Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Today is the day! After a lot of research on the art distillation, it is time to put some knowledge into action. I have only recently decided to go with a bubbler after researching and even starting a 2" reflux. I intend to get right into distilling so I figure building the right rig from the start will be best in the long run.

I will be building a 4" modular type 140mm high each,
140mm shotgun RC,
Bubble cap plates,
500mm packing section,
2" 600mm shotgun PC
50lt keg boiler with 1"drain.

I am thinking about putting a 4" connection in the boiler or would it really make any difference having a 2" going into the the 4" column?

I have got my hands on a 2.1m length of 4" so I have plenty to go round. I have seen some columns with 4" SG's and they look good, making me think I will used the 4" I already have to make the SG's too. Are 4" SG's too big to have on a 4" module and will they run me the same cost in the end with having to pay for the bigger glass and clamps? I am thinking of 50mm single cap bubble plate, there seems to be no difference in single and multi cap plates? I will also look a little more into an inline Gin basket, height allowing.

I have made some pipe cuts and the copper is currently in a citric acid bath. Once I get a couple of silver solder rods, I will start making some easy flanges for the modules. Once I get all of the copper cleaned up, I will get some photos up and keep updating as I go.

A lot of you guys will have a lot more experience than me, any advice on my build or what I am doing would be much appreciate as I go. I'm looking forward to getting into it!

Go the 4" I put a 4" on mine and a 4" fill point to clean etc and a 2" Sight glass. But to fit these you have to cut off the keg handles. Take your time and you can just cut the weld with minimal clean up thats if you are handy. 1"drain on a 90 degree.

I will definitely take the time and do it right. Did you get a stainless flange TIG welded on or did you solder toto the stainless?
Have had some dirty copper in a citric acid bath for a few hours now and it has already made a massive difference

Get it TIG'd mate

Some flip the keg and use the 2inch as a drain,then add ya 4inch still mount ferrule.With bubble caps and downcomers I would get the FSD ones ,multi small caps will give a higher ABV and a cleaner neutral(with packed section) ,but 2inch singles will carry more flavour and give a lower ABV,they are such an important part of a plate still ,I love building stills but when it came ta that stuff chance was not a good thing ta worry about with the value and quality at stake for many years,I would get two by 2inch cap plates and three by 1inch multi cap plates ,your choice .And make ya reflux condencer a bit longer in the warmer areas is a wise move.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Cheers guys. Good idea with flipping the keg, I may do that and just grind the rim into 3 legs.
Does anybody know how much I am looking at per plates from FSD? I know their site is in transition so still no catalogue to browse. With those single plates, how do they mount on each module? Did you get them and put a stainless threaded rod through the centre or can they be mounted another way?

Hard soldered some rings from 3/8" copper for the easy flanges and have them steeping in citric acid



My first attempt at easy flanges. Needs to be cleaned up a bit and may need to be ground down but have no 4" tri clamps yet so helpfully I'm doing it right

Nice work joycy! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
One flange done, now you just have to make the rest the same as that one.
Don't flatten the flanges too much until you get a tri clamp & seal and fit them up. You wouldn't want to make them too loose.

Yeah just make sure the diameter of the flattened flange does not exceed 120mm and not thinner than 2mm and should be ok.

Joycy wrote:Cheers guys. Good idea with flipping the keg, I may do that and just grind the rim into 3 legs.
Does anybody know how much I am looking at per plates from FSD? I know their site is in transition so still no catalogue to browse. With those single plates, how do they mount on each module? Did you get them and put a stainless threaded rod through the centre or can they be mounted another way?

A quick call ta Andrew at FSD should answer ya questions,plate trees are were all four plates are attached to a central threaded rod wich slides down into your colomn section,when building modular they mount between the 4inch tee sections individualy ,check out a few builds in the plated colomn section and I am sure you will see.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Cheers guys, got onto Andrew and got a price for some plates. Haven't decided if I will make them or buy them the option is there either way. Should get a little more done tomorrow, hopefully start coming together soon

Thanks for calling in today, always nice to share a beer with a member and put a face to the username.
Lets hope we can catch up again soon :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I’ll be better prepared next time if you get my drift :obscene-drinkingchug:

Great to meet you today Andrew and great to see a 5 Star bubbler shine in person, the beer wasn't too shabby either ;-) As promised, I will keep the updates coming. I will definitely see you as soon as that bourbon ages enough :D :D

Sorry for the lack of updates, I find myself getting an hour or 2 here and there to get little bits and pieces done. Today I finally got a couple of modules taking shape. This part should be in the 'show us your f**k ups' but I learned a valuable lesson about detail doing the first 2. Bear in mind this is my first ever build, so I still have a lot to learn. While soldering the sights onto the 4", there can be no gaps at all. Being keen to get something taking shape, I may not have got the first one perfect and all hell broke loose when the solder started to flow. I cut my losses, removed as much of the rogue solder and started again. The second was a little better. I used the Ozito dremmel tool ( one of the best tools I have ever invested in) and ground every little nook and cranny out of it until it was as perfect as I could get it. Needless to say, the solder flowed beautifully and turned out a lot neater.

I took a little trip to FSD to grab some clamps and sight glasses, I got a chance to see some real equipment in the flesh too (very nice!). Andrew was nice enough to invite me in for a beer and a chat, which is something that doesn't happen too often.

Being my first build, I felt I needed to make a couple of modules first to see how they turned out, rather than make all of the flanges, then the SG's, all the modules etc. There is plenty of cleaning up of the couple I have done so far but overall, I am happy for my first attempt. I am hoping to get some more time tomorrow or Sunday to get the other 2 modules done, I will then get going in the PC and RC.

I am thinking of building a blockhead design and build an offset botanical basket that can be placed in between the blockhead and 2" 90. Has anybody done this design before? I have seen so many different setups, I just fancy an offset for ease of cleaning and height restriction.

They're looking good :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Make sure the flanges are dead flat, you don't want to find out that they're not flat by breaking sight glasses.

Get your RC done next and everything else is a piece of cake :handgestures-thumbupleft: Not that RCs are necessarily hard, but getting it done gives you the confidence, knowledge and skills to do the rest.

I'd advise getting a 4in stainless endcap and using that to mate the easy flanges against for the first few times as it'll help flatten them out. If you don't you can expect to crack many glass lenses. Wind them up really tight and it smoothes the copper out.

Nice Joyce!
They look the goods for a first go at them. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I found while doing mine that using bakers flux and being precise with where that goes helped the solder to only flow where needed. If you can manage that the solder doesn't really escape through the cracks and down the side of the 4". The flux acts as a magnet and your not forced to push the solder around, the solder simply follows all around the join... getting the angle of your work right helps a lot too.
Keep it up!

:text-+1: on getting the RC out the way early on too.

Cheers guys, some more great tips. I will definitely get a 3" and 4" blank to pull the flanges square and flat. I've been trying to just keep the bakers flux right where I want soldered, there was just too much of a gap in a couple of spots and it flowed through but lesson learned. I will make the next 2 modules next then move onto the the 2 condensers. Anybody in Brisbane know of a cheap 50l keg going?

$50 on gummy every day, cheaper than that is hard, there was a guy out past Ipswich that had a yard full of cheap insulated ones, but the ad Disappeared about a month ago
I havent done the rounds at the brissy scrappys for kegs at all, but worth some phone calls - at one of my regular haunts i got quoted $20 (was there at closing time and they dont take card :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: ), but they only ever have a couple kicking around

Finally got a chance to spend a few hours yesterday and today to get another of another module done and the shotty made up. Flattened out some 100mm copper and cut a couple of circular pieces out for the ends. Drilled 7 X 3/4" holes with a new step drill bit. The step drill bit is one of the best pieces of equipment I have bought. After trying drill bits and hole saws, I was having a nightmare but that step bit is the best $25 I have spent in a while.




Soldered one end on then cut the 3/4 copper to go inside. The easy flanges weren't soldered on until last since the solder on the flanges would have just melted. Soldered both ends on then soldered the 3/4 copper tube inside.