by WoodyD40 » Fri Apr 26, 2024 2:09 pm
h Folks.
I turned on the 65 litre still for the first time yesterday.
I started with a 25 litre of water (including about 4 litre of white vinegar to help clean the inside). Using the 3 elements, it got upto temperature quickly and then the thermometer at the top of the column also hit 100 degrees.
After about 12 minutes, one of the water fittings at the top sprung a leak and water started spurting everywhere which caused a real quick shut down of all power, then my rushing back out to front yard to turn off all the water to the column.
i thought it was the hose fitting, so i took it off the still, played with it, then put it back together. Went outside and turned the tap on again only to hear it spurting everyone.
It ended up being the base fitting was slightly loose, so i swapped over the water supply (which is under pressure) and the discharge (no pressure), tested it all again - and no issue.
I then shut it all down, and emptied the pot and rinsed everything out.
Gently tightened the offending fitting (still warm so did not want to overdo it).
I had about 7 litres of low wines from my stripping runs last weekend (done in air still). i watered that done to make up a nearly 25 litre wash (ended up with about 5% ABV in the pot.
Turned water on - then turned still on (all 3 elements again) and it got up to temperature in only about 15 minutes.
The temp in the pot only got upto 93 degrees when the thermometer started climbing quickly, then stablished at about 97 or 98 degrees at to of column.
After 10 minutes i carefully opened the tap at the top to start letting the distillate come out the collection tube. (not sure if terminology is correct, bare with me - i'm a newbie).
This is basically a second stripping run so i can test the whole unit and learn how it functions. It was a very exciting and successful test run.
I collected the first 500ml (approx) and discarded - as is was likely to have some left over flavors from the vinegar.
I kept the next 800ml (which was approx 92% ABV)
I collected the next 500 ml just in case i want to add to a future distillation (and labelled it for future reference)
As the original batch of wash was done using turbo yeast (including carbon and clearing agents) there was still a bit of that coming through the second distillation process. Once diluted down to my preferred ABV of 28% I ended up with approx 1.8 litre. Keeping a small amount in reserve for future wash comparisons, I decided using Ouzo flavoring to cover over the taste/smell was the appropriate course of action, so I made up two bottles.
My wife and I had a quick sample of that last night, and realized we should wait for a couple of days and sample again.
Overall, i'm very happy with the first test run, and cant wait for the 2 x 60 litre fermenters to be ready with the all-bran/weet bix recipe to be ready to put through the still (which will be next week Friday).