StillDragon® Community Forum

Welcome!

Be part of our community & join our international next generation forum now!

In this Discussion

The StillDragon User Group YouTube Channel

135

Comments

  • Saw you guys FB post from Winter Park. Cool! Nice looking equipment/distillery/brewery/eatery...

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Thanks,

    They are going to do well. They have a great concept and a plan,,,,,,and traction.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited December 2016

    Merry Christmas 2016 from StillDragon North America

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C4ZEyhdfUA

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Merry xmas back to the whole bunch of you. Still have my store address wrong :)

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Merry Christmas to you and your staff, Larry.

  • @punkin said: Merry xmas back to the whole bunch of you. Still have my store address wrong :)

    Really ? Shit though we fixed that.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • And what a fabulous team you have, @Smaug.

    Merry Christmas to you guys and girls from a wintry icy hazy country in the troubled Old World. <:-P

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • edited January 2017

    Watch @Smaug and Shaun present a New Element Guard Design

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk1a9nOqwB8

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited January 2017

    Watch @Kid present a Custom Still Design, Pilot System and Wort Chillers!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEPQkz2He7E

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Well done Fanta Pants.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Nice ambient reflux

  • Watch @Smaug on how to make a Replacement of Agitator Seals in Distilling Systems

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjpN0KFvfbQ

    Your Place to be >>> www.StillDragon.org <<< Home of the StillDragon® Community Forum

  • Interesting video. I see the that the vapour seal is created with the wiper seal (oil seal) below the bearing. Are you using a mechanical seal (pump seal) above in addition for further vapour sealing??

  • edited November 2017

    Hi Richard,

    In retrospect, we may have made this video a bit prematurely as we have used several kettle factories since our inception. As such there have been perhaps three different types of seal set ups so definitely this thread/subject needs more info.

    Some of the tanks have used a top and bottom seal that sandwich the bearing and some use a single seal above the bearing. Though I suspect the seal below the bearing would do a better job of preserving the service life of the bearing,,IMO.

    We have been using our current kettle company for a while now and they do a beautiful job with fabrication and seem to improve in quality with each forthcoming batch of kettles. They are now using what appears to be a teflon bushing at the penetration point. Evidently the bushing swells upon heat up and forces a seal. Then there is a secondary back up seal that is held into position with a "block" that slides over the shaft and tightens against the seal as well as holds the shaft into position until the user can install the bracket that holds the shaft permanently in position.

    No matter which mechanical seal system is used, it is very simple. And at some point the user will need to become familiar with the assembly in order to pull maintenance. Shaft diameter and pocket/cup /seat are requisite measurements in order to accurately replace. We can get parts for any of the seal systems but do need those measurements to do so.

    image

    Seal Diagram.jpg
    800 x 600 - 119K

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Watch @Kid Putting Together a Crystal Dragon

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s2DPZ25E2g

    Your Place to be >>> www.StillDragon.org <<< Home of the StillDragon® Community Forum

  • Good vid. Interesting way of using the difflectors. On mine i alternate directing in to the centre and directing out towards the glass. Seems to work OK. It appears he is just difflecting to between the procaps which is easier on the 4" but less space to do that on my 5".

  • edited November 2017

    Yep Bluey is doing a great job.

    Reminds me a bit of Charles Bronson really.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Very useful to me - especially the tip about water testing. Nice point about leaving off the bottom deflectors, SD Europe say insert a pipe section before the first plate after the boiler. Nice if you have the height available, which a hobby person rarely does. :(

    CD = Crystal Dragon below.

    IMPORTANTLY - A lot of new people start in this section so it's worth mentioning that this video shows the CD with custom ends that can accommodate the CD gasket.

    SD Europe customers will discover that these CD custom ends are replaced with a standard sight glass that you will need to break apart to give you 2 ends of a CD assembly. This isn't an option, it's your only choice.

    Further, the EU website image shows the custom ends like in this video (and all other CD videos I can find). It's all a bit confusing on delivery, if you haven't somehow worked out from the EU website parts list there are simply no custom ends included. There isn't a free sight glass either. :))

    The CD gasket will not fit in the EU sight glass ends as shown in these videos. Don't rip the very thin sight glass gaskets out to fail miserably trying to insert a chunky CD gasket. I personally was a little annoyed at this, see other old posts if interested. I've since recovered, but remain unhappy. Now you know the situation, so you will not be as annoyed, hopefully.

    Also, I found the glass cylinders used to build the EU version of the CD tower need to be near perfect because the sight glass end approach leaves you with practically no tolerance. Hmmm, made in China. :-O I've had 3 x glass cylinders that simply would not slide into the sight glass ends but were ok-ish with CD gaskets in the middle of the tower. Fine if you have plenty of glass cylinders to go at (I did), but maybe a bit of a problem otherwise, as you are into returns. None of this is an issue outside the EU customer supply region.

    Moving on, the video also briefly mentioned stacking CD sections. I have tried stacking 2 x CD (EU sight glass ends) assemblies - a 4 piece on top of a 6 piece, and for myself it was disturbingly wobbly compared to stacking steel sections. Far too wobbly for me to proceed any further with that design. Maybe just 4 rods between ends is not enough for stacking CD towers and then the heavy dephlegmator etc. on top?

    Before @-everybodySD flames the reply: YOU NEED EXTRA SUPPORT ANYWAY, and that as an irresponsible idiot I will kill myself because of what I just wrote, my point is that stacking CD sections is a different ball game to a Dash, or packed steel section, or hybrid tower. So, this is a key difference in my mind between CD and Dash designs and I'd hesitate mentioning it In passing on a video that new people will view, early on in the not inconsiderable discovery process.

  • not youtube, but Facebook... guy reviewing a rye whiskey I let a group of people make the cuts before going in the barrel..

    Whiskey Obsession @ Facebook

  • edited April 2019

    Continuous Rig up and chugging.

    39 gallons an hour of finished product @ 140 proof.
    A bit slower with the rye what with foam up.

    Video shows a higher proof but hasn't been temp corrected.

    A walk around the corner shows a blue bucket collecting distillate. That's the heads collection.

    Product/distillate take off is essentially an LM styled method to insure (at least) a measure of heads is removed with each gallon processed.

    Working Continuous System

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LngJEIzZ7qw

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Really curious of mash thickness and how the plates of whatever design you are using handle it... and the bottoms outlet setup

    Super interested in scaled down to 4", possibly using multiple, modular, pre-fabbed, 4-plate sections?

  • We're using .5" holes and a suitably large large downcomer.

    Bottoms outlet is very similar to our basic (divorced) side column bottoms return section with respect to design.

    So for Adam's, live steam in the top port and bottoms drain at the bottom. There is a liquid level indicator installed to alert the controller to scroll the pump to push bottoms through the bottoms HX.

    There is also a temp probe in the bottoms discharge to alert the controller to supply enough steam feed to insure that all of the alcohol is flashed prior to sending to the HX.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I can't really comment on the viscosity of his beer. Maybe we can get him to comment? Though I'm going for a site visit early this summer.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • So .5" holes and a downcomer... nice... thanks... any interest in making a 4-plate 4" spool as a 'modular unit'??? (copper or stainless spool with with the plates welded/brazed in place and you install/maintain the downcomer through the SGU window on the front) You stack 3-4 of them together, and boom... you have a column... I shoot me a quote, and I will pay for the R&D units and give test results...

    heck, have 'steam-style' insulation sections(plastic clad foam) made also, and they double as shipping packing...

  • @CothermanDistilling im personally more inclined to see a 2 plate section with no windows and a single plate brazed in the center with a loose plate included with the assembly.

    This would make manufacturing much cheaper and a fella could add a window between sections easily.

  • edited April 2019

    image

    image.jpg
    600 x 800 - 46K

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • @Fiji_Spirits said: CothermanDistilling im personally more inclined to see a 2 plate section with no windows and a single plate brazed in the center with a loose plate included with the assembly.

    This would make manufacturing much cheaper and a fella could add a window between sections easily.

    just looking for people to get to 16 plates economically and quickly with a continuous perf column...

  • The main material cost of a column is the plates and windows. Costs might be reduced with perf plates (with better size holes) and again further by reducing windows, then again by reducing manufacturing costs and difficulty.

    My contention is that stacking two assemblies made with one easy to reach braze/weld in the center of a 200mm spool and one standard loose plate between them is probably gonna cost dramatically less than a four plate stack with four removable windows in a single assembly. We just don’t need windows on every plate in a tall column. One window every 2-4 plates is fine on a 10+ plate column.

    My biggest issue is non concentric spools giving column lean.

  • the stripping side is large holes, no plates (to handle the mash being distilled) not talking bubble caps here...

    If it is a factory making it, they can use jigs to square up the plates and furnace braze or silver solder or have other methods to fasten them. IMHO, you reduce the cost of two 2-plate sections by the cost and weight of 2 ferrules, a clamp and gasket.. at 16 plates , that adds up... and you need two different sized plates...

    I could live without windows once it is proven.

    For instance, if you wanted 8" spacing for foam reduction on a 4" column, put one near the very top (1" away) and one further up in the bottom, (7") and the overall length is 16", 406mm... . A box of 8 of them makes a 16-plate column... use HP clamps to combat column lean... Side thought: Maybe some three bolt clamps could be made and give great adjustment, and @smaug could call them "Ghidorah Clamps" ?

    Here is the beautiful part if it can work out.. cost might be able to be worked down to no more than double what a 500mm section is if the plates are punched stainless and the downcomers are simple j-tubes and the factory has a great way to weld them in place... they do not have to be welded all the way around to work with large open holes, a simple tack works.. I know, I know, not my place to say what cost is, but i did...

Sign In or Register to comment.