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Chip Tate

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  1. Take a look at Ward Burner's site (wardburner.com). You need a rectified burner system. CT
  2. Check all your gaskets, seals and joints on your stills and condensers for leaks. That would be my first guess. Chip
  3. Roofing copper it normally not the best choice since it's C11000 (electrolytic tough pitch) which does not weld very well. C12000 (phosphorus deoxidized copper) is the best choice for TIG welding, but C10200 (oxygen free copper) works fairly well too. Thickness depends on what you're making, but I normally use 1/8"- 1/4" thickness for most production distillery pieces. Like welding titanium, you want a surgical level of cleanliness in the weld zone before you start. High temp flux is a good idea too (Harris black brazing flux is ideal). Amperage depends as much on the size of the piece as the thickness. I also use pulsing a lot to help control penetration on sheet metal, so the following amperages are peak values (50% of time at max A, 45-55% of max amps at minimum amps). Typically, 180-250 amps will do it for 1/8" thick. Most of the 1/4" thick I've welded was on large pieces, so you may need less, but 340-450 amps is typical. Get a good preheat too. A bevel and gap (~1/2 the width of your rod) is also a good idea for good penetration on the thicker stuff. You'll often want to weld both sides to penetrate thoroughly. Straight argon is fine, but a mix with helium will give you a hotter arc. 50% Ar, 40% He, 10% CO2 is ideal, but is less convenient for quick tank swaps at you local shop. Hope this helps. CT
  4. You're right that you need to start larger on the diameter right off the still, but you can reduce the diameter the further down the worm you go. More is better and I would only try this if you're running pretty slow and have lots of nice cold water available. Otherwise, just make a shell and tube condenser--much better efficiency. CT
  5. It depends on where it's leaking and all remedies have their risks. One old method is to take a thick envelope (somewhere between regular thickness and card stock, if you can get it) and use a dulled chisel to carefully and evenly jam a single layer of the envelope in between the staves. Of course, this will not help if the leak is a pin hole. Either a wood cone (as previously suggested) or drilling the pin hole out and hammering in a wood bung can work too in case of a pinhole leak. In the end, if you can rotate the barrel to find the leak and see that it's coming from a single spot, you can rotate the barrel so that the leak is on top so the liquid can't leak out. Good luck. CT
  6. I have had a very good experience with Jelinek Cork. I work with Fay Stallan at 905-827-4666 x34. Very knowledgeable and responsible to all of our closure needs.
  7. Bad about paying before or after breaking a few of their fingers? Seriously though, it's good idea.
  8. I agree with Robert. I think it is very important that we all support each others claim to being legitimately "craft" and "artisan." The market is much larger than any of us (or even all combined) and we will all benefit much more by supporting one another as distillers than drawing lines in the sand over trivial and possibly even petty issues. Chip Tate Balcones Distilling
  9. That's awful, Coop. Sorry to hear it. I'm not generally a libertarian, but I know that I could certainly do with less "help" from the government too.
  10. 50-75k sounds way low to me for any commercially viable distillery, but to each his own . We built our own distillery and it took significantly more. Don't forget that once you have a functional distillery, you've only just begun to spend money. Of course, it depends on what you're making too as to how much it costs to get to break even.
  11. It can be done and approved, but it probably isn't for everybody. Pounding out copper 1/8" or thicker takes some doing even once annealed and you definitely need to have a good understanding of proper joint technique, alloy metallurgy, and especially safety considerations. The point made about pressure is worth thinking about too. Even if you don't blow your still up like a grenade, what if you have an undetected leak that could fill the room with high proof fumes--boom. There are ways to test for and guard against that kind of think, of course, but be paranoid when thinking about design of the whole system. Finally, regs and codes aside, what is acceptable or not is really up to your local inspector . Whether he/ she is right or wrong almost doesn't matter many times. We are in a small town and had to work with our inspector for months to get approval. Ironically, none of the real safety issues were even a question. It was stupid stuff like the height of our drain pipes, etc. We could have pushed harder, but would have risked winning the battle and losing the war as we were finishing out the distillery. Just my 2 cents. Chip Tate
  12. We've built several direct fired stills to code that we run in Texas and I'd be happy to share what I know. Of course, the devil is in the details, but I've certainly learned a lot about directing flue gas and building materials since version 1.0. In the end, the code is not that hard. Getting the still operating efficiently and satisfying your local inspector that it's kosher is another matter : ) Chip Tate Balcones Distilling
  13. You can also use a regular centrifugal brewers pump if the mash isn't too thick. We do it. Many of the true mash pumps are really nice positive displacement pumps. They're great, but not cheap either.
  14. Chip Tate

    Tails

    most malt distilleries in the UK run the tails down to 1% which is what we do at Balcones too.
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