Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi I am new to distilling and am currently gathering materials for a boka build to get away from the crap HBS so called reflux still I have. I plan to build a 1.8m 2" colunm of which 1.5m will be packed with copper mesh.I will post some pics as the build progresses. I have some questions before I get going.
1. Will there be a problem running a 1/2" take off pipe. It just works better with my design and what fittings and pipe I have. i see most use 1/4"
2. From what I have read a 150mm 1/4" double coil condenser is fine for this build and will use 3m of pipe. I have 4m of pipe is there any point in going longer and use all the pipe I have for the condenser.
3. When run as a pot still do you run any colunm below the head and is it still benificial to run a liebig on the side.
4. I have read the tutorials on winding the condenser they say to go slowly when doing this. Is it really hard to do without kinking the pipe and do you recommend a spring bender.any advice would be good on this topic.
5. Should the colunm be packed from the very bottom where it joins the boiler to the top below the bottom plate or should there be some gap.
6. I see some builders place the thermometer below the bottom plate and some above the top plate and some even a second one at the very top. What do you recommend.
7. Some say to pack some mesh in the top of the condenser coil how much and what does it do.
8. Does anyone use any type of reflux centering device as suggested by some builders. If so what type do you use.
9. With the triclamp/triclover ferrules does the pipe fit into the fitting or vise versa or does it just but up to the pipe and solder on.
10. Is there any need to have control of coolant flow.
Sorry about so many questions but I really want to get it right first go. If anyone has answers to these questions or just some advice or can see some fault in my design please let me know.

Hi mate, I'll leave someone else to answer all of your questions (as I've never built a boka), but just curious if you'd thought about going for a 3" column. There is evidently a very big improvement in running time between 2" and 3" (like 10+ hours for 2").

I had not mate until now I was not aware of the extra run time of the 2 in. I already bought 2 m of 2 in. I am open to more comments from anyone who has a 2 in boka though. Thanks mate.

Same a blonde chap, I have not built a Boka but from what I have heard going to 3" makes a huge difference in run times.

A larger condenser coil will not necessarily help by it won't hurt. The main result of a larger coil will be less water required to knock all the vapor down and you will be able to run the still harder/faster when in pot mode.

Personally i would leave the column attached when in pot mode, just remove the packing, you don't want to risk the vapor overcoming your condenser. A Liebig is not necessary on a Boka, be it in reflux or pot mode. However it will lower your product temp making it easier to take ABV readings.

I recently made a double helix coil and managed it with no spring. In saying that I do work with copper tube on a daily basis. It is only the first couple of coils that are hard to do, once you get started it is a piece of cake. A spring may make it easier but it is bloody painful using one in my opinion.

I would think a thermometer below the bottom plate would be the most accurate. Anywhere else and you risk getting sub cooled liquid falling in your thermo probe affecting your readings.

I don't know about packing above the coil, I put some loose packing in the center of my coil to increase the cooling surface area, for lack of a better description.

Using copper mesh I would not bother with a centering device. The copper mesh is in constant contact with the column walls and the random nature of the mesh means the liquid will get distributed well through the packing. Someone explained it will the other day, as like when water travels along the bottom of leaves and branches.

That's about all I can help you with mate.

:text-imwithstupid: on 3" :handgestures-thumbupleft:
But don't worry,the 2" won't go to waste :snooty: :snooty: I'll give you 6 months running the boka,and you'll be building a bubbler :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft: and then the 2" will come into play,plates,PC's etc :handgestures-thumbupleft:
And for this piece of wisdom,you owe me nothing but a bottle of your finest when you've built said bubbler :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Howdy nb,

I once posted I'd learned Latin whilst attending a boka....ridetis nunc autem tace, est lentior

One thing before I really comment is are you wanting just pure neutral spirit that a boka is good at? I've not seen drink prefs.

bt1

1. Will there be a problem running a 1/2" take off pipe. It just works better with my design and what fittings and pipe I have. it see most use 1/4"i will be ok
2. From what I have read a 150mm 1/4" double coil condenser is fine for this build and will use 3m of pipe. I have 4m of pipe is there any point in going longer and use all the pipe I have for the condenser.might as well use it up it can only help
3. When run as a pot still do you run any colunm below the head and is it still benificial to run a liebig on the side.always good to run a liebig and take all scubbers out
4. I have read the tutorials on winding the condenser they say to go slowly when doing this. Is it really hard to do without kinking the pipe and do you recommend a spring bender.any advice would be good on this topic.no its not really hard just go slow do some have a rest do some have a drink just take it nice and slow
5. Should the colunm be packed from the very bottom where it joins the boiler to the top below the bottom plate or should there be some gap.a couple of cms up from the bottom and a coupleof cms from the top but dont touch the thermometer
6. I see some builders place the thermometer below the bottom plate and some above the top plate and some even a second one at the very top. What do you recommend.i put mine under the bottom plate
7. Some say to pack some mesh in the top of the condenser coil how much and what does it do.no need if your coil is over 150mm long
8. Does anyone use any type of reflux centering device as suggested by some builders. If so what type do you use.the mesh acts like a centering ring sort of
9. With the triclamp/triclover ferrules does the pipe fit into the fitting or vise versa or does it just but up to the pipe and solder on.from memory i expanded the 2" to fit the ferrule inside
10. Is there any need to have control of coolant flow.no not really you need control of output and heat[color=#0040FF][/color]
Sorry about so many questions but I really want to get it right first go. If anyone has answers to these questions or just some advice or can see some fault in my design please let me know.good luck

Thanks for the input guys. Will be doing probably 50 50 neuterals and whiskey/rums. Was hoping the boka would do both as areflux and a pot.

:text-+1: What Deejay said.

You are using annealed copper for the 1/4 inch coil? Should bend piece of piss.

Only need centering rings when you go above 3 inch apparently. Hence why you don't see many 4 inch boka's ;-)

Can anyone who has used a similar set up to this give some input on the run time of a strip and spirit run. Are they ridiculosly slow

I've got a 2" LM/VM thats only 1 meter packed section but it takes me around 8hrs ( once its boiling) to do a spirit run of 25 liters of stripped low wines at 40% .Typically get around 94%ABV and I'm happy with the taste and no more carbon filtering so that's a time saver on its own .
My boiler is 1300 watts I think

It all depends on how much power you put into it and how much reflux you run.The more power the faster but you will most likely flood a 2" column if you go more than 2kW .
The more you reflux it,the purer the stuff but the longer it takes .Its all about trade offs .Power costs ( including water usage ), time ,purity.

And I wouldn't bother stripping in my column ...way too slow.I use a keg on a gas cooker with a libig condenser to so my stripping.Much faster.

However this weekend I did something different,I used my 1300w boiler on the gas cooker ( both gas and electric at the same time )and it was a very quick strip. :dance: This was using my libig condenser. I use this cause it keeps the business end far away from the flames.

2" Boka is painfully slow

Hours upon hours of watching drop after drop :crying-blue:

Yes 2" reflux stills are painfully slow at around 1 litre per hour, much better off going for a 3" rig and maybe even consider a VM.

I'm with mac on the VM idea .very set and forget whereas the LM is a pain in the arse to drive .Also your distillate comes out cool as opposed to hot on an LM(Boka).
I used LM on my combo abit at first and it was a pain .I just use the VM now

+1 on what been said so far,

Kinda remember but trying to forget on the Boka used to get up about 6am to put the 50lt keg boiler on and would struggle to make the pub for beer with mates early evening before everyone pissed off for dinner/partying.

pain.

It can and WILL put you off longer term. If it has to be 2" VM as suggested.

bt1

Can someone put up a recommended 2" VM design link please.

Look here for a start
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3112&view=unread#unread

So it sounds like the boka design with a t to a gate valve is the go with the Liebig on the side. I think this is the way I'll go. Is see most designs I can find reduce back from 2" to 1" then t off is this a necessary part or could you just run a 2" t and a 2" gate valve or is this overkill. Is there a problem with having it as a boka with plates or would it be better without the plates. The only reason I ask is I'm thinking of going boka then converting to a VM later on.

Hi NBB

You sure can just use 2" Tee and 2" gate valve ,according to the experts ,that's the best just that Stainless gate-valves that big are Farken expeno .That's why most use the reducer method so you are bringing it down to a "cheaper" diameter.The reducer method keeps the ratio the same .

Thing is with VMs that the lowest Reflux ratio you can have is 1:1 ( only used for stripping). with equal size up to the reflux coil and out through a fully opened gate valve.The vapour is split equally.
If you have a smaller outlet then proportionally less vapour is output verses refluxed.
In reality this isn't an issue as you never use anywhere close to 1:1 ratio unless you are using it as a stripper.I've never used mine as a stripper ,a pot head is piss easy to make and works much better.And gives you more fun building :handgestures-thumbupleft:

He's my VM/LM combo .Its a bit different but just to show there are many ways to skin a cat .viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2950

Thanks mate that's a cool rig what is the reason for the external reflux return. Is it because you have reduced the column. I see some setups run a gate valve to the reflux condenser aswell what is the purpose of this.