What are your thoughts on this

[davesims]

Hi all.

I am not championing this product just the method being used in the video.

In this video it is claimed they the column and how t you operate it can section out the tails and from what i am getting cuts are not needed, what are your thoughts on this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbO7Z83uCKk

[Doubleuj]

I think it’s 25mins I won’t get back.
Points to take out of it
He is doing cuts, just large ones
He is running fast, that’s why he’s getting low and dropping abv
All plated column stills will fog up the bottom plate when in tails
It’s an alcometer not a hydrometer :angry-banghead:
Putting the column back into full reflux is a common practice once the first sign of tails is noticed
The column doesn’t have magical powers to separate tails, this happens on all stills and comes down to knowing your still.
Once in tails he strips the rest off like we all do.

Not the worst video I’ve seen but definitely cuts are important

[MaKa]

I am super confused as to what he is trying to achieve with this run. He has mentioned that there is a turbo yeast sugar wash in the boiler, runs the still very hard and fast as you would expect for a strip run but then does things at the end to which are counter to this.

DO NOT run your still without water to your PC. Full reflux is sometimes hard to achieve and you need some cooling capacity at the product condenser. Even if this is just a trickle you need some capacity there.

He is running the still very hard and given that it only has 4 plates he is not going to have a very clean product. This is okay for a strip but you will want to slow down for a spirit run. This will also explain why his ABV during the run is low.

Controlling power with a constant cooling water flow rate to produce the desired product rate is one way to run your still. The other way is with constant power input and vary your cooling water flow rate to control your product rate. Controlling power will help you run a little faster but will make your product a little harsher.

His idea about separating tails is a little off. His column isnt magical, they will appear when they are ready, you can try to compress the remaining alcohol but this is not perfect. This is where cuts are important. Kiwistillers novice guide to cuts explains this well.

Stripping tails in a pot still mode is standard practice.

[Doubleuj]

I pretty sure there was a seperate water line for the pc, I’m sure I spotted a green hose going to the back of it. By yes, never ever run with out water through your pc.
Like we always say, YouTube is full of bad advice.

[woodduck]

I would recommend using Mac's run strategy for a start and change things later if you feel you want to.

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2681

[Rock]

+1 as above advice from woodduck , I got myself a plated column still without alot of knowledge, but starting with the Mac version on running it ive now tweaked it to run MY way. In truth, possibly almost identical.
Reading and ignoring my wife , life, for a while served me well, some 60 ltr of rums n ujssm in 6 month's, keeping on average 40% of my runs. And it was all fun .