Blond bubbler complete

[Sam.]

Well done mate looking good, that was a pretty fast build.

Look forward to swapping some product one day

[googe]

Looking good mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[blond.chap]

Cheers guys, finished the run this morning and it worked really nicely. Tails compression is awesome, temperature went up from about 79deg to 95deg in a few minutes, about 300mL of tails with several litres of hearts.

Yep Sam I think it's about time we caught up for a drink.

[googe]

you don't sound very excited mate? :)) don't be shy, what did you run?, what was the ABV?, how does it compare to your other products from other stills?. Was it as easy to run as they say they are?.

[blond.chap]

you don't sound very excited mate? :)) don't be shy, what did you run?, what was the ABV?, how does it compare to your other products from other stills?. Was it as easy to run as they say they are?.

I'm totally giving the wrong impressions then, I was jumping up and down (literally) when I first saw the bubbles coming, then again when I checked the abv.

The first run was gin (TPW with some left over feints added). The set up was a 400mm packed column (scoria) with 3 perforated plates above. I would have done it the other way round but I was worried about any scoria flavour coming over (even after a few cleaning runs). Gin bag immediately above the reflux condenser using Bt1's bomba

The hydrometer read 90-91 through until the tails, (thermometer reading ~78degC).

The product is awesome, really clean with little to no burn. The coolest thing though is the heads and tails compression. Ended up with about: 200mL foreshots, 400mL heads, 3L of hearts (90%), 400mL tails. Probably would have gotten more hearts, but the power outage ruined about a litre.

As far as ease of running, I think it will be simple once I have a feel for it. This run had some complications in getting the water flows just right, particularly difficult because I'd set the RC water flow, which would hold until some product started flowing. The water through the RC would then be heated, which would affect the flow, so had to be pretty careful.

The other issue was that, because the plates aren't soldered in, there seems to be liquid flowing down the sides of the column rather than in the downcomers. Wasn't the end of the world because there was still a liquid layer held on the plate, but I think I may solder the plates in.

Pretty awesome machine over all, next batches will be neutral (same configuration as gin) then plum brandy (probably just 3 or 4 plates). After that I might do another rum, which will be the real comparison (as the pot stilled rum I've had for the past few months is already pretty great). Might do a white rum for mojitos as well (have to suss out how to do that though).

[googe]

Awesome mate, thought you must have been excited! Haha I will be. Yeah, mac and empty and b t and the rest are always saying it will be easier to run with a few under your belt. Runs that is. Sounds like your plates arnt sealing to well, what seals you using?. The ones with experience might be able to sus it. Its probably loosing some abv?. Well done mate, about wait to see how your rum comes out .

[blond.chap]

Awesome mate, thought you must have been excited! Haha I will be. Yeah, mac and empty and b t and the rest are always saying it will be easier to run with a few under your belt. Runs that is. Sounds like your plates arnt sealing to well, what seals you using?. The ones with experience might be able to sus it. Its probably loosing some abv?. Well done mate, about wait to see how your rum comes out .

I'm using everlasting ptfe gaskets, which incidentally are falling apart after one run. So I might look at using some baking silicone for the next one. The issue is that they don't actually seal between plate, just seal between the inside and outside. If I use a gasket between the plate and flanges they don't fit into a triclamp, which is why I'm thinking of soldering in. If nothing else I wan't to see liquid coming from the downcomer, but I'm sure there are benefits to efficiency.

I'm sure you can't wait for yours to be up and running, what will be your first run?

[blond.chap]

Just a quick update for you lot on how Paris is going, I've ended up ditching the so called "everlasting PTFE Gaskets", as the things wouldn't stop leaking, eventually realised that the silicone ones seal fine if you crank the triclamps tight enough.

My lesson's learned so far on running the still:
- Don't leave fabric stuffed into your downcomers after soldering
- Make small adjustments at a time for to cooling water to the reflux condenser when moving from full reflux to foreshots and foreshots to heads
- Let the ex-RC water drop virtually straight out, not through long hose lines. Otherwise the hose gets warm and deflects, changing the resistance in the line and therefore the flow through the condenser (spent ages chasing consistent flow rates till I worked this out).
- Get a good book and sit right next to the still through the whole run, somewhere you can see: Product output, reflux condenser output, vapour temperature and liquid level.

Here she is making me some brown rum:

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This is white rum:

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[BackyardBrewer]

Nice! I'd rather watch that Paris in action than the obnoxious blonde celeb-u-tard..

[Yummyrum]

Nice pics Blonde.

Whats what you got different between your white and brown Rum runs ?
Looks like extra column between boiler and first section ?

[emptyglass]

The scoria wont carry any flavor of its own over. At worst, you might get some fines making their way back to the boiler if it wasn't washed before using it. You might get more benifit putting it on top.

Well done on the build blonde. :obscene-drinkingcheers:

[crow]

Nice one blondie looks like a winner PS WTF is scoria flavour :wtf:

[MacStill]

Nice one blondie looks like a winner PS WTF is scoria flavour :wtf:

Havnt you tasted it yet? you do know you can get food grade :D

[blond.chap]

Nice pics Blonde.
Whats what you got different between your white and brown Rum runs ?
Looks like extra column between boiler and first section ?

As the other guys mentioned, it's a packed scoria section, the idea being that it produces a spirit with less flavour at higher %.

No scoria flavour noticed so far, the white rum is pretty awesome and smooth. EG the packed section is on the bottom mainly because I couldn't be bothered disconnecting the top section from the RC, I stupidly made the sight glass T too short, so now it's a bitch to put together. Seemed to work ok with this configuration.

I boiled the stuff in vinegar before using it, then did a few cleaning runs through it, should be nice and clean by now.

By the way, thanks to all of you guys who helped, and didn't mind me stealing ideas. No way the still would have come together without this forum.

[Kimbo]

Good work Blond, have fun with it mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[emptyglass]

Nice one blondie looks like a winner PS WTF is scoria flavour :wtf:

Havnt you tasted it yet? you do know you can get food grade :D

Avalable from the "exploding rock" section of your local pharmaceutical store :laughing-rolling:

[blond.chap]

Here's the latest few upgrades for Paris, now featuring:
- New 50L, 4800W boiler, with 4" connection, 4" fill port, 1" drain and dial thermometer
- More accurate thermometer after the RC
- Thermometer and rotameter on the cooling line before the RC

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I'll try to work out putting up a quick video of the rotameter in action tomorrow.

[emptyglass]

I like the flowmeter blond, nice touch.
Looking good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[blond.chap]

Cheers EG, it should be helpful, I've been having a hard time working out how to consistently get the right reflux ratio, so the flow meter will help out, you'll see when I get the video up how handy it is when paired with the needle valve.

[blond.chap]

And here's the video of the rotameter, should be pretty helpful: