Okay, check the link http://www.atotlampslightbulbstore.biz/servlet/StoreFront
They are the ones who were selling the dimmers on ebay. They have an 800 number that might be worth calling to see if you can get one from them. Otherwise just keep checking for 1500W dimmers or lutron dimmers. One will turn up eventually.

I wish I could tell you the part number for the bushing but my welder ordered it for me from McJunkin Corp. If you have a welder in your area he could get it for you, and weld it in. With a 6.5 gal kettle you only need one element.

When you do get it set up let me know and post some pics. I would like to see how the brewhaus boiler looks set up.

Cheers!

I found a 1500 watt motor speed controller for a good price. I have been assuming that it would work but was not sure. Will have to orde one and give it a try. I appreciate the W.W. Grainger suggestion. Yes, we have one about 3 miles from me. Will stop in there Friday.

Thanks Scott!

Okay you guys got me here. I have to say I never thought of a motor speed controller hooked up to a heating coil, but in theory why not? You HAVE to let me know how this works! Scott, can you post a photo?

Cheers!

clove100:
Welcome to the conversation!

First of all, when you get your keg, don't cut the top at all! The existing hole should line up perfectly with the flange you buy. Just remove the sanke valve. You probably knew this already but I wanted to make sure.

For the tri-clamp ,order from http://www.brewhaus.com/Tri_Clamp_2in_Clamp_p/30001665.htm or http://milehidistilling.900footalien.com/connectors.htm
I believe you are correct in your assumption that you can silver solder the flange to the column, and use that to clamp to the keg, however I have never done this personally so take that into consideration. To be honest I ordered my column ,stainless steel, prebuilt so I didn't have to mess with soldering the flange or anything else, however my mentor, who built a copper column did this:
attached
Others have more experience with this than I do so I will defer to them.

Also don't forget to order the rubber o-ring gasket at the same time. I actually ordered 5 gaskets so I have extras when I lose/damage them ,hey they are cheap, order them at the same time you order your clamps and flange and save on shipping,.

That was a good price on the reostat. You might want to share the web site where you bought it. If you have a pipe or plumbing supply store in your town they should be able to order the bushings for you if you can't order them from McJunkin Corp online.

I'm with you on what a pain it is monitoring a flame. That's why I am a big advocate of the electric coil. So far I haven't heard of anyone yet that has been blown across anywhere using the eletric system. My mentor who uses propane had a leak that ran down the side of his column and keg then caught on fire running all the way back up his keg and column. Luckily he got it out before his garage went up. I also really like the way the coil is REALLY quiet. Just set it and forget it.

What system do you use to cool your condenser?

Good luck and let us know your progress as you go along.

I think I messed up the pic's, but perhaps you can see them.

I forgot the web site for the dimmers. I searched on Google and came up with one from 'Leviton' that sounded exactly like the one Elricko showed. I have not seen it yet, but it is a 1500w dimmer and others I found were like $125 or more.

If I have patience to watch the flame and do it right, I get 94-96% product from it. You can adjust the reflux from full reflux to no reflux with the valves. I really do like it, only thing is the flame which is hard to adjust. I am hoping for great things with the electric heat.

Chas.

buzzman:
I don't do a full 15.5 gallons at a time, But for 13/14 gallons with a double coil it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get up to temp then unplug the top coil and control the bottom coil to set the drip at 2-4 per second for five to six hours. The nice thing about the coil is that you don't have to watch it every minute. But you will have to keep it monitored and watch how fast those collection jars fill up ;, For an estimate, I would figure probably another hour for the other gallon and a half of wash. I would suggest that you don't fill it all the way to the top as you need some head space in the keg.

The other issue is cooling. One fellow I know says he hooks one end up to a water tap, through his column and then out through the other end to a sprinkler and waters his lawn while he distills. Not a bad idea but I imagine running a sprinkler for six hours can not only be costly but could possibly flood your lawn. I use a double sink system whereby I have one igloo cooler filled with cold water that is pumped into the unit then out to a second igloo cooler that has a copper coil ,wort chiller, in it which is iced down. So the water flows through the iced wort chiller and is redeposited back into the first cooler cold. It works great but you do have to monitor the ice. I go through several bags of ice in a run. That part is a pain. I wish there were a better method. Any ideas?

Actually I am going to start a new thread on this issue and post pictures of my cooling system. So let's take this up there.