The Fatty Pot/Plated Column

[fattypatty]

Hi guys,
I am not sure if this is the right place to be posting this but I have been thinking about building a still. My goal is to produce some quality whisky and was originally looking at building a simple pot still, however, after spending a lot of time on this site and looking at Mac’s incredible plated column stills I have been thinking about trying to build a combination of them both.

*Side note* The reason I have chosen the materials I have is that I have access to them including all the tools required to braze them together at next to no cost. (Mac if I had the money to spend it would be going straight to one of yours).

Basically what I am considering is using a 500mm x 50mm copper tube for the column with a 45° bend at the end which I would than reduce down to attach to a Liebig product condenser made from 12mm and 20mm copper tubing. This is the standard Pot still portion. What I am less sure about is including within this 2 perforated plates with 12mm copper downcomers and a miniature shotgun style reflux condenser (about 100mm tall the picture is definitely not to scale) all within the 50mm pipe.

You all have infinitely more experience with still design and running so let me know if you think this would work, I have noticed all of the plated column stills are made from much larger diameter pipe (is there a reason other than economies of scale for this). I love criticism (hopefully positive) so let me know any issues/problems you can see.

What should be attached below if I did it right is a sketch of my design (I am a financial adviser by trade and so my drawing skills are not the greatest...)

Still design.jpg

[Brendan]

Mate a plated column is a potstill...in fact it's several pot stills on top of each other depending on how many plates you run...

What you are confusing with "half pot still", is that you've seen many pot stills with a Liebig condenser and therefore that makes this one half pot still...

What you've actually got is a couple of pot stills with an inefficient condenser (for the space/length).

Your design is fine, it will give you better performance than a potstill and be the same as bout 3 runs through...but you'd be much better off with the shotgun condenser design that you see on many bubblers. They are much more efficient and effective, and take up less space, but do exactly the same thing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[fattypatty]

so drop the liebig and just build another larger shotgun? is that what you mean?

[Brendan]

so drop the liebig and just build another larger shotgun? is that what you mean?

That's my opinion, yeah.

If you have a shotgun condenser with 5x 1/2" tubes...it's pretty much the same as a 1/2" inner tube liebig 5 times the length...

[SBB]

I cant see any reason why a leigbig condenser wont work quite well on that still, or on a bubbler for that matter. They are a very efficient condenser for what they are and have been around a long time.

[Brendan]

I cant see any reason why a leigbig condenser wont work quite well on that still, or on a bubbler for that matter. They are a very efficient condenser for what they are and have been around a long time.

Where's that wrong answer club? I'll take a membership! :))

Fair enough, I built my first pot with a liebig basically because I had seen it on many others...but since building the other types, I figure you could get more for less space with the shotty. I also use a graham on my VM, but it's a bit restrictive for pot use.

[SBB]

Brendon dont get me wrong , shotties are an excellent condenser, and they are defiantly a space saver. I just think the right sized liebig will work quite well on most stills. They are also a whole heap easier to build for first timers.

[Brendan]

They are also a whole heap easier to build for first timers.

VERY valid point :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[fattypatty]

They are also a whole heap easier to build for first timers.

that was my original thought, noting that the rest of my design may still be a bit too ambitious...

[Yummyrum]

Hi guys,
....... What I am less sure about is including within this 2 perforated plates with 12mm copper downcomers and a miniature shotgun style reflux condenser (about 100mm tall the picture is definitely not to scale) all within the 50mm pipe......... I have noticed all of the plated column stills are made from much larger diameter pipe (is there a reason other than economies of scale for this).

A few have tried 2" bubblers over on HD forum but results were never favorable.

3" seems to be the preferred minimum size

Having said that ,I have never build or operated a Bubbler still myself :violence-stickwhack: Just collected lots of copper to build one and read lots to the point of total ~x(

[fattypatty]

A few have tried 2" bubblers over on HD forum but results were never favorable.

So should I bother with this or just stick to the plain vanilla pot still and than just dream of getting a FSD Still

[Dominator]

I think the trick with building a 2" bubbler will be getting all the plate dimensions to scale down. By this I mean your perf hole sizes and spacing.

It is common knowledge that 1.6mm holes in a 5mm grid works great on a 4in column but with a smaller column, you are going to have faster vapor speeds and so your sizes may need to be adjusted.

I am no expert in this and I am happy to be proved wrong. Anything is possible, it might just take some trial and error. Why not build a 2" pot with a nice long column and play with different plate ideas in a tree, then if they don't work, you can just remove the tree and run it like a normal pot still.

[bt1]

Howdy,

2 plates has u in no man's land. Not the quality for a single run, not a strip run. it gains no advantage for mine. Aim should be do I want to do single runs or not?

If yes then more plates and dia. or a hybrid design.
Otherwise KISS plain pot and be content with strip and spirit runs.

bt1