Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey y'all,

This is what I plan on building.

Some details:
Double boiler 170lt filled to within 3 inches below cone
Thumper 50lt
2in vapour path
1/2in thumper to boiler return
3in shotty with 7 1/2in tubes
4 ring burner (option of high pressure adj reg)

Suggestions as what to use for heat transfer in the jacket??

All comments welcome

Mad Home Brewer

That's a huge boiler. I've got a hungy liter job now and that keeps me well enough supplied. Will a 50 liter thumper be big enough for it?
Plus a properly built double boiler that size will require some skill to make.

Btw. What's to stop the vapour going up the 1/2" return? I would probably make that return a minimum of 3/4". If not more.
Drawing is possible a little rudimentary to see all the nuances you have planned.
It looks sort of like an offset inline thumper without the RC above it.

Thanks for the reply Warramungas.

Here are my answers to your questions.

This is the boiler.

From what I have read, 1/3 the size of the boiler is good for the thumper and I will be using a 50lt keg.

By the way that PDF i attached is pretty much to scale right down to the pipe diameters.

Working on the idea that the thumper will be half full of liquid, there would be a vapour lock where the return exits the thumper and rises to be level with the middle of the keg. My understanding is if the liquid level rises above this it will flow back to the boiler. I believe by running it correctly it would not deplete until empty. If you feel that 3/4 would be better then I am happy to take your advice.

I believe these are usually run without RCs, but I have a 4in off my bubbler if needed.

Once completed, I should be able to do the following:

Use it as a stripper (12lt an hour)

Mount my 4 inch bubbler

Mash ferment and distill all grain mashes in one vessel (especially Traditional Appalachian (U.S.) sweet mash corn whiskey)

And thats just what I can think of now.

Mad Home Brewer.

Mad Home Brewer wrote:Suggestions as what to use for heat transfer in the jacket??

I have a 150L BM. I fill the jacket with only enough water to cover the elements and run it pressurised up to 15 PSI. This works a treat and I have no reservations or complaints.

My boiler was professionally made. I would never suggest a home built pressurised vessel.

During the research and design phase I did contemplate running it at atmospheric pressure and using some form of heat exchange (HEX) liquid. I was almost sold on using propylene glycol (food safe), not to be confused with ethylene glycol.

I'm happy with pressurised steam however for your situation I would highly recommend using propylene glycol. Its not cheap but if looked after will last a long time. Compared to using an oil is a lot safer and doesn't smell. Can you imagine the mess and danger if oil was to come into contact with water, mash, steam etc!

Good luck with your journey.

Thanks vqstatesman.

Even though the boiler is an ex industrial food cooker I am trying to steer clear of a pressurised system. I was looking at recirculating thermal oil as the best option and have considered using a high temp car radiator type fluid. I am aiming for a 2 hr heatup for 150lt and will go with safety first and results second.

I will consider all options and if pressurised water can be done done relatively safely it would be a cheap way to go. I understand i could have a high pressure relief valve and a low pressure relief valve to to protect against vacuum.

Mad Home Brewer.

Mad Home Brewer wrote:Thanks vqstatesman.

Even though the boiler is an ex industrial food cooker I am trying to steer clear of a pressurised system. I was looking at recirculating thermal oil as the best option and have considered using a high temp car radiator type fluid. I am aiming for a 2 hr heatup for 150lt and will go with safety first and results second.

I will consider all options and if pressurised water can be done done relatively safely it would be a cheap way to go. I understand i could have a high pressure relief valve and a low pressure relief valve to to protect against vacuum.

Mad Home Brewer.

I'd suggest staying away from car radiator fluid. It's main ingredient is ethylene glycol which is toxic.

If you do go down the steam route, you can get combined pressure/vacuum valve. Be sure to get a PSI gauge too.

Using a HEX like oil or propylene glycol will be more energy efficient than steam. Way more efficient! Considering the size of your new boiler you need to be thinking pretty hard about power requirements and any limitations your house/supply might have.

Hi vqstatesman,

Not sure what the issue is with what HEX I use if its a closed sytem. But I agree a liquid would trump sream in the heat tranfer stakes.0

And running a pressurised system without a gauge and relief valves would be bordering on suicidal.

I would prefer electric but will be going with a 4 ring gas burner for now. My reading tells me they put out 15kw on a standard reg ot more if i invest in a high pressure adj one.

Mad Home Brewer.

More plans for your consideration and comment.

