Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I have of those Pure Distilling reflux columns and it has always looked on the short side to myself being only a tad over 9 inches to the take off. I have been eyeing off a length of 3 inch S/S tube at work to make it longer.

So today i whacked the copper column in the lathe and parted it off a little over 4 inches from the base and made some press fit connectors from 90mm PTFE. Worst comes to worse i can still use it as it was before, would just have to make another connector.

Anyway it now has 4 inches of 2 inch copper then 39 inches of 3 inch S/S, back to 5 inches of copper before take off to give a total of 48 inches of column length.

I was planning on using a copper scrubber up top, right under the take off and two S/S scrubbers under that (sound alright?). Where i need help is deciding how much to pack the 3 inch S/S section.
Would it be beneficial to pack the whole lot or just a section of it?

Also insulating material, what is the best gear to use for that? I have a Bunnings near me so if they carry anything that will do the job it would be a bonus. I'm just planning on using zip ties to fasten it to the column.

Thanks for any feedback fellas.

What benefit is there in trying to modify .

wynnum1 wrote:What benefit is there in trying to modify .

Well i was hoping that it may clean the neutral up a bit more but really i just like modifying things to see what happens, especially my brain with nice alcohol.

I have discovered this though "A 2-inch column requires 824 to 1235 watts, a 3-inch column from 1853 to 2780 watts and a 4-inch column from 3295 to 4942 watts." So it may just be that my 1500w element (in the words of Jeremy Clarkson) "may need MOAR POWAHH".

Do you have a picture?
so its a reflux column?, with 3" pipe for a length, then into 2" for a length before going to the PC?
I would say if you had 3" at the bottom and 2" up the top you would still do the 2" speeds but the 3" would help hold back the tails for longer giving larger hearts cut. but still at the 2" speeds. like a thumper kind of but a reflux column. It would clean up the tails part more. heads would still be usual same run speed. Is this how it is set up?

Need a pic :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Goes like this- Boiler----> 2 inch copper (5 inches long) ----> 3 inch S/S (39 inches long) ----> 2 inch copper into PC (5 inches long)

I could modify it so that it starts directly from the 3 inch then into 2 inch. The reason i am using the 2 inch PC is so i don't have to make a 3 inch one!

I will get a pic up a bit later on, i'm at "work" now. The benefits of having the old man as the boss. :))

Edit: Yup it started out as a "Pure Distilling" reflux column. Limited to 1.5 litres an hour take off due to apeture in the valve.

WTDist wrote:Do you have a picture?
so its a reflux column?, with 3" pipe for a length, then into 2" for a length before going to the PC?
I would say if you had 3" at the bottom and 2" up the top you would still do the 2" speeds but the 3" would help hold back the tails for longer giving larger hearts cut. but still at the 2" speeds. like a thumper kind of but a reflux column. It would clean up the tails part more. heads would still be usual same run speed. Is this how it is set up?

Need a pic :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:wtf:

You will increase run speed as your main column will be larger.

Fully pack with whichever medium you choose and you will get better purity.

As for holding tails back it will depend how you run your still :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sam. wrote:

WTDist wrote:Do you have a picture?
so its a reflux column?, with 3" pipe for a length, then into 2" for a length before going to the PC?
I would say if you had 3" at the bottom and 2" up the top you would still do the 2" speeds but the 3" would help hold back the tails for longer giving larger hearts cut. but still at the 2" speeds. like a thumper kind of but a reflux column. It would clean up the tails part more. heads would still be usual same run speed. Is this how it is set up?

Need a pic :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:wtf:

You will increase run speed as your main column will be larger.

Fully pack with whichever medium you choose and you will get better purity.

As for holding tails back it will depend how you run your still :handgestures-thumbupleft:

It has absolutely no temp control so it is run flat out all the time, coolant is provided via 60ltr recirculation system using some aquarium pumps but i doubt they will have enough head pressure for the column now unless i raise the res some.

Thanks for the packing advice.

Does the top 2" have any packing in it? or is it just the RC and no packing? i thought the top 2" had some packing in it also, was i wrong? if its just the 3" then do the 3" speeds :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If there packing in the 2" up top the vapour speed in the 2" will be faster than that of the 3" with increased smearing which is why if it was me i would run to the top packed sections capabilities not the bottom. but thats me

How would it increase smearing if your RC is working and you can control output with the valve?

WTDist wrote:Does the top 2" have any packing in it? or is it just the RC and no packing? i thought the top 2" had some packing in it also, was i wrong?

There is some packing in the middle of the coil as far as i can see. You can see it from the top and the bottom of the coil.

I have been running about 3 inches of loose copper packing just under take off as well, previously all packing was S/S apart from the very top stuff.

Still haven't run it in this configuration yet. I may give it 10 litres of tpw the sarvo to see if it actually works.

ok, i see. gotcha :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I was picturing something different in my head

i thought it was a 3" packed section, then a 2" packed section before the take of and RC stuff. i was wrong

Shitty pic but it should be enough i hope.

http://imgur.com/tukSxoY

Heating 10 litres 7%ish tpw atm...

No packing apart from top copper scrubber.

Cooling may prove a problem, output from recirc system at this height is about 6-7ooml a minute. Can always hook the garden hose up though.

http://imgur.com/qlEYQcd

There is no point extending your column if you don't pack it mate ;-)

Sam. wrote:There is no point extending your column if you don't pack it mate ;-)

Thanks mate. This is just proof of concept.

88% no packing right now.

http://imgur.com/xLI4grX

http://imgur.com/bvKScDK

http://imgur.com/wZQ7cc0

So very sorry for the shit house pics.

Sam. wrote:There is no point extending your column if you don't pack it mate ;-)

Also the cooling is enough! :clap:

http://imgur.com/th1l4Yj

Product without scrubbing is better than product with scrubbing with the shorter column. 81.3 cecius.

So as it turns out, without packing this rig returns around 80% average.''

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

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

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

:text-+1: ?

Salt has a higher boiling point. but for it to make a.difference you will need a but load in there.

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.