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xurzax
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Registered: 08/28/05
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Making a Distillation Apparatus *DELETED*
#7575072 - 10/30/07 12:14 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Post deleted by xurzax
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sleepy
zZzZzZzZz


Registered: 01/17/05
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Re: Making a Distillation Apparatus [Re: xurzax]
#7575120 - 10/30/07 12:32 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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as long as the copper doesn't come off into the moonshine, why not?
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,795
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Re: Making a Distillation Apparatus [Re: xurzax]
#7575911 - 10/30/07 10:01 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I see two bottlenecks here, one potentially dangerous and the other a nuisance.
First the dangerous one: you are using 1/4 inch copper tubing on a still which you will use for 10-12.5 liters capacity. Compare the diameter of the pressure cooker with that of the tube, it's a huge difference.
I would feel more at peace with you using 1/2 inch copper tubing for this setup. The difference may seem slight, but the surface area cross-section of a 1/2 inch tube at the same pressure allows for 4x more vapor to pass through than a 1/4 inch tube.
You might be able to run this setup at a low boil, or you might not without considerable pressure building up.
The second one is a nuisance problem: the water vat of your heat exchanger is quite small, which will mean you have to change the water fairly often.
If I were you I would go for 1/2 inch tubing, and a good 20-30 feet thereof. At that diameter and length you probably won't need a water vat: air cooling will be enough. In that stabilized scenario you could take measurements so that you could put the pressure cooker on an electric hotplate with a timer switch, so that you can turn it on, it distills itself and at the end of the run it will switch itself off.
**this will take some thorough testing** but then you could arrive at a scenario where you switch it on, go to work, and come home to four liters of freshly distilled vodka 
If you want to go all the way then instead of a PC you can take a 30 liter beer keg, let 2 meters of your 1/2" tube spiral upwards and then 8 meter spiral downwards (sounds huge but its quite compact) so that you have a coil still of 25 liters capacity, and put this on a hotplate with a timer switch. This setup will allow you to distill a full 25 liter batch of Turbo wash in one go to a strength of 90% and over. You fill it, let it do its thing and shut itself down and there you have 2 gallons of homemade "everclear".
I strongly recommend that your recepticle for the distillate has at least 40% of the capacity of the amount distilled. That way, if something goes horribly wrong somewhere, it will overflow with diluted alcohol and not with flammable alcohol of 50+% Likewise, don't let your recepticle be glass either: if it shatters due to heat you have liters of warm combustible spirits flowing. Eliminating water cooling eliminates the last of the most common possible mishaps.
You must watch your still carefully and ask yourself: "what would happen if Inspector Clouseau ran this still?" You should do the same with any lab/extraction setup you might be planning.
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
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Gringo Biloba
Fluid TransferTech

Registered: 10/31/07
Posts: 16
Last seen: 16 years, 2 months
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Re: Making a Distillation Apparatus [Re: xurzax]
#7609083 - 11/07/07 10:00 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Xurzax, this is not going to work properly as a 'still. The diameter of your tubing is too small and there is no fractionation column. It looks dangerous. If that thing boiled over and some debris got stuck in the tubing inlet you have a bomb on your hands. Sorry. The only thing that comes to mind when I see that thing is a possible steam generator (for steam distillations), and it would have to be run super slow.
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CaptainLinger
A Fungus Amongus


Registered: 05/25/07
Posts: 1,756
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Re: Making a Distillation Apparatus [Re: Gringo Biloba]
#7609842 - 11/08/07 03:15 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
The only thing that comes to mind when I see that thing is a possible steam generator (for steam distillations),
I'm not sure what other type you'd have in mind.
However even if this is effective, it's worth noting that it's nothing but a pot still. Reflux stills, capable of distilling 3x4 times without cycling, are much handier. I made mine from this guide:
http://www.moonshine-still.com/still.pdf
(you can probably still use the PC shell; good luck!)
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xurzax
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Registered: 08/28/05
Posts: 168
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Re: Making a Distillation Apparatus *DELETED* [Re: Gringo Biloba]
#7617749 - 11/10/07 07:05 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Post deleted by xurzax
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Gringo Biloba
Fluid TransferTech

Registered: 10/31/07
Posts: 16
Last seen: 16 years, 2 months
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Re: Making a Distillation Apparatus [Re: xurzax]
#7618625 - 11/10/07 12:45 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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So what happens when the pressure relief blows and you are doing an alcohol distillation/extraction? The hot alcohol and vapour runs down to your heat source and poof. I'm just trying to save you the hassle. Also, if you are trying to distill alcohol (or any other solvent) you should have a fractionating colum for it to have any decent purity and monitor the temperature at the top of the colum (just before the vapours enter the condensor). What are you trying to distill or what purpose will the apparatus have?
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