Hi, Another lurker finally joiming in.

[danwbrews]

I've been on the outside looking in for some time. Now I feel like joining in.
I'm not new to brewing, I've been making beer for 23 or more years. I work at a Homebrew store in Texas, been there 8 years now. I've been wanting to expand my knowledge into distillation for some time now. I help a lot of distillers with their grain bills. I use to think they were nuts using the stuff that they were buying... I've now begun to understand.
My current project is building a CCVM. I've almost gotten all my parts, just missing an additional couple pieces of 2" pipe and my boiler. The boiler is no problem, a buddy has one for me, a half barrel keg. I have a little experience with soft silver soldering on stainless steel and have been reading a lot of posts on it. I do have a friend that has a tig welder so if I get into too much trouble he can help me. I just want to figure it out and build it myself.
I have helped a friend do a rum wash and stripping run, that's when I got the bug really bad. I like whiskey, rum and vodka. I make easy cordals from PGA and vodka.

You guys are very open about different ideas, I like that. Its nice to hear, read, different points of view.

[woodduck]

G'day mate and welcome :greetings-waveyellow:

I would definitely get your friend to tig your stainless stuff it will be much stronger and less of a pain to do.

Good luck with the build :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[dans.brew]

Hello fellow Dan! :greetings-waveyellow:
Welcome to the forum.
There really is something about building your own still and then having the fun time of running it... so good luck with it.
I tend to agree with woody... I got a fella to tig all the components to my ss boiler and I was so glad I did when I saw the nice neat job he did, and they have never given me any troubles.

[Professor Green]

Welcome to to AD.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

[danwbrews]

Thanks for the welcome Ya 'll! Now is the time to look around and ask questions. I really think I can Solder the 50mm SS flanges to my keg. I've done 25mm couplers before, in a jam when I had people over to brew beer. I figure if I use a little more heat on the flange than the keg and go slowly with lots of flux I'll be fine. I think I'll practice on my nasty old keggle first then move on to my nice pretty one. Should I move this to another topic ?

[Sam.]

Welcome mate, this is your thread you can ask away here.

If you start a build thread I would make a new one in the right section :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[hillzabilly]

G-day mate and welcome to the land of long horns,with ya boiler soft solder is not the best option ,the 50-80lt boiler is the foundation to the still and good results ,plus SAFETY it will be the weak link with stainless soft soldered to stainless and butt joins much weaker than slip joins wich normaly go with copper and softer metals,yes being able to say ya made it all may be good for the short term but down the road it will be a problem,call ya mate with the TIG befor you F up the keg with repeated goes with the solder,some flip the keg and use the 2inch outlet as a drain then mount a 4inch ferrule on the other end to make cleaning easy and later when you upgrade to a 4inch still there is no reworking to the boiler ,just use a 2-4inch reducer with the 2inch still,and while ya buddy is Tigging the ferrules get him ta add three legs to raise it a little to allow for a drain valve etc.The other thing is elements need ports or ferrules too mount to so give that a bit of thought to befor sending it out for welding.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[danwbrews]

Don't know what happened to my post... it just disappeared.
Any way thanks for the concern about soft soldering SS flanges to SS keg. My friend that TIGs is unpredictable. He does great at making smokers (Steel), but not sure of his TIG'ing SS skills.
I think I can do a better job with 5% silver solder. It's only for 50mm flanges for my 2000W heaters. No big stress points. I've done it before under stressful conditions, "BREWDAY AT MY House" in an hour :scared-eek: Broken solder joint (not mine) on a coupler. Fixed in about 20 minutes. If I decide to do the 101mm clean out port to the top, I'll go pro!!!

Well got my parts (except for packing) and I'm cutting my parts for my Shotgun PC. Thanks to all the contributors on building one. I think (hope) that I've paid enough attention to do a proper job.

19.5' of 2" copper with ( 7 ) 3.8" tubes. EZ flanges for coupling to a Funnel to a 3/8" soft copper take off tube. Is this is big enough? I have lots of 3/8".


Dan

[danwbrews]

I'm getting close to finishing my Shotgun, too much life getting in the way of my hobby. I've been re-thinking my need to do it myself and getting a pro to do it for me.... ( my boiler build).

[danwbrews]

My shotgun condenser is done, except for some finish sanding. All joins are leak free first time through. :-D ...So lucky cause I was looking at a section that looked poorly done.
Working on my Reducer from 50mm to 12.7mm , Pot Still section and Reflux Column this weekend. Will show pics when available. Still thinking about my boiler, can not find a welder I trust... :angry-banghead:
Thanks to Macstill and Woodduck for the EZ Flange and Shotgun tutorials.

Thanks to blond.chap for the Making copper reducers/funnels tutorial. I will find out if I really figured it out i a few days. Even if I screwed it up and the pieces don't make a great fit.....the cutting is getting better. I love to build stuff. Soon I will be saying I love to distill stuff.


Dan

[hillzabilly]

Great ta hear ya making progress Dan,finding a good welder held me back for a while but after knocking on a few doors ,persistence paid off,we have a saying here '' it did not happen unless we see pics :laughing-rolling: '' and ifn ya get a thong(flip flops not undies) clad foot in the pic it is bonus points,soon mate soon.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[danwbrews]

Great ta hear ya making progress Dan,finding a good welder held me back for a while but after knocking on a few doors ,persistence paid off,we have a saying here '' it did not happen unless we see pics :laughing-rolling: '' and ifn ya get a thong(flip flops not undies) clad foot in the pic it is bonus points,soon mate soon.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks for all the advise Hillz. I finally found a welder (after 7 months) to put the ferrules on my boiler. Not the most beautiful job, but it was cheap, $40 US for two 2" and one 4" ferrule. I'll do cleanup later (after I know the welds are sound).
I know that safety is first in this hobby and that's where you pointed me Hillz. I do think I might have done something dumb and wasted time or worse had you not spoke up.
Now on to a TPW wash on my next day off. Then a Vinegar run followed by (when it's done ) a sacrificial alcohol run with the TPW. Hopefully I'll have my reflux column finished too, just have to add the ferrules and clean the packing. It's finally coming together.
Thanks to everyone who contributes on this site. Without you, knowledge would not be passed on. ^:)^