Placement of Copper Packing

Myles

Sorry been distracted by the carbamate problem. :))

CothermanDistilling

@ohyea said: cd, ok so i had 20 pounds of 99.999 ofc 4awg fine stranded scrap wire that i stripped the jacket off and cut into 8" long pieces then un-twisted it to 16awg spiral twists. Then soaked it in 3 tblspoon of citric acid granular to a gal of water for a day. Then i took a 8" o.d. roll of the structure cu and set it on the plate. Then just dropped all the scrap ontop as it keeps strands from dropping thru the big cap holes and into the boiler. I dont like using the fine stainless screen because the reflux activity makes the small mesh saturated and "plug up". I simply wanted the packing to not fall down. I may even add holes in the plate. The charge was 50 gal 10.5% cane sugar wash. Long stretch of hearts. Rock solid 130p for a long stretch. Dual 2" SD condensers ran in series with insanely cold water. Distillate came off at a freezing 49 deg f. Another thing worth mentioning is the ambient temp of the air was 55deg so the expansion chamber was quite cold compared to a 100deg distillery. When looking thru the site glass on the ball the "legs" running down the ball was i sight to see. 12kw was used for run. Have 32kw for heat up. I dont have 8" plates built so i can only compare to a 4" plated column. This was the first run after vinegar and sacrificial so not much data yet. Some AG will come soon and i will report back.

anything new? still figuring out what direction to take my still next...

Unsensibel

I've put mine now on top of the dephlegmator right before my 180. Trying to mimic the setup of the big Germans...

Myles

By my understanding copper does two different things. It fixes both the sulphate and carbamate problems.

Seems to me you need some copper in the boiler and vapour headspace. This will slowly degrade, best if the residue ends up in the boiler drain.

Then you need some at the high point in the vapour path. This is a catalyst but possibly will not need deep cleaning very often, and when it does you might need to be able to remove it to soak it.

Mickiboi

@Unsensibel said: I've put mine now on top of the dephlegmator right before my 180. Trying to mimic the setup of the big Germans...

Copper Scrubbies? In your reducer?

Unsensibel

@Mickiboi not scrubbers but mesh. I've put a tee on top of my RC and the stuffing goes up into the reducer

Mickiboi

@Unsensibel Thanks mate much appreciated. Got it now