Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Was having a day dream today about the possibility of adding a wash port of some kind to the still, is this something that's been done before?

After the last couple of experimental /test runs I've either broken the still down and washed each part, which takes a fair amount of time, or I've connected the hose to the drain port on the bottom of the keg and filled the entire still from the bottom up. This obviously wastes at least 50L of water (we're on level 3 water restrictions here).

So what about a valved port say above the reflux condenser that you can hook the hose to and flood the column top-down through the plates, and drain out the keg drain? Surely it has to be better for a fast rinse between runs?
If I was laying the still up for storage for a fair while I'd still do a break down and rinse though.

How do you dry it out after flushing and if reuse the water after cleaning like use it on plants is not a waste.

You could put a 1/2" stainless ball valve on the back side of the 180° (above the RC) with a hose barb/fitting on it. Preferably a lockable one so you don't forget it and leave it open ;-)

That was my plan for Agrajag :crying-blue:

Get a block head! :teasing-tease:

Woodduck does something where he floods the column, can't find the post though, if he doesn't see this thread maybe shoot him a pm?

Here you go, not quite what I remembered but might be a solution
http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6067&start=60#p129890

Hmmm interesting, thanks guys. I hadn't thought of making it so I could hold citric acid or other cleaning fluid in the column, might come up with something similar and also add a port somehow to rinse the column afterwards.

Here I was thinking I'd finished my build :-D

I disconnect my Parrot and breather tube and connect the water supply to the bottom of the product condenser and flood upwards and over through the column into the boiler. The hose fittings I use are the same as the cooling water and copper tube fittings. I do this after a every run and before a run just in case some critters made a home inside my tubing. I also remove the top bend and pour hot rum Dunder down the column after about 10 runs or so.

Thats a good idea too Andybear, don't have to fill the keg that way. The only advantage of filling from the boiler side is that each plate chamber fills completely, bar a couple of bubbles that get caught under each plate. Filling from above the RC or from the PC outlet, do you find that the plates drain too fast for the chambers to fill to a decent level?

i would think you could flood the plates this way so it may hold water more if it is on fast enough, but maybe not

stilllearning wrote: Filling from above the RC or from the PC outlet, do you find that the plates drain too fast for the chambers to fill to a decent level?

I attach at the pc discharge.
I would say that I get at least half full on all the plates. Just be careful to have a breather open on the boiler so you don't pressure it up, mains pressure is about 100 psi. I then blow air through the same port using a hand pump to clear the water and it does pretty good. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Righto, sounds easy enough - I might give this a go next run before I get carried away with any modifications