Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

My question relates to condenser temperature is it better to have a temperature of 5 degrees or a temperature of 20 degrees or a temperature of 60 degrees my reasoning behind these questions is is there something in the vapour trail or parth that we can let through so 5 degress catches everything 20 degrees let's stuff through and 60 degrees let's more stuff through but we still get alcohol do you catch my drift

There are esters and other compounds made by yeast in a ferment and or in the column of your still that come through at a low temp and won't condense in a condenser running at 20 degrees. Esters such as methyl formate (methyl methanoate) can be smelt as your still is heating up, but you won't see any drops of product in your collection jars. Methyl formate has a really high vapour pressure and low boiling point, these factors make it difficult to condense. Apart from that, you probably don't want methyl formate in your spirit. I imagine it would taste awful, like most esters. Most esters end up in the heads cut of our runs. So there's no point in trying for a condenser temperature of 5 degrees.

A condenser running at 60 degrees won't knock down all vapours, vapours that are flammable. If you're running on gas this is a very high risk situation. If you're running on electricity this is still an issue and one you want to avoid as you can't guarantee your electricity will behave itself.

20 degrees, with proper cuts is all you need.

Thank you . That clears that up .

db1979 wrote:There are esters and other compounds made by yeast in a ferment and or in the column of your still that come through at a low temp and won't condense in a condenser running at 20 degrees. Esters such as methyl formate (methyl methanoate) can be smelt as your still is heating up, but you won't see any drops of product in your collection jars. Methyl formate has a really high vapour pressure and low boiling point, these factors make it difficult to condense. Apart from that, you probably don't want methyl formate in your spirit. I imagine it would taste awful, like most esters. Most esters end up in the heads cut of our runs. So there's no point in trying for a condenser temperature of 5 degrees.

A condenser running at 60 degrees won't knock down all vapours, vapours that are flammable. If you're running on gas this is a very high risk situation. If you're running on electricity this is still an issue and one you want to avoid as you can't guarantee your electricity will behave itself.

20 degrees, with proper cuts is all you need.

Interesting, i have always wondered why there was that heating up smell