Vm reflux

[Jonno]

Hey mate,

How much thread was left after the locking nut to fit the box? Fit easily enough?

Btw, good work on your successes so far :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Distillnation]

Hey mate,

How much thread was left after the locking nut to fit the box? Fit easily enough?

Btw, good work on your successes so far

Cheers Jonno!

The way we set it up was as follows:

internal element > keg wall > element thread > 1" BSP to 3/4" thread > element guard box > flanged back nut.

Didn't use the nut that it came with at all because you are left with no thread.

Here is a little diagram that may help:

element_install.png

Basically the 1" BSP screws onto the element thread and holds it in place against the keg. The female side of the BSP reducer goes inside the guard box and is held in place with a flanged back nut.

Let me know if you need me to explain it better. It looks a little confusing what I've written :laughing-rolling:

[Jonno]

nah i get it, tis all good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Distillnation]

TPW looks like it will be done tomorrow. I'm off from work so have the time for it, but not sure if I should wait until I get my condenser coil sorted out. Is a single coil sufficient for this type of still or should I check the store for some 1/4 inch and then do the run?

If I was doing the wash like a stripping run I could get away with the single coil but I'd I'm stripping it I'd have to get a better set up in place.

My impatient side is telling me shut up and run it. The conservative side is telling me to wait to avoid wasting a perfectly good wash :laughing-rolling:

[Distillnation]

Okay, so it got the better of me.

I ran the wash today. Started about 10am. Heated the 25L up to temp in about an hour (give or take) which I was happy with.

Collected 150mL foreshots at 95% and 150mL heads at 95%. I went on taking hearts at 95% in 150mL cuts, bottled and labelled. Unfortunately other life problems got in the way and I had to cut it short, I ended up with approx. 1L at 95% which is currently airing (individually that is).

I'll finish the run tomorrow and see what else I get out of it. It took longer than I thought, 10am-530pm,but my water container is only 140L so had to do some draining and filling, that and I think it would work better if I made a better condenser. I used a bit of packing in there which helped keep the vapour down, but I wasn't running it fast so not sure how it would perform on a stripping run.

Anyway I've forgotten where I was going with this so I'll leave a picture instead:

IMG_20130418_192925.JPG

[MacStill]

Well done mate, I doubt anyone ever gets it right the first time.... but you got pretty bloody close :clap:

[Distillnation]

Thanks Mac! :D

While it wasn't the ideal run I was definitely happy with how it went. I'm glad I actually tried the spirit run on the TPW because it gave me a chance to see how my equipment worked and what needs to be fixed. Would rather find out on a simple wash rather than a 40L charge of low wines ;-)

I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow though. I've got my still hand (Dad) the setting everything up at 9am so that when I'm home at 10 it should be good to go. He has all the instructions needed so it's in good hands. I get all the fun parts that way :laughing-rolling:

[MacStill]

Nice avatar mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now your out of the hustle n bustle of city traffic driving down a country road, loosen the seat belt, wind the window down, take ya foot off the pedal a bit and enjoy the ride :happy-partydance:

[Distillnation]

I was trying to think of something to use and after taking that picture I knew it had to be that :D

Yeah that sounds a lot better than today's run. I think I did a little too much pacing up and down, and not enough sitting and relaxing :P will get some music going, a couple drinks, some snacks and get her running!

[Distillnation]

Finished up the rest of the run today. Managed to get another ~1L of the good stuff out of it.

There's also about 2-2.5L of heads/tails that went to the feints jar.

I picked up a 5L demijohn as well, thought it will come in handy for storing the cut spirit, as well as for aging in (when I get to it).

Today's run was really good. Collected and refluxed a lot easier IMO, but I may have just been more relaxed :laughing-rolling:

When I started collecting tails, I bumped up the element, opened the valve all the way, and just watched it piss out the tube. Was pretty entertaining to watch actually. If only I could fill jars that quickly and be getting some nice neutral ~95% :mrgreen:

I'll have to hunt down some corn so I can start a UJSM, or maybe even get so molasses for a rum. Still deciding on that :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now the "fun" part. Cleaning up the mess :shock:

[Distillnation]

Just picked up 25kg of crushed corn for $25. Got 5 dollars off for some dust/dirt on the bag, so pretty happy with that :D

Can't wait to get my first UJSM down.

Anyone know roughly how many kilos will be used in getting a 40L low wines charge.

[Sam.]

Just picked up 25kg of crushed corn for $25. Got 5 dollars off for some dust/dirt on the bag, so pretty happy with that :D

Can't wait to get my first UJSM down.

Anyone know roughly how many kilos will be used in getting a 40L low wines charge.

2 BILLION :laughing-rolling:

Depends on what recipe you are using and how far you are stripping it down. Have you done a stripping run on one yet :think:

[Distillnation]

2 BILLION :laughing-rolling:

Depends on what recipe you are using and how far you are stripping it down. Have you done a stripping run on one yet :think:

Haha yeah, I did ask a pretty broad question there :laughing-rolling:

I'll probably go the classic UJSM recipe for 20/25L (probably the latter), or if I can find a fermenter big enough, a 40L wash.

My only concern is that if I'm doing 20L washes, by the time I have stripped enough for 40L I may be up to a pretty high generation compared to stripping a few 40L washes. Or would it be good to have more generations to fully take advantage of carrying across flavour.

Also, this is what I'm doing I gather;
25L wash - ferment - strip = 5L (1st gen)
25L wash - ferment - strip = 10L (2G)
...
...
25L wash - ferment - strip = 40L (8G)

So at the end of the strip I use the back set for the next gen, and add the strip to a keg for storage. I do this until I have enough stripped to do a spirit run, which in the above example would be the 8th generation.

I haven't done a UJSM or anything like that before and the tpw I did the other day I ran as if it was a spirit run, so I haven't stripped in this still yet.

I think I read that collecting from 80 down to 60% was acceptable ,but you can collect all the way to 20% and use as feints in the next strip.

Might need to do a bit more reading up on other people's experiences for some guidelines on what to try.

Any input Sam?

[Distillnation]

So made a few bottles of JD for a family friend which filled 3 700mL bottles and little left over to spare. Used that left over to make a half batch of "muck". Went out and got the ingredients about 20mins ago, came back and made it....already on my second glass.

This stuff is pretty damn delicious. I can see why it isn't something you would want to have on hand all the time. I don't know how long this stuff will last, but I suppose the sooner I get through it, the sooner I can make room for a batch made with UJSM :D

I'll be out tomorrow to see if I can get a hold of a bigger fermenter or container to ferment in so I can do a ~40L UJSM wash.

[Distillnation]

Just added another purchase to my list. A 60L fermenter :-D

Looked around for some stock feed barrels, drums, etc. but couldn't find any. HBS was a bit too expensive, and everywhere else didn't have what I was looking for.

Got home, went on eBay and managed to pick one up for $49.50 (drum + postage), which I thought was a pretty good deal.

I think I'll hold off on doing a UJSM until I get the fermenter and can do a 40L wash all at once.

[Sam.]

Sounds like your on the right track mate, a rough guide is for every kilo of sugar you use it should produce approx a litre of 40%.

once you have done a couple of strips you will know the yield from each run so that will make it easy to find how many gens to get there :handgestures-thumbupleft:

As long as you keep the conditions right you should be able to get a lot of generations before any adverse tastes, they should get better ;-)

[Distillnation]

Sounds like your on the right track mate, a rough guide is for every kilo of sugar you use it should produce approx a litre of 40%.

Going by the UJSM 40L recipe, I'll use 7kg, so roughly 7L of 40% then. That's pretty good. I'd be happy with anything over 5L, but the more the better, and the quicker I can get to my spirit run.

once you have done a couple of strips you will know the yield from each run so that will make it easy to find how many gens to get there :handgestures-thumbupleft:

As long as you keep the conditions right you should be able to get a lot of generations before any adverse tastes, they should get better ;-)

I really need to get a strip run done so I can see how it goes. I know I can get a nice stream out of my still (I was collecting tails pretty fast from my TPW, but the condenser couldn't keep up and was steaming a bit up top).

Sounds good. I can't wait to get a hold of the fermenter and put the first one down. I was almost tempted to do a little 5L ferment in the demijohn, but decided against it in the long run...although, I do know someone with an airstill :laughing-rolling: Damn this is addictive.

[Distillnation]

Okay, so a couple of updates.

Removed the old condenser from the still. Now have a couple of ~3/8in holes that I will need to plug or cover or whatever.

Went and grabbed 5m of 1/4in which set me back $40 (got a discount or they quoted the wrong price?? not going to complain). Here is what it looks like...everyone has probably already seen it, but oh well :D

condenser_copper.jpg

And, like always, I couldn't help myself. I moved all my corn into my 30L fermenter since I'll be using the 60L from now on. Well, it didn't quite all fit, and I was left with about 800gms left over, so thought I would put it to use...in a mini UJSM 8-)

I really can't control myself when it comes to this hobby :laughing-rolling:

mini_ujsm.jpg

It smell's pretty good as is. The yeast has kicked off to a nice start already, and the glad wrap on top is tight. I thought it was going to over flow though, it made it about 3inches from the top before dying back down :happy-partydance:

Now what am I going to do with this? Well, I'm going to run it through....an airstill :o

Will borrow a friends airstill that they don't really use anymore and see what I can get out of it. Will be interesting to see what kind of product comes out. He only used turbos with it (and still uses turbos in his reflux), so will be good to show him what a good wash can do 8-)

Now to get this condenser started!

[blond.chap]

I really can't control myself when it comes to this hobby :laughing-rolling:

Nice one mate, I know what you mean about lack of control. The other day I got an awesome surprise when someone asked me if I wanted 4 30L fermenters for free. I said yes please, and within 24hrs I had them all full (in addition to my other 4 which were already bubbling).

[Distillnation]

Nice one mate, I know what you mean about lack of control. The other day I got an awesome surprise when someone asked me if I wanted 4 30L fermenters for free. I said yes please, and within 24hrs I had them all full (in addition to my other 4 which were already bubbling).

That is a nice surprise :-D
Haha, I would probably have done the same. I was itching to get a batch down, and couldn't wait any longer for my 60L to get delivered.. Just means I'll have another to make (hopefully) soon.

I'll definitely put this small one down as a lesson though. Now I know what kind of krausen action I'm looking at, I will have to make sure I have some headspace free.