Jimmidaboot

Been doing a lot of lighting work recently, but also been working on this beauty in the between moments. Today my apprentice and I welded in the 17" companion flange so the still can be more easily transported and cleaned. Also, we welded in the 18" stainless manway, and welded the top cone to the lower cone or cape. You can see in the background the boiler sides are prepped for welding, and the blank for the bottom of the still awaits my attention. I'll be building a rather large Gatling gun type condenser for this unit. Will likely get to that next week. I'm exceedingly happy with the progress so far. Stay tuned for more hand formed copper still work!!

They are ribbed for rigidity…and for pleasure. On this particular still, I used 32oz copper for all the bodies, so in order to give them a little strength, I rolled some beads into the sides. Seemed to work quite well!

I'm using 48oz copper in the entire still. I'm using Sil-Bronze rod for all the TIG welding. Should have a few more pictures up in the next week or two. Juggling several projects at the moment.

Hey y'all. Just thought I'd update on the new project I'm fabricating for a start up distillery in Ohio. It's about a 150 gallon direct fire with a tall stack leading to a swan neck. I hand forged the swan neck halves and welded them together. The top cone is put together, and soon the two will meet. Below this there will be a large cape, leading down to a straight sided boiler. There will be a 4" lyne arm that will bottle neck down to a 1" worm in an all copper condenser barrel. Anyways, here are a few pics….

So, it's been a busy 2013 for me over here at Craftsman Copper. I finished the still for Schoharie Farms distillery back in March. They've got it up and running with a minimum of issues, with it being my first shot at it and all. I thought I'd chime in on what's been going on here. Besisdes the lighting projects that are always going on, I was contracted to build a brew kettle for a semi-local brewery down the highway in Oregon called "The Ale Apothecary". It was a fairly simple job, 140 gallons, 12" manway, two ports for float switch and temp switch, CIP port, and drain. Here it is loaded up in my vintage van for delivery: Here are a few pics of it under construction. The seam on the side is riveted and silver brazed, the bottom is doubled at the edge and riveted, the soft soldered with lead free solder, the top was TIG welded then worked into the dome shape, the stack and manway were TIG welded, and the ports on the bottom were flanged and soft soldered: I was then contracted to restore the original Olympia Brewery brew kettle top piece. It was recovered from a scrap yard nearly 8 years ago and then languished in the City of Tumwater's Parks and Rec motor pool building. The city decided to build a new city hall/police dept. and they determined that this was to be the central piece of public art for the facility. Needless to say, it was pretty thrashed after so many years of neglect and abuse. Parts were removed, the floor skirting was really bent up, and being outside in the scrap yard had built up a very heavy patina. The brass end pieces for the door slider frame were gone, the doors were gone, and the point where the lower kettle was hacked off was very rough, to put it lightly. My apprentice and I have been very busy cleaning and polishing it and creating replacement parts for it. The polishing is nearly done, and the brass end pieces await a small amount of fixing up before I attach them. I still need to recreate the slider door, but I'm nearly done. So here are some pictures: So that's what has been up lately. I have two stills on order and a few lamps and chandeliers to build, but I'm always willing to listen to anyone's ideas about new projects. Enjoy the pics, friends! It's likely that I'll be up at the conference in April, so I hope to meet a few of you there. I have friend at Imbibe Magazine who is making me a guest as I just can't afford to be there as a vendor. Should be a good time! Thanks for looking! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hey guys, my next still project is in the planning process, and my client is interested in using an agitator as they are going to have a lot of solids in the mash. I would like to solicit advice on what unit to use, and the best way to make a good seal at the pass through for the shaft. Anyone have a good experience or even a bad experience? Thanks for your help! Jimmi

I made a small 25 gallon pot still and heated it with direct fire propane. I used no silver solder, only soft lead free solder. I've run it many times and have never seen it ever get hot enough to melt the soft solder. My max temp ever at the still head has been 208f. I suppose if it were empty it would melt, but who would do that? Melting point of copper is 1,984f. Lead free solder melts at around 425f. Silver solder runs between a melting point of 1250f-1475f, depending on the amount of silver/phos copper. If you get a still that hot, you need to do some more research, or maybe shouldn't be distilling at all. As far as silver solder getting holes in it, I don't know for certain. I've done many many searches for silver's reactivity with ethanol and have yet to find any info. Anyone?

The rivets will help to keep the seams together during expansion and contraction, but with a good solidly welded seam, that shouldn't be an issue. You can get lead free solder as well, just keep in mind it is only solder, and as such is a fairly soft metal, so as Pete mentions above, some rivets would be a good safety measure.

Those are way cool! Man, I wish I could attend.

Not this year. I was on a timeline for this one to go to the distillery in CT. I'd like to go to the conference, but I can't afford it at this point. Plus, I have a lot of lamp orders to finish up, so taking time away from the shop isn't in the cards for some time now.

It has been a labor of love, and I'm rather proud of it. I threw my bike in there for scale...and to show it off a little bit...LOL. 200+ gallon boiler, hand hammered copper head, stainless 12" flanges, 30 gallon thumper with all copper integral manifold and optional water bath head, 40 gallon condenser with 1" copper worm, stainless 10" manway, stainless tri-clover clamps on the lyne arms, all hand made and hand polished. Phew! Glad to be done. Time to crate and ship. Thanks once again for all your advice and support ADI. You're a bunch of good folks!

MAN!! That is freakin' incredible! What parts is it missing?

The rest of the story.....

Thanks Jason! I see you used to be a brewer here in Oly with Fish Brewing? Very cool! Locals rule!

So, basically a few welds on the thumper to condenser arm, and then it's time to give it a polish. Thanks for all your advice and support on here, everyone. Here it is the first time the boiler shook hands with the thumper. As a point of reference, I'm 6'3".

I don't think my client has solids in the wash. I suppose if they did, they must have been able to deal with it in the Hoga still they've been using. Not sure, actually. But, as per their design, there is no rummager.

So, aside from a drain in the bottom, the thumper is done, metal work wise. I will be polishing it before delivery. I've polished the top at this point. Enjoy the updated pics. I wish I could join all of you good folks in Denver, but alas, I am but a poor craftsman. Maybe next year?

Beautiful!!

Copper is really the way to go.

Yessir! There will be a large 2" drain in the still, and a smaller drain in the thumper. And yes, I had to make a few concessions to "modern" tools....and I got a good TIG welder as well!

You can clean copper with a watered down solution of sulphuric acid. You can also use a half a lemon like a scrub brush, just put table salt on it for some abrasive. I went with what my client and I agreed upon initially, bottom is 48oz and sides are 32oz. He wan't worried about it being too thin. Neither am I. Can't wait to finish this beauty up! The water bath thumper was my clients idea. I hope it works well for him.

Been busily working on this big danged still. I thought I'd share a few more pics of our most recent progress. Let me know what you all think. I hope to make this into a living and be able to phase out the copper lighting someday. Hit me up if you're interested in discussing a custom handmade copper still or copper components for your still project! Thanks for looking: Looking down into the water bath thumper head. I will be rolling the top edge and capturing a copper wire in it for strength. Top of the still body getting welded together. Thumper neck in progress. This is the manifold inside the thumper.

Top riveted and welded, some beads rolled into the barrel. Dome on top is just sitting there. Details on that design to come.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with some heavy EPDM. Since I'm the kind of person who likes to build something if at all possible, I think I'll get a gasket cutting tool and make my own. I take this hand made thing pretty seriously!

I was wondering about EPDM material? Do you or anyone else on here know anything about it? The silicone would certainly be convenient, but I will need something to take up some space, as the mating surfaces are not flush and smooth. Thank you for the kind words on smithing! You're too kind.