Stainless Stuff - Parrot

[Brigand]

Hi Fellas

Spud asked me to take some pictures of my parrot and I thought others would appreciate them too

Cheers

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[Brigand]

The welds are not that colour normally - I think it's the flash

Cheers

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[Brigand]

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[maheel]

looks pretty good

is it a spud made one ?

also whats that electric motor for ? i
and the last pick, whats that thing in the bottom right some sort of mill?

do tell :)

[Brigand]

Hi Maheel

The parrot is from stainlessstuff.net - it was 80USD landed

The mill is a MillMaster from MashMaster one of the original ones with the 12mm shaft - I've had it for ages and have the intention of motorising it but haven't got it sorted yet

The motor is supposed to drive it - the motor is geared running some where 150-200rpm

I had a connector piece made up for the 12mm to 15mm? shaft on the motor

I've just got to build the stand for it and was almost there when my father in law came over and said, "Timber? I've got a heap of RHS that'd be perfect for that!"

I'm heading up to his place this weekend and I'll hopefully collect the bits and have it running before the year is out!

I'm currently using a 3 roller Monster Mill

Cheers

[maheel]

i was / am just about to buy a new mini mill mash-master

http://www.mashmaster.com/p/4571858/mas ... -mill.html

then had another play at knurling my pasta maker mill...
i grabbed the drill and a drill bit and ran the side of the drill bit all over the rollers and it really roughed it up
it really rips the grain through now and i have 2nd thoughts again...

might mash in tonight for a beer and see what efficiency it give me....

i reckon that motor of yours will drive it :) looks serious overkill :twisted:

[reknaw]

Thanks for that Brigand, 2 x 50mm dome caps, 25 mm tube, 6 mm tube. I might have a go at one of those..............

[Sam.]

Haven't seen one of these "parrots" before. What the hell is it?

[MacStill]

Haven't seen one of these "parrots" before. What the hell is it?

You put your alcometer in it and it measures your alcohol % while your still is running ;)

This pic should explain

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Also the search function revealed the following results :)

http://www.google.com/search?q=parrot&sa=Search&sitesearch=aussiedistiller.com.au

[Sam.]

huh, seems slightly unneccasary but still cool nonetheless ;)

Is there any real benefit from one of these?

[MacStill]

On my still I wouldnt be without one ;)

Edit: not really needed on a reflux still, but certainly a very important tool when pot stilling

[R-sole]

Definately needed on a potstill to know where you are in the run and what's happening. There are people who do the same thing by monitoring temperature and refering it to a chart to detemine the abv, old timers would take some and throw it on the fire to check the abv.

I like to know with a glance. 8-)


I sold ten in one hit once :lol: :lol:

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[Sam.]

Pot stilling is definitely something I want to look at down the track.

I assumed that as you go through the run the temp will keep increasing and the ABV will keep dropping and taking it off in small quantities to determine the heads/hearts/tails should be enough. Is this not the best way to do it? Will the ABV keep fluctuating regardless of temp?

[R-sole]

During a spirit run, the distillate will start say, at 80-82%.

I will record each jar taken in my notebook as say .5l at 80%@ 7:05am. As the run progresses the abv will drop, but this is not alineal curve. it will hold at 80% for litre after litre and then slowly drop through to 78 and own towards 70%.

This is when you need to be keeping a sharp lookout for the transition to tails, as long as it's up over 72% or so, i know i can keep filling 4l bottles with hearts. when it gets down tween 72 and 68 i'll find my first cut point as i'll be tasting the start of tails by dipping my finger in the output, or if i'm feeling lazy, i'll just switch to smaller jars at 72% and sort it later.

Once it gets down to 55% or so, i can safely switch back to large jars cause i know i'm collecting tails i'll use for feints.

Once it gets down to 20% i know that it's time to switch the gas off.


I'm getting all this info in close to real time (allowing for the space in the parrot) rather than picking arbitary times to fill a sample jar and dunk a hydometer.


Like i said, you can potstil without one, but why would you?

[MacStill]

When I'm running my bubbler the ABV can vary a little depending how it's tuned, using a thermometer and a parrot I can dial the beast in to get the best takeoff rate while maintaining ABV of 90%.

Once the ABV drops to 88% I know it's time to crank the heat for the compressed tails remaining, without a parrot I wouldnt know as the temp can remain stable with a drop of only 2% in ABV..... So in my case I think a parrot is essential ;)

[Sam.]

On my still I wouldnt be without one ;)

Edit: not really needed on a reflux still, but certainly a very important tool when pot stilling

Isn't the principles still the same? Temp will reflect alcohol?

Sorry I am new to this proper pot stilling idea, I thought the only major difference was reflux will strip more of the flavours?

Edit: YAY! learnt how to do that quote shit! and edit...

[MacStill]

Thing is that your reflux still will work (hopefully) at producing 95% at 78c, a pot still at given temps will be producing somewhere close to the ABV = temp ratio and the thermometer is a bit redundant in this regard due to variables.

Sure! a thermometer can be useful on a pot still, but a well designed parrot is essential for trying to eliminate those variables....... and that's why I use both on my bubbler...... just so I know I'm getting the best possible outcome from my rig, while making flavored spirits ;)

[Sam.]

That only leaves one question :?:

What are the variables? :ugeek:

[MacStill]

only knowledge and experience can explain that to you, I dont have time to write a book ;)

[Sam.]

only knowledge and experience can explain that to you, I dont have time to write a book ;)

yet I have time to read!! and would pay for it ;)