I just ran the first 150 liter batch of BD through my newly fabricated Aspen Chip filter towers (lead-lag)code named "Chip One". The results are impressive; 60.1 ppm of soap.

I am utilizing aspen wood chips, bedding material, from the ranch supply store in a PVC lead-lag design based on the plans from Houston Biodiesel. Here's the process I used.

1. Brew BD per normal with 5% prewash and let settle for 24 hrs.
2. Drain off by-product and move to cone bottom settling tank
3. de-meth via bubble technique over night and let settle for a week or so. Drain off by-product and other junk that settles out.
4. Filter BD through chip towers at ~1 liter/min. I use the beloved blue 1" clear water pump and shunt the excess flow back to the settling tank. I also use a variable speed fan control to down reg the pump to a more workable flow rate. It takes about 2.5 hrs to filter the whole batch.

I'm not using any added heat after the brew cycle since BD temps seem to stay around 20C this time of year.

I'll do a second batch next week. It will be interesting to compare results. I'm curious to see how much life I get out a load of aspen chips.

Question: at some point I may need to install an in-line heater of some sort so I can keep brewing once winter arives, any suggestions? I might be able to get away with heating the BD in the settling tank prior to filtering. BD seems to hold heat fairly well so it might stay warm enough to get through the 2.5 hour filter cycle. We'll see.

Thank you to Legal Eagle, Jehu, Graydon and everybody else who contributes to this forum. I could not do this with out the information and guidance shared by everyone here.

My wifes out of town with the camera so I will post some pics when she gets back.

Cheers,dk

Congratulations, DK. Please let us know how long the aspen shavings last.

Very good,
Where do you get the wood chips?

Brian