Scott's POS Firewater Hook Column & Flamethrower Condenser email: goyeast@yahoo.com | ||||
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This is my column and condenser, assembled
minus the tubing. It achieves total reflux by
default, and the distillate is drawn off via the gate
valve. I've since added a needle valve below the gate
valve in order to achieve finer control.
With a 750 watt element, I've drawn 400 ml per hour of
95%+ alcohol, which isn't very fast, but I just
purchased a 1500 watt element that will probably
increase this significantly. The column is 45 in. x
1.5 in. and is packed with s.s. pot scrubbers.
The condender assembly is 44 in. long, with the
jacketed portion being 26 in. x .75 in. around a .5
in. pipe (a lot longer than necessary, I've found). I've only had two issues with this design. 1) The condenser screws onto the column, thus in order to draw off alcohol, I need to wrap the column's male fitting with PTFE tape to insure that the take-off valve is pointing toward the ground. 2) When assembled, the column and condenser need to be stablized. I use a homemade wooden frame which has worked well. |
Pilch's Stills | ||||
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Purity : 92% |
Smithers Still at http://go.to/distil | |
![]() | Smithers says ..
Packing type : stainless pot scrubbers Distillate flowrate : approx 600-700ml/hr @ 95% purity Pot capacity : 30 ltr urn approx construction cost in aussie dollars .. temp controller cost about $60 to make still head materials (stainless) cost about $15 element (1.38kw) cost $40 one carton of beer to the welder $20 dig temp probe $18 urn $20 at an auction The controller will switch 3.0kw so theoretically you wouldn't need to use the 1.38kw element but I like a speedy heat up |
Construction details/tips :
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Jan Willem at http://www.geocities.com/homedistilling/ | |
![]() | Column is 115cm long and 42 mm diameter packed with stainless steel scrubbers
Output is about 500 mL/hour at 94% purity See Jan's site for heaps of details re construction and design options. |
![]() | The coil (for reflux) is made of 10mm soft copper, easy to wind but really inefficient to use. The coil has 12 windings and needs massive amounts of cooling water to keep the top cool enough for sufficient reflux. A innerside coil is much better, even pass trough pipes AT THE TOP! are better, but i don't like these because I want my column to be clean and empty on the inside. That means NO pipes coils or other things in the column, now I can experiment with lengths and so, it also makes it multi functional. U can turn it with a short EMPTY column into a potstill etc I'm experimenting with a new cooling thing a (sort of) drawing is atached to this message. I hope you get the idea.... |
Homer's still (Hillbillyman50@hotmail.com) | ||||
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Diameter : 3.5 inches Reflux Column Height : 16 inches Reflux Column Packing : stainless steel pot cleaners Heat input : High on my electric stovetop Purity : 92% to 93% depending on how much reflux Flowrate : 92% at 350 ml hour and 93% at 250 ml hour (give or take little bit) Still : 4 Gallons I have five cooling coils 3/4 of the way up the column. The approximate cost was $175.00 To $200.00 The Stainless Steel valves, tubing, pipe & fittings were very expensive but it was well worth the cost for an easy to clean still. The gasket between the lid and the pot is Tygon tubing it is heat and chemical resistant. You can't see it on the photos because it was not on the pot when the photos were taken. It is very easy to clean the column. Diagram of how to make & fit the coils inside the column ![]() | |||
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I just finished my first run through my new all stainless steel
reflux still. The spirits was a very very clean 95+%. The boiler is a
10 gallon tank and the reflux column is 2" ID and 48" tall with
stainless steel pot scrubbers. I have two 2000W elements for fast
heat up. When the wash is up to temperature I can cut off one of the
element and can regulate the wattage on the second element to
maintain the correct temperature in the reflux column. This is my
second still and they work well.
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Ted's Still at http://mwci.s5.com/ | ||||
![]() ![]() | This still is built from materials from the local hardware store.
All of the plumbing is standard copper plumbing pieces. The kettle is a 5 gallon
canning kettle. The top is held on with spring clips, and flour paste provides
a good seal. The still can be disassembled easily for cleaning. The column
is a 1 inch copper pipe filled with copper pot scrubbers. Above this is a
short reflux condenser. The only tools needed to build this were a propane
torch, pipe cutter, screw driver, and dremel tool with a grinding bit. From an 8% wash, I get 94+% at 600ml/hour. It will run like that until the alcohol is nearly gone from the wash and then the flow drops off and the temperature starts to rise. At this point I kill the reflux and collect tails to 96 C. Here you can see the reflux condenser jacket which is made out of a 1" T. There is a small plastic tube inside the one that you can see, that goes over to a point in the main condenser. So, even though it looks like the there is only one port for cooling water there is actually a flow through it. |
Robert Warren's "Charles 803" | |
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Marks's Still | ||||
![]() | Purity : 95 % |