Here is a layout for how I would like to do the thumper/ doubler.

Its expensive with all the tri-clamps and ferrules. But it means its completely modular and parts can be used for different stills and configurations.

It would be all stainless except for the 2 pipes after the thumper/ doubler which would be copper for sulphide removal.

I have done the drawing to scale.

And here is what I think will work for a diffuser at the bottom of the input pipe.

It is the reason for the 6 inch ferrules. That and cleaning.

I could angle the input pipe so it ends up in the centre.

I would need to calculate the number of holes and the sizes so that I get a good stream of bubbles to make it work at its optimum.

Would be interested to hear what others have done for this bit of kit.

For a diffuser I was going to use a mash tun false bottom/perforated stainless mesh, I never did as my design got changed to an inline with bubble caps..

Hi bluc,

So instead of all those holes, weld on a 4 inch filter or perf plate?

Sounds a lot easier.

Cheers for that. ^:)^

And this is the dome I will be getting fabricated. Drawing is to scale.

I have only shown the basics here but might get some other ferrules and threaded pipe added for future configurations.

I have been quoted $350 for this. I only need to supply the bits I want welded on, they are supplying the sheet.

Looks great Watching with interest. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Mad Home Brewer wrote:And this is the dome I will be getting fabricated. Drawing is to scale.

I have only shown the basics here but might get some other ferrules and threaded pipe added for future configurations.

I have been quoted $350 for this. I only need to supply the bits I want welded on, they are supplying the sheet.

My concern is that with a deep thumper ya boiler pressure is raised a little ,wich may leed ta vapour pressure stopping the thumpers return working or even worse,vapoure will choose the path of least resistence and blow thru ya return line,I would elbow ya return down about 150mm into the boiler and have a 2inch 80mm long cup on the end,and place ya sight glass were ya can watch it and charge it with liquid at the start of a run.cheers hillzabilly

Here is a revised version of the original PDF I uploaded at the beginning of the this thread.

I have added in some dimensions.

It is to scale and shows the side view with heights and widths.

I hope it answers a few questions and promotes some new ones.

Would run a length of tube from the return all the way to nearly the base of the boiler to stop vapour going back up the return.
For the amount of work you're chucking into this thing I take it an inline thumper is out of the question?

hillzabilly wrote:

Mad Home Brewer wrote:And this is the dome I will be getting fabricated. Drawing is to scale.

I have only shown the basics here but might get some other ferrules and threaded pipe added for future configurations.

I have been quoted $350 for this. I only need to supply the bits I want welded on, they are supplying the sheet.

My concern is that with a deep thumper ya boiler pressure is raised a little ,wich may leed ta vapour pressure stopping the thumpers return working or even worse,vapoure will choose the path of least resistence and blow thru ya return line,I would elbow ya return down about 150mm into the boiler and have a 2inch 80mm long cup on the end,and place ya sight glass were ya can watch it and charge it with liquid at the start of a run.cheers hillzabilly

Hi Hillzabilly,

I would have thought a half filled 50lt keg (25kg force) would be enough to prevent vapour from passing into the thumper?

But at the same time it wouldn't be hard to put in place the 80mm cup as you suggest.

Would run a length of tube from the return all the way to nearly the base of the boiler to stop vapour going back up the return.
For the amount of work you're chucking into this thing I take it an inline thumper is out of the question?

Hi Warramungas,

If it was necessary to put a vapour lock of some kind in the circuit, a tube all the way down to near the bottom would prevent me (and i think a friend would be needed here) from removing the dome and placing it on a flat surface.

An inline thumper is not out of the question. Having looked at some they all seem to be top mounted which would make the still at least 1.5 metres high at the output and add 35kg+ to the dome if it was half full.

And your comment about the RC got me thinking.

Would it be worthwhile mounting my 4 plate column or three plates on top of the thumper as I have it layed out now and do 1 run?

Thought I would throw in a pic of my 4 plater set up with a 2inch 1.5metre boka on top. Its 3.2 metres high at the RC.

This is how I do my neutral and its as neutral as you can get IMHO. But a little slow.

Just realised that this pic only has 3 plates. I have since finished fabbing up the other one.

Your desighn may work,but the pressure running befor the thumper ,may cause blow thru ya thumper drain ,as I found out the hard way,Warras idear could work well to,only trying will tell ya that's why I sugest locateing ya sight glasses so you can validate whats actually going on dureing a run.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft: