Copper 35 litre still Element Question

[cps1]

First a big THANK YOU to all of the people on the forum whose answers have been a big help so far

I have manufactured a rivetted 35 litre copper pot still and copper coil condenser primarily to produce rum

The condenser consists of 2 1/2 metres of 1/2" copper tube wound around a 3" mandrel and contained in a 4" copper tube about 8" tall

I did a vinegar cleaning run yesterday which revealed a couple of pinhole solder leaks.

After I fixed them I ran 8 litres of cheap cask wine through the still as a sacrificial test and ended up with about 2 litres of 40% alcohol. The highest reading during the run was just under 60%

The first 20 mls smelt of metho and I discarded the first 150ml. The resulting spirit is not unpleasant: it's a bit cloudy with a slight wine odour. I'm assuming that the cloudiness is crud from the copper tube and soldering (lead free solder)

My first molasses wash is bubbling away happily to Macstill's recipe (Thank you)

I have a question about element size and the instruction to "Run your first lot pretty hard through a pot still"

I chose a 1300W element on the basis that my father's commercial 25l reflux still uses a 900W element and mine was a bit bigger so would take a LONG time to heat up with the 900.

The 8l of red wine and 2 litres of water took about an hour to get to 70 degrees C when things started to happen.

The output was a fairly steady stream and the condenser had a negligible amount of tap water running through it. I think that only the first few coils are doing anything.

Which brings me to the question:

Is my 1300W element capable of "running my first lot pretty hard" or do I need a 2000W element for "running hard" and switch to the 1300 watter for the final run?

It's fairly easy for me to add another element to the boiler (It's just another hole) and I can just switch the plug to the element I need rather than switching elements. Or do I just replace the 1300 with the 2000?

Thanks in advance for the advice

[wynnum1]

Why would you waste money on cheap wine when a wash is cheaper.

[cps1]

I didn't have the wash ready and wanted to send some alcohol through the system so that there was less likelihood of contaminating my first real run

It was very cheap wine

[Camikaze]

No need to wait until fermentation is finished to clean yr still. ;-)

Nice still mate, I like the rustic feel of it. Hopefully that graham can cope with decent temps though. Looks a little like a choke point to me. :think:

EDIT - Dammit posted the same time. :))

[MacStill]

Why would you waste money on cheap wine when a wash is cheaper.

Maybe he was just keen to run the still, maybe he doesnt see it as a waste of money :roll:

[Sam.]

Good looking still mate.

I would go a bigger element and put on a power controller or you could add a bigger one and use both for stripping and your low power for spirit runs.

[googe]

Welcome.mate, nice looking rig :handgestures-thumbupleft: . I want to do a boiler one year!. Are you a tradesmen?. Where did you get the lid for the boiler?. What Sam said about the elements. Good luck mate, love ya little rig :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[blond.chap]

That's a really nice looking setup mate, love the all copper.

[SBB]

I chose a 1300W element on the basis that my father's commercial 25l reflux still uses a 900W element and mine was a bit bigger so would take a LONG time to heat up with the 900.

I know the Still Spirit T500 boilers hold 25-27L , they have a 2000W element, some of them I think may have had a 2400W element.
Mine has the 2000W, I haven't used it for a while but from memory heat up time for 25-27L of wash was about an hour and a quarter. I can reduce that to a bit under an hour if I insulate the boiler well by wrapping in an old blanket or some old towels. That may give you a bit of an idea of potential heat up times using your set up.

Is my 1300W element capable of "running my first lot pretty hard" or do I need a 2000W element for "running hard" and switch to the 1300 watter for the final run?

Ive used the T500 boiler at times to strip wash (2000W) its fairly steady but does get the job done, Im thinking with 1300w and 35L of wash your going to be spending a lot of time in the shed and get bored with it pretty fast.
One bigger element and a voltage controller would probably be the ideal set up as what ever you do in the end being able to control your heat input with a pot still is a big help.

[cps1]

Thanks for the responses

I'll add another 2400W element for heating up and "running hard"

Here's a photo of the first run

[forefold]

great looking still, good to see a hand made copper boiler :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[BackyardBrewer]

That's a choice steam punk looking rig buddy!

[googe]

Good stuff mate, how'd the run go?. I really want to make one of them, so old school :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[MacStill]

I'll go as far as saying that's one of the nicest pot stills I've seen for a long time, it takes a bit to appreciate the work that's gone into that rig.

Well done dude ^:)^

[Kimbo]

Mate, that is a really nice looking rig, well done :clap: :clap: :clap:

[cps1]

Thanks for the positive responses

I posted some answers but they seem to have gone missing or never arrived

The copper came from the local scrap metal merchant ( Hornsby Scrap Metal) for $7 per kilo

The whole lot was $70 including several fittings

The drum was rolled and beaded (in about 10 minutes) by a sheetmetal guy at Brookvale for $20

It was then riveted by hand

The bottom and lid were spun on wooden formers on a 12 x 36" Hafco lathe with the gap bed removed.

Spinning copper is really interesting character building entertainment with lots of annealing necessary and many moments where you think you have stuffed it before the copper surrenders and goes where you force it.

The bottom was drilled and riveted on by hand and the lid has a 6mm silicon tube gasket and is secured with an off the shelf clamp that was lengthened by 150mm to suit the larger diameter of this boiler

The whole lot was assembled with lead free solder and the head attaches to the lid with a 2" BSP screwed fitting and nut turned on the lathe

The "Lyne arm" was spun from a bit of 2" copper onto a wooden former until it split then onto a steel former. A proper basteward of a job that took about 6 hours all up. In hindsight I should have spun it on to a former from a disc of copper.

[cps1]

The molasses. sugar, yeast and water were mixed late Tuesday afternoon

There wasn't much frothing at all initially and it bubbled away happily till Saturday morning

I know I was supposed to leave it for a few more days but the weather wasn't great, other plans got cancelled and I had a few hours to spare on Sunday

I added the lot to the boiler and it took an hour or so to get up to temperature and another two and a bit hours to produce 5.3 litres of spirit.

65% for a lot of the run down to 20% with the final batch being 45% altogether

It was crystal clear down to about 40% and a bit cloudy the remainder.

There is not a lot of molasses/ sugar smell to the product which I am assuming is due to not being able to "run it hard" with the current 1300W element

It will be interesting to see what the second run produces when I combine the current element and new 2000w job

I ran about 6 litres of remaining boiler contents into a large bucket then added the next molasses and sugar. Then I attached the condenser to the boiler drain and ran another 4 litres contents into the fermenter cool. By the time I added the bucketful of hot stuff and some water up to 25 litres the temperature was 30 degrees so I added the yeast and the second generation is under way.

300 ml of the 65% spirit found it's way into a tonic bottle. I suspended a stick of oak burl 10mm square and 80mm long into the bottle overnight just to experiment and was surprised to find that the spirit assumed a very deep brown colour overnight. You certainly wouldn't describe the taste as smooth but it bodes well for the final product once it has sat for a few weeks.

So far so good!

[kingy]

Nice rig!!!!

[MacStill]

Your work looks awesome mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

^:)^

[invisigoth]

w00t! now i know where i can get copper from. :music-deathmetal:
most of the scrap metal merchants i've contacted arn't interested in selling any of their scrap as scrap, just bulk quantities. since i'm not running a foundary, that aint gunna happen!

nice looking metal dood :text-coolphotos: