"I just received my 8 gallon Kettle from BH. BTW hats off to BH, welding on the 1"" coupler looks great and shipped earlier than expected AWESOME!!

I'm wiring up my internal electric element and feed for it today. I plan on running it this weekend and have a few questions;


1) Instructions say to do a leak check...but not much after that. I plan on washing and leak check then a few trial runs with water to get a feel for the new heater and controller setup...I've seen a few recommends about a vinegar run any comments?

2) What needs to be done to the copper mesh prior to the sacrificial run, again I've seen post about vinegar rinse or boiling it?

3) Somewhere I remember reading about replacing the rubber bung that the thermometer goes into....cant remember what followed or where I saw it...need to start bookmarking more!

4) Again somewhere but can't remember where I saw (pics) someone replaced the chemical tolerant line with copper tubing (bendable?) any thoughts or ideas on that one?

5) More to come but getting sleepy and can't spell anymore... 3rd shift life...or lack there of!"

"Ditto on the chemical hose.

I do precisely as Bigwheel suggests: I use a step ladder when pot stilling ... and put a small piece of plywood on a stand that used to have an electronic keyboard on it (it adjusts very easily). I threw the hose in a parts bucket and have never used it.

I thought the bung had a funky smell the first several runs ... but it eventually goes away. Just don't do what I did the first time by shoving the bung in too tight. It seemed to fit so damned well, so I shoved it in there nice and tight ... until I had to remove it ... while the rig was still hot ... that was my idiot ""ah ha"" moment. There's really no pressure beneath it ... so it just needs to be snug enough to get a seal.

Good luck, have fun!
--JB"

I got a pic which yall need to see. An old pal from Whiskeyta Falls and some of his pals decided to build one of the valved refluxers which got the plans on the internet. Anyway the condenser is at the top and from the pics once you set that on a big beer keg looks to place the output dribbler about six feet off the ground. They start out with a step ladder..then an ice chest..then an assortment of other nonsensical stuff trying to reach the top. Clear cut case of a Rube Goldberg operation..or maybe some redneck inuneering. I aint smart enough to post it but if somebody got an email I know how to email it.

Sounds like you are Ready to Rumble..lol. I bragged on my fancy router controller too quick. It just zonked itself on run before last. I knew it was not supposed to get as hot as it was feeling to the touch..finally set it up on firebrick just to be on the safe side. If you have similar misfortunes the good news is once you switch over to 120 doubt there be much need to turn it down any. Should be real controllable with the water at that point. Or works like that on mine. Now would not do for pot stilling but aint a problem in the reflux mode. Best of fortunes..kindly keeps us posted.

PS Edit: I just had a bit of an epiphany here. Now do you plan to run the big boy element till you cant keep it cooled down enough with the water and have to switch to the 110? Or do you pick some arbitrary temp to switch em? Just trying to think of all the angles on this deal. Thanks.

Now seems like the smart fellers recommend leaving some of the copper packing in there even during the pot still run. Have got advice on one or two rolls. I used one and a half. Theory being the vapor needs to contact some copper somewhere along the path to take out the sulfides. Did not taste like battery acid so it musta worked. Now if you already knew that kindly excuse my redundancy all over again yet one more time.

I've read on here that some people use ceramic rings in the bottom and fill the top with copper. Then again some people use 3 or 4 rolls of copper only. Others use a few rolls,(2 or 3 ), of copper in the top and then use stainless steel scrubbers for the rest of the tower. Myself I fill in the whole tower with copper for reflux. My purity runs between 90 and 95%.

Seeing as how it's not a water heater and you don't have a continous flow of water through your tower, I don't think electrolysis is a real hazard when useing copper and stainless steel together. The raschig rings have there place in distilling just for my use, copper is best. I'm sure there are a few people in here that use copper and stainless both in there tower, maybe they will chime in and tell us how well that works for them.

"

What you are talking about is called a galvanic cell. It won't really have any effect on a still. Copper and steel aren't bad. Its aluminum and steel that are the worst. And really it only causes corrosion it doesn't create a battery."

Hi Heeler, Thanks for your concern but as I said above I use ONLY copper in my tower. I don't see any reason to use stainless scrubbers. I bought a 100 foot roll of copper mesh for a critter problem and have quite a bit left. So I think I'm set for copper mesh for a long time since it does'nt seem to wear out very quickly.

Well glad you worked out a suitable device for the project. Necessity is the Mother of invention seems like some smart person say one time.