Newbe Intro

Say Hi and introduce yourself

Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:41 pm

Hi
I started looking at this forum in 2015 and eventually signed up.
Mostly just researching as I was just clueless and running on advice from a few blokes at work that were into the hobby , ( more drinking hobby than making it as it was quite rough stuff)
I initially bought a 5ltr super reflux still from local HBS and after a a few runs got frustrated with doing 5 runs from the one 25ltr ferment so advance to a 25ltr boiler.
was very content with that, however after lots of reading of this site I wanted to do more.
I recently did a 25ltr tomato Paste wash and was reasonably happy with it
I just recently picked up a Digiboil 65ltr boiler and a 60ltr fermenter ( as permission was finally granted) and proceeded to do my first TPW.
While waiting for it to finish am trying to gain more info about the 65ltr boiler as the 25ltr one worked on a fixed heating element and no need to adjust the temp,.
The new boiler has 3 elements 500,1000,2000 watts and would like to figure what temp to run the wash at. the boiler has the ability to set the temp and it will keep the setting.
the boiler does not come with any instructions which is a bit frustrating but not to difficult to work out.
If any one else has picked up the Digiboil 65ltr I would be very interested in reading about them.
Any way sorry for the long intro .
I enjoy looking on the site and hope to give some feedback about my time with this unit.

Cheers
Geoff
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equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby bluc » Sat Aug 17, 2019 1:50 pm

You dont run a boiler by temp...run it by input voltage, usually from a variable voltage controller. 5star has one. If you try run by temp it will cycle get hot then cooler this will collapse the fractions in the still and they will come out as a mixed spirit. All stills will seperate to a degree some more so then others. I Also suggest looking at kiwistillers guide to doing cuts..in the newbie area.
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby The Stig » Sat Aug 17, 2019 2:44 pm

Those digiboil things run on a thermostat, they will hit a temp then shut off then turn on again.
Not much good for stilling but great for doing grain mash
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Wed Nov 13, 2019 11:44 am

Hi sorry it’s been a while.
I’ve had to pleasure of visiting the 5 Star and had a chat with Andrew he is an easy bloke to talk to, also looking at the items he has in his store it was very hard not to leave without something that I could utilize.
I mentioned to him about the Digiboil boiler and that I had contacted the people at Kegland and they advised that I set the temp at 110° so the boiler would just keep on going.
I did a test with 55 liters of water and was happy to report that I had a continuous rolling boil going for about 2hours which boiled off about 10 liters out of the boiler.
The only issue I had was the boiler is rated at 15amps and the extension I got with the boiler has a 10amp circuit breaker in it and it does trip out when using all three elements, this is easily overcome by just switching off one element. I will be getting my local electrician to install a 15amp switch as soon as funds come available.
I was hoping to find someone else who has purchased the 65ltr boiler so I could get any feedback on their experience with it.
If I need to start a new topic with this boiler, please let me know as I the only post which mentioned the boiler in the search was my last post.
Geoffb
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby woodduck » Wed Nov 13, 2019 11:58 am

Hi mate welcome. Sorry I missed your intro back in August.

Don't know anything about your boiler sorry but not sure setting it at 110 would work the best. I guess it would stop the on and off of the elements so then you would just need to work out how many elements you have on at a time when running it. That will depend on out put I guess. You could probably use a voltage controller to help out there.

Good luck
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:03 pm

Yes that's the next step playing around with it. I did a stripping run with it a while back and had no problems with it, however my Condenser was struggling to keep up with it.
On the next run will experiment with a lower watt element at the 110 temp setting.
Geoffb
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby BigRig » Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:45 am

Hi Geoff, I have a digiboil 35L and have used a mates 65L. Your question was the exact question I had when I got it and like you found the info just wasn't online. I even reached out to the seller and got duck eggs. So we did a fair bit of experimenting.

For us we found the best temp was 104c using 2000w of power. We use all elements at the start to get the still heated then shut off the extra elements.

Even with 104c we found that after the run the actual temp never got over 93c.

Good luck and sing out if u have any other questions.
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby scythe » Fri Nov 15, 2019 2:09 pm

Search running your still by temperature on this forum and you will find why it never got above 93°C
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby BigRig » Sat Nov 16, 2019 2:23 pm

Absolutely
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:13 pm

Hi BigRig
Thanks for the info, will try running it at 104 the next run.
I finally got electrician out and now have a 15 amp switch, can't wait to see how it goes.
Will be a while as am away with other matters for a short time, but will post results when I get a chance to play with it.
Geoffb
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby db1979 » Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:51 pm

G'day mate and welcome (like woodduck, I missed your intro earlier).
If you can, bypass the thermostat and use a voltage controller on the 2000 W element.
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby splitice » Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:42 pm

You can use a variac on the Digiboil / Robobrew between 110-240V at-least from my understanding without issue. Might even be able to go a bit lower.

The internal AC-DC is robust enough.

That said I've been happy with the 2000W element most of the time.
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Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:49 am

Hi all i finally got around to running the Digiboil with the 15 amp outlet and did not find any advantage in heating time, only plus was I don't have to watch out for the circuit breaker tripping out on full power.
I have built a column and a condenser coil and found the brazing a big learning curve.
did a test and found it was working a treat without the column under it.
Geoffb
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:12 pm

got about 9 Llts @ 55%
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Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:34 pm

Stripping Run using Alembic Pot still Liebig condenser
Hi there sorry for any confusion about last post.
My initial post did not upload.
I have not posted for a while and decided to give it another go.
I finally got around to do a stripping run with my 65ltr Digiboil using a T500 / Grandfather Alembic pot condenser.
I ran it with all switches on so total watts is 3500 with the temp set at 105deg to keep the boil going.
Head temp 56° for first drops Boiler at 88° – 89°
Head temp 69° at about 1 drop per sec product coming off at 19.9° - 19° from condenser
during the main part of the product came off at about 100 mls a minute with the Head temp 92° product coming off at 42° to 43°
total collected about 9 ltrs at 55% so I'm reasonably pleased with the results.

total time was about 3 1/2 hours with me stopping it at about 30% at 42°
I think the condenser is a bit small for the full power of the boiler but probably will be ok at a lower wattage .
Geoffb
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby Geoffb » Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:48 pm

Geoffb wrote:Hi all i finally got around to running the Digiboil with the 15 amp outlet and did not find any advantage in heating time, only plus was I don't have to watch out for the circuit breaker tripping out on full power.
I have built a column and a condenser coil and found the brazing a big learning curve.
did a test and found it was working a treat without the column under it.
Last edited by Geoffb on Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Geoffb
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:14 pm
Location: Lismore
equipment: started with a 5ltr Still spirits super reflux still
up graded to the 25 liter boiler
now have a 60 liter Digiboil boiler with the Pot still head which the t 500 uses.

Re: Newbe Intro

Postby The Stig » Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:35 pm

Where’s the pics of the Boka ?
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