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The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:00 pm
by Professor Green
Here is my baby (12 litre) bain marie boiler made from off the shelf components (and a little soldering of some copper).

Image

More detail to follow..

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:06 pm
by Professor Green
Hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.

SmallPotInLargePot.jpg


SmallPotOnTrivetInLargePot.jpg


TrivetInLargePot.jpg


SmallPot.jpg


SmallPotOnTrivet.jpg


Cheers,
Prof. Green

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:40 pm
by Plumby
Trying to avoid puking? I've beard that it provides even temperature around the boiler. Also puking is more likely with an electric element as there is lots of bubbles constantly forming on the element. Not sure if any of it's true but it definitely sounds believable.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:51 pm
by Doubleuj
Beautiful prof :handgestures-thumbupleft: that'll stop you burning botanicals.
If you make a lid(with breather hole) for the outer boiler you'd retain a lot of heat and water.
Plus it'd help with heat up time too. Like putting a lid on the saucepan on the stove

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:58 pm
by Professor Green
Plumby wrote:Trying to avoid puking? I've beard that it provides even temperature around the boiler. Also puking is more likely with an electric element as there is lots of bubbles constantly forming on the element. Not sure if any of it's true but it definitely sounds believable.


It will provide a gentler heat for sure and, for absinthe or other macerated liquors for that matter, will stop the herbs from scorching due to direct contact with the element.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:02 pm
by Professor Green
Doubleuj wrote:Beautiful prof :handgestures-thumbupleft: that'll stop you burning botanicals.
If you make a lid(with breather hole) for the outer boiler you'd retain a lot of heat and water.
Plus it'd help with heat up time too. Like putting a lid on the saucepan on the stove


Thanks Doubleuj.

I know sealing it and having a breather hole will keep heat and water in but I just don't have the skills or tools to fabricate it. My criteria for this was that it had to be not too expensive and doable with the minimum of tooling. I'm enough of a tool as it is!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:22 pm
by Doubleuj
Professor Green wrote:
Doubleuj wrote:Beautiful prof :handgestures-thumbupleft: that'll stop you burning botanicals.
If you make a lid(with breather hole) for the outer boiler you'd retain a lot of heat and water.
Plus it'd help with heat up time too. Like putting a lid on the saucepan on the stove


Thanks Doubleuj.

I know sealing it and having a breather hole will keep heat and water in but I just don't have the skills or tools to fabricate it. My criteria for this was that it had to be not too expensive and doable with the minimum of tooling. I'm enough of a tool as it is!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Don't have the skills??? You sure do! Look at what you've made already :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Did the larger stock pot come with a lid?

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:40 pm
by Professor Green
That's very kind but soldering copper pipe is dead simple and you haven't seen any of my joins close up!

The larger pot did indeed come with a lid.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:51 pm
by bluc
Sweet build would be good for small batch gin/absinthe or thick corn mash.. still wondering about harvesting the steam, could you put a sealed lid and a reflux condenser on it contsantly knocking vapour back to water? Would it build pressure? would it be dangerous like that? any idea professor/ wj?

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:12 pm
by Doubleuj
Professor Green wrote:That's very kind but soldering copper pipe is dead simple and you haven't seen any of my joins close up!

The larger pot did indeed come with a lid.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Haha, you haven't seen my failures have you??? :laughing-rolling: I'm the sprinkler king
Couldn't the lid have the centre cut out, forming a donut shape that just sits on the outer boiler?

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:52 am
by hillzabilly
From your humble start in this practice,I am blown away by your progress and participation on the forum.10 out of 10 from me Professor Green,your dad wasn't on gilligans island was he by chance.cheers hillzabilly :clap: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:09 pm
by Professor Green
bluc wrote:Sweet build would be good for small batch gin/absinthe or thick corn mash.. still wondering about harvesting the steam, could you put a sealed lid and a reflux condenser on it contsantly knocking vapour back to water? Would it build pressure? would it be dangerous like that? any idea professor/ wj?


Well I'm hoping this will take my absinthe to the next level as I've had only reasonable success so far by straining the herbs and suspending them in vapour path. A macerated gin might interesting too.

I'm not a boilermaker or engineer so am not really qualified to comment on the steam part but I would have thought it would be very inefficient to try and knock back the steam with an RC. Most of these sorts of stills I've seen are closed and rated at a certain pressure and hand have pressure relief valves on them that are rated way below the maximum pressure the boiler can withstand.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:22 pm
by Professor Green
Doubleuj wrote:
Professor Green wrote:That's very kind but soldering copper pipe is dead simple and you haven't seen any of my joins close up!

The larger pot did indeed come with a lid.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Haha, you haven't seen my failures have you??? :laughing-rolling: I'm the sprinkler king
Couldn't the lid have the centre cut out, forming a donut shape that just sits on the outer boiler?


It probably could but the inner pot has a lip at the top and handles on the side that I think would stop it from sliding to where it would need to sit without having a large gap. I'm not too worried about water loss at the moment, the volumes that I'm looking at will be short runs so shouldn't be much of a problem.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:30 pm
by Professor Green
hillzabilly wrote:From your humble start in this practice,I am blown away by your progress and participation on the forum.10 out of 10 from me Professor Green,your dad wasn't on gilligans island was he by chance.cheers hillzabilly :clap: :handgestures-thumbupleft:


Thanks hillzabilly! I have learned so much from this forum in the relatively short time I've been here. We are very lucky to have a place where those with the knowledge and skills be that at hobby or professional level are prepared to share their wisdom.

I haven't seen an episode of Gilligan's Island since I was a kid! I bet it hasn't aged well.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:27 pm
by Plumby
I have learned so much from this forum in the relatively short time I've been here. We are very lucky to have a place where those with the knowledge and skills be that at hobby or professional level are prepared to share their wisdom.
:text-+1:

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:59 pm
by Kenster
Prof... work like yours and constructive responses to your efforts are truly inspirational. This IS a great forum.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:50 am
by scythe
You shouldn't get too much evapouration really as the water shouldnt get to a rolling boil.
It only really needs to get to 80°c to get the job done.
I wonder how long it will take for the temp to equalize between the wash and bath?

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 5:44 am
by Professor Green
scythe wrote:You shouldn't get too much evapouration really as the water shouldnt get to a rolling boil.
It only really needs to get to 80°c to get the job done.
I wonder how long it will take for the temp to equalize between the wash and bath?


I think it will probably reach a rolling boil as I think it will need to be hotter than the liquid in the inner pot to cause that to boil. Guess I'll find out when I do my first run.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:43 am
by Doubleuj
Professor Green wrote:
scythe wrote:You shouldn't get too much evapouration really as the water shouldnt get to a rolling boil.
It only really needs to get to 80°c to get the job done.
I wonder how long it will take for the temp to equalize between the wash and bath?


I think it will probably reach a rolling boil as I think it will need to be hotter than the liquid in the inner pot to cause that to boil. Guess I'll find out when I do my first run.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

You shouldn't need to once they reach thermal equalibrium. Maybe for heat up only and you could try salt in the water to speed up the boil
Because there is such close contact between the two vessels the water only needs to be at the desired wash boiling point to produce vapour.
It's basically the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics ( no I didn't misspell, it's actually called the zeroth law because long after implementing the first and second laws, they realised these laws were based on the assumption of this new law, which, had to go at the start. So in thier wisdom, it became the Zeroth law... engineers can find a way to solve any problem, even if they just make shit up :laughing-rolling: )

Re: The Professor's Baby Bain Marie Boiler

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:07 pm
by Professor Green
That would make sense. Guess I'd better finish that controller I started a year ago...

Engineers; a breed unto their own!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.