Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

decided a while ago to become more spiritual,started researching the subject.
asked the local church how they made holy spirit,got shown the door.

finally found this forum and after a lot of reading realised that all roads led to the neutraliser.
so,sold my left kidney and headed down to 5 Star.
conversation with Andrew re other options confirmed my thoughts,drove home(sunshine coast) with the neut. and 50l milk can

it really is an aesthetically lovely piece of equipment,2.55m from floor to top,luckily old qlder has 11' ceilings.
did all the pre set up cleaning,than ran a tpw as cleaning run.no dramas,boiler temp sat around 85c,alcohol came off at 96%
only issue was that although the gate valve on rc has 5 complete turns between open and closed,
to allow product to pass the rc the valve was within 1cm turn of fully closed so very fiddly to adjust.
i left pc with full coolant flow all the time.
i thought it may be because water is coming at household pressure(on tank water so water from house tap then a hose back to tank)
for next run i turned down flow at house tap,but this meant that although rc cooled the pc did not cool at all with its valve wide open.
i am using the cooling pipe set up from 5 star.
so not sure what to try next.
anyway from 25 litres wash after the fores i got 2.5 litres of 96%,its sitting in a row of jars,so very happy so far.
thanks to 5 star for great service,
cheers
corry

Gday Corrie, great introduction :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Sounds like you’ve hit the ground running. Perfect abv and yield.
You’ll figure out the cooling and water pressures I’m sure. As long as you’ve got in the bottom of your condensers and out the top you’re laughing.
I use a needle valve for the rc, makes adjustments a breeze

Welcome corry,

Straight in at the top, nice work!

Netraliser on a 50 litre boiler is match made in heaven. How sexy are those milk cans in real life!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Welcome mate, nice intro post :handgestures-thumbupleft:

corrymeela wrote:decided a while ago to become more spiritual,started researching the subject.
asked the local church how they made holy spirit,got shown the door.

finally found this forum and after a lot of reading realised that all roads led to the neutraliser.
so,sold my left kidney and headed down to 5 Star.
conversation with Andrew re other options confirmed my thoughts,drove home(sunshine coast) with the neut. and 50l milk can

it really is an aesthetically lovely piece of equipment,2.55m from floor to top,luckily old qlder has 11' ceilings.
did all the pre set up cleaning,than ran a tpw as cleaning run.no dramas,boiler temp sat around 85c,alcohol came off at 96%
only issue was that although the gate valve on rc has 5 complete turns between open and closed,
to allow product to pass the rc the valve was within 1cm turn of fully closed so very fiddly to adjust.
i left pc with full coolant flow all the time.
i thought it may be because water is coming at household pressure(on tank water so water from house tap then a hose back to tank)
for next run i turned down flow at house tap,but this meant that although rc cooled the pc did not cool at all with its valve wide open.
i am using the cooling pipe set up from 5 star.
so not sure what to try next.
anyway from 25 litres wash after the fores i got 2.5 litres of 96%,its sitting in a row of jars,so very happy so far.
thanks to 5 star for great service,
cheers
corry

Welcome mate
I run a similar setup. (4 plate neutraliser with a 500mm packed section on a 50 litre milk can with 2 x 24OO elements) but only use a solar hot water pump via a tap via a 2000 litre tank. I found I had to wind down the gate vale on the pc so that I could get equal flow from both outlets. I have mine setup so that I can see both outlet flows. Being a tinkerer I still wasn't happy, so I rigged up a needle valve in parallel to the gate valve. So basically I run both gate valves and the needle valve fully open for a full reflux. (Adjust for equal flow from each output hose) I than close the Gate valve on the RC and wind back the needle Valve on the RC. (much better control) for doing a spirit run. The needle Valve is adjusted until I get a pencil like dribble from the house. (nearly identical to the pencil like dribble for the parrot on a spirit run) The need valve is nearly closed. (This is running one element) If I was running 2 elements on the spirit run, I would possibly have to open the needlevalve a lot more. This might help, but you just need to work out your system for the best results.

I AM impressed. Great work on two counts; seeking good, pro advice before you set off and joining a great, sharing group to help you really get started. :dance:

Ned wrote:Welcome mate
I run a similar setup. (4 plate neutraliser with a 500mm packed section on a 50 litre milk can with 2 x 24OO elements) but only use a solar hot water pump via a tap via a 2000 litre tank. I found I had to wind down the gate vale on the pc so that I could get equal flow from both outlets. I have mine setup so that I can see both outlet flows. Being a tinkerer I still wasn't happy, so I rigged up a needle valve in parallel to the gate valve. So basically I run both gate valves and the needle valve fully open for a full reflux. (Adjust for equal flow from each output hose) I than close the Gate valve on the RC and wind back the needle Valve on the RC. (much better control) for doing a spirit run. The needle Valve is adjusted until I get a pencil like dribble from the house. (nearly identical to the pencil like dribble for the parrot on a spirit run) The need valve is nearly closed. (This is running one element) If I was running 2 elements on the spirit run, I would possibly have to open the needlevalve a lot more. This might help, but you just need to work out your system for the best results.

hi Ned,
thanks for info,
to know the flow rates you must have a separate return pipe for each outlet so you can see water dropping into the tank?
needle valve is sounding good idea.