My first construction

[darkives]

Hey ya'll

I have a pure distilling reflux still, but wanted something for stripping runs. I have never soft soldered, or worked with copper before, so I was very hesitant to take on the task.
With all the information on this forum, I have put together this liebig condenser. I am going to do a cleaning run with 50/50 vinegar then a cleaning if no leaks show up.

Any suggestions or changes I should make ?

IMG_20140831_085353a.jpg

IMG_20140831_085428a.jpg

IMG_20140831_085444a.jpg

IMG_20140831_085521a.jpg

[Zak Griffin]

Looks alright to me!

I would've put a union between the column and the condenser, so you can adjust the angle... By no means necessary though!

Have you got a rum or whiskey wash down?

[darkives]

I made the angle so it's the perfect height for my bench.
However I did put in a joiner so take the condenser off for storage.

Currently I am planning on using it for stripping runs. I am still very new to this, hopefully get to running rum in the future :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I still new a long flat piece of copper to twirl and stick into the condenser vapour path.

Running the cleaning run now, no leaks so far.

[woodduck]

Hi darkives
Looking good mate, well done :handgestures-thumbupleft: for someone who'd never soldered you did a dam fine job.

Just wondering if that joiner is brass mate? From what I hear brass isn't a real good choice, maybe check that one out. Hopefully someone else can chime in and help out.

[darkives]

Thanks.
Yes the joiner is brass, but I read on the forum that I should pickle it first. I will keep my eyes out for a stainless joiner to replace it.

The cleaning run went will. I couldn't find a mirror, so used my phone, no leaks.
- water temp in 16.5c
- water temp out 40.3c
- juice out 20.8c

There was some huffing most of the way through, but ran at about 2 litres an hour.
I looked up on the forums again, found the fix for huffing, and running some low wines now as the 2nd clean run.

Looking ok so far.

[woodduck]

Good to hear she's running well. You'll be drinking home brew in no time :handgestures-thumbupleft: .

[Zak Griffin]

Is your cooling water running from the bottom of the condenser to the top? Against the flow of the vapour...

[darkives]

Yes the water inlet is from the bottom. The condenser is 900mm long, and probably 850mm is cold.
I have the water at a trickling rate, any slower and the still would be a faster flew rate.

On the low wines now.
The water temps haven't changed, but the spirit out is at 31.5c - 61% (the adjusted % according to temp)

Is the higher out temp ok ?

[darkives]

Makes me sad that this run is just cleaning, nothing to keep here :crying-blue:

[Andy]

nice build mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Is the higher out temp ok ?

yeah higher temperature is fine- as long as all the vapour is being condensed

[C2H6O]

Nice looking rig mate... So have you got the bug? Will we be seeing another build thread soon?

[darkives]

I did really enjoy the work, I have a 2m x 50mm 304 piece of stainless I was thinking of making into a big carbon filter.
Maybe next weekend.....

[Andy]

if the steel isn't doing anything else you might as well :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[MacStill]

looking good there mate, worry about perfection once the good gear starts flowing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[jeh]

Cool looking rig there, quick question for you though. Where did you get the threaded copper connected for the bottom of your column? Having been looking for a solution to attach a home built pot to a T500 boiler, and can only find brass or stainless connectors.

[sp0rk]

He says further up that it's brass
Copper threads would just get chewed out instantly

[MacStill]

Cool looking rig there, quick question for you though. Where did you get the threaded copper connected for the bottom of your column? Having been looking for a solution to attach a home built pot to a T500 boiler, and can only find brass or stainless connectors.

http://www.5stardistilling.net/t500-adapter/ or http://www.5stardistilling.net/adapter-t500/

Maybe these could be what you're after ?

Cheers,

Mac.

[jeh]

Been thinking about those connectors, Mac. Can you solder a 2 inch pipe straight into one?