by Apsey » Wed Aug 28, 2013 3:17 pm
Hi everyone,
Great site with tons of awesome advice which has made my fledgling distilling hobby so much easier, thanks to all who've unwittingly helped me along the way! And thanks of course to Mac for helping me get set up :)
First post ever so be gentle! Been watching & learning for a few months now and having some great fun with my FSD pot still (50L beer keg conversion, 2 x 2400W elements, shotgun condenser etc.) and now i've learnt the ropes and done a few runs (with good results on the simple stuff like MacRum etc.) i reckon i stand a chance of posting a not-too-stupid question.
Read a lot about a "slow" spirit run, but i cannot fathom how to slow the run down without the use of an electric controller. I run the still to boiling with the 2 x elements, then as i hit temperature I switch the upper one off. ...the issue i have is (when reading everything here) is that every one talks about a product stream "no thicker than a toothpick" or "3-4 drops per second" whereas i get a reasonable stream- say the thickness of a pencil lead....not huge but seems faster than everyone implies on their posts.
My question......is this too fast? If not, then I will carry on as usual; if it's too quick is there an easy way to slow this down (condenser water control or lower wattage element ir something)? I kind of got the impression that by slowing down the run it would reduce smearing and make the cuts easier etc.
I have trawled the whole forum so I hope i havent lost my forum virginity on a question that's been answered a 1000 times!
Cheers
Apsey