G'Day from Perth

[dist]

Hi all,

I'm from Perth, been reading this forum for a while and distilling for a few months, so decided it was time to sign up and say hi.
Started with air still to learn, liked it and recently upgraded to brewzilla + alcoengine. Still learning how to use it, as coming from air still its more involved.

Hope to learn more from you all.

Cheers,
dist

[Doubleuj]

Gday Dist, welcome to the forum

[Professor Green]

Welcome to AD dist.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

[Youngfella]

Welcome fellow Perth dweller. How are you liking the brewzilla? My friend is looking at getting one and I'm trying to convince him to get the 65l even though he'll need a 15amp circuit put in

[dist]

Yougfella, still learning to use it...already done a few runs, both as mashing and distilling.
Overall it's a very positive experience, I like it.

For beer making its really good. Ability to set programs takes away a lot of the stress and makes the whole process more enjoyable.
For distilling, the boiler is ok (i mean you don't need much from it), but their still is crappy.

Reflux is advertised as FM (flow management), but behaves as CM. I only have 100L water tank and mid run temp rises to a point where my distillate comes out at 80c, so I loose volume due to evaporation.
That's when running in pot mode, with unpacked column. I checked water temp on exit and it gets to 40c.
Adding ice helps, but that's annoying and expensive (3 packs for $10), barely enough for 1 stripping run.
I'll use the pool next time, just need to relocate from the shed.

On the other hand, it's $150, so significantly cheaper then anything else you might buy or build, which is why I went for it.
As a tangent, made a liebig condenser on the weekend. Gonna attach it to Alcoengine and see if that makes my distillate cooler.

[dans.brew]

I only have 100L water tank and mid run temp rises to a point where my distillate comes out at 80c, so I loose volume due to evaporation.

:scared-eek:
Yeah thats way too high... you better do something about that before it ends in disaster.

I'll use the pool next time, just need to relocate from the shed.

Might be a good idea... or get a condenser that can knock down the distillate to an acceptable temp. No-one wants to hear about anyone getting hurt. :handgestures-thumbupleft: