T500 with power control.
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:27 am
Hi all, I started off running a T500 last November, yes the T500 has its faults, but I'm sure I would have never got started without this neat little unit.
First of all I'd like to say I'm a fussy bugger when it come to what I drink, quality over quantity, making tight cuts and doing multiple passes was the norm for me. I always ran this unit a wee bit slower than some, around 600-700ml/h was about right to get good product (for me anyway) when running a charge of strip at around 40AVB.
Now onto the subject - I firmly believe one of the biggest problems with the T500 is the boiler is too powerful for such a small column, I understand it's been developed to be super simple to use, but it's running way under potential.
I modded my boiler to have a phase angle power controller - and used this in conjunction with a power monitor so I could repeat my results.
I would let the still heat up on full power, mine runs at about 1850w not 2kw as stated. Then I would turn down to 900w, stabilise for half an hour, then pull off the fores and heads really slowly over an hour or so.
Once the heads were gone I would then power up to around 1100w, re-equalise for 15mins then I could run the hearts out between 1.2 and 1.6l/h the output would be the same ABV as running on full power and having to pull off at half the speed, the quality was indistinguishable from using it normally.
One thing to remember is with each power level, the cooling temp is different, at 900W my cooling would be around 80oC and at 1100w it would be in the low to mid 60's. (before power control, running on full power I would shoot for 50-55oC cooling) I have done full runs on 900w, but ran into problems with hot output as i was having to run so little cooling to the reflux, if I split out the cooling lines to run the condenser separately, I'm sure running on less than 1100w would be fine, but this worked for me.
I by no means cracked this - with a little experimentation I'm sure someone out there could come up with a definitive method of running that would maximize output and quality, I moved on to a different still before I had any more time to try things out.
Just find a power level that works for you, and take notes of the cooling temps, so you can run the same way on future runs - running with a parrot really helps when you're trying to suss out whats working.
I hope this gives some of the T500 users out there some ideas.
First of all I'd like to say I'm a fussy bugger when it come to what I drink, quality over quantity, making tight cuts and doing multiple passes was the norm for me. I always ran this unit a wee bit slower than some, around 600-700ml/h was about right to get good product (for me anyway) when running a charge of strip at around 40AVB.
Now onto the subject - I firmly believe one of the biggest problems with the T500 is the boiler is too powerful for such a small column, I understand it's been developed to be super simple to use, but it's running way under potential.
I modded my boiler to have a phase angle power controller - and used this in conjunction with a power monitor so I could repeat my results.
I would let the still heat up on full power, mine runs at about 1850w not 2kw as stated. Then I would turn down to 900w, stabilise for half an hour, then pull off the fores and heads really slowly over an hour or so.
Once the heads were gone I would then power up to around 1100w, re-equalise for 15mins then I could run the hearts out between 1.2 and 1.6l/h the output would be the same ABV as running on full power and having to pull off at half the speed, the quality was indistinguishable from using it normally.
One thing to remember is with each power level, the cooling temp is different, at 900W my cooling would be around 80oC and at 1100w it would be in the low to mid 60's. (before power control, running on full power I would shoot for 50-55oC cooling) I have done full runs on 900w, but ran into problems with hot output as i was having to run so little cooling to the reflux, if I split out the cooling lines to run the condenser separately, I'm sure running on less than 1100w would be fine, but this worked for me.
I by no means cracked this - with a little experimentation I'm sure someone out there could come up with a definitive method of running that would maximize output and quality, I moved on to a different still before I had any more time to try things out.
Just find a power level that works for you, and take notes of the cooling temps, so you can run the same way on future runs - running with a parrot really helps when you're trying to suss out whats working.
I hope this gives some of the T500 users out there some ideas.