stilllearning's Glasser Build

Perforated & bubble cap plated columns

Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby rumdidlydum » Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:01 pm

Yeah definitely tighten the top nuts first then the bottom ones, the bottom ones essentially is a lock nut to lock the plate in place and not letting the pressure off the top nut.
Make sence 8-}
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Wed Aug 31, 2016 7:44 pm

Hmm thanks guys, I'll have another crack this weekend. :think:

WT, I'm only going to double up the seals where I've done the end plate/flange. That would be Packed Section to RC and RC to 4-2" reducer, although I ordered enough seals to double all the 4' triclamp joints, if for some reason I need to later on. I'm hoping that the single sight glass seals are good enough, it's just an error on the amount of tension in the rods.

I also noticed during the leak test that some of my plates drained fast and complete when I let the water out of the bottom of the keg. As in some of the plates didn't hold a bath very well at all, it seems that they loose fluid too fast around the flared joint on some of the risers. It's about a 50/50 whether they seal properly or not. Some are just a very slow drip, which I suppose would be OK, but others just had water pour out around them. One in particular was dropping lots of fluid straight down the downcomer opening on the plate below it, pretty much taking that plate out of action altogether.

I'm going to dismantle the column (-| and solder in all the risers before I leak test again, then I know they are 100%. Ironically this gets me full circle with doing the bolted caps in the first place, as I didn't want to solder them. At least I will still be able to unbolt the cap from the soldered riser for cleaning or repairs I suppose, and it will be much easier to solder them in now that they're flared anyway.

Live and learn.
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby Zak Griffin » Wed Aug 31, 2016 7:55 pm

All of this work will make those first bubbles even more awesome! Keep it up mate, it would be easy for us all to follow a tried and proven build but thinking outside the square leads to good things :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Sat Sep 03, 2016 8:11 pm

ITS ALIVE!

Spent the last couple of days making a few adjustments to the rig, soldered in all the risers, re-tightened all the rods and installed a second seal in the triclamp above and below the RC, as well as between the packed section and plate tower.

Success today, leak tested again and after a couple more turns here and there, it's now holding water tight no problem.

IMG_0878 reduced.jpg


Started up a vinegar run at about 7pm, gonna let that run for a couple of hours,I've never been so excited to see bubbles before in my life!

I'm gonna burn a cleaning TPW through it tomorrow morning, hopefully I can get a video up of my plates loading.
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby Professor Green » Sat Sep 03, 2016 8:12 pm

Beautiful work. Looks great. Looking forward to hearing how the first run goes.

Cheers,
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby rumdidlydum » Sat Sep 03, 2016 8:49 pm

:clap: go you good thing.
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby EziTasting » Sun Sep 04, 2016 3:12 pm

So, it's Father's Day, also known as the "Next Morning" and I was looking forward to seeing your video...

Love the look of your rig so I'm very keen to see it perform... :techie-typing:
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby bluc » Sun Sep 04, 2016 3:18 pm

Nice work :handgestures-thumbupleft: lol ezi
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:46 pm

Alright, as promised. (It's not quite tomorrow morning, but i still get points for the tomorrow part right??




Of course, what maiden run would be complete without a couple of new questions;

I ran a 50L TPW hard and fast through it as a sacraficial / cleaning run, full 4.8kW the whole time, with full reflux only for the first 20 minutes or so then I played around with a few different settings on the RC/PC vavles to see what happened. Was trying to get a feel for how long the condensers responded to changes etc. Ended up closing the RC off altogether and ran for around 3 hours with only a tiny bit of passive reflux. I ended up taking the stainless scrubbers out of the packed section, they seemed to rust up quickly after the vinegar run (Chinese stainless?!). The vent plates either end of the packed section seem to run like a perforated plate when the chamber is empty, even with big 5mm holes.

Took around 10L off all up, didn't make any cuts as I intend to dump the whole lot anyway and chalk it up to learning (have already tipped the lot as I write this). First 5L, on the left of the photo was crystal clear, tested 80% ABV. Obviously includes heads, I smelt it on several occasions to try get my nose tuned in a bit. Smelt mildly like acetone, with a strange floral kind of hint. Kind of nice really. Second 5L on the right, went cloudy within about 100mL of me changing the jars, tested at 28% ABV. Didn't have much of a solvent smell, almost smelt like the original TPW, kind of like a weak bready smell.

So, Is the second jar mostly tails and or water? If so, I'm surprised at how quickly they came on. That means that my hears would have been about 4 - 4.5L, somewhere in the first jar. Does this sound right for a bog-standard TPW recipe, which I doubled for 50L? The only other thing I did was go to full reflux for a couple of minutes to cut the output while I changed jars, could this have upset the run and brought something cloudy up the column?

Also, looking for some new packing for the packed section, what should I go?

IMG_0885reduced.jpg


Either way, had a great afternoon playing around, looking forward to my next run.
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby bluc » Sun Sep 04, 2016 9:08 pm

Cloudy is normally tails but not sure why it would happen half way through the run rather than last third..
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby WTDist » Sun Sep 04, 2016 11:32 pm

Bunnings for ss scrubbers :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Mon Sep 05, 2016 7:55 am

Yep that's where they came from, sabco ones I think they were, in a pack of three. They pretty much fell apart after the vinegar run, I had what looked like fine glitter in my output, and rusty liquid falling back down the tower :handgestures-thumbdown:

Might have been a bad batch or something
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby Zak Griffin » Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:31 am

Awesome stuff mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'd be hitting Five Star up for a roll of copper mesh for your packed section :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby WTDist » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:11 am

how much power was it on in the video?
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:15 am

Ran both elements, 4.8kw the whole run.
Spotted a couple of bags of stainless pall rings at the HBS the other day, might give them a go for packing?
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby WTDist » Tue Sep 06, 2016 8:47 am

it looked like it was holding a lot back. did it hold full reflux on both elements?
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby EziTasting » Tue Sep 06, 2016 8:55 pm

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft: Saa-weet! Looks awesome... who cares about brownies when you can still!!! :D

Get rid of the Chinese SS wool!! VERY BAD!! Almost ruined our second batch of TPW - left a bitter after taste and who knows what else ...

A friend got me some from the Big Green Shed they work awesome! Oh and FSD has copper mesh in stock, too! bought a kilo for our pot still set-up...

Theres a post on how to run a reflux still, its fantastic (sorry couldn't fond the link) - we hold reflux for an hour, to be sure...

Have a blast! Now the real learning starts! Take notes! Heaps of notes!!!
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Tue Sep 20, 2016 12:18 am

Finally had time tonight to go through all my receipts;

Final build cost for this ring from whoa to go was $2681.69. :shifty: Man things add up quickly!

Just a few notes to go with that though - I originally got my keg for free, so you'd need to add an amount in to allow for that if you're buying one. I also included $271.05 of tools, such as a MAPP kit, extra gas bottle, flux, silver solder (for my easy flanges), two rolls of aquasafe solder and a flaring tool. These were the only "special" tools that I bought to build this thing. Almost all the other tools I already owned, and I'd say most folks would reasonably have in their shed, or at least know someone who does. I did have access to a drill press and a small lathe which made life much easier, but there are many stills that get built just fine without them. The only major thing I borrowed was a mates oxy/acetylene rig to hard solder my easy flange rings.

There's also $125.68 worth of flap wheels, polishing wheels and some polishing compound. I haven't gotten around to polishing my rig up yet - but I will - and I suppose you'd normally need at least a couple of these for deburring/tidying your build even if you're not polishing.

Anyway, I've attached the spreadsheet that I roughly kept up to date as the build went along. Thought it might help someone see what the true costs are to build something like this, or you could use it as a template for your own build. etc.

expenses.xlsx
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby EziTasting » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:34 am

Wow, thats detailed. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

just goes to show its not necessarily cheaper to build... BUT you get satisfaction of creating your own still!

For me, the first 4 or 5 runs will be the greatest learning on how your still works and behaves (this is where you find its name ~ Bitch, Mitsubishy, My Precious, etc) :)) but it is also the most fun you'll have!! After that comes the "perfectioning" (for want of a word), where you focus on tweaking the runs, and improving the ABV and volumes...

All I can say is take notes, take notes, take notes, take notes!! I am still learning about things like how the wind affects my still run and why I didn't think of that before (we don't have a shed to work in... now with insulation she's a lot more stable, and performs better!) and what effect the toaster and washing machine and hair dryer have on our power availability ... ~x( , lol...

AND DEN comes the variation between the different recipes ... and then comes the cutting ... and then comes the maturing ... this is where I am at at this point in time - I know enough to get me into trouble but not yet enough to get back out of it! :laughing-rolling:

'Tis fun, to be sure!
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Re: stilllearning's Glasser Build

Postby stilllearning » Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:28 pm

Ironically one of the reasons I chose to build in the first place was to try and save a few bucks. I was on a roll in the beginning; free keg, 4" and 2" copper from the scrappie which he was selling at $10/kg, etc. etc. So all the bulk stuff I got for a song... then it was all the little bits that started to add up in the long run.

You're damn right about the satisfaction of building though, I know every last detail of this still inside and out, imperfections and all, and now I'm looking forward to learning how to drive it properly. Being a draftsman by trade I couldn't help myself but to draw up all the little details and figure out all the little bits as I went along, and since I love a good project this is probably why I chose to build rather than buy. I'd probably say that it's out of my system now though - If for some reason I had to get another still, I don't think I'd hesitate to buy a FSD rig regardless of the cost. I think now I can appreciate their value, knowing how much work goes into them (I'm sure they are fabricated in a much better equipped workshop for starters!!) but even still getting everything just right so these things work properly is a challenge in itself.

I've already started my brewing log in an old notebook, writing down a few notes on each wash and still run, I've started collecting low wines and am planning the first plated run in about two weeks...

... Ive just got to fix a leak in my PC first though - I blew it last weekend doing a pot-mode stripping run :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:
Talk about imperfections and all...
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