G'day from where the bananas grow

[sp0rk]

Hi all,
I'm sp0rk from the Mid North Coast NSW
I'm an All Grain beer brewer and have done a couple of turbo washes recently through a mate's turbo still and want to delve into distilling,but something with a bit more quality
A mate's dad has donated me his old shinin' worm consisting of a 3M coil of 1/2" copper plumbed into a 50L keg with the top lopped off and an input/output for recirculating cooling water
I've got a spare 50L keg I'll be using as a boiler and I've got a keg king 2200W stick element to power it
I'm thinking for the rest of the still, I'll have a 750mm 2" copper column up to a copper T piece with the top capped off and a digital thermo inserted
out the side of the T I'll have a 2"-1" reducer and a triclamp junction so I can adjust the angle of the lyne arm up or down as I please
then 500mm-1000mm of 1" pipe connected to a 1"-1/2" reducer which connects to the input of the worm
Any criticism/suggestions/general banter would be greatly appreciated :)

As for drinking, the Mrs is a big fan of the sugary drinks, so I'll be making TPW/vodka for the essence based stuff for her
But for myself I want to have a shot at some moonshine (a mate gave me some of his apple pie which was great), bourbon and some scotch (I love my Glenmorangie)

Cheers!

[Yummyrum]

Welcome spOrk. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Nanas grow good round here don't they .

Your still plans sound good .You know the rules around here ...we love pics :-D

[Andy]

welcome mate.

when did you get the kegking element (the one i purchased 18 months ago literally blew up. and i metaphorically shit my pants.) however the problem was fixed in the replacement they sent. (there was a gap between the element and wires which heated up and melted). so check that before you use it!

i think 750mm is overkill for a pot. but that's just my opinion. and you probably do not need the thermometer (unless you are going to build a voltage controller or something). great idea for adjustable lyne arm :handgestures-thumbupleft:

maybe your wife will like strawberry panty dropper [you will like the results of that ;)] good luck with the scotch- you will be a saint if u make a glenmorangie clone :handgestures-thumbupleft: ^:)^

[sp0rk]

welcome mate.

when did you get the kegking element (the one i purchased 18 months ago literally blew up. and i metaphorically shit my pants.) however the problem was fixed in the replacement they sent. (there was a gap between the element and wires which heated up and melted). so check that before you use it!

i think 750mm is overkill for a pot. but that's just my opinion. and you probably do not need the thermometer (unless you are going to build a voltage controller or something). great idea for adjustable lyne arm :handgestures-thumbupleft:

maybe your wife will like strawberry panty dropper [you will like the results of that ;)] good luck with the scotch- you will be a saint if u make a glenmorangie clone :handgestures-thumbupleft: ^:)^

I've got one of the newer versions of the element,
I've got another of the new version in the HLT for my brew rig and while it's not up and running yet, it's stood up during testing on ramp timing
If they crap out, I've got an element manufacturer just around the corner from work (that I used to actually work for) and I've been talking to some other brewers about possibly getting them to make us a dedicated unit for brewing/distilling
How big would you suggest for the column?
I thought with the adjustable lyne, I can either run it downhill for most stuff or run it uphill wrapped in wet rags as a sort of passive reflux
I'll probably add a thumper somewhere down the line, but just want to get it up and running for now

Yummyrum, they sure do :D
Still trying to find a farmer to befriend so I can pinch his over ripe nanas for doing nana brandy/wine
I've got a friend out at Bello who's letting me raid her orange,lemon and mulberry orchards next season though :dance:

[SBB]

Gday Spork, welcome to the forum.
Your All Grain experience will help you in some aspects of this hobby, and possibly hinder you in others areas. Most of us here aint real big on sterilizing things just as one an example.

I'm thinking for the rest of the still, I'll have a 750mm 2" copper column up to a copper T piece with the top capped off and a digital thermo inserted
out the side of the T I'll have a 2"-1" reducer and a triclamp junction so I can adjust the angle of the lyne arm up or down as I please
then 500mm-1000mm of 1" pipe connected to a 1"-1/2" reducer which connects to the input of the worm
Any criticism/suggestions/general banter would be greatly appreciated :)

The worm in the keg sounds like it should work fine, just make sure you don't have any ups n downs in it , if you do you will get pooling and that will cause smearing of your cuts. From the description above it sounds like your going down the old school pot path, nothing wrong with that and it will teach you a lot. Learn to run a pot still well and after that most other stills will be a breeze to run.
A temp gauge on a pot wont help you much at this stage of the game, in fact it will probably only confuse you and at best give you something else to worry about on your early runs. The time spent looking at it could be much better utilized looking at output speed of the product in relation to power input,and also smelling ,tasting and feeling what is leaving you still at the business end.

I've got a spare 50L keg I'll be using as a boiler and I've got a keg king 2200W stick element to power it

Most but not all people using pot stills double distill, this involves stripping you wash first, I have a feeling stripping is going to be painfully slow with an element of that size, I might cop some flack for this but Id go gas and a 3 ring burner, unless you want to use a bigger element and go to the trouble of building a voltage controller.

As for drinking, the Mrs is a big fan of the sugary drinks, so I'll be making TPW/vodka for the essence based stuff for her

You wont make a good vodka without a lot off rooting around with a potty, sorry but that's fact.

But for myself I want to have a shot at some moonshine (a mate gave me some of his apple pie which was great), bourbon and some scotch (I love my Glenmorangie)

Yup Bourbon, Scotch and Rum will work with what you are planning :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[sp0rk]

I've got a 3 ring burner and adjustable reg sitting in a home made stand as part of my brew rig, I can easily use that if need be (will run with the 2200W element first though)
I might just leave the thermo out and swap the T for a elbow
Also going to come down to a 400mm column
I've got a plumber mate, so hopefully I should be able to get most copper parts as "offcuts" ;)

As for the neutrals, I might just have to keep borrowing the reflux still for them, then

[Andy]

I've got a 3 ring burner and adjustable reg sitting in a home made stand as part of my brew rig, I can easily use that if need be (will run with the 2200W element first though)
I might just leave the thermo out and swap the T for a elbow
Also going to come down to a 400mm column
I've got a plumber mate, so hopefully I should be able to get most copper parts as "offcuts" ;)

As for the neutrals, I might just have to keep borrowing the reflux still for them, then

sounds like a plan :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[sp0rk]

After reading MM's still fire thread, I think I'll stay away from the gas fired boiler...
Sadly my house doesn't have any 15A power points (I'm renting), so I might grab a second 2200W element and run it to bring the wash up to temp quickly then cut to the single element to keep it at temp

[sp0rk]

Ok, gone and changed my mind completely
Getting my plumber mate to source me the parts to build a liebig condenser
Going to shoot for a 5-ish foot long condenser and I'll go gas powered for now using my BIAB burner stand
Still 2" column, but I'll add some easy flanges (or maybe even 2"-4" reducers) in the middle to make the pot section removable and allow for future expansion to either a boka or bubbler
Guess I'll have to find some poor soul to donate my worm and flakestand to...