Bought still, gave it a clean, green stuff on the outside?

[rlmisso]

Bought this 4 plate glasser from a another member. And I thought I should do the old 5050 vinegar and water clean before a rum sac run.

I kept an eye on it in between doing a few odd jobs here and there and I came back and saw 2 plates bubbling and 2 plates empty. There was also this odd green liquid on the outside of the still. Further to this, the parrot was gurgling... But the liquid in the collection vessel was also green... so maybe that is good....

I've not had any hands on experience in distilling but I have read 3 books and spent countless hours reading this forum.

Just wanted to check this Is all kinda normal?

Cheers in advance

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[RC Al]

I dare say that you need new seals, give it a full clean when it's apart

The Green on the top is either the above triclamp leaking or a crack in the soldering :?

Do you have a compressor ? Throw some pressure at it (very little) and see what leaks

[rlmisso]

Let's hope it's the seals, I just had a good look and in the tri clamp seems to be dry and uncolored.

When you say take it apart do you mean take apart all the seals and the glass ect ect.??

If I'm doing that I may as well get it all new looking and shine up the copper.

I do have a compressor, how many PSI? should I do this after the clean and seals?

[RC Al]

Try the pressure test first. If you can, dial it down to 5-10 psi, depending on your lungs you might be able to just blow hard into the pc, an extra set of ears might help.

The topmost green bit is of most concern, the rest of it may seal up after a clean

Hang on for someone with good glasser experience to chime in before pulling it apart, out of my experience

[Doubleuj]

Like RC AL said, that top leak could be a pinhole or similar. Before pulling it apart, I’d give it a bit of a clean with a toothbrush and water/ citric and then re run the cleaning run and check for leaks with a mirror.
There’s a chance you’ve only got 1 leak up the top and all the other green stain is from that top leak, just running down the threaded rod.
Secondly, the plates won’t load properly on a vinegar run so don’t stess about that, when you do a proper run they should load fully.

Be careful with pressure, I once pressure tested my glasser with town water and blew out all my seals :angry-banghead: water pissing everywhere. I don’t know what our water pressure is though.

Welcome to the world of a glasser :happy-partydance: I reckon glassers are the shit :music-deathmetal:

[rlmisso]

Hmm yes some very good points indeed! Thanks RC AL and WJ.!

I'll get stuck into the cleaning this afternoon when I get home from work.

I think you're right about only having 1 leak. I took another photo after I switched her off and you can see more of the green stuff but only on the top.

Yeah it is a really cool piece of equipment! I figured I'd go straight to the top instead of wasting money on an inferior still only to upgrade a year later. Only downside Is i have no idea how to run it! :laughing-rolling:

The same vinegar and water should be good for another boil hey?

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[The Stig]

I would:
Do a full strip down
Clean all components
Replace all seals
Reassemble
Get rid of the braided hoses and replace with larger internal diameter hose.
.
Looking at the top side of the top clamp it looks like its been sitting for a long time unused and you have no way of knowing what the seals are going to be like.

[AJS]

Spray soapy water all over it while running and any leaks will bubble up. There will be no guessing as any leaks will be immediately visible.

Cheers

[rlmisso]

I would:
Do a full strip down
Clean all components
Replace all seals
Reassemble
Get rid of the braided hoses and replace with larger internal diameter hose.
.
Looking at the top side of the top clamp it looks like its been sitting for a long time unused and you have no way of knowing what the seals are going to be like.

Regarding the hoses, I didn't have them plugged in so no water was running through... could that gsve affected anything? Or would you still recommend getting a bigger hose? Is there anything wrong with not having water go through the Still?

Sound advice I'll get stuck into the cleaning and also look into ordering some new seals. It will get good use early on so want to make sure it's all ready.

[The Stig]

No water means no cooling.
No cooling means no refluxing.
No refluxing means the plates won’t load correctly.
The internal diameter of the braided lines is way too small to deliver enough flow.
Get rid and replace : read viewtopic.php?f=36&t=12399

[rlmisso]

No water means no cooling.
No cooling means no refluxing.
No refluxing means the plates won’t load correctly.
The internal diameter of the braided lines is way too small to deliver enough flow.
Get rid and replace : read http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic ... 36&t=12399

Brilliant, so you would always use water for cooling even with water and vinegar runs.

I'll read that thread and upgrade before the next run! :text-thankyoublue:

[The Stig]

Yes, if the still is on so is the water - no exclusions :-B
Good move :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[rlmisso]

Yes, if the still is on so is the water - no exclusions :-B
Good move :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The things they don't tell you when you graduate from 'still school'

I'll need a water pump too (tap is too far away and want to save water) how big of a pump should I go? Would 200l of recirculation water be enough for an 80l boiler?

[RC Al]

200 is not enough by itself without additional cooling from say a car radiator and fan or a trick evaporative cooling setup, many use an 1000l ibc. I could just get 4-5 hours of stripping (3 runs) out of a 200l with 800w in 7l in my baby pot

I recirculate into a 22,500l rain water tank now

[rlmisso]

Yeah very interesting. Are you saying I could do 3 runs on a 1000L IBC or that I would need bigger like you. Definitely keen to be able to do bigger and longer days than multiple shorter ones. I have 220l olive drums for fermenting so keen to do 3 runs in 1 day if the water doesn't get too hot.

Maybe I look into a slimline water tank... tell the missis we need one for the garden! :laughing-rolling:

[Doubleuj]

Better to tell her she needs 2 for the garden just to be safe

[db1979]

Another option is to use town water for the RC, it requires such little flow throughout most of the run that it really won't use up much water. This water can then be fed out into your garden for watering. The PC can be cooled by your 200 L drum and won't matter as much if it gets a bit warm, but if it does get warm your parrot measurements won't be reliable.

[rlmisso]

Very good point, something I hadn't thought of to have 2 separate water sources.

I was only keen to use the 220l drum as I have a spare and it could sit in the corner of the room. An IBC will work and they are cheap. I'll just have it sitting outside the room and may need to run a bigger pump!

If the IBC doesn't work. Could I freeze a big 50l bucket of ice and put it in the 220l drum?

Keen to do a few back to back runs :music-deathmetal:

[db1979]

No, using ice is not a good option. First, it won't last long, and second, you need your RC cooling water temp to be stable. If your recirculating water supply isn't big enough it will gradually warm up and your reflux ratio (amount condensed and sent back to the column compared to the amount sent over to the PC) will keep reducing until your plates run dry and you're running a pot still. Adding ice will just delay the inevitable, and may also play havoc with your cuts.

[mattyb]

Ibc will work fine. That’s what I and a lot of people use. No notable increase in temp after 4-5 hour runs