the column. If i lock it up and it doesn't work i would hate myself

T500 boiler, not 2kW?

If you want to pack it you will have more than enough power. Look into the last few pages of my T500 mod, i had 500mm of packed section (or there abouts) and i couldnt get it under 1.8L/h in heads and it slowly got to 1.5lh in hearts and near end of hearts i got it down to 1l/h as ABV dropped.

I thought no prob ill increase the column and use some of that power up. i added 1m and it was then at 1.55m packing in 2" with standard 2000w boiler and my RC which couldnt hold full reflux on standard washes (fine for bubbler, not packed sections which i dialed down to 190v).

What i found... took longer to fill column, yea obviously... but once i had column filled and it was at the stage of fores they would come out and i found i had same problem as before only one difference. I had same take off speed but this time it was azeo.

Long story short, adding height wont use up any power or none that you can see. It will just take a bit longer on heat up times (refluxing whole column, equilibrium stage) and give you a far better product.

Your 3" will be more than up to the task with the T500 boiler, probably a good match. low wines will require less power but being 3" you could prob crack faster take off rates. I read someone getting 3l/h on their boka. When i had low wines in my 2" at 1.55mm packing i had to shut down as it flooded but before it flooded i had over 5l/h at azeo before it started spraying out like a hose. way too fast on a 2" with smearing but wont be as much of a problem for a 3". I think you will have enough power with 2kW, if you have 1.5 then strip and run low wines on full power and you will get a good and fast product.


just fix those seals :teasing-neener:

Ill go read the other posts now :whistle:


Like wara said, insulate it also and you wont loose any speed, or power. Its passive reflux that will drain the power

scythe wrote:Not sure if this info will be welcome, but....
You may find that you have not lost your press fit, you merely dehydrated it.

When I have made nylon and other plastic parts in the past final fit for bearings can be effected by the water content of the part.
Some that are under size can be made to grow by poping them in the oven for 30mins at 80°c (dry them out), ones that are over size can be shrunk by soaking them in water.

But maybe not, not sure how teflon goes.

All info is welcome mate, makes it easier to pinpoint problems. Having said that i just pulled this off Google.

"Unfilled PTFE does not absorb water. Filled PTFE compounds absorb small amounts of moisture. Since PTFE resin and fillers are not hygroscopic, any moisture picked up simply fills the voids. Extent of pickup is so small that the dimensional stability is essentially unaltered".

I am pretty sure the problem lies with thermal expansion now because this morning when i took the still apart the connectors were, you guessed it, nice and snug. i should have realised that the PTFE would expand more than the S/S. I work with the stuff pretty often! Plan is to put some grooves into the connectors to accomodate some 3 or 4 inch hose clamps that can be tightened after the connectors have warmed up to operating temp.

What is weird though is that it worked fine after i removed some packing so that tells me the gap was big enough to let vapour escape when packed 1/3 full but not big enough to let it escape when i pulled 2/3rds of that packing out. Even ended up with roughly the right amount of product so loss was at a minimum.

I am using virgin PTFE so it shouldn't pick up or lose moisture at all. I am sure the connectors are the problem though as i could smell vapour escaping from the still. I am modifying them today so hopefully that fixes the problem.

And WT i am "pretty" sure that my boiler is 1.5KW but i will have to check to make sure. If i have to move up to a 2KW one then so be it. Just means i can use the smaller boiler for a pot still when i get around to making one. :happy-partydance:

Toddles wrote:

Professor Green wrote:

Toddles wrote:Tomorrow it shall be packed and tested with around 70% tpw wash and 30% commercial cooking wine with salt in it.

Salt?

Cheers,
Prof. Green

It comes in the cooking wine. They get around paying excise by adulterating it with salt!

Thanks Toddles, was not aware of that little titbit.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Professor Green wrote:

Toddles wrote:

Professor Green wrote:

Toddles wrote:Tomorrow it shall be packed and tested with around 70% tpw wash and 30% commercial cooking wine with salt in it.

Salt?

Cheers,
Prof. Green

It comes in the cooking wine. They get around paying excise by adulterating it with salt!

Thanks Toddles, was not aware of that little titbit.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Or is that their way to make you thirsty and drink more? Sorta like pretzels at the pub. :laughing-rolling:

Cool, didnt know that about teflon as i haven't had anything to do with it.
Why not just convet to triclover sealing?
Once welded or soldered on you dont really need to think about it again, its simple to setup and break down.

If you think that just because they cant get your still to seal then it isnt a still i think you may be in for a shock.