Vm reflux

[googe]

Yeah that's the pump mate. Sorry I'm not real good.at putting my thoughts into words haha. Hope the pic helps.

[Distillnation]

Haha, no worries man!

That picture explains it perfectly. You had it worded fine now that I can see what you mean, but the picture definitely helps put it all together.

One more question.

The pump requires power, but how exactly would I go about getting power to it if its at the bottom of the tank?

[googe]

They have there own cord hard wired mate, it's really really long too, I was impressed with how long it is, I can have my tank outside the shed and it reaches all tHe way inside.

[Distillnation]

That's good to hear! Depending where I decide to run the still, it shouldn't have to go too far (I've got a nice sheltered location in mind). I can always relocate the tank when I get a shed put up so that it is near by if needed.

The next thing is just a matter of having access to power. I'd like to use an electric element for the boiler, but it may be easier to just use gas for the time being until I can get the power sorted for both the pump and an element.

With any luck my valve should be here tomorrow (it's only a 2.5hr trip away), so I'll be waiting anxiously for the delivery lady :D

It's all slowly coming together.

Thanks again googe!

[googe]

No worries mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: . It's good to find a.nice place to do it, your gunna be there waiting for a while so it's handy to have something to do or look at lol.

[Distillnation]

I can see myself sitting there for a while. It's a good place to do it actually. Under cover. Got plants and a pond there as well. So nice and relaxing. Worst comes to worse, just get on the net on my phone hah.

I think for the first few runs though I'll be pretty happy to just sit there and watch it though. Might have to think of some new projects I can work on at the same time. Maybe some kind of aquaponics system using the pond :-D

[DrunkASAskunk]

hey im going to kadina tomorrow to pick up some copper from northern plumbing. If you need any thing pm me your nomber and we can work something out mate.

[Sam.]

If your going for a submersible pump just throw it in through the opening on top and have your hoses dangling out, save putting a tap on your tank :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Distillnation]

hey im going to kadina tomorrow to pick up some copper from northern plumbing. If you need any thing pm me your nomber and we can work something out mate.

Hey man, thanks for the offer, I would have taken you up on it if I hadn't already gotten the last parts sorted a couple hours ago.

If they have any sort of price list or catalogue there though that'd be good. What kind of stuff do they stock? Probably be worth the drive rather than relying on our store here.

Cheers

If your going for a submersible pump just throw it in through the opening on top and have your hoses dangling out, save putting a tap on your tank :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I was thinking that but wasn't sure of the power, but it sounds like I'll be right. Depending on how hard it is to get a tap in (got plenty spares here) I might do that. Will be easy to do that if it's already full of water.

Would the dirty water pump be better in terms of crape getting in the tank? I'll have to see what kind of filter it had on the tank but just thinking ahead.

[still working]

Going back a few posts, i went through the same stuff trying to get a needle valve and ended up with one those 1/2" hoke valves from WA. They are are a fantastic valve made for extreme applications (steam) and well worth the money (about 55 bucks with delivery). A big advantage for me was the gylock fittings make it very easy to remove/install my liebig as i have a 1/2" liebig intake and a 1/2" output on my boka.

[Distillnation]

...ended up with one those 1/2" hoke valves...

I decided to get one of those as well. Figured I might as well bite the bullet and spend that bit more on a valve and not have to worry about it needing to replace a valve that may or may not be stainless, or a chrome plated that may be bad for my health, etc.

Hopefully I won't have too much trouble getting it connected, but I should be able to work something out.

With any luck I'll have it here by tomorrow.

Has anyone ever had trouble getting their ferrule-seal-keg to clamp together using a tri-clamp. I've managed to get it seated nicely once with the help of someone else. I just gave it another shot just then, by myself, and failed over and over. Will it get easier once its attached to the still, or is it a matter of wearing in the seal a bit to get it sitting nice. If I try it without the seal, it clamps on easy as. Might try get it on tomorrow and leave it on for a while to break the seal in. Not sure if the ridge around the middle of the seal is what makes it awkward to seal against the keg top or not, but I'll get it sooner or later :angry-banghead:

[Yummyrum]

Cut the ridge off the seal on the side that sits on the keg with a very sharp blade . :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: the pump.I got one of those Bunnings ones (350W)

If you attach the hose and drop the whole lot in the top of the tank,you need a tap on the end of the hose because once you start the pump and the water flows,its won't stop when you turn off the pump .( Siphons out).

Ended up with a right flood :angry-banghead:

[MacStill]

Cut the ridge off the seal on the side that sits on the keg with a very sharp blade . :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: the pump.I got one of those Bunnings ones (350W)

If you attach the hose and drop the whole lot in the top of the tank,you need a tap on the end of the hose because once you start the pump and the water flows,its won't stop when you turn off the pump .( Siphons out).

Ended up with a right flood :angry-banghead:

:text-imwithstupid: :text-+1: x2

The seal will be easy to get on right once you do as yummy says.

I also had a mishap one WABS night when someone tripped over the return hose near the tank & didnt realise until the still started to get real hot :angry-banghead: lost about 900L of water :doh:

[googe]

Cut the ridge off the seal on the side that sits on the keg with a very sharp blade . :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: the pump.I got one of those Bunnings ones (350W)

If you attach the hose and drop the whole lot in the top of the tank,you need a tap on the end of the hose because once you start the pump and the water flows,its won't stop when you turn off the pump .( Siphons out).

Ended up with a right flood :angry-banghead:

:text-imwithstupid: and I thought most snap on hose fittings sealed when unattached too, wrong!!! :angry-banghead: .

[Distillnation]

Cut the ridge off the seal on the side that sits on the keg with a very sharp blade . :handgestures-thumbupleft:

That worked perfectly. The clamp slipped over top of it much more easily, which is good because it would probably be awkward trying the clamp the whole still to it.

Re: the pump.I got one of those Bunnings ones (350W)

If you attach the hose and drop the whole lot in the top of the tank,you need a tap on the end of the hose because once you start the pump and the water flows,its won't stop when you turn off the pump .( Siphons out).

Ended up with a right flood :angry-banghead:

Wow. Thanks for letting me know. That probably wouldn't have gone down too well.

I might go down to the rain water tank shop today and see what they have there regarding taps, pumps, etc. Might be able to pick up some sort of deal or something on special.

The seal will be easy to get on right once you do as yummy says.

Yep! That little mod is probably the easiest thing I've done so for with this still :))

I also had a mishap one WABS night when someone tripped over the return hose near the tank & didnt realise until the still started to get real hot :angry-banghead: lost about 900L of water :doh:

:roll: I'll have to watch out for things like that, because I can guarantee it would happen to me :-p If I can get another look at the house I'll have to scout out how I'm going to set up the still...you know, the first thing that you do when looking at buying a house.
Did you check the walls? nah, check that later.
Are the floors okay? I don't know..
Still location? Yep, you bet. It's all undercover. Out of the way. Water supply right next to it. Where do I sign :-D

I haven't got a tap on my boiler yet, but I'll need an easy way to get the wash out when it's finished. Letting it sit upside-down will be okay for normal runs, but when I need to use it for backset, would a siphon be okay? The only thing I would be worried about is the plastic not holding in the hot liquid..

[Camikaze]

Hey mate. Just use a 3/4" ball valve on your keg for the drain. They cost about $10 from Mitre 10. I bought a stainless 3/4" NPT coupling for about the same, drilled the keg with a 1" hole saw and welded the fitting in. All up, about 15 minutes work.

Fuck siphoning hot liquid. You'll burn your mouth doing that shit. ;-)

[Distillnation]

:laughing-rolling: haha, yeah, I definitely would have gone for an auto-siphon if I could get one.

I have no problem drilling the keg (did it for my brew kettle), but I'm no welder. Might have to see if I can get someone to do it for me..really need to get around to learning how to weld. It would just make things so much easier.

[Distillnation]

Okay, so tomorrow I should definitely be getting the needle valve. I could have driven there myself and picked it up otherwise, and still have plenty of time to spare, and made a trip to bunnings as well :-D

I was going through my dad's shed the other day, in need of a serious clean up, and hiding in a container was this..

IMG_20130324_102412.JPG

I was speechless. This was just what I was looking for (without actually looking for it). Obviously the downside is that it's brass, but I was just surprised to see he had them. It was too small for the pipe when I went to test fit it, but if I found that in the shed, maybe I could find more.

The thing about my dad is that he has collected bits and pieces of everything over the years and in bulk as well. Stuff that was on special, stuff from work, etc. And there is quite a collection of electrical parts, valves, spare wood bits, metal, tools.. I'm sure that if I spent a couple hours going through it all I'd find everything I needed haha.

Anyway, onto some more developments or ideas rather for the still. I'm wanting to go electric for the boiler because I would feel more comfortable doing it that way, and it work out cheaper for me in the long run.

I've been looking into weldless elements, this one in particular.
http://www.aussiebrewmakers.com.au/reta ... stillation
I have a 10amp cord already so that's fine. My only question being is whether this will be suitable to use. Do they use a silicone washer to help provide a seal against the keg, if so what will that do when using a low wine charge.
I thought about a welded one, but these come wired already, just plug it in, then all I need is to make a controller. I was thinking one of the panda psr25 ones in an old psu case which has a nice big fan and an iec socket already there. Then I just need to add a gpo for the element. I'll get a picture of the gutted psu and the list of parts when I get home, might be easier to understand then.

If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I don't really want to waste money if there is a better way to go about it.
Cheers

[Linny]

Pretty sure weldless elements are bad and don't last . there's a post here some where with pics of fails. I'm on my phone so I'm sure someone can link it

[unsub]

Yeah don't go near those Keg King elements unless you want to risk potential injury, death or loss of property. There are many horror stories about those heaps of shit, even if it says "new and improved they are still dangerous. McStill is getting in some good weldless elements in a few weeks I think. Might pay to wait for those. viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1618&p=47727&hilit=weldless#p47727