Glasser build

[RS_Gav]

BTW ..again ..bloody nice result. ..my theory on the patchy look on the plates is that its where vinigar slashed up and stayed as drops while doing its vinigar on copper thing.
I'm guessing the top side of the plates were a lot less patchy

I think you are right mate. It does look like the vinegar has cleaned these areas better where it has 'pooled' just before dripping. Top side of the plates is spotless slean as is the first 3mm up the copped bubblers where it held it's pool level :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[huggy_b]

So we did our first "proper" run last night (2nd gen sour mash) and it performed flawlessly. We can see what you mean by compressing the heads, and then letting it rip with the RC off at the end to run off the tails it's pours out! Making this has been the smartest decision we've made. Quicker to heat up, quicker to run, better product (90%+ easy) - it's been everything we hoped and more.

We've still got a fair bit more product to run through it over the next few days (120L of sour mash and 200L of TPW). Should keep us busy!

[bt1]

Nice to hear :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I really appreciate getting 5 full runs out of 1 gas bottle in winter...glasser bonus!

bt1

[kickarum]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the new toy, :handgestures-thumbupleft: so what sort of a take off rate and power input are you getting 90+ at? I'm assuming 5 plates?
Cheers Kicka.

[MacStill]

Nice to hear :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I really appreciate getting 5 full runs out of 1 gas bottle in winter...glasser bonus!

bt1

Are you saying a glass column uses less gas than copper or staino ?

Interested to here the theory behind this :think:

[pulsetech]

Would have thought glass would have more thermal loss than stainless.

[huggy_b]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the new toy, :handgestures-thumbupleft: so what sort of a take off rate and power input are you getting 90+ at? I'm assuming 5 plates?
Cheers Kicka.

2 x 2400W to heat up and load the plates, drop down to one when running. Took about 1/2 an hour to get up to temp and probably 2 - 3 hours running? The tails at the end was gushing out like a tap once you shut off the RC water and turn the second element back on running in "pot still mode".
We ran 4 plates for the sour mash - I just assumed you'd run more plates with a neutral rather than a "flavoured likker"? I think we ended up with about 2L of heads and tails, ~2L of hearts and 250ml of foreshots from our 45L wash.

But in comparison to using the turbo stills, we have essentially doubled the volume of wash we are running and halved the time since we are only running it through once rather than storing low wines for a spirit run. That's the beauty of it!

[kickarum]

Hey Huggy
The 5 plates was just an assumption on my behalf because of only seen pics of it in a 5 plate assembly. Sounds like she runs real nice, certainly looks the goods congrats lads on a fine build.
Cheers Kicka

[bt1]

Mac,

Are you saying copper is not a better heat conductor than glass or borosilicate :think:

bt1

[MacStill]

Mac,

Are you saying copper is not a better heat conductor than glass or borosilicate :think:

bt1

No I'm not saying anything, I'm curious as to what you were saying tho :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bt1]

I've noticed less gas used for the same sized runs.

Appreciate there's a swag of variations involved but the copper 4" 6 plater would struggle to get 4 comfortable runs in a single 8.5kg bottle but the glasser 6 plater runs at 1 less ring on a 3 burner for the same wash volume.

Heat times being equal for boiler/same wash type run time and gas used is less.

bt1

[MacStill]

ok well I found in my testing using electricity on my copper, staino and glass columns that there was absolutely not enough performance difference worth mentioning.

I'm just going to say you've got better with experience at running a plate still :handgestures-thumbupleft:

edit: added pic of my glass column :handgestures-thumbupleft:

DSC_0750.jpg

[Sinerjee]

ok well I found in my testing using electricity on my copper, staino and glass columns that there was absolutely not enough performance difference worth mentioning.

I'm just going to say you've got better with experience at running a plate still :handgestures-thumbupleft:

edit: added pic of my glass column :handgestures-thumbupleft:

DSC_0750.jpg

It's so beautiful..... That's basically how I'd looked at setting mine up when I get the bubble sections. Are the glasses portions 6 inch on that? Is there any reason why you'd have those as 6 inch with everything else 4 inch or would 4 inch glass sections work as well?

[MacStill]

It's so beautiful..... That's basically how I'd looked at setting mine up when I get the bubble sections. Are the glasses portions 6 inch on that? Is there any reason why you'd have those as 6 inch with everything else 4 inch or would 4 inch glass sections work as well?

OK I hope the OP doesnt mind us derailing his thread a bit, but at least it keeps it at the top of the page.

That one I posted is 4" mate, they look a lot larger than the tees but the diameter of the glass and plates is 4", it works just as good as any other still I've ever used & I'm kinda getting attached to it now my new boilers getting close & I've changed it to a blockhead too.

I have built one of these using 6" sight glass's but geez you want a pretty good bank account for those suckers, they cost me about 400% more than the 4" sections and aren't always readily available.


:D

[magic1]

It's so beautiful..... That's basically how I'd looked at setting mine up when I get the bubble sections. Are the glasses portions 6 inch on that? Is there any reason why you'd have those as 6 inch with everything else 4 inch or would 4 inch glass sections work as well?

OK I hope the OP doesnt mind us derailing his thread a bit, but at least it keeps it at the top of the page.

That one I posted is 4" mate, they look a lot larger than the tees but the diameter of the glass and plates is 4", it works just as good as any other still I've ever used & I'm kinda getting attached to it now my new boilers getting close & I've changed it to a blockhead too.

I have built one of these using 6" sight glass's but geez you want a pretty good bank account for those suckers, they cost me about 400% more than the 4" sections and aren't always readily available.


:D

I quick few words on our still from mac daddy will see the thread back on track.

[MacStill]

Not much I can say mate, I reckon it's schmick! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[SBB]

Thats a hell of a nice build fellas, time now to reap the rewards :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[MacStill]

I just noticed while putting this build on the portal page, and would like to offer some constructive criticism if I may.

If you want the best out of this system you should have the downcomers at 180 degrees to each other, what this does is create the longest path for distillate back to the boiler, which in turn allows the maximum interaction between distillate & vapour.

Hope that makes sense, you may be able to bump the ABV a point or 2 higher by doing so :handgestures-thumbupleft:

But if you're happy with it just leave it how it is.

Mac.

[RS_Gav]

That's a great idea Mac! Will get them lined up like that next time we strip it down and report back. ^:)^

As Huggy mentioned, thanks again for the DIY Build of the month accolade! Very flattering indeed :happy-partydance:

[Beer Belly]

WOW, looks excellent!! Love that Glass look.