Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

is that section packed mate or you running 3 plates for rum, wondering if i can get away with 3

Yea a packed section for neutral. I just cant fit anymore plates or I would have 5 + packed section..
Have heard quite a few elsewhere say 3 for rum whiskey..you can always add more down the track if not happy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So after a single pass I have 85% spirit not including maybee jars and it tastes like white sugarhead whiskey. Definately needs a second pass. I have another boiler lined up which has a 4" ferrule wich will allow me a 4th plate + packed section. I will just put this in with next lot :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Actually no I think I just screwed up cuts and have some tails in..

Either way its going through again.. :laughing-rolling:

You'll need to try get that % up a bit to get it clean I recon. 3 plates and packed more than likely won't get you there unfortunately unless you run reallll slow. The 4th plate will help alot :handgestures-thumbupleft:

You need to look into a roof vent to give you some extra hight :teasing-tease: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Or just stick to rum :laughing-rolling: :twisted: :music-deathmetal:

Two runs will clean it up, more time consuming than rum definitely but it's going to be worth it when you're sipping g'n't :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:So after a single pass I have 85% spirit not including maybee jars and it tastes like white sugarhead whiskey. Definately needs a second pass. I have another boiler lined up which has a 4" ferrule wich will allow me a 4th plate + packed section. I will just put this in with next lot :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I run 4 plates and a packed section for my neutral but I strip my washes first to compensate for the missing 5th plate.

Professor Green wrote:...I run 4 plates and a packed section for my neutral but I strip my washes first to compensate for the missing 5th plate.

:text-+1: definitel!
It also, as I do it in 200l batches, makes it more manageable!

EziTasting wrote:

Professor Green wrote:...I run 4 plates and a packed section for my neutral but I strip my washes first to compensate for the missing 5th plate.

:text-+1: definitel!
It also, as I do it in 200l batches, makes it more manageable!

Same here. two half day 100 litre strips followed by a day for the spirit run.

Added a 4th plate. Stuck it together today. Have it soaking in citric.

This time you could try the plates at the top?
How many watts can you throw at it now?
How well was it able to hold 100% reflux the first time?
You may have to swap the plates for scoria

RC Al wrote:This time you could try the plates at the top?
How many watts can you throw at it now?
How well was it able to hold 100% reflux the first time?
You may have to swap the plates for scoria

Above the packed section?
Holds it fine at 2800ish watts. Much above that I get drips. @ 3600w it will do full reflux for about half hour then start producing at about normal collection rate..
Filling whole thing with scoria has crossed my mind :handgestures-thumbupleft: Was talking to coffee addict about that :-B

Yeah, the 4" packed section can do the heavy lifting at the bottom that way

Sounds like your condenser needs to be bigger to knock down enough to provide reflux to get your abv up
Maybe you could make up and additional rc coil that slides in and replaces a sight glass just below the blockhead, you may be better off with a new ccvm head though - Thor's hammer?

Ideally you should have gone 2 - 2 1/2" for the packed over 4" plates, same as the 5 star neutralizer, you end up with more theoretical plates with the smaller diameter

4" of packed is good for up to 6000 watts, similar to a 6" plate - a bubble ball/thumper may get you closer to where your heading, but an power upgrade would be needed for you

Can I spend any more money for you? :techie-typing: Lols

What's your collection rate like bluc?

Where you getting your figures from RC? I would think 6000w would be way too much for a 4" column? I run 6 plates and 500mm of packed section at 95-96% at 2.5lph on half that. I would think the column would flood with that much power?

I also thought the neutralizer had a 4" packed section?

Have you run a bubbler with the packed section below the plates? How does it go? I would have thought the packing would get a bit filthy being below?

woodduck wrote:I also thought the neutralizer had a 4" packed section?

It does.

woodduck wrote:Where you getting your figures from RC? I would think 6000w would be way too much for a 4" column? I run 6 plates and 500mm of packed section at 95-96% at 2.5lph on half that. I would think the column would flood with that much power?

I also thought the neutralizer had a 4" packed section?

Have you run a bubbler with the packed section below the plates? How does it go? I would have thought the packing would get a bit filthy being below?

:text-+1: Hey Bluc ifn ya 3-4 plates are having problems handleling more than 2800wt,I would get the FSD downcomers as I know from experience they will handle 3600wt no probs,they (downcomers) are critical in getting the best from your capped plates ,I like ta quote performance from a 40%spirit run otherwise results may not be comparable.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Db about 2.6-7l/h on previous setup at average abv 89. Have not run with the fourth plate yet.
Rc al neutralizer and virtually every bubbler/plated column I have seen uses a 4" packed section. In fact I have only ever heard of one I think it was onlylittlebitdodge a member on here that used a 2" packed section above 4" plates. How do you work out you get more plates from a smaller colum? As for packed section above plates the idea is plates bump the abv then packed section strips the flavour. I would think that packed section below plates would get mighty dirty..