Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this rather infuriating problem I am having getting my second weldless to seat down properly on the outer 2" gasket:



It seems crazy but no amount of cajoling can get this gasket to remain seated in it's circular slot, it always gets "squished" out the left hand side as can be seen in the picture - this is obviously to do with the curvature of the keg but the first one had the same curvature and I have had it off and on 3 or 4 times without any problem.

I did try and flatten the curve out a little but these things give very little and I am wary that if I belt it any harder I may crack the weld just above it.

My last thought was to hold it in with a hose clamp while I tighten it but a) It will be a while before I can get up to a hardware store and b) I think it will still be out of it's slot and will just pop out when I remove the clamp.

Could I be doing something wrong? I can't see how I could be, I am just doing what every one else has been doing as far as I can tell.

Notice I am using a jar lid remover to tighten it up so it's certainly not over tightened.

Any thoughts more than welcome. I would dearly love to fire up this baby.

Try a bit of cooking oil on the gasket then tighten

Zzpop wrote:Try a bit of cooking oil on the gasket then tighten

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I had thought to try some silicone spray but I convinced myself that would make it worse for some reason. I should have rationalised it by saying it couldn't make it any worse - ha ha.

Zzpop wrote:Try a bit of cooking oil on the gasket then tighten

No luck there unfortunately.

One problem with fitting these is that with the gasket on there is only about 1/2 a thread to catch on to which makes it near impossible to hold the gasket in place and screw the flange on at the same time as the only way to hold the element at it's extremity, and get that half a thread, is to tug on the wires - I can see them breaking off at some stage. This also means that half a turn of the flange is enough for the gasket to pop out of it's ring.

I might try and hold the gasket onto the flange with some teflon tape.

Flick me an email with your phone number and I'll give you a call from work tomorrow to see what the problem is :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers,

Mac.

Hmmm maybe give the keg a smack to flatten it where it is catching legs are pretty tough

Zzpop wrote:Hmmm maybe give the keg a smack to flatten it where it is catching legs are pretty tough

Unfortunately there are raised profiles (ridges) top and bottom which aren't going to flatten without softening with heat methinks.

Solved! No need for 2 gaskets (as per Mac) so removed the outer one, no leaks so far, bringing up to boil now...

Edit: Have one for me Mac! :-)

Hmmm, I can see already how insulating these kegs might be a good idea.

It's near the top of my 'to do' list after my last run .... Heat up in the warm weather has only been taking 45 mins .... Last run was quite a bit cooler and took over an hour to heat up .... That's just wasted time ~x(

BennyHiggo wrote:It's near the top of my 'to do' list after my last run .... Heat up in the warm weather has only been taking 45 mins .... Last run was quite a bit cooler and took over an hour to heat up .... That's just wasted time ~x(

Trouble is they look so good naked...

Keg too hot to touch but another half hour before boil I would say (of course you wouldn't normally bring water to the boil in this thing ha ha).

Only one element running so far until I can get my wiring set up as needed.

Will I be the only one with a 15 amp power point in his bathroom?

I think I have exceeded my quarterly leccy bill already 8-}

If it hasn't boiled by Doc Martin time it will have to wait until tomorrow.

BUT No Leaks! :happy-partydance:

Heating 50L BTW

Keg now sounds like my kettle just before it takes an infinity to click off...

water too hot to touch - looking good.

Sorry if I am boring people. This is exciting for me... :teasing-neener:

Pulled my element controller out of circuit, getting a little warm, not too bad but I think I will need that fan...

Rolling boil achieved, probably good enough for a 50L pot of tea, shutting her down.

Thanks Mac!

Glad to see you got it sorted mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sorry to Piggy-Back off this post but the topic relates to my query...

I have 2 of these elements and I'm wondering how to "Wire them up"?

Obviously I need to take it to a sparky, fine, but they're going to ask me about earthing, and how I want this done...
Ok, again showing my lack of knowledge, but when I see others builds it looks like they've cut a length of cable of an extension cord and somehow connected it to the heating element...

Is it that simple? Use some heat-shrink to hide and water proof the joint?!?!
What about the earthing issue?

Thank you.

in the picture above (first post) there is a little screw on the ferrule. thats where you attach earth (ground) from your cable.
I am interested in the heat -shrink waterproofing as well. I dont think this is necessarry :? This part should always be dry and if is not, then your connection to ground will trip the circuit breaker (hopefully).

just as an addon: you have to make sure that the entire still/boiler is grounded NOT just the ferrule.

rumsponge wrote:just as an addon: you have to make sure that the entire still/boiler is grounded NOT just the ferrule.

Glad I asked!

Just had a closer look, my heaters don't sit in a guard like that. I have drilled a hole into the back of my boiler and my elements are inserted from the inside thru to the outside, hence Weldless...

So mine don't have that little screw! :oops:

So, ... what do I do?

gota pic, or two from diff angles? might help sort out the problem :handgestures-thumbupleft:

EziTasting wrote:

rumsponge wrote:just as an addon: you have to make sure that the entire still/boiler is grounded NOT just the ferrule.

Glad I asked!

Just had a closer look, my heaters don't sit in a guard like that. I have drilled a hole into the back of my boiler and my elements are inserted from the inside thru to the outside, hence Weldless...

So mine don't have that little screw! :oops:

So, ... what do I do?

Drill a hole in the top of the keg, where the handels are then put a bolt in it.
Or if you have legs on the boiler drill a hole in one of the legs and tap a thread in. (This is what I have done)
Or if you have a tig weld a stud next to the element.