Spiral Prismatic Packing - Cleaning, Unboxing, Review

Blog: www.opensourced...
Watch me unbox, clean, and give a short review on how spiral prismatic packing (SPP) is different from scrubbies.
Buy SPP: rover.ebay.com...

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

What kind of column packing do you use and what is it made out of?

[@snappingbear]

copper mesh stops and dime to nickle sized lava stones. They are much cheaper and just as effective.

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

@@snappingbear Always interested to see other people's experimental data with SPP compared to other packing materials. How much better was your run with copper mesh/lava rocks compared to the SPP you ran? What are your still specs and the size of your SPP? Super interested. I've seen others say that lava rocks work wonders.

[@snappingbear]

@@OpenSourceDistilling Why would I need to purchase absurdly expensive SPP for a comparison when I just told you about lava stones? You have mentioned you know about the HD forums. It is common to see them tell newbs to read the forums and to use its search function before buying anything. There is no need to waste money reinventing the wheel as almost everything as been tried and tested (see link at the end of this message). My old still was similar to yours. It was keg based and used 2" SS spools, but employed a CCVM design. Using lava stones it produced 95% ABV. A 2" x 24" SS spool has a volume almost exactly equal to 1 liter; based on the ebay listing you posted it would cost 53 USD to pack it, but if you used scoria or lava rocks it would cost a dollar or less. I would rather spend money on sight glasses or larger diameter spools or quality high temp enzymes than packing. homedistiller.org/forum/search.php?keywords=lava

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

@snappingbear I’m not so concerned with the cost of the packing, but with the performance of the packing, although I can appreciate that cost is a concern for many. I asked about data and details because Riku did that exact test, lava rocks vs SPP, and found that SPP outperformed lava rocks. I may try some lava rocks in the future as still packing and see how it goes. As for SPP being worth the cost, each person will have to make that call themselves. I certainly would never find value in buying something like a Ferrari, but that’s not to say that others won’t find value in (what I consider) an overpriced sports car. Here is a lengthy HD discussion with over 500 posts regarding still packings if anyone is interested. homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30727

[@snappingbear]

@@OpenSourceDistilling"Riku did that exact test, lava rocks vs SPP, and found that SPP outperformed lava rocks". As I advised read the forums the answers are there. I am glad you did. Many including me get 95% ABV with lava stones. I doubt you are going to beat that with SPP and if you do the cost is not even close to being justified. The thread you posted is a good one and is referenced several times in the search results I posted in my previous post. HD is packed with all the info anyone needs about distilling including tips on building cost effective distilling systems.. The things I think are worth spending coin on are bigger pipes, sight glasses and most importantly a temperature controller that includes a PID, They are not expensive if you build your own. Although I haven't published it, my design is fool proof and safe . All anyone needs to know is how to use a screw drive, a lighter, a drill and isn't color blind.

[@cbcsucks2205]

I recently added copper SPP to my T500 reflux column. 1 litre fits perfect. ABV now 95. Sweet smelling and tasting. I also put rolls of copper mesh in my boiler. The amount of sulfurs that the copper captures is incredible. I did not even charcoal filter this last run, allowing me to store concentrated product rather than diluting for carbon filtration. Next step is to adding more 2" pipe underneath, drop the stock packing in there until I can hit 95.6

[@1FrenchConnection1]

As you may remember I’m all stainless steel and I’m using scrubs for now. I’m looking forward to give it a try in the near future. I may consider copper.

[@lacaval]

Is a lot easier to clean them with sodium hidroxide (drain cleaner stuff), it will saponify the grease on the SPP and then you can simply wash it off with hot water. Just be careful while working with caustic solutions, wear safety glasses and gloves (or hooves in your case lol).

[@jonathanwilliams2839]

My understanding is that you want a saturated (flooded) column when using SPP. While I can't find the link, I saw a russian video with them running a short 3 inch glass column ( looked about 60cm) with it flooded and pulling 96.6. One of the guys on HD says he runs a 30 inch (76cm) column at 3 inch diameter with large SPP using a CVVM and his runs are shockingly quick. I'm looking forward to your future video running the SPP and your thoughts.

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

With oversized SPP I heard you can run it blazing fast. I have the HD link that talks a little bit about it. Eventually, I'll get a sight glass or two so I can see the fluid buildup at the top/bottom of the column. Thanks for your comment. Much appreciated! homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7170356&sid=5f440d1eade085b453e2d03ff9d3a6c1#p7170356

[@1FrenchConnection1]

Open Source Distilling this write up is astonishing. With my still I can pull 3 litres an hour at 40% of power of a 6000 watts heating element and of course scrubbies. I was supposed to be at 50% power but I flooded my dephlag and everything was pissing off my breathing tube... that was a little scary. Can’t wait to get it.

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

@@1FrenchConnection1 I couldn't get close to that with the SPP I have b/c it's too small, but if you have enough ceiling space you can go bigger on the SPP and make your column higher, pump more power into it, and get higher output. My SPP is at a ratio of about 17 to 1 for SPP diameter (3mm) to column diameter (52mm). It appears the commercial SPP is about 10 to 1 (or maybe even lower).

[@dedsert9653]

isn't insulating the column bad for reflux?

[@wookie45nz]

Howdey doody! I have a keg based stainless re-flux still with a 3'' column 1.2 M tall. We are currently using scrubbies and average 85% ABV on a typical stripping run. I have coming from Siberia 4L of SPP...3x3x.2mm stuff. It is slow getting to NZ for obvious reasons! Do ya think this is the correct SPP for our still? Cheers for now mate!

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

That's the same size that I have. As I understand it, the smaller the size of SPP the better the purity but the less power you can push into the column before flooding it. The bigger the size of SPP the lower the purity but more power you can push into it before flooding it. You can increase purity by increasing the height of your packed column. More power mean increased production rate. I have a column about 1.3 meters tall and the SPP manufacturer said I should go with the 3x3 mm size to get a high purity with my "shorter" column. I get about 1.5 to 1.7 liters/hour of 95%+ with my 2" column. If I had a taller column I would have gotten the bigger size as I can make up the drop in purity with a taller reflux column and still get a higher power input. So SPP size has to do with balancing power input with purity output along with column height. I am limited by the ceiling height in my apartment, but if I wasn't I would go with bigger SPP and a taller column to get a pure product at a higher output rate. Given our columns are similar height, I would think that size of SPP is reasonable. There theories regarding packing size ratios to column diameters but I haven't tested those at all. Let me know how it works out for you as I'm planning on upgrading to a 3" column and I am considering different column packings for it. Happy distilling!!!!

[@wookie45nz]

@@OpenSourceDistilling Couldn't wait for my SPP to arrive from Siberia so made my own! Tricky to make but that's my stuff on Still It video! Looking for a distributor in the US of A if ya know anyone interested!?

[@VanillaAttila]

@@wookie45nz Got any for sale?

[@bevoburn]

Did you do a stripping run in your pot still to get rid of the foreshots and now you are going to reflux still for your spirit run?

[@OpenSourceDistilling]

I don't do any cuts until I get to the spirit run. For me, stripping runs are to get rid of the solids and condense the alcohol into a smaller volume. During the stripping run, I'll run in pot still mode with a short column and no packing. During my spirit run, I'll use my packed reflux column, I'll discard the foreshots, collect the heads, hearts, and tails. Then taste to determine what I'm going to keep or throw away.