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Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:26 pm
by Professor Green
Welcome Luke.

Tons of great advice above.

The T500 is not such a bad unit however many people tend to outgrow it fairly quickly and end up spending more money on something else anyway (I speak from personal experience). The FSD boka may be more expensive but it is a much better prospect that will serve you for life.

Cheers,
Prof Green.

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:21 pm
by Radnelac
Professor Green wrote:Welcome Luke.

Tons of great advice above.

The T500 is not such a bad unit however many people tend to outgrow it fairly quickly and end up spending more money on something else anyway (I speak from personal experience). The FSD boka may be more expensive but it is a much better prospect that will serve you for life.

Cheers,
Prof Green.



Cheers Prof Green,
I had a great lengthy chat with Andrew today & have decided I will be going with the FSD 2" Boka (with full copper mesh packing) + the 50L milk can boiler with dual 2400W elements.
We discussed the T500 & also the Pure Distilling reflux system & found that the Boka would definitely be suited to what I want to do. Now it's just a matter of getting my tax return done & away we go :D

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:48 pm
by Professor Green
You won't be sorry mate, that is an excellent combo and those milk cans are the mut's nuts (and also very well suited to a 4" still should you want to upgrade later).

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:52 pm
by hnhupi
:greetings-waveyellow:

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:17 pm
by Radnelac
Professor Green wrote:You won't be sorry mate, that is an excellent combo and those milk cans are the mut's nuts (and also very well suited to a 4" still should you want to upgrade later).


I'm sure I will upgrade later on, maybe sooner depending on the tax return. I'm looking at the Boka for its versatility right now to switch between reflux & pot still function but if the tax return is sizeable I may jump up a notch for faster output. In saying that it may also be better to stick with the Boka for now since for myself it's entry level & I only decided to go this way because of the versatility & long term productivity of the unit. I am honestly champing at the bit for my tax return so I can jump in & start distilling I've been reading a hell of a lot of stuff in this forum every day for weeks & it still makes me want to want to get in there regardless of reading of people's failures because honestly failures are a learning curve & can happen to anyone & im getting in to this to produce top quality product that I can be proud of when a friend/family member takes a sip & just smiles :romance-kisscheek:

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:43 pm
by Radnelac
Carol wrote:Hi Radnelac
Welcome to the forum - lots to read and learn. I have recently bought a 2"' FSD boka and am learning how to run it. Happy to answer any questions within my limited newbie experience.
Cheers Carol



Hi Carol,
I was just curious what volume wash you are running & when doing a stripping run what volum of low wines you are getting out of it. I'm going to buying a 2" Boka soon & just want to make sure I have enough bottles on hand to collect it all :))

Cheers, Luke

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:38 pm
by Carol
Hi Luke
I have 2 x 25 litre fermenters at the moment. I have a 25 litre boiler.
If you go to Newbies Corner and then calculators it tells you how to calculate the alcohol content of the wash. (My FFV was about 9.5 % alcohol - so in a 20 litre wash there would be a total 1.9 litres of pure alcohol).
I have the low wines stored in glass flagons (kept from the time that fruit juice came in glass) - I have around 6 litres now (from 2 stripping runs of FFV). Can't tell you the percentage alcohol off hand as it varies between flagons - I collected down to 20% each time. I think I will need at least one more stripping run before I do a spirit run. (Need to dilute the low wines before the spirit run).
I am considering getting a third fermenter so I can have 3 lots ready to go at a time rather than waiting for another lot to finish.
Cheers
Carol

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:37 pm
by Radnelac
Carol wrote:Hi Luke
I have 2 x 25 litre fermenters at the moment. I have a 25 litre boiler.
If you go to Newbies Corner and then calculators it tells you how to calculate the alcohol content of the wash. (My FFV was about 9.5 % alcohol - so in a 20 litre wash there would be a total 1.9 litres of pure alcohol).
I have the low wines stored in glass flagons (kept from the time that fruit juice came in glass) - I have around 6 litres now (from 2 stripping runs of FFV). Can't tell you the percentage alcohol off hand as it varies between flagons - I collected down to 20% each time. I think I will need at least one more stripping run before I do a spirit run. (Need to dilute the low wines before the spirit run).
I am considering getting a third fermenter so I can have 3 lots ready to go at a time rather than waiting for another lot to finish.
Cheers
Carol



Thanks Carol,
I'll check out the calculators in the newbies section.
I'll be getting a Boka + 50L boiler soon myself & just wanted to start planning the other gear I'll need, especially how many fermenters I'll need since I'll be double distilling & want to be able to have all the washes ready to go so I can strip enough one day so I have enough to fill the boiler (at 40% or a bit less) to do a reflux the following day. :happy-partydance:
Also how did you clean your Boka before doing your first run through it ?

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:17 am
by Carol
Hi Luke

The first run is a ""sacrificial run""- to clean the still. I used CFW wash as that is what I had ready to go and ran the still for a few hours. I collected the distillate and have saved that in flagons (clearly marked DO NOT DRINK - DO NOT DISTILL) so I can use it again if I need to clean the still in the future. The distillate was a bit milky towards the end which Andrew thought was due to the oils in the copper mesh leaching out.

I wash the still out after every run.

I find a stripping run takes a few hours with the 25 litre boiler ( about 1 hour to get up to temperature and then another 3 or 4 hours to get down to 20% alcohol). With the boka I need to use a power controller to reduce voltage so it does not run too hot. So I just take it slowly and keep it dripping at a steady pace. It needs to be where I can keep an eye on it so I plan my day around running the still. Stripping enough for a 50 litre boiler in a day might be a bit optimistic.

I was just running hoses from the tap but am setting up a recirculation system now as it uses a lot of water. In summer I would reuse the water in the garden but not much point in that in winter.

I have just ordered the other parts from FSD for a pot still ( using the boiler and the column I already have). Andrew tells me I will be able to do stripping runs much faster in the pot still and then run the boka for a spirit run.

I have small fermenters as they are easier to manage for me. Some people use much larger containers as fermenters. So instead of 25 litre wash they might do 100 litres at a time.

Carol

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:52 pm
by Radnelac
Carol wrote:Hi Luke

The first run is a ""sacrificial run""- to clean the still. I used CFW wash as that is what I had ready to go and ran the still for a few hours. I collected the distillate and have saved that in flagons (clearly marked DO NOT DRINK - DO NOT DISTILL) so I can use it again if I need to clean the still in the future. The distillate was a bit milky towards the end which Andrew thought was due to the oils in the copper mesh leaching out.

I wash the still out after every run.

I find a stripping run takes a few hours with the 25 litre boiler ( about 1 hour to get up to temperature and then another 3 or 4 hours to get down to 20% alcohol). With the boka I need to use a power controller to reduce voltage so it does not run too hot. So I just take it slowly and keep it dripping at a steady pace. It needs to be where I can keep an eye on it so I plan my day around running the still. Stripping enough for a 50 litre boiler in a day might be a bit optimistic.

I was just running hoses from the tap but am setting up a recirculation system now as it uses a lot of water. In summer I would reuse the water in the garden but not much point in that in winter.

I have just ordered the other parts from FSD for a pot still ( using the boiler and the column I already have). Andrew tells me I will be able to do stripping runs much faster in the pot still and then run the boka for a spirit run.

I have small fermenters as they are easier to manage for me. Some people use much larger containers as fermenters. So instead of 25 litre wash they might do 100 litres at a time.

Carol



Hi Carol,
That's some great info, thanks for that :-D
I was going to be looking at getting the pot still attachments later in but may just get them when I order the Boka depending on cash flow at the time.

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:16 pm
by Carol
I had an air still before upgrading to the Boka. The air still takes 4 litres at a time - so a stripping run of the 25 litre fermenter would take 5 runs of about 4 hours each! So 20 hours and then another few runs at 4 hours each for the spirit run. Being able to strip a 25 litre wash in one go is very exciting!
I still have the air still and it will be useful for small experimental runs.

Re: Newbie intro

PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 2:26 pm
by Carol
Hi Luke
The pot still parts for my Boka arrived last week. I did a stripping run this morning (FFV) - 25 litre boiler. Took an hour to heat up and an hour to strip down to 20%. I am using a submersible pump in the swimming pool for cooling and that worked really well.
Cheers
Carol