Chuff chuff chuff

by **twobottles** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:24 am

Hi there,

On occasions near to the end of a run I can hear a chuffing going up the column, this had always put me in panic mode because I don't know what exactly happening.

Today I let it continue and kept my little mirror above the column and it was making a bit of noise however no vapour was escaping and condensing on the mirror, it was very near the end and I could smell some tails and had at least 85% of what I expected to collect in total whilst stripping so I just shut it down anyway.

Can anyone describe what is happening and how bad this is please?

I have a pure distilling 2" reflux column.

Cheers

by **BackyardBrewer** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:30 am

Sounds like a puke or wash surge. Most likely a little too much wash in the boiler.

You can add a glass marble or two to the wash and just a drop of three of olive oil to the wash and that will help. Just leave at least 3 litres of headspace.

I have one of these and even though I haven't run it in a while I would keep my charge at 25L.

by **twobottles** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:59 am

I must remember to include more information on requests for help
I must remember to include more information on requests for help
I must remember to include more information on requests for help
I must remember to include more information on requests for help.

I don't actually know what is inside the still other than a condensing coil and im not sure how the distillate gets out of the still once the vapour has been knocked down and was wondering if the noise is boiling bubbles going through the condensed liquid whilst it sits on a plate whilst trying to come out of the valve or just the noise it makes whilst going up through the copper scrubbies etc.

I am using a 50l keg with gas burner and there was 20l of headspace.

I'll try the marbles and a few drops of oil on the next run

cheers

by **kiwikeg** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:14 pm

Chuffing, choofing etc may be caused by too much cooling water running thru the product condenser.
What I have been led to believe happens is the product vapor hits the cold condenser and collapses into a liquid- chuff then more product vapor rushes up to fill the void and collapses chuff chuff and so on.
My pot still used to do it chronicly towards the end of a run till I got my cooling lines sorted and put some copper mesh into the vapor path.
There is a thread about this choofing phenomina somewhere :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **kiwikeg** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:40 pm

Found it search for huffing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **crow** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 2:08 pm

Huffing is not as likely with a coil (Hmm be nice to know what sort of still it is) I would lean more towards puking (wash gurgling up the column , this sometimes happens at the end of run with the ultra pure still. generally doesn't start till the ABV is well down so it might be a sign to shut down (do you know what the ABV was when this started)

by **kiwikeg** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 2:59 pm

twoturntablez wrote:Hi there,

I have a pure distilling 2" reflux column.

Cheers

by **crow** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 3:33 pm

Yeah Know KK does sound like an "Ultra pure" yeah they got a short column and can flood and puke towards the end of a run. The easy fix is unplug for a bit (30 seconds or so) and plug back in, ya may have to repeat that a few times, some runs/washes are just a bastard like that :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **twobottles** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 9:48 pm

The easy fix is unplug for a bit (30 seconds or so) and plug back in,

This made me giggle, initially I had only a 5l boiler and had the thing plugged into an RCD. Doing exactly what you said was how I dealt with it. Stood up, leaning over the thing to the socket on the wall, I worked out it needed 5 seconds off 10 seconds on, so did that over and over lol.

Interestingly the rum that I ran today gave me no trouble at all, other than taking forever to come out of the still. Definitely the next job to sort out, 1.5 litre per hour max just isn't doing for me. I did have a lovely day in the garage though!

by **MacStill** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 9:53 pm

equipment: 50 mm pure distilling reflux still, extension with extra scrubbies, now triclamped to a 50l keg with a triple ring gas burner.

a reflux still can make a chugging noise just before it's about to flood the column, and going by your equipment list & your latest post re: 1.5 L/PH I reckon you need to back the heat off a little.

1.5 L/PH is extremely quick for that little rig, and anything over 2400w is going to be testing it's limits.....

by **twobottles** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:32 pm

1.5 L/PH is extremely quick for that little rig, and anything over 2400w is going to be testing it's limits.....

Really?! Well that is interesting. Don't know if it makes any difference but I was on the stripping run. I timed 250ml at just under 11 minutes. The 5l boiler it came with has a 2200w element and it felt like it was running slower on the gas than when it was run on the electric.

It was only the second time Ive run it on the keg, so not much experience there yet. Pretty cool though, compared to heat up 5l, strip, take still apart, burn fingies, syphon more in, reassemble still, heat up................

I was under the impression that the thing governing takeoff speed is the size of the hole in the ball of the tap. It was suggested to me once that I could drill this out to a larger diameter. If its as hard as the circlip on top of the keg spear I tried to drill a small hole in, I don't think I'll bother. I went through about 10 bits before I got the hole. Then realised there was a simpler way.

Im hoping to get hold of a 3/8" ss needle valve and a couple of 1/4" to 3/8" ? adapter thingies, is this a good idea?

Am I hoping for too much from the condensing coil? If I want faster takeoff do I need a bigger/wider column or can I pimp this rig up a bit more?

Cheers Mac

by **crow** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:34 pm

yep same as mine it flooded and puked. who knows why could be to much power. Could be the wash too, some solids or unfermented sugar it happens. When ya hear it turn the gas down for a bit then slowly bring it back up, head fuck I know but ya just get a wash like that from time to time :handgestures-thumbupleft: