Stripping/spirit configuration

Lloyd

You mean the spirit safe? Whole nother can of worms. But thanks for the heads-up, I figure that's coming. Especially in Europe.

FullySilenced

I saw a parrot with a little glass dome covering the hydrometer.... it was in a movie that was posted by Odin's buddy who is opening a distillery on an island.. showed an old gin distillery in the Netherlands worth watching just to see the herb bins and read the labels... and hear some of the added ingredients...

Moonshine

Yes, that's from a sealed off still, which can be a requirement by alcohol tax law depending on where you are in Europe:

See the customs seal on the right below the dome?

@Lloyd, that's exactly what we need here for running a commercial still. Parrot unit with glas dome that can be sealed by a customs official.

punkin

@FullySilenced said: all you need now is a parrot with the little glass dome for the commercial guys..

Now there's a bloody good idea.

cleadus1

just thinking the only thing that may be annoying with this design would be cleaning out the columns, sure its a modular design but in this sort of configuration it would be good to have a semi permanent setup. wouldn't be too bad for the tall column because it will most likely only be used for neutral. but for the small column if you run say a gin and then want to do a rum you wouldn't want any gin on the plates still would you?. so is there a easy way to dump the remaining gin from the plates? without having to disassemble. Or it could be a case for sieve plates... Any plans for producing sieve plates Lloyd?

Lloyd

Hi Cleadus,

Lots of ways to add a fitting to the top of the column for wash out.

See the In 'Development - CH Gin Basket' discussion. Its really best not to allow the flavor of the botanicals into your boiler or distillation column.

We are working on a 8" perf plate for the 8" Crystal Dragon. That project and this one should be combined. The Design that you have chosen really lends itself to be a glass column.

FullySilenced

I am not mentioning Holes unless they are tight and well lubricated...

The plate your working on the 8"er seem like a good way to go as hole size and the number or holes have been discussed sufficiently.

Lloyd

Very true, FS, we are following Harley's lead on this.

Shooting for just under 10% hole area to available wet surface.

We're exploring the high tech metal etching technique to cut the thousands and thousands of holes. (That's how the new gin basket will be made).

FullySilenced

I talked to LOO about the metal etching process ... i was thinking or making some perf plates... the etching method is a viable process make one master screen and make tens of thousands of plates... and the time to etch is minimal the screen cost here was like 125 dollars one time fee...

FullySilenced

could make 50 screens in one etch ... guess that would depend on the plate size and the etch machine size as well i was looking at 1.5 mm ss and or copper etch process works with either. accuracy was within few thousandths of an inch

FullySilenced

I wonder if you can etch holes in tubing? hmmm that would make a gin basket simwhat simple just add a perf. bottom and top to it?

punkin

The other thing you can do if you want bubble caps Cleatus is to follow the suggestion by Crozdog in our upcoming user manual and dril a <1.5mm hole in each plate to ensure it drains after a run. If we included a tee in the bottom cross tube pointing through the table we could have a 3/4 dump valve at the lowest point of each column to drain.

Lloyd

@Law_Of_Ohms said: Are you talking about something like this?

Well bugger, the factory failed twice trying to make the fitting at 110mm tall. Looks like it has to be a minimum of 125mm tall to pull the 2" out of the side of the pipe. I hadn't counted on the extra thickness of the 8" pipe.

I said, OK, go ahead and make me a couple of them, sure they'll be fine.

Lloyd

The collector section prototype arrived today. Looks good.

As shown the parrot hangs over the edge of the table. A pipe section could be added between the bolt flange base and the Collector to raise the parrot above the table if desired.

Note the use of a 3/4" Tee to serve as the surge breaker.

The underside, that never touches alcohol, does not get polished.

TheMechWarrior

Whatever happened to all this lovely work?

Lloyd

No one ever ordered it. Oh, maybe one or two but that was it.
My personal rig has it and its really cool. I like the table mount especially with a flexible TC pipe.
Not easy to see in this picture...

googe

That's crazy!, I never seen this thread when you were commenting on my new one Lloyd!. I feel like a copy cat!.

vooharmy

I am surprised that more people didn't order this!

Lloyd

Me too. It was a great idea but almost no customer or distributor expressed interest in it so it died.
Folks vote with their wallets and the lack of votes killed the project.

The sad part is that it was so long ago that for me to make another now its almost like starting completely over.

We get a lot of that. Something that solves one person's problem does not always translate into a product that others want to buy.

When we sell out of 30+ different popular items and customers are anxious for more its all to easy to drop an item that no-one orders and to focus on what folks are ordering.

Last time someone ordered one of those was over a year ago. That sucks but its just the way it is.
I can't produce them if no one orders them. If you are interested then ask your SD distributor to stock a few. It could simply be a case of them offering them on their website but without your demand they will ply their limited funds on stocking more the popular items.

And with about 400 or so SD products, so far and counting, for distributors to choose from to stock with limited resources its not an easy decision to stock something that so few, if any, requests.

Long story short, we did it and it was great. Only two or three bought it and then it died. It solved a problem for a very limited few customers and then the demand disappeared.

Right now we are hard pressed to keep up with the demand on some items but a table mount product adapter has not been one of those items. I'm personally sad about that after spending the time and effort to develop it.

As with anything StillDragon, YOU can order it into existence. Your distributor will order me to produce it if you place the order with your distributor.

Smaug

It is definitely a nice item. With hobby sales a bit slow I don't foresee much demand beyond one or two.

The Pros however is another story.

So many new Pros just now getting into the game and also trying to familiarize them selves with what is possible through StillDragon.

Sometimes too many choices can be pareleizing until the buyer is adequately informed. We try to help our customers understand the possibilities with out coming across as salesy.

Also, some buyers have not yet secured their building and so they just don't have a good feel for what they need to make daily production process more user friendly.

I feel like this project will be revisited soon.

googe

Lloyd, are the people that brought them members here?, any chance we can get some feed back from.them?. And maybe some feed back as to why people arnt interested?. I would guess it's to do with, 1. Cost 2. Afraid to try something like this, knowledge wise 3. Being frightened of having a permanent setup that they can't strip down fast if the cops come.knocking. Since I did mine, I've been so paranoid because I can't disassemble it quick and hide it like a single column on a boiler. But, for anyone that's interested in this type setup I'd say go for it, the worries etc out way the versatility and pleasure of owning something like this, it's just so awesome and fun and interesting and very very user friendly in being able to make everything from one still with the turn of a valve, nothing better!.

Lloyd

As best as I can remember they were for 8" stills so there is no real need to worry about taking it apart quickly.
People that buy 8" and bigger equipment are generally not turned off by a couple of hundred dollars of extra equipment.
I reconfigure my still far too often to use a table mount condenser without the addition of the flexpipe.

As you have probably discovered on your build, when table mounting columns and condensers you start getting into a lot of fixed piping. Plus the need to drain the columns back to the boiler. It becomes non-modular very quickly.

I enjoy my table mounted condenser because, as I said, I re-configure my still often and it frees me from having to deal with the product condenser at all. Disconnect the flexpipe at the dephlegmator and never need to touch the condenser or parrot assemblies.

Perhaps after the holidays I'll revisit this and add an additional column (or two) to the table. That would force me to develop the idea more.

grim

Don't forget the other problem with multiple columns is the column base. The height is going to be entirely dependent on the boiler being used, which means unless you are buying it as a system, it's something you are probably going to need to fabricate or have fabricated. Mounting just the condenser is easy, since there is plenty of flexibility and you don't need to worry about flow-back of reflux. The only way height wouldn't be a problem is if you were pumping reflux back to the boiler, which means a very very expensive explosion proof pump.

I only say this because we're currently working to fab a table for the big dragon condenser and parrot (4" x 1 meter), as well as a whole load of 4" piping. It's very heavy full. We've settled on a heavy duty stainless steel restaurant equipment stand. It's like a stainless work table but heavier gauge and build. We'll need to mod the feet such that we can bolt it to the floor, and probably reinforce the top so that it doesn't flex like a noodle. Even something like this is $250 worth of table, before the fab. I would think you would be hard pressed to build a custom stainless stand for less than $500, maybe even more if you want it to have a top, this is above and beyond all the shiny bits. You get to a point where everything needs to be rock solid and the piping can no longer support itself.

We also considered mounting the parrot assembly to the floor and using some additional 4" pipe to bring it to height, and just putting a work table next to it for collection containers. This might be more cost effective (assuming you don't mind drilling holes in your floor), but it wouldn't address another column.

Lloyd

All too true @grim. It quickly becomes a "system" that does not lend itself to tear-down and reconfiguring. I think its rare that a split column evolves from a column on a boiler but instead is engineered from the ground up, boiler and all, as a split column still system.
But the allure is certainly there... a pot still, a flavor still and a neutral still - all in one.

Myles

I just love the concept of these permanent, valve controled, stills.

If it means building false walls etc - well that is fun too. "Dukes of Hazzard" anyone? :))