blues build

[googe]

Have a look at the 3 post under the pic you posted ;-)

[bluess57]

Got a question for ya Ive read thru and don't see the answer.

download/file.php?id=3864&mode=view

in the pic it shows the bottom plate dumping in to itself. yes/no I'm playing with liquid levels and it caught my eye. Flooding not a problem or do you have a external drain to help. Confused at the moment or I.m just an ass.

AC

Bottom plate just has a standard J trap. It doesn't show in the picture due to camera angle.

[bluess57]

By the way what a fantastic garden, :clap: I try but the growing season here is to short. :violin: Back on topic nice build.
AC

Garden is mainly the wifes' doin...
I get to blow/rake up leaves from now till winter and prune rose bushes - all the fun jobs.
There is a big shady elm tree - great for summer shade, but drops leaves constantly from now.

[bluess57]

Well that was an interesting afternoon.
Started siphoning the molasses wash, hose decides to pop out of the keg, splashing everywhere and on shoes. Lucky its outside, quick spray of the hose all clean.
Run was going well, little bit windy which played up with the reflux.
From a 25L wash, the yield seemed low compared to what I'm used to with the pot still. The wash had been sitting around for about 3 months though.
Took off 250ml as foreshots/heads (might be too much?), have about 1L in the 90s ABV.
All plates seemed to unload quickly at onset of tails, I thought it was due to the wind. ABV on the parrot dropped into the 80's.
Turned up the reflux, got the plates loaded again, ABV came up to 90 but wasn't liking what I was tasting.
Turned off the reflux and watched the ABV nose dive quickly down to 50's whilst collecting about 200mls.
Smaller cut jars called for now(?)

[Yummyrum]

Blues,that still looks fantastic mate.You must be pretty rapt :-D

Reckon you will collect less but at 90% .By the time you water it down ,would be close to what you get from the Pot after dilution.

And yeah your wifes done a great job in the garden :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bt1]

Bluess,

in the same boat...still nowhere near happy with my platter yield. I'm trying to love it...I like the quality but yield wise not happy ..Jan. Hopefully yours is just early run settling...good luck hope it pans out 4u.

bt1

[bluess57]

Have a few runs under the belt now with the bubbler (2x UJSM, TPW and a rum).

Q for the bubbler experts: On the weekends UJSM run, the bubbler seems to "struggle" to keep the bottom 4th plate loaded with a decent liquid volume/bubble action.
I've noticed it before. Top two plates have a liquid bubble action filling to at least 1/2 the sightglass window. The bottom plate tended to load and "dump".
Some surging going on up and down the column.
Early product comes out 94-93%. Can't fault the product.
Bottom plate is soldered in.

Do I:-
1) Forget it, tastes good, good %abv output, who cares.
2) Put in more heat ? (Running on gas on LP regulator, italian spiral burner), column insulation ? (Its cold outside here).
3) Look at adjustment of the downcomer into the plate cup ?

The run was rather interrupted, as I found first a leak around a RC triclamp and gasket - quick shutdown. Second a minor water leak. Third a swap of gas bottles.

Advice and tips welcome.

[Kimbo]

Hi Blues, mine does that sometimes too.
I find that with me its a combination of perf plates and running on gas.
I find that coz i'm on mains gas that it surges a bit and the distillate on the bottom plate blows thru.
try adjusting your gas flow a bit, so the flame is nice and low. ;-)

[emptyglass]

Like Kimbo said, It could be too hot.
Its easy to push too much heat through and push the distalate off the bottom plate with vapor speed.

Remember, with a plater you'll be getting a highly concentrated, highly flavored product, ready to age, with minimul cuts. The yeild will be lower, but it will be better. And as time goes on, you'll learn how to touch her properly and learn how she likes it, then she'll put out
Either way, you will reclaim more drinkable alcohol out of a wash than a pot still will, when you do the sums.

[bt1]

Howdy,

Yep the surge monster ... I get the same issue with the 6 plater...you can however confirm it's surge I've found by the small volume fluctuations at the parrot. I'm in a windy spot, foothills and run out side so have taken this as the norm for my location and setup.

I've shielded burner a bit but looking for a steel drum shroud this weekend.
bt1

[bluess57]

Thanks guys, hadn't considered too hot. :angry-banghead: With that last run and the other issues going on, didn't think to try and turn the burner down.
Will see how she goes on the next run. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluess57]

Ok I've got some column tweaks that I have todo.
I'm thinking the 2nd bottom plate is too slack against the walls.
Seeing distallate dripping into the bottom sight glass mounting and
some down the walls.
I clamped in a bubble plate below the column for these runs:-
Last weeks TPW run got the bottom plate loaded had the heat down, was a good run.
Today was a bitch, it's cold 15C with a cold wind and a small water leak on the RC.
Had a tea towel round the RC to collect water drips, dam did that induce a heap of
extra reflux.

Todays UJSM run the bubble plate loaded but the column bottom plate didn't.
I need to level/square up the column a little, may be contributing to my issues.