Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Afternoon all,
Lately I've had less time to run my still on the weekend and have been considering doing striping runs mid week and a spirit run on the weekend. Instead of 2 strip runs and a spirit run on the weekend. I have 2 60 litre fermenters that I use for tpw that I strip through in my pot still with keg boiler then do a spirit run through my reflux still.
So is there any possible element damage that might occur if I filled my keg boiler on a Monday and did the strip run on a Tuesday or even a Wednesday night?

I hope not. I've had 50L of CFW in my boiler for 2 weeks now. Every time I get it up to temp I find new leaks :angry-banghead:

I often pre charge my boiler the night before so all I need to do is wake up and turn on the power/ water.

I do the same Doubleuj.

I don't think you'll have any problems plumby, the elements are stainless aren't they?

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

I had a 2kw element from China a while back and the 'stainless' (not) slowly corroded and revealed the copper core, it eventually died.Not sure where the coating/particles went...scary. The newer one is 3kw and supposedly stainless, have run it many times and is showing no signs of corrosion, must be the real deal. Guess what i am saying is there may be a possibility of corrosion over time if the element is not up to scratch.All the seals were ok though on both models.

Normally the seals we worry about. Thanks for pointing that out :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Doubleuj wrote:I often pre charge my boiler the night before so all I need to do is wake up and turn on the power/ water.

I do same thing. I try to always have something ready to run in one of my kegs weather it's strip, low wines or feints. So whenever I have time just fire up and away I go

Kenster wrote:I had a 2kw element from China a while back and the 'stainless' (not) slowly corroded and revealed the copper core, it eventually died.Not sure where the coating/particles went...scary. The newer one is 3kw and supposedly stainless, have run it many times and is showing no signs of corrosion, must be the real deal. Guess what i am saying is there may be a possibility of corrosion over time if the element is not up to scratch.All the seals were ok though on both models.

Good point. Quality ones shouldn't be a problem!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Thanks for the reply guys, yes professor stainless element.

I left an 8 litre 50/50 vinegar wash in my boiler for two weeks (that's pretty corrosive) and everything was good.

Corrosion occurs much faster in alkaline solutions. If the wash is acidic then the metals should be ok. Unless there's some other quality issue with the metal such as impurities that speed up corrosion. The vinegar cleaning wash shouldn't cause the metals to corrode.

We regularly leave wash in the boiler over the weekend ready for a pre dawn start on Monday...never encountered a problem.
Doc

the Doctor wrote:We regularly leave wash in the boiler over the weekend ready for a pre dawn start on Monday...never encountered a problem.
Doc

pre dawn is good time to start fill up the night before and in summer its cooler and sunrise is early and can finish before breakfast .

Well I think that with tpw it'll make no difference, with rum and whiskey try turning the boiler on getting up to temp and then tuning off till the next day. You might find it's going to be a better product due to ester formation. Plus it'll still warm and heat up takes less time!

So the CFW in my boiler that's been hot and cold 4 times should be pretty tasty?

You just have to make sure it is stainless 304 or better. I have two different bands one FSD and a shit one and one I'm thinking of changing. As over half of it is rusty but still working. But working away when or if I'm home boiler is hot but may still have to change it out and keep that one as a back up. Or should I change it out sooner than later.
I fill my boiler ready for when I'm home and have left it as well only by mistake or just plain old forgot that maybe just my age. The one element is the only problem I have had, but I think it was starting to rust anyway before working away. So I'm not going to get the next one from there when I need one.

I've never pre-charged my boiler before a run. I've never been worried about element corrosion. I don't use any fining agents , and I only run my washes kind of clearish, just a couple of days of clearing after the wash finishes . I was thinking more along the lines of particulate settling on the element and on the bottom of the boiler and getting scorched flavor /scorching. I run a combination of gas and electric. Should I be concerned about pre charging?

I leave my wash overnight before switching on most of the time, but after what happened earlier I always inspect before and after. Click on the build link here and go to page 4 near the bottom, it was a dud and all others I have are perfect.

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=12335&start=60

Chocko.

Hah, I’ve never been concerned with that... but my boiler has been charged for over a week now... running today will let you know hoe it goes...

I have heard of a corn wash with lots sediment left in a boiler settled out and scorched badly on the element. Would not be a problem. on a neutral wash though..