Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Any ideas what’s happening here? Can’t seem to dial this new column in
This is as much power I can throw at it without over powering the rc. Have one 2400 watt element on full and the other on half. 30 litre rum wash in 50l keg. Just doesn’t seem like half the activity on the plates that Andrew gets

Also just tried cranking her right up. Second plate loads but top seems to flood

It took me almost the whole run to settle mine down.
A lot of my run looked just like yours till I figured it out.
I ended up with the second element on about 25% and the RC flowing a lot more than I would normally.
So, less power and more reflux seemed to work best.
I couldn’t say what take off rate I was getting sorry.
Only done the one run with the glass.

Try running the one element on less than 2400 W. Your column is glass which is an insulator not a conductor, it should require less heat to run. The lack of activity could be because you're bypassing your risers and don't have a complete vapour lock in your downcomers and this could be caused by too much power. Try backing off the power and see if that helps your plates. If that works, try increasing the power again if you are trying to push past the RC with power. I can see fluid leaving your downcomers, but maybe there isn't complete vapour lock.

Seems I heard the same speech yesterday db :laughing-rolling:
It was good to have an explanation as to why I found what I found

I agree, less power. My glasser runs like clockwork on 2400w and a trickle through the rc

Giving less power a try now and also pulled apart and put back together . Am thinking I didn’t have it any where near tight enough so maybe not getting a good enough seal

Those downcomers look shorter underneath the plate than the ones I have from FSD,could that make them have blow -by with high power.cheers hillzabilly :think:

Andrew wrote:Seems I heard the same speech yesterday db :laughing-rolling:
It was good to have an explanation as to why I found what I found

Thought you might recognise it :laughing-rolling:

Ifn ya had a bad rum ferment with little alcohol it could look like that as it does at the end of a run,giving it a run with a known amount of alcohol may show a difference,so do not freek out just yet.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Mattyb, what’s the temp of your cooling water ?
Knowing where you are it maybe a little warm

The Stig wrote:Mattyb, what’s the temp of your cooling water ?
Knowing where you are it maybe a little warm

Nah it’s pretty cold now. Maybe 15c if that. Wife just commandeered the 15amp outlet so might try again later

why do you need 15AMP ??
2400w elements only need 10amp

Old farm house run one off the 10amp and one off the 15. Trips when I run off the same circuit and I put a 15am lead on the longer run

Well after much mucking around I can’t seem to make any difference. Have decided to just run it through and see how she goes. Am getting heaps of reflux coming down and it is coming off at 92% with a tooth pick stream so maybe it’s just the wash. It’s my first full molasses wash with 9L in 30 litre fermenter so maybe that is making a difference. As long as it tastes good I am happy. Will see how much comes off and I will put down a tpw as I know I have that down pat

Your throwing too much power at it.

Try winding the power down until the plates match each other.

Did that Sam but no change. Looks like it was a shit wash. Only got a litre of 92% before tails kicked in and the abc dropped. Will make a proper tried and proven wash and hopefully that will be all good then

Hey Matty where did ya get the mollasses from,bio john on Camden st Belmont has it pretty cheap $33 /25kg bucket.cheers hillzabilly

I am down ALBANY way. Got it at a local stock feed place. Am going to put the spirit back in the wash, add 20 more litres of water and a few kilo sugar and use the faithful bakers yeast

mattyb wrote:I am down ALBANY way. Got it at a local stock feed place. Am going to put the spirit back in the wash, add 20 more litres of water and a few kilo sugar and use the faithful bakers yeast

Dont put spirit in wash. Ferment it then add spirit then run. If you add it now its likely to stall fermentation due to to high abv :handgestures-thumbupleft: