First still

[Stilljim]

Hi All ,
I have been building what I believe is a boka still.
After much chasing up parts and playing with solder I have just about got all the parts ready to assemble

Still.JPG

The boiler is an old Langco 4 gal. electric urn with 2400w element and a 3 way switch ,
I have bypassed the cutout which turns it off near 100C .

Spigot.JPG

I have used a brass sink drain inverted through the lid ,
not sure if the holes are big enough or i should have opened them out ,
but it will stop the scrubbers from coming out .

Still + column.JPG

The tube is 2" stainless x 3' long with a threaded fitting at the bottom and triclamp fitting at the top , both silver soldered on .

Top cond + .JPG

The top condenser tube is 2"copper 12"long with 2 angled collector plates
and 2 1/4bsp threaded fittings for the tap and thermometer.
triclamp is silver soldered on but all the other copper is leadfree soft solder .
More to come !

[1 2many]

Gday Stilljim. Nice I am :mrgreen: already looks great are you going to add additional cooling :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Stilljim]

Cold finger.JPG

The top condenser is a twin helix 1/4" with a cold middle finger from 1/2" pipe and T piece ,

Possum.JPG

some of you oldies may remember the little possum on the end .

Liebig cond.JPG

The output condenser is 3/4" over 3/8"tube x 15"long
with threaded fittings and ends making it easier to test and assemble ,
not sure if I will mount it vertical or on an angle .

The parrot is all threaded fittings and will attach to the bottom of the output tube .No pic yet

Soldering tools.JPG

Choose your weapon , some of the collection of old soldering irons and torches Ive had sitting around ,
Top one is Primus with a small soldering tip
next is air /acetelene soldeing iron where the flame comes out the holes for preheating the work ,
below is similar but for lpg , worked well but a bit heavy ,
then a big torch for when I get really angry ,
and a medium torch worked well but you need a quick hand .

As you can see I am into recycling stuff ,
so hopefully this will work without killing me (straight away)

[Stilljim]

Hi 1 2 ,
the liebig seems a bit small (lol)
but I will try it out and make a bigger one if necessary .

[googe]

Looking good mate, some different things you got happening there, we'll done :handgestures-thumbupleft: nice old solderingirons and torches :smile:

[bt1]

Howdy,

Are you going to use a power regulator to control element?

If you got 10 mins free might be worth pickling that sink fitting before using it.

Yeh the Leibig is a tad short but try it no one ever said the spirit has to be dead cold ..close to 20c is nice as its the normal temp alco meters are calibrated to so you get nice easy accurate measurements of abv.


bt1

[Stilljim]

I have been using Vinegar bath and also rust remover (phosphoric) to clean the copper and brass .

the element is 2400w all up so the 3 way switch may cut it down to 1200w and 600w ,
i will get a current meter to test it soon .

[kelbygreen]

how old is that brass plug?

[Yummyrum]

Nice job stilljim.

Just think that you may get surging if you use it on other than full power
.Pretty sure those Urns use a Simmerstat which clicks the element on for a few seconds then off for a few seconds.

There are some concerns using those old Brass sink Drains due to the high lead levels in them

[Stilljim]

The brass drain fitting is from a stainless laundry tub maybe 15 yrs old ,
the thermostat has been removed from the circuit so it will run constant ,
The guy at the local hbs said not to use any copper made in australia as it will send product blue ,
The stainless industry magazine is concerned about nickel absorbtion into the human body ,
I think the next build will have to be titanium with gold fittings !

[MacStill]

The brass drain fitting is from a stainless laundry tub maybe 15 yrs old ,
the thermostat has been removed from the circuit so it will run constant ,
The guy at the local hbs said not to use any copper made in australia as it will send product blue ,
The stainless industry magazine is concerned about nickel absorbtion into the human body ,
I think the next build will have to be titanium with gold fittings !

The red bit :scared-eek:

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[bt1]

+1 on the copper comment...

Be a tad concerned if that's their ideas....washes turning alkine or amonia I think is the other known cause from aussie tubing...news to the pipe manufacturers and me.

bt1

[crow]

The brass drain fitting is from a stainless laundry tub maybe 15 yrs old ,
the thermostat has been removed from the circuit so it will run constant ,
The guy at the local hbs said not to use any copper made in australia as it will send product blue ,
The stainless industry magazine is concerned about nickel absorbtion into the human body ,
I think the next build will have to be titanium with gold fittings !

The red bit :scared-eek:
:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

That there is some funny shit :icon-lol: :icon-lol: :icon-lol: I think your HBS fella might be a little liberal with the truth matey :liar: , reckon after that one I wouldn't follow his directions to the staff room shit house :wtf:

[Stilljim]

Thanks for the advice , just a few more questions
I am about to give this a cleaning run with vinegar ,
what sort of vinegar and how long should I run it .
i have 2l of white vin should I dilute it ,
also have some new stainless scrubbers ,
should I fit these now or later ,
I have 40 l of tpw finished , will make another 20 soon then give it a try .

[MacStill]

cleaning run tutorial can be found here where a lot of other basic questions are answered.

Please take the time to have a good read of that complete selection of topics designed to help out the new guys, our members have spent quite a lot of time providing it for you and it's a shame it's not being used a bit more often.

Enjoy your journey :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[hillzabilly]

G-day Guys
Just felt i could pass on my first exp with useing a hot water urn, mounted the column still ,did a cleaning run with no packing ,no problem,then first wash with packing in column as she came up to temp,wash-very hot wash came pissin out the top of the level sight glass.I shut down ,but had to plug the top of the sight glass (wich was one of the reasons I got it)
Cheers stay safe

[Stilljim]

The sight glass on mine has been removed and blocked off
the orginal would have been open at the top
but you could have a fitting at the top re-entering the urn
to stop contents coming out .

I have finished a cleaning run with vinegar /water
and sure enough the first jar came out blue
but the next two jars came out clear .

I am just now doing some stripping runs of TPW
the first 200ml was cloudy 50% abv
the next were clear , gradually decreasing in abv .
I am curious about the cloudy spirit and wether it t settles out or not .
and if I should add it to the final spirit run.

Still + jars.JPG

Here is a pic of the parrot I made recently
and a few collection jars on an office chair
so I can change jars by rotating the chair ,
seems to work ok .

[Stilljim]

I have started the spirit run this morning ,
with 10 L of wash at 20% abv ,
put stainless scrubbers in the column and insulation around it and the urn
warmed it up on high then dropped it back to low after an hour ,
the temp at the top was low 40* c but the column was quite hot
so I turned the heat back up and opened up the tap and the foreshots started ,
I made cuts at 100 ml and noticed after 5 jars the abv dropping ,
first 90% then 80% then 70 , 60 , the temp is at 85*c on the lowest setting ,
the condensers seem to be cold enough .
I have just taken the insulation off to see what happens ,
.............the temp has dropped back down to 80 c but the abv is 60% after collecting 700ml
any ideas ?

[CyBaThUg]

Australia produces some of the best steels in the world turning a product blue I can't c that happening

[Yummyrum]

I have started the spirit run this morning ,
with 10 L of wash at 20% abv ,

Normally a spirit Run would be at around 40% ( which you usually have to water down to this after the stripping run)

warmed it up on high then dropped it back to low after an hour ,
the temp at the top was low 40* c but the column was quite hot
so I turned the heat back up and opened up the tap and the foreshots started ,

Are you still using the simmer-stat on the Urn ? .Just that in your first post ,you said you had bypassed it so it was set on full or something to that effect ???

If its still there ,it will muck things up for you.Best either run it on full or get an external controller .

EDIT: OK just realized you shorted out the cut out.Thats bad .You should leave that in curcuit as its a safety device .

I repeat about using the inbuilt simmerstat .DON'T USE IT. It turns the element on and off every few seconds /minutes to obtain an average temperature .This causes surges in temp which is not conducive to good operation of a still .

It is however excellent if you want the old ladies at the bingo hall to have hot water at a nice temp for tea and bickys :dance: