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18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:45 pm
by nuddy
Gday AD's,

The time has come to upgrade the boiler on the still. My current 50L rig has been serving me faithfully for a few years now but its time for something a little bigger. I picked up an 18gal keg a little while ago and have been slowly plotting its creation into an approx 100L boiler.

Current plan:

-Orientate the keg horizontally to reduce height and increase stability
-6" ferrule for the column
-6" or 8" ferrule for a fill port / boiler access point for cleaning. Will be putting a 4" ferrule onto this as a sight glass. Havent been able to find a 6" or 8" boro sight glass.
-2" ferrule for secondary fill port will also double as a triclampable CIP port. Will be building a portable CIP unit with sprayball after the boiler is done.
-2 x 2400W elements, with the option to upgrade 1 to a 3600W element later on down the track.
-House the elements in a sump that will be the low point of the keg, also to reduce minimum liquid volume required to run still safely.
-Drain port on underside of sump.
-Undecided on whether to go 3 or 4 legs, also thinking about using lockable castors for a little ease of movement around the shed.

Ideas I'm floating in my head at the moment:
-Have the mid section of a 50L keg floating around from my inline thumper build that I'm thinking of putting between the top of the keg and the 6" column ferrule to create just a little more headspace to control rum pukes.

Idea is to make a hassle free boiler and super easy to clean, connect up CIP, crack open the drain and it drains dry.

Not in a great hurry so will tackle this piece by piece as it happens. As is tradition around here I will post pics up as progress occurs.

Stay tuned.

nuddy.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:06 pm
by RC Al
Consider grabbing 1x 2400 &1x 3600w straight up, put the 3600 on a voltage controller and don't run it past 2400 watts till you get the bigger power point. If you use a ssr, you could run a reduced ohms pot to prevent feeding too much juice in

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:37 pm
by bigcam
my boiler 110lt
6in out the top
4in fill
1in drain
viewtopic.php?t=9526#p162420

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:30 pm
by nuddy
bigcam wrote:my boiler 110lt
6in out the top
4in fill
1in drain
viewtopic.php?t=9526#p162420

Bigcam your still is an absolute weaponnnnn. I love it. Whats your poison of choice to put through her?

That looks roughly like that I was planning in my head, if I plonked this on top of the new boiler.
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Have never come across your build, stoked you dropped in. I've got some thinking to do.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:19 pm
by bigcam
corn barley whiskey nuddy
tried to future proof it for a 6in colum after the 4in but have stayed with the 4in
the 6in upcommer with 8or 10in cap thumper does fills fairly quick with only the 4in on top but at 6 to 6.5lts an hour it goes ok :snooty: :D
lost the build pics on an old hdrive thats why the build post didnt go anywhere ~x(
and i run on gas
cheers cam

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:02 pm
by nuddy
Goodies arrived in the mail today.

pic.jpg


Time to get this build going.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:51 pm
by RC Al
Mmmmm. Stainless. Shiny

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 9:30 pm
by nuddy
Little bit of headway on the accessories for the boiler.


Element covers.
Cut the 100mm 2" triclamp pipes up into pieces and welded them to threaded 2" end caps to take the elements.
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6" to 4" ferrule reducer end cap. Yet to weld this up, just assembled together to check clearance and fit. Had some 170mm diameter 5mm thick s/s disc offcuts laying about which only needed a few mm machined off em to fit. Quite stoked.
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Whilst a little more expensive than building everything by hand out of scrap and offcuts, I don't have the free time I did on my first build. So a nice compromise between buying ready to go parts and customising it how I want.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:26 pm
by bluc
Looking good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:21 pm
by nuddy
A little more headway from this arvo.

Starting with the element sump.
Made a cardboard template to get a rough idea of how the sump would fit.
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Starting to work on the S/S version, corners cut and testing tri clamp fit so they don't foul with each other.
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Sump folded and tacked together. With the base I broke it across both diagonals to create a low point in the middle for the drain.
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Sump welded up and sides roughly trimmed to fit keg. I reduced the length to accommodate shorter elements and increased the depth to ensure the elements stay covered on low volume runs. Will possibly trim the sump depth back a little as it looks a little too deep.
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Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:36 pm
by db1979
Looking good :D

Wish I could weld.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2018 8:56 pm
by nuddy
db1979 wrote:Looking good :D

Wish I could weld.


Just gotta pick up it up and give it a go. I'm still learning and feel like I will my whole life. Thin steel is a bitch compared to thicker stuff. Trying to do as much of this without back purging it cause its gonna be a major waste of gas that I don't have. So everything is a super tight fit and very cautious with the amount of heat I'm putting in it to. So far haven't blown through yet and rear side of welds have been fairly acceptable.


Work done this weekend on the boiler.

Scotchbrited the 80L keg and roughly marked out where the 50L will sit.
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Cut the top 1/4 off 50L keg, positioned it over rough cut hole and tacked it into place to transfer final cut lines to 80L keg.
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After final hole trimming. Wet rag to reduce marking interior surface.
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50L sunk into hole and checking fit. I then transferred the cut lines across to the 50L keg.
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After trimming the 50L keg, welding on the 6" ferrule and removing the trim around the edge.
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Finished up the element sump and drain.
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Clearance is good and water drains to a low point still. Did have to give it a little persuasion post welding as where the drain attaches to the bottom of the sump shrank a little with the weld heat. Nothing a quick and very light push with the press couldnt fix.
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Upside down but the sump is welded to the 80L keg.
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Hoping to get this finished with in the next few weeks if things go to plan.

Still gotta figure out where I'm putting the other 6" ferrule where I can easily access the internals when it needs a scrub yet still function as a view/fill port.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:56 am
by bluc
Where is the drool emoji :dance: :clap:

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:13 am
by woodduck
Looking good. I like this idea. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:56 pm
by nuddy
another weekend, another bunch of hours throw at this project and another set of pics to look over.

Time to build a frame for it. Been pondering how to achieve this for a lil while now, then.....

Some left over parts from an old job that had been laying around collecting dust gave me an idea for how to mount the boiler.
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With the gentlest of tweaks they fit almost perfectly to the beaten and misshapen curve of the old 80L boiler.
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Cradle frame welded up and final test fit for the boiler in its new home.
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Cradle frame all cleaned up. This is gonna be a breeze to move around, no more lifting and lugging.
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Whats left to do, something to restrict roll in the boiler but have fine adjustment (will think this over during the week), weld 50L keg half to 80L keg, cap open end of 80L keg, weld 2" fill port, 2" CIP port and 6" inspection/view port and give it all a quick clean up. Not too fussed on how clean it ends up, long as it holds together and works decently. Shiny does look nice thou.

With good luck I'll have this finished some time in the next 2ish weeks.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:58 pm
by bluc
Epic awesome :clap:

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 10:36 pm
by woodduck
I'm liking this build mate keep it up :handgestures-thumbupleft: :clap:

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 10:45 pm
by Sam.
woodduck wrote:I'm liking this build mate keep it up :handgestures-thumbupleft: :clap:


:text-+1: that is looking super schmick :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:27 am
by Professor Green
Could be a contender to replace Milky's build as members featured build.

Re: 18Gal+ boiler build

PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:59 pm
by bigcam
looking good mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: