Carter Heads are Here

High performance modular SS304 plated columns and accessories.

Carter Heads are Here

Postby Andrew » Wed May 22, 2019 3:34 pm

Yes that's right our new Carter Heads have just landed.
These can be purchased as a complete pot still setup as seen in the pics or just the "Head" section to add to your existing setup.
Requires 2" connections in and out.
https://www.5stardistilling.com.au/prod ... pot-still/
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby MaKa » Wed May 22, 2019 4:14 pm

Have you got a price for just the head?

I have the rest of the piping with my current set up
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Clubby » Wed May 22, 2019 6:27 pm

MaKa wrote:Have you got a price for just the head?

I have the rest of the piping with my current set up


:text-+1:
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Professor Green » Wed May 22, 2019 10:20 pm

That are one damned sexy bit of kit!
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Rolls912 » Wed May 22, 2019 11:38 pm

Made a huge difference to the quality of my final product :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I would recommend getting two baskets for the mid run swap.
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Lowie » Wed May 29, 2019 8:20 pm

Clubby wrote:
MaKa wrote:Have you got a price for just the head?

I have the rest of the piping with my current set up


:text-+1:


:text-+1: :text-+1:
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby MaKa » Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:19 pm

I had a lovely parcel arrive today from our friends at 5 star distilling. A shiny new Carter head!!

I will post in the next couple of days once I have had the chance to put it through its paces. First impressions are that this is very well packaged for delivery and of the usual high quality you would expect from 5 star!

More to follow...
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Andrew » Wed Jun 12, 2019 5:01 pm

Pics or it didn’t happen :text-lol:
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Tesla101 » Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:08 pm

Hi and sorry if this is a noob question, I've still got the stillin' L plates on :)

I'm seriously looking into the fine art of Gin making and researching what I need. I understand the Carter Head is the "Ultimate Vapour Infusion Still" however....

What are all the different sections of the Carter Head and what's their function?
What differentiates the Carter Head from something like a 4 plate bubbler with a Gin caddy?
When making Gin with the Carter Head would you distill a neutral first in something like a FSD Neutraliser and then run the spirits through the Carter Head?

Cheers :)
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby RC Al » Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:19 pm

This carter head collects the oils from the botanicals at the the base of the sight glass, the incoming vapour is run through these oils and then through the botanicals, much like a thumper - note the slots on the bottom of the copper piece. This gives a better run out of the botanicals and also lets you keep the oils out of the rest of the still/boiler, they are notoriously hard to clean out - juniper whiskey anyone? :puke-huge:, note the drain at the bottom, this can be emptied mid run if there is too much build up.

pic from the development thread for these
Image
Last edited by RC Al on Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby RC Al » Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:29 pm

Its generally better to run hearts through the carter, different flavours come though at different parts of the run, you could loose important parts to a heads or tails cut otherwise

Pot still for speed, but Doc at Dobsons runs his off of plates to increase the abv of the vapour hitting the botanicals, His gin has won awards internationally, so there may be something in that
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Tesla101 » Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:20 pm

Thanks RC, that helps a lot.

I've been reading through the Great Gin Recipe Discussion thread where the Doc makes several appearances. It is interesting how the different botanicals come out during separate parts of the run.

It does makes sense to run a higher ABV through the oils as from what I have read the ethanol will infuse the botanicals oils a lot better than water will. So I assume the Doc has some sort of arrangement where the Carter Head is attached after the RC of a bubbler - I guess where some people might insert a gin caddy?

I'm not clear yet on how the oils are extracted from the botanicals and fall to the bottom of the oil reservoir for the vapour to pass through, but I'll keep researching. I'm sure the answer is there.

Cheers!
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby PeterC » Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:50 pm

Tesla101 wrote:I'm not clear yet on how the oils are extracted from the botanicals and fall to the bottom of the oil reservoir for the vapour to pass through, but I'll keep researching. I'm sure the answer is there.

As vapor passes through the botanicals it picks up volatile flavours and carries them through to be condensed with the spirit. The materials carried over vary somewhat depending on the concentrations of alcohol and water, as has already been mentioned. There is also some passive reflux happening in the Carter head and this condensed vapor pools in the bottom along with some of the heavy juniper oils that are less volatile and get washed down. I find it better to run the still and collect some spirit, heating everything up prior to loading the botanicals to minimise this. The benefit of a carter head after the reflux condenser is you can pause the distillation to change botanical baskets but also the offset design prevents the oils from running back into the boiler and having to deal with them in there. The FSD design also has a copper downcomer that forces the vapour to near the bottom so that alcohol that collects there vaporizes again and this reduces losses plus it is less likely to overflow this section and run back down the column. Makes it very efficient. I don't have this on mine and need to drain it part way through a single botanicals run.

I am still playing with gin recipes so I found the smallest run for me ended up with about 10L of finished product. So I now have a little copper still (see below) and make about 1.5L. Since this is only for gin I don't care if I get oils in the boiler. If I ever get a recipe that we all like then I can scale up again.
Regards.
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