Loony bin and crazy ideas

punkin

Sounds fiddly and complex to put together when if you just settle on a bolt table the parts are already existing to simply bolt together. We just have to agree on the table (A,B,C ect) is all. 4 bolts for 4", six bolts for 6 and 8 for eight etc.

Myles

I have seen the high pressure style clamps, but was actually thinking about alternative multiple bolt clamps that would work with the existing tri clamp ferrules.

You could replace the silicone gaskets with crush-able copper ones. Probably not really necessary though.

CothermanDistilling

glass lenses with taper ground on one side like a ferrule?

Lloyd

I think the appeal would be limited and difficult to deploy across 2" to 12". The high pressure clamps would really do the same thing.

Edit: Sorry, seems there were several posts after I responded, probably the page break.

googe

I've often thought of them.Myles, would look good scaled down. They have a unquie look.

Lloyd

No idea what you guys are talking about.

Myles

I was really only thinking for 5" and above Lloyd. Similar to these but intended to be used with triclamp ferrules and gaskets. Both the top and bottom rings would need to be in 2 pieces, so you could fit them around the column.

Add on clamps to use existing ferrules, as an alternative to the currently supplied clamps. Probably a daft idea though, with a limited appeal. I have subsequently found that there is also a 3 bolt version which would be a nice option for a clean look with concealed bolts.

brewsmith

Ooh, I like that 3 bolt design. Looks classy AND beefy :)

Myles

Lloyd is it possible to cater to the UK customers by providing a 3" TC Blanking plate with a 2.25" BSP female thread.

This would be an element adapter for the standard UK immersion elements. Used with a 2" TC to 3" TC reducer to mate onto the standard 2" TC element ports.

Lloyd

I could be possible, but so far you are the only one to ever ask for it.
I'd need as much info as possible, especially the pitch of the threads.

Myles

Actually Lloyd I just found a weld on 316 stainless threaded boss for the elements. Outer ring is 89mm dia x 3 mm thick. I will compare to the dimensions of a 3" blanking cap to see if they are compatible. milkingmachines.co.uk/uk2shop-11.htm

Lloyd

3" TC end cap is 91mm dia but it just might work @Myles. Let me know.

Sandman

@Lloyd said: A place to put brain farts. Feel free to contribute a few of your own here!

New here so I hope I'm not brain farting.... why not weigh it?

95% density is 0.80424kg/l
95.1% density is 0.80395kg/l
So a difference of 0.1% is ~0.29g/l

If we had a glass baby parrot that is detached that held say 333ml (?) then the mass would change by ~0.1g for every 0.1% change in ethanol ( I realize a look up table would be needed as it isn't linear). All we need is a scale such as these that have a USB port or RS-232 interface.

Analytical Laboratory Scales @ Scales Galore

It looks like even 0.01g accuracy isn't that costly as long as you don't need a large maximum weight which we don't need.

Thoughts?

grim

@Sandman - exactly, we were going down this road in another post. The real issue that I am coming up with is that you need a very high precision load cell to measure the exact weight, then you need a very high precision thermometer to measure the temperature. You then can correct for the temperature and weight to yield ABV of the sample. However, this would need to be done by a computer or controller that has logic and look-up-table capabilities, which means you also need a data acquisition unit with very high precision. Both the temp correction and weight to ABV calculations are very complex and can't be done with simple insert-a-constant algebra. But, they are available in easy-to-use table form, which makes the programing much more simple.

Grip

@Myles. Just been on the milking machine site that you mentioned. Wish I'd found that site a while ago!!! Thanks

Lloyd

StillDragon has some really big balls.

For scale, the top and bottom ports are 8" and the middle sports 3" ferrules for SGKs.

They will grace a set of 2000L boilers kind of like this (drawing not finished yet)...

Drawing courtesy of @Law_Of_Ohms.

Drunkas

They look really nice for balls :)) and that conical fermenter looks sweet to.
Also wondering if SD make's a alcho that can read between 20 and 50% but with big brackets. I hope that makes sense

FullySilenced

Maybe a grain mill based on something like this .... a 110 volt one for the USA and 220v for the rest of the world...

Hammer mill project @ Copper Custom Still Components

TheMechWarrior

@Lloyd are those balls to help reduce foaming/solids to the bottom plate and provide for some passive reflux or is just sex appeal?

PS...I like the look of that Baine-Marie 2,000L boilers ;)

Cheers,

Mech.

Lloyd

@TheMechWarrior the customer that ordered those says pretty much what you said...
to help reduce foaming/solids to the bottom plate and provide for some passive reflux AND sex appeal.

Jung

Love them... I could use a nice ball like that, two would be a tight fit, but I'd want my balls a bit smaller, say for a dash 2 in 4". Something to combat foaming would really help speed things up... Any chance that would be something on the radar for future?

Myles

Limited market, but I did once see a potstill made with graduated balls. One of the reasons I built my own copper ball and cone pot still.

Myles

Has anyone put a vapour lock on the GB4 drain yet? So they can take off the condensate as another product, continuously through the run.

There might be some usefull portions in the condensate that would merit small sample collection.

Lloyd

Brilliant idea @Myles. You could, maybe, eliminate the drain valve and it would be auto-emptying.
I say maybe because if a different botanical is used you'd probably want to drain the vapor lock.
But!... I'm told its best to push the vapors through pretty hard so the vapor lock may need some fiddling to get right.

grim

Hmm, interesting. I come across sanitary/triclamp steam condensate traps regularly on the surplus sites/eBay. I wonder if something like this would work.

1/2" Spirax Sarco BTM7 Sanitary Tri-Clover SS Steam Trap @ eBay

grim

Scratch that, I don't think a thermostatic is going to work, temperatures are all wrong and there is nearly zero pressure differential. Density trap perhaps:

1/2" ARMSTRONG INVERTED BUCKET STEAM TRAP MODEL 1011, 70 PSI, NPT, STAINLESS @ eBay

Little stainless bucket trap.

devilshine

i think this is a loony idea so lets put it here in the loony bin i don't know if as been though or not. i have been thinking of this idea of an inline thumper for a cd witch consists of a 4" standard bobble plate without a downcomer and a 4" CD sight tower with 4 glass cylinders. my biggest concern is that the vaporlock would put to much pressure in the boiler

Myles

Unlikely. Keg boilers are typically rated to 3 atm and I suspect any boiler will be at least 1 atm. This is over 400 inches of water. Your vapour locks all added together are tiny in comparison.

devilshine

thx myles so i could have a CD cylinder of 400 inches without pressure problems? but there's the problem off not generating enough pressure and dump the thumper contents

bronco

Making control box and wanted to have ABV using temp. I had to work 2 curves each for each liquid and vapor. See excel attached. The curves are not perfect but close enough. I might try a lookup table and then interpret the data between lookup table points. Maybe a little better we will see..