Re: [Paddlewise] still tubing

Mike McNally wrote:
>In coresponding with Pete who's going to paddle the everglades it occurred
>to me that it would be really easy to make a still.  

Remember Mike, in the Good ol' US of A, it's illegal to distill alcohol!
;)

>You get some tubing and
>drill a very closely fit hole in a pot lid with a numbered drill (so you can
>keep it tight).  Deform the tubing 1.25in up (to hold it off the water) and
>cap the tube with a protective sheath when not in use.  Carry a very small
>rattail file to fix it, in case you deform the end.   The total addition to
>your gear would be a ity bity file and ?1/4lb of coiled  copper tubing.

I'm no thermodynamics expert, but here are some thoughts:

>Questions:
>    What size of tubing?

Depends on how fast you're heating it (how many BTU's input--how much
steam at one time will need to be condensed)

>    What length of tubing to cool steam in 70deg F still air?

I'd think 10-12' would work well.

>    Do you have any corrections or improvements to my assembly ideas?

You could probably deform the tubing as little as 1/4" or 1/2" up, as it
just needs to be deep enough to pick up the steam.

Running the condenser through a water bath will let you use less
tubing--water has a much higher thermal mass than air.

Do a Yahoo search on counterflow wort chillers for homebrewing.  These
are generally 8-10' of 3/8" tubing inside an outer hose of 1" tubing
filled with running cold water.  They're used to chill 200+ *F water
down to 60-80*F in as little time as it takes for the wort (unfermented
beer) to flow through it.  You could probably improvise with a funnel on
top that you could put in 70*F salt water in to cool the steam.

Shawn

-- 
Shawn W. Baker          0                                    46°53'N
© 1999            ____©/______                              114°06'W
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baker_at_montana.com    0        http://www.missoulaconcrete.com/shawn/
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