Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

There was a new member on here few months back talking about an alternative packing material for reflux stills i actually asked him about it. Supposed to have a much higher surface area then ss scrubbers. Anyone know the thread I meant or what the packing is called?

Prysmatic packing I am thinkin.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Thanks yea thats it, just getting up to speed on packing materials..

Generally called spiral prismatic packing or SPP, not worth the money in my mind. Copper mesh would be your best material for packing, followed by stainless steel scourers/ scrubbers.

Thanks doubleuj is there any benifit to copper packing in a copper column.. :-B
I thought I read the spp was more effecient and maybe I could get away with a shorter packed section..

I doubt there’s any benifit to copper mesh in a copper still apart from maybe you wouldn’t have to clean it as often.
Here’s a thread about the amount of copper needed in the vapour path to remove sulphides.
As for SPP being more efficient, I can’t answer, it seems that it allows water to flow through it more freely based on the YouTube vids but I can’t see why that would help us in our game.
If you have to, you could always go a shorter packed section and two runs to save on height? How often are you going to drink vodka anyway? I’ve used my packed section once in my whole time with the bubbler and don’t need to use it again for years.

Not a big vodka man either but like a good g&t :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Tried most packing and have found the copper mesh ta give a smoother product than others ,and the rolls make it easy ta get consistent packing from top ta bottom,its more high maintenance too and will degrade ta nothing over a long time,would like ta try SPP but it costs a lot from my research and I cannot justify it right now ,would be keen ta hear from any who have tried it.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

bluc wrote:There was a new member on here few months back talking about an alternative packing material for reflux stills i actually asked him about it. Supposed to have a much higher surface area then ss scrubbers. Anyone know the thread I meant or what the packing is called?

Here's the thread
http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11530#p200498

I seem ta remember another one were the dude made his own from stainless mesh with a tricky little jig,less than a year ago if my semi dodgy memory serves me well ,struggling now after a few rums.cheers hillzabilly :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

This one viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10614&p=187444&hilit=prismatic#p187444 .cheers hillzabilly :obscene-drinkingdrunk: :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

Thanks hilzabily was a good build that one with out of the box thinking for the packing..

Lots interesting reading on here from scrubbers to spp/ scoria stone/ coaking coal and have read elswhere about using pearlite so many options..

Pear lite Bluc? That’s a new one for me. I’d have thought the heat would be an issue.

Have not found results but couple people say that it works..

Don’t mind me, I have always thought it was synthetic, but reading about it being volcanic mineral. Learnt something new.

Perlite & Scoria are potting materials for plants... tend to hold water while in the dirt - not sure how the work with us tho...

I bought 1Kg of copper mesh from FSD and use one full roll on the bottom of our 500mm packed section, then fill the guts up with SS scrubbers (the good stuff, not from China - that will go to crud in no time flat and ruin your drink!) and then we close it off with another roll of copper mesh...

1Kg gave us 3 rolls of the packed section, we don't use all three, tho...

Im pretty sure it was Crow that uses scoria and swears by it. A couple of other older members used it as well. I never have so can't comment. Maybe it was before easy access to copper mesh?

1Kg gave us 3 rolls of the packed section, we don't use all three, tho...

Hi Ezy, why do you not use all the available space and fill it with copper ? From memory, the 500mm section can hold about 5 of Mac's copper rolls. I only use it when making neutral (together with the 5 plates) to get the highest possible "number of plates" and purity. ANy reason why you use less ?
Thanks,

rumsponge wrote:

1Kg gave us 3 rolls of the packed section, we don't use all three, tho...

Hi Ezy, why do you not use all the available space and fill it with copper ? From memory, the 500mm section can hold about 5 of Mac's copper rolls. I only use it when making neutral (together with the 5 plates) to get the highest possible "number of plates" and purity. ANy reason why you use less ?
Thanks,

I think it was more an economic consideration than anything else... it took some time for the copper mesh to be available when we were after it, form memory. Once we got it, we were advised to do the above config and our neutral was nice and clean so we never bothered to change...

We do 200L of neutral once a year and its our base for almost anything fruit, cocktail or just plain mixer related and we are more than happy with the outcome.

Have never been much into Gin (not until aft visiting Archie Rose - I like their Gin) so not ever been a big motivator ... My focus has, and I guess always will be AG Whisky! Love the sipping of smooth flavourful Whisky when I sit outside and look at the stars (in my wife eyes - awwwe women love that romantic crap!), even when camping!