Thread: Can You Make These Two Copper Plates?

Originally Posted by SpamIsNotHam

Correct the medicinal kind.

Thought so

I still reckon your over thinking it, if your set up for woodworking then should be able to form the copper up yourself out of what you have then find someone with an oxy torch to braze it.

Originally Posted by Darryn

I still reckon your over thinking it

I do not have a lathe, if I did then yes I could do it. I am not the brains in this endeavour. The plans come from two blokes who are professional medicine men and I am simple doing what I am told.

Everything else has been sorted, these plates are the last components I could not purchase of the shelf. An electrician wired up the boiler with a 20amp heating element, a thermowell with sensor connected to a custom PID controller. The rest is about 40 assorted pieces of 3 meters of 4" copper tube, 4" copper pluming fittings, stainless tri-clover clamps and chemical resistant gaskets that will be assembled into three major modular components. That can be broken down, cleaned and stored. With the easy option to repair or replace if a single part ever breaks down.

I am building a beast, yes its overkill but I will never have to build another. Most blokes start building simple setups and over time add ever more complex components. But I think they enjoy the building as much as the end product.

No pressure then...

Michael

Originally Posted by SpamIsNotHam

Attachment 377470

Yep - looks exactly the same as a couple of marine heat exchangers I've got floating about the place (and the one in my boat).

Mine are bronze, brazed tube assemblies with bolt-on end caps for cleaning and removal of marine fouling. Much smaller diameter tubes and a lot more of them. One I have has aluminium end caps because that part is never (in theory) in contact with salt water, only the engine coolant.

Bowman make these things, incidentally.

An interesting project but if the end caps are to be TIG welded in place, I don't like the design because it's impossible to properly clean by disassembly and rodding out the tubes. OK, sure, you can purge with chemicals, back-flush, whatever. I still don't like it. That's why every heat exchanger I've ever seen or had my hands on has removable end caps.

Incidentally Prochem has every stainless fitting you could possibly need and are really good to deal with. At least, the Hobart branch is. There's a hell of a lot of custom stainless plumbing TIG welded together in my boat.

PDW

Cleaning heat exchangers are a pain. The standard way with dealing with it in brewing is to soak in caustic soda then flushed with water and then phosphoric acid rinse. This helps to clean any organic matter out of the system. Most brewers use something like this. No way of opening it up pulling it apart and the caustic/phosphoric gets all the way through. Remember if even a single bad microbe makes it into your beer it can ruin the whole batch.

Screen Shot 2018-12-26 at 8.14.44 pm.png

However in this case vapour is the only thing to ever enter this system and worst case I am sure the caustic can get into a 12.7mm hole.

Originally Posted by SpamIsNotHam

Jack brewing beer is a great hobby, worst case is you make beer that gets you drunk, best case you make beer that makes you fly with flavours and aromas and then gets you drunk.

I might take up this p.o.r.n hobby..sounds great..sounds like you cant go wrong...hic
looks great also

Like all things it's simple in practice and as difficult as you want to make it.

Find someone local to hold your hand, a brew club, a brew store, a mate who can actually brew then jump in.

Expect ups and downs, take risks.

The only rules are be methodical, be meticulously clean, keep records so when things go right so you know why and when they go wrong, drink, learn & drink again.

Originally Posted by eskimo

I might take up this p.o.r.n hobby..sounds great..sounds like you cant go wrong...hic
looks great also

Given the vast excess of apples my trees produce I'm leaning more towards champagne cider.

Can always distill it & make scrumpy (or applejack, same same).

PDW

If I had access to an apple tree I would be making German Schnapps. Like my grandfather drank in his coffee back in the old country.

Originally Posted by PDW

Given the vast excess of apples my trees produce I'm leaning more towards champagne cider.

Can always distill it & make scrumpy (or applejack, same same).

PDW

Originally Posted by SpamIsNotHam

If I had access to an apple tree I would be making German Schnapps.

I live on a small orchard (~1,000 trees), and work in the wine business, and always get asked why I don't make cider or some other apple-related booze product. Probably should give some aspect of it a go I guess...

Your 90% of the way home, good money in cider a growth segment, more so in fruit spirits like schnapps if you can make quality product.

Originally Posted by RustyArc

I live on a small orchard (~1,000 trees), and work in the wine business, and always get asked why I don't make cider or some other apple-related booze product. Probably should give some aspect of it a go I guess...