Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Fudude wrote:Sam, As requested:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7668

Cheers mate I saw it, I don't miss too much ;-)

Matt_Pl wrote:Mac,

Does this mean I wont have to worry about degreasing?? :happy-partydance: :clap: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

For a $1 a pop I plan on grabbing some from cheap as cheaps and running a vingear run/sac run anyway.

Cheers,

MP

Unfortunately they sent me the same stuff, not as oily as the last lot but will still need degreasing before a good long cleaning run ;-)

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=5953#p131229

Cheers.

Doing a cleaning run now (i think) distilled about 100-200ml (about 30 min) Vinegar then rinsed it all out and now im doing a couple liters of water, about 2 or so hours worth. This sound about right? It's running as i type. Gonna shut it down in about 15min and run the spirits. The water out of it smells and tastes like shower water, Is the best description i can think of.

Fudude wrote:Doing a cleaning run now (i think) distilled about 100-200ml (about 30 min) Vinegar then rinsed it all out and now im doing a couple liters of water, about 2 or so hours worth. This sound about right? It's running as i type. Gonna shut it down in about 15min and run the spirits. The water out of it smells and tastes like shower water, Is the best description i can think of.

Your question has been well explained here

All good Mac.

Oily or not can't wait hopefull it arrives tomorrow, otherwise my weekend will be very sad and lonely looking at my Bunnings pump, fittings and the cables I've made up for my heater elements sitting on the bench in my shed

Cheers

MP

Matt_Pl wrote:All good Mac.

Oily or not can't wait hopefull it arrives tomorrow, otherwise my weekend will be very sad and lonely looking at my Bunnings pump, fittings and the cables I've made up for my heater elements sitting on the bench in my shed

Cheers

MP

Suzi checked the tracking number and it's with your local courier, send her an email and we'll chase it up in the morning for you mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Fudude wrote:Doing a cleaning run now (i think) distilled about 100-200ml (about 30 min) Vinegar then rinsed it all out and now im doing a couple liters of water, about 2 or so hours worth. This sound about right? It's running as i type. Gonna shut it down in about 15min and run the spirits. The water out of it smells and tastes like shower water, Is the best description i can think of.

Did you use any degreaser? I recommend using the supercheap auto $1 spray cans degreaser, rinse, citric acid bath rinse then sacrificial alcohol run.

EDIT: If you use the super cheap EXPORT degreaser you will know when the mesh is clean due to the color of the drained degreaser. It will start off a golden color that is the oil coming out but when it turns a blue color you know the oil has been flushed.

My copper packing arrived today thanks Mac.

I removed 300 grams of SS pot scrubber packing from my 1.5m column.

Regarding cleaning the oil from the 100mm wide copper packing/mesh. I used a litre of very smell heads with a hi content of acetone to soak the rolls in for a minute. This cleaned most of the oil from the packing. Next to run the still with some more heads.
For my 2" column I used 900mm of mesh per roll, which weighed 51 grams each.

I will put 750 g of copper into the 1.5 column.
Hari.

Hari,

Normally takes a bit more cleaning than soaking in heads to remove the oils. Not wanting to see you waste a run with contaminants suggest you read the posts on cleaning to get a better idea.

Degreaser, a rinse, a good boil in napisan and a clean water flush would be suggested as bare minimum.

bt1

bt1 wrote:Hari,

Normally takes a bit more cleaning than soaking in heads to remove the oils. Not wanting to see you waste a run with contaminants suggest you read the posts on cleaning to get a better idea.

Degreaser, a rinse, a good boil in napisan and a clean water flush would be suggested as bare minimum.

bt1

Hari wrote:
Regarding cleaning the oil from the 100mm wide copper packing/mesh. I used a litre of very smell heads with a hi content of acetone to soak the rolls in for a minute. This cleaned most of the oil from the packing. Next to run the still with some more heads.


Hari.

Someones not paying attention :violence-stickwhack: I think what Hari has done should be more than enough for cleaning :handgestures-thumbupleft:

mac is this an oil free batch then understood from your prior post it was still coated?

Need to order some more myself later this week.

bt1

It's still coated, not quite as much as the last lot.

My point was that a soak in heads then a cleaning run with heads (as Hari suggested) would be more than enough for cleaning :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hari wrote:My copper packing arrived today thanks Mac.

I removed 300 grams of SS pot scrubber packing from my 1.5m column.

Regarding cleaning the oil from the 100mm wide copper packing/mesh. I used a litre of very smell heads with a hi content of acetone to soak the rolls in for a minute. This cleaned most of the oil from the packing. Next to run the still with some more heads.
For my 2" column I used 900mm of mesh per roll, which weighed 51 grams each.

I will put 750 g of copper into the 1.5 column.
Hari.

G'day Hari,

I rolled a few lengths of mesh today to fit a 2" column, I didn't measure the length but each roll I got in was from 91 grams to 95 grams, I ran out of time today but will pull a piece out and measure the length I rolled up.

Cheers.

Hi Mac,
I am wondering whether my 2" column is packed too tight or too loose regarding my 51g and 900mm of length of each piece of copper mesh.
What was the length of your 91-95g please?

PS a spray can of degreaser and a hot water rinse is probably the best way to clean that oil off the copper, besides the heads method.
regards
Hari.

Hari wrote:Hi Mac,
I am wondering whether my 2" column is packed too tight or too loose regarding my 51g and 900mm of length of each piece of copper mesh.
What was the length of your 91-95g please?

It's about 1500mm :handgestures-thumbupleft:

How many pieces of mesh is too much/not enough.

I have the stock standard PD reflux still, the 2" packed section of this still is 350mm tall.

When I replaced the pot scrubbers with mesh, I filled the column completely with three and half pieces of rolled mesh.

After the first run I found the alcohol take off rate was painstakingly slow, I had the mesh too tightly wound.

I have since loosened the mesh to about 60gms per roll and used only three rolls.

The take off rate has improved marginally, but is still very slow.

I know slow is good, but this still seems too slow.

With the pot scrubbers in place the take off speed was at that point where the drip tries to become a needle like stream.

With the mesh in place it drips slowly like a leaky tap.

Do i have too much mesh in place?

choppy wrote:How many pieces of mesh is too much/not enough.

I have the stock standard PD reflux still, the 2" packed section of this still is 350mm tall.

When I replaced the pot scrubbers with mesh, I filled the column completely with three and half pieces of rolled mesh.

After the first run I found the alcohol take off rate was painstakingly slow, I had the mesh too tightly wound.

I have since loosened the mesh to about 60gms per roll and used only three rolls.

The take off rate has improved marginally, but is still very slow.

I know slow is good, but this still seems too slow.

With the pot scrubbers in place the take off speed was at that point where the drip tries to become a needle like stream.

With the mesh in place it drips slowly like a leaky tap.

Do i have too much mesh in place?

Try insulating ya colomn,copper conducts heat more than stainless,on a cold day my 2inch still will produce less (slower),if I take off the insulation.cheers hillzabilly

cheers Hillzy, I'll research it and come up with something for my next run.

From my research I found that 900mm long pieces of mesh rolled up was the right density. I can blow through it. Mac supplied knitted wire mesh is about 50g for 900mm. Mac's mesh is 100mm wide, so depending on your source of copper mesh it may be different density.

However Mac has recommended about 1500mm of length. This I am keen to try.

Do you have the fine round wire knitted mesh or the knitted mesh made from ribbon, like pot scrubbers?
Hari.

Got my new Boka from Mac today and the mesh was pretty oily, but no problem, just unrolled it and spread around in the dish washing machine and ran it through 2 cycles, came out sparkly clean, now I'm just waiting for the divorce papers to come :twisted: