Designing And Building Automatic Stills.59 NEW!
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Designing And Building Automatic Stills.59 NEW!
How to Design and Build Your Own Automatic Still
If you are interested in distilling your own alcohol, you may have wondered how to design and build your own automatic still. An automatic still is a device that can produce high-quality ethanol with minimal intervention and supervision. Unlike traditional stills that require manual control of reflux and temperature, an automatic still uses a feedback system that adjusts the parameters automatically according to the desired output.
Designing and building your own automatic still can be a rewarding and challenging project, but it also requires some basic knowledge of distillation, engineering and safety. In this article, we will guide you through the main steps and considerations involved in creating your own automatic still, based on the information from the book Designing & Building Automatic Stills by Riku[^1^] [^2^] [^3^].
Step 1: Choose Your Boiler and Still Type
The first step is to choose the type of boiler and still that you want to use for your automatic still. The boiler is the container that holds the liquid to be distilled, while the still is the part that separates the ethanol from the water and other impurities. There are different types of boilers and stills, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
The simplest type of boiler is a pot boiler, which is basically a large pot with a lid and a pipe attached to it. A pot boiler can be made from any material that can withstand high temperatures and pressures, such as stainless steel or copper. A pot boiler is easy to build and operate, but it has low efficiency and produces low-quality ethanol.
A more advanced type of boiler is a column boiler, which is a vertical cylinder with a series of plates or trays inside it. A column boiler allows for better heat transfer and vaporization of the liquid, resulting in higher efficiency and quality. However, a column boiler is more complex and expensive to build and operate than a pot boiler.
The simplest type of still is a pot still, which is basically a continuation of the pipe from the pot boiler. A pot still condenses the vapor that comes out of the boiler into a liquid that contains ethanol and other substances. A pot still is easy to build and operate, but it produces low-quality ethanol that requires further purification.
A more advanced type of still is a reflux still, which is a vertical column with a condenser at the top and a valve at the bottom. A reflux still allows for better separation of ethanol from water and other impurities by creating a cycle of vaporization and condensation inside the column. The valve at the bottom controls the amount of reflux, which is the liquid that flows back into the column from the condenser. A higher reflux ratio means higher purity and lower yield, while a lower reflux ratio means lower purity and higher yield. However, a reflux still is more complex and expensive to build and operate than a pot still.
Step 2: Choose Your Reflux Control Method
The second step is to choose the method of controlling the reflux in your reflux still. The reflux control method determines how your automatic still will adjust the parameters of distillation according to the desired output. There are different methods of controlling the reflux, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
The simplest method of controlling the reflux is manual control, which means that you have to adjust the valve at the bottom of the reflux still by hand according to your observation and experience. Manual control gives you full control over the distillation process, but it also requires constant attention and skill.
A more advanced method of controlling the reflux is temperature control, which means that you use a thermometer or a thermocouple to measure the temperature at different points in the reflux still, such as at the top or at different plates. Temperature control allows you to automate the adjust