know it all

[richarddayle]

hey team
well I been brewing for a few years using air pot still but best u can get is about 450-50 % so being that I know it all I bit the bullet and brought a reflux built a boiler with a keg and 2200 watt element and a little 200 litre cooling tank. I took a wash that had stalled at about 75% fermented for my test run, it was about then I realized I knew sweet FA
I couldn't get it to produce under about 85 degrees so I kept changing water flow up and down trying to find the as I was told optimum temp of 78 which I never did. So using a stalled wash I managed to get about 3 litres at 85% the water tank was obviously too small as it near boiled.
so now I have 70 litres of wash near fermented and a larger tank of 1000 litres and my fingers crossed as I will be running it just prior to my sons 21st so I cant afford another screw up.
rick from Melbourne
ps if I can figure out how I will add some pictures of my rig

[Frothwizard]

Welcome Richard,

Sounds like you're going to learn a lot doing what you're doing. Good work.

...3000L/h pump...that sucker is definitely going to do the job.

[richarddayle]

Thanks frothy and yeah the bigger pump and 1000 litre water tank should stop the reservoir overheating for a start

[Urrazeb]

Yep I got an IBC, done three runs in a row a few times and never overheated.

70L of wash.. you'll be fine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[richarddayle]

my brother is 84 degree to hot to do the runs at no one seems to be able to tell me the right temp some have said over 80 is way to hot some say whatever gives u a decent run. even the temp doc in newbies tells you what not to do but dosent mention what shld run at

[Zak Griffin]

You have no control over temperature... The wash will boil at whatever temp it will boil at. Ever tried to boil water at 85°?

Run the still at whatever gives you a nice slow steady output... Pencil lead/broken stream coming out.

[Smbjk]

my brother is 84 degree to hot to do the runs at no one seems to be able to tell me the right temp some have said over 80 is way to hot some say whatever gives u a decent run. even the temp doc in newbies tells you what not to do but dosent mention what shld run at

Welcome richard. The best ting I can suggest with the temp is sometimes you can have a faulty thermometer. What you need to do is see if you can calibrate the thermometer buy using boiling water. Once calibrated ( if you can ) run the still nice and steady, controll the flow of water so it just knocks down the vapor and you will be fine. Look at you temp guage and wait for it to stabilize at a temp that doesnt move a point. This will happen once the column has stabilized. You will know you have reached a sweet spot when you are drawing off as zac said a pencil lead stream and you vapor temp stays exactly the same. Eventually during the run you temp guage will move .1 of a deg once this happens you will know you are getting to the end of you run. Hope this helps mate this is what I do :handgestures-thumbupleft: just remember all temp guages can be different and can have a variance of a few deg sometimes. Just look for a consistant and stable temp :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[OzKev]

I'm only new to this game, but I thought the still design had an influence on the vapor temp. My crappy still spirits super reflux wont produce the main run until >80c One day I'll build a real one.

[crow]

The composistion of the wash and little else will effect the temp. As the composistion changes so does the temp. If your still won't run at seventy eight maybe the thermometer is out , either way it doesn't matter. When it reads a consistent temp then the still has stabilized and reached an equilibrium and is ready for take off.I have never ran a still based on temp and never will .

[richarddayle]

Thanks crow appreciate the reply brother.
thermometer is about right I used 3 diff ones and it is what it is if that's what it produces at.
Tell me brother when you are using a sugar wash and it stalls during ferment how do u get it goin again is it ok just to chuck some more tuirbo yeast in or just run it the way it is and extract what alco there is there

[Zak Griffin]

What has the wash stalled at? What were the ingredients (how much sugar/water?)

You'll really be struggling to find anyone here who uses Turbos anymore mate... I suggest you run this turbo as is, and duck down to the supermarket for a jar of tomato paste, a tin of bakers yeast and a few kg of sugar :)

[richarddayle]

wash was 2 packs turbo 24 16 kg sugar 44 litres water
I don't know the recipe for the TPW one I been stillin for years but this is only my second reflux one.
Tell me my friend I have a 50 litre keg boiler if I only have 20 litres o wash should I top it up with water ?

[Zak Griffin]

What is the SG of the stalled wash?

Is your keg electric or gas fired? If it's electric, make sure your element(s) will be covered at all times... If gas, it doesn't really matter because you'll never boil it dry.

[richarddayle]

electric brother inside 50 litre beer keg

[Zak Griffin]

Righto, as long as you will have enough left in the keg at the end of the run to cover the element, you're good to go...

[richarddayle]

ok so last bothersome question I shldnt add water to the keg ?

[Frothwizard]

ok so last bothersome question I shldnt add water to the keg ?

If you don't think you've got enough wash to cover your element, there's no reason you can't add some water.

When I do my spirit runs, I like to water down to 30% instead of 40% for A) Volume and B) The more clean water in the wash, the cleaner the distillate will be.