Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I've had an itch that's needed to be scratched for a while, so it’s now time for a good scratching :laughing-rolling:

As the title suggests this will be the mother of all my ducks, a big ol bag there to get the job done! Although hopefully slightly better looking :laughing-rolling: . I'm looking forward to this build and I'm starting to get excited about how this one might turn out.

I came across some pipe a while back but just haven't found the time to get into it. My mind's been racing on what to build and how to do it. I just don't seem to find the time to get into the shed to still as much as I'd like to anymore so thought I'd make my infrequent visits there more productive. This is what I've come up with so far...

Old school 6" :music-deathmetal: with plate tree. Not sure on 4 or 5 plates yet but it will be just for brown spirit's, I've got the glass duck for the neutrals, I wouldn't want her to feel neglected. I'm thinking multi 2" caps so about 4 on each plate, probably 1 1/2" downcomers.

I want the minimalist look so only 2 triclamps at the most, one on the boiler and one at the top. Blockhead with internal slide in rc. Then out to a 3" pc.

I want my sight glasses to be streamline so no clamps and I don't want flanges on the outside so something similar to Zak's "Heart of gold". Not sure how I'll do it yet but the mind is ticking, I will probably go for polished stainless flanges just to break up the copper and give her some bling. I'm also toying with the idea of 6" sight glasses :scared-eek: might be a bit big, mmmmm is there such a thing!? :laughing-rolling:

80-100 ltr boiler, not sure yet, I've got 80 ltr kegs or I might build a 100ltr stainless one to suit. The thought of 2 runs to empty a 200ltr ferment is pretty tempting. I've also got a couple of things up my sleave for finishing off the boiler nicely.

I've avoided making a thread because my time line could be pretty slow with running a business and the family commitments but thought if it’s up here you blokes will help me get my priorities right :laughing-rolling: I feel some late nights in the shed coming on :-D .

Picks to follow :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Awesome rock on woody :music-deathmetal:

And so it begins!

First things first, it’s not a build thread without seeing the pipe. Only problem is she's still got her clothes on :laughing-rolling:



I got this pipe off a mate. It came out of a winery somewhere and had this insulation wrap on it, so that had to go! Well you'd think you'd be able to just cut it off and peel the crap off but NOOO you can't. This is that expander foam shit that sticks like crap to a blanket and took some getting off. I ended up cutting it off with a saw then a knife to tidy it up before using the pressure cleaner to get the last bits off. It still has some glue type stuff stuck to it but it will hopefully come off with a light sanding.





I also got some 2mm copper plate. I ended up buying some instead of using fattened pipe because I wanted it to stay hard and ridgid so the tree will slide in and seal better.


That's about where I'm at at the moment, next thing is working out sight glasses :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Looking forward to watching this one unfold woodduck.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Be careful mate, semi-modular 6" stills have a reputation for taking a long time around here!

I look forward to seeing this one progress.

:laughing-rolling: maybe they could get together some time so they can chat about how we just leave them sitting around all neglected like :laughing-rolling: :teasing-tease: Hopefully that won't be the case. I've been in the shed honing my skills over the weekend so I'm primed and ready :handgestures-thumbupleft:

How much power does a 6" need and what are collection rates like?

Not having a 6" still I can't comment with any authority on the matter but 6" has a bit more than twice the cross sectional area of 4". If 4" runs well on between 2000 to 2400 W then 6" surely will need somewhere between 4000 and 4800 W. Maybe even 5000 W will work.
Collection rates should be twice that of 4".

5-6l/h sweet as would eat through a 100-200l boiler like a tornado

I think some one made a 6" pot still for stripping.
Powered by gas i think it was pushing something ridiculous like 35L/hr.
It was posted early days of the forum in the pot still section iirc.

Yea i saw that epic stripper :handgestures-thumbupleft: :laughing-rolling:5-6l/h finished product is whole nuther level :music-deathmetal:

Wood duck I will be following this build with a lot of interest.

Keen to see what you do with ya boiler.

bluc wrote:How much power does a 6" need and what are collection rates like?

I think the scientific measurement is, a metric shit tonne :laughing-rolling: I'm not actually sure but I recon db would be on the money, that's what I've estimated but maybe a little higher on the output upto 7lph I hope. I'm thinking I'll run 2 3600w elements and have one on a controller.

My 6inch still in pot mode running on gas with a 4 ring burner and hp reg will strip a 100 lt charge in 2 hours from go to whoa and use about 3/4 of a bottle of gas :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Next build will be a heat shield to see if I can speed up the time and cut down on the gas :-B
It used to take about 4800w to run 4 plates, an I run my rum at about 5 lt an hour but you could push it more but that's what suits my tastes.
Your gunna love it woody :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Nice! Looking forward to seeing this one! :clap:

Not having a bubbler myself, I have some stupid questions:
• Would a 50L boiler cause any issues with low volumes on the plates before tails coming through, and mixing tails and hearts on the plates?

•What sort of bath depth are you aiming for - does this change for 6" vs a 4"?

•What happens if the power isn't high enough, is there just not enough pressure to keep plates loaded?

7 lph would be awesome - you'd be through the whole run in under two hours with a 50L boiler, yeah? are the maths about right?: 45 minute heat @7200w, 30 mins for fores, 38 minutes (say 50L@8%ABV = 4l@100%=4.4l@90% = 4.4l/7l/ph*60 minutes=38 minutes)
so a 100L boiler would only add another 38 minutes in the back of the run, plus more heat up time at the start. If 5L/h, about 53 minutes per 50L of wash @8%.

I might have to aim for 6" instead of a 4", and blame you :))

:laughing-rolling: I'll take the blame for ya mate, I've got thick skin :handgestures-thumbupleft: Just to clarify, like I said above, I'm not making this rig to pump out mass amounts just for the hell of it and defiantly not to sell, I'm not going comercial, I'm just time poor but don't want to give up the hobby. I'm doing it so I don't need to still as often. My work has got busier over time so my days are longer and my off season is almost non existent now so I just dont find the time to get in the shed as much as I'd like. If I could run my 4" twice a month I'd have more booze than I'd know what to do with so I wouldn't go to the expence and trouble of a 6" if you recon you have enough time to spare to run a 4" :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'm also doing it because I got the pipe cheap and I love to build :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I don't think a 50 ltr boiler would cause any problems with running as such, it would be more that it wouldn't be worth the heat up time. But I've never run a 6" so don't know for sure.

I don't think bath depths need to change, you still want the same amount of mixing/bubbling it will just be over a larger area.

I think low power would just make it really slow, I guess the plates would load eventually. It may cause problems if the plates aren't bubbling enough or there's not enough reflux though?

Yep it will be quick :handgestures-thumbupleft: would be nice to do a 200ltr ferment in a day. I'd only have to warm her up every few months or so :handgestures-thumbupleft:

About an 80 ltr boiler is about as small as had want to go with a 6". I seen one running with about a 150 ltr boiler bit probably only had about 80 litre charge, that heated and ran just fine and dandy with a normal HP 3 ring banjo. I've also seen them on 3000 litre boilers with 3 massive elements bloody near a metre long each. I have a length of 6" inch on the one of these days list as it was once my intention to go that way right off the bat. The reason was the run times that's all but you will cop stick from peanuts that will insinuate you are trying to be the next Popcorn Sutton, every time I mention it some mug comes out with shit like that. Don't get me wrong, love the hobby but standing around for hours starring at a still is not the most fun part for me.

6 Inch is withing the hobby realm as far as we are concerned here, once you start talking 8 inch and 500L boilers then that's a different story :naughty:

How's it going woody, any more progress?

Not at the moment mate, sitting in the new RAH with appendicitis so tools down for a bit.