Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

nahhhh not trying to call anyone on their theoretical knowledge (or actual working experience) etc, more a discussion on how "I" thought it worked etc and looking at others ideas and using the "best" of that info for myself

i agree Tracker i dont run my 2" BOK at a drip drip, mine runs at a thin stream / not quite broken dribble the best and your post got me thinking about the idea of pushing a bit harder and following the temp at the take off point. the last run was a bit more than 1L hr in the best hearts and then slowing it up as it headed into tails (and keeping temps at +- 79) i am mostly on the chase for "great" neutral and dabble in some other recipes for trial and error.

every still and it's driver and their "taste" is different, and every ones result is also different.

i got a lump of 3" waiting for me to get to work, thinking another bok but was also concerned about the 2200w keg not pushing enough grunt to make the most of it.
i can got to LPG but prefer electric, which means i need to weld in socket for a bigger element.

great posts coming out, thanks guys :)

maheel wrote:
i got a lump of 3" waiting for me to get to work, thinking another bok but was also concerned about the 2200w keg not pushing enough grunt to make the most of it.

4400W with your PSR taking care of it would be awesome ;)

When I run my VM I do like 5Star says and adjust the cooling flow.

I run off fores and heads at 500w, and just a dribble of cooling.
Once I'm into the heads I power up to 1400w and readjust the cooling to prevent vapour escaping from the top of the column, the cooling is really hot - prob about 70oC.
after a short equalisation on the new power setting, I pull off the hearts from about 1.2l/h to 1.6l/h mid hearts run, then slow the take off back down again as the tails approach.

If I run the cooling too fast i see a reduction in how quickly I can take off 95+, as in if I run my cooling flat out I cannot pull 95+ at the rates above. Obviously every still is different, your results may vary. I also run cooling to waste, so its the most economical thing to do with my set up.

The way I find best to adjust the cooling is just to feel the upper part of the column that houses the reflux coil - I want it to be hot 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the coil - I'm using a stainless column, not sure if copper would play out differently, I suspect it would be harded to feel how far up the vapour was going up a copper column. You can always pop a stainless prob temp meter in the top to check where the vapour is reaching before its condensed.

As a side benefit - I also find running cooling at this rate with my over sized condenser, the distillate is around 18oC, which is good for taking readings on the parrot.

Al

Al Q wrote:The way I find best to adjust the cooling is just to feel the upper part of the column that houses the reflux coil - I want it to be hot 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the coil - I'm using a stainless column, not sure if copper would play out differently, I suspect it would be harded to feel how far up the vapour was going up a copper column. You can always pop a stainless prob temp meter in the top to check where the vapour is reaching before its condensed.

interesting, not sure about others but my copper 2" column seems to fairly consistent temp all the way to the top. It would be different in temp but it's HOT the heat transfer properties of the copper pulls the heat right up the column in mine.

if i stick my longer temp probe in the top and push it up and down in the coil that has a scrubber stuffed into it the temps are different at different levels. I often "check" the temp of the coil area both visually, by hand and stick the probe in. it has an interesting range of temps, i also notice that right at the start the temps are higher in the coil and then as equilibration begins the temp balance out and stabilize in the coil.

if i am going to run it that hot i need to build a product cooler on the take off on the current BOK thats for sure, the new BOK will have one

Is it insulated?


There will always be a temp gradient in the column, that's what makes them work.

If a low alc compound boils at say 94C and then it's redistilled it will boil at say 91C, then distilled agin it will boil at say 86C.

This is whats happening inside a column.

i have a 900mm packed Bok column and run a 20L birdwatches wash with a 1380w element.
My runs lasts 4hr max.
1hr 10mins heat up
15mins stabilize at 78.6deg
i pull off 100ml foreshots out in around 30mins and then pull out 2L at 94% with a fast drip/thin stream
my head temp slowly creeps up thru the run but i keep it under 80deg to keep tails from creeping in too early
the last 400ml takes awhile, say 40mins at a slow drip

is this too fast?
8 hrs seems too long

thats the challenge of this hobby
what is "good product" is pretty much up to what you find to be "good product"
until you try someones good product it can be hard to judge i reckon. even then you both might think each others is crap :angry-banghead:

i think i make pretty reasonable stuff
i have tried others who have made both better and worse
others have said they think mine was pretty good (and hopefully not just being nice etc)

maheel wrote:and hopefully not just being nice etc

I was being honest and its all gone :crying-green:

nahh mate not just you, but i am glad you enjoyed it :)

you know you say hey try this, they say mmm not bad but your never sure they are not speaking shit :doh:

QLD.Andy wrote:

maheel wrote:and hopefully not just being nice etc

I was being honest and its all gone :crying-green:

maheel wrote:nahh mate not just you, but i am glad you enjoyed it :)

you know you say hey try this, they say mmm not bad but your never sure they are not speaking shit :doh:

QLD.Andy wrote:

maheel wrote:and hopefully not just being nice etc

I was being honest and its all gone :crying-green:

It's when I gift a bottle and never hear anything that bothers me, but then I just tell myself they must be ashamed of their own :laughing-rolling:

I have a 2200W heater element in my Keg with no power controller and when I run my bok the run will take about 4-5 hours total after it has heated. Very slow at the start for foreshots/heads, but then I'll open it up to a small stream/fast drip just making sure I keep an eye on the temps. This is for two 25L carboys of WPOSW already stripped and brought back up to 25L volume with water in the still.

Hi guys, a long over-due update to my 2"Bok runs.

I followed some of the advice in this thread and ran it a little faster on my last few runs. Taste & ABV are pretty much the same. Now I can get a reflux run out in about 7.5-8 hours.

I'm still considering my other options; 3"Bok, Higher Wattage Element, etc.

Just thank god that ya dont have a 1.5 inch column, that thing is so f'n slow. If I try and speed the take off up the temp starts rising after in 100 ml/.2°c increments. I have to take everything off so slowly that a 10 litre wash takes 8 hours.. I find the neutral making part of this hobby tedious. I much prefer running the pot still for the good stuff