Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

So I wanna strip faster and do more wash in one go so this weekend when i was visiting my parents i picked this up off gumtree for $80 bucks its and old stainless solar hot water system I'm going to cut it down like Macstills 100l boiler and tig it back up together add a couple of elements 4 inch ferrule ( have to use an adapter for my pot but im thinking long term 4 inch will be the way to go if i build a bubbler) add some sort of adjustable wheel system and I'll be one happy camper. I still need to clean of the polyurethane insulation though doesnt look the best in the picture.

Nice one mate!

This would be a good one for the Tips from the Workbench fourm viewforum.php?f=41 :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yeah I suppose a mod can do it if they decide its informative enough ill try to take a few piccies as I go. Going to use these wheels of ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-pcs-3-Swiv ... 9ea&_uhb=1 been looking for stainless L shape brackets to weld to the boiler cant find any on the net anyone got any ideas ? :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So I been tearing my hair out looking for stainless brackets :angry-banghead: the ones in the pic are galvo and zinc coated. I need something like this but in staino. I mean I spose I could weld it on but I would lose the staino properties. Anyone got any other ideas on how to attach the legs on the boiler feedback would be much appreciated thanks guys. The only other idea I had was weld on some threaded M12 bar but I thought that would be a bit weak on its own

The legs / brackets dont have to be welded. you could just make a Galv frame and the boiler could just sit in it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Kimbo wrote:The legs / brackets dont have to be welded. you could just make a Galv frame and the boiler could just sit in it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks kimbo that a bloody great idea cheers mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: means less tig work for my mate to

Have you concidered making it into a horizontal boiler ?.those brackets on the side could easily attach to a floor mount bracket.

Also no need to cut it down. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yummyrum wrote:Have you concidered making it into a horizontal boiler ?.those brackets on the side could easily attach to a floor mount bracket.

Also no need to cut it down. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks for the input yummy :handgestures-thumbupleft: I think a horizontal boiler would be impractical to store and a bit gumpy but I do appreciate your input ideas is what I need so thank you :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[youtube][/youtube]No worries whiskey....have to agree ...gumpy...but some like it that way :laughing-rolling: ..

I'm sure you will end up with a nice big boiler . :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Just to clarify the boiler is currently 160 l I plan to make it 110 to 120 litres

Yummyrum wrote:No worries whiskey....have to agree ...gumpy...but some like it that way .

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Ok miss read it as 110 liters as it is .....that should scale down nicely......as you were :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Bit of progress today cut the top of the boiler and cut a hole for the ferrule using geordies dimension on there site be placing and order for some elements and ferrules soon with FSD :handgestures-thumbupleft:
The second photo is a mock up is not welded yet

I just followed along the weld with the grinder which probably wasnt the best procedure seeing the weld wasnt straight but I figure ill have to fix it when me and my mate tig it. I filled the top with water it holds 10l so with the base thats 20l then the diameter is 470 mm so 600mm will give me a 120l boiler :handgestures-thumbupleft: the base has a 1 inch bsp thread so that will be my drain port next step I remove the top two pipes as I dont need them and itll look better patched up

Looking good there WS :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Looking forward to some new FSD elements when I get back from work in a few weeks :happy-partydance:

Just got 2x2400W elements from Mac for my new boiler great service and great elements solid as.

Geeps wrote:Just got 2x2400W elements from Mac for my new boiler great service and great elements solid as.

just got home from site to find my new shiny fsd elements :dance: thanks FSD dropping it off at a mates to tig it up when he gets time still a couple of weeks to go think I might put down some UJ this weekend my runs are going to get longer but distilling day shorter :happy-partydance:

So here's my new boiler, my mate had no argon :)) so we had to arc weld it together which doesnt look as pretty but it did the job, we used 308l rods from memory dunno he had them lying around not sure what ya meant to use i couldnt even tell ya what grade of stainless the boiler is im guessing 304


So once i cut the top of i used so newpaper to do some grinding as my mate said it would need to be fairly close to weld with arc coz its thin.


I used a dremel tool to cut the hole a good trick is to go around making a groove then when its got a bit of depth to cut it makes it easier to cut nicely

I noticed some people have fill ports i havent added on yet but im thinking ill add a big arse six inch one in the future so i can scrub the bastard out when it get dirty

For the wheels i got my bro in law to pick me up some 25mm staino from town. just welded the offcuts to the base and used some nylon threaded inserts from a mob called crh. the 25mm staino was cut on an angle using a drop saw to follow the curved shaped of the base.

Its pretty high which doesnt bother me with the pot im running but i built this with the intention of making or buying a bubbler in the future so it might have to be an outdoor rig when that happens. Dunno how high would an average bubbler be 1200mm?

So far its cost me
S80 for stainless hot water system off gumtree
$80 two cartons for mate
5l of my UJ
$212 i think for two elements kits and a ferule of macstill
and a shitload of time stuffing around :))

Only problem now is i have to make a copper reducer for my pot so i can run the bloody thing :violin:

So my advice to anyone planning one of these is buy a FSD boiler there so cheap when you consider how much of ya time its takes but hey if ya like this sort of thing then go for it I'd be happy to answer any questions if anyones keen

Cheers Whiskyshiner

Boiler is looking good mate, you should have got a staino reducer from Mac when you got the elements :handgestures-thumbupleft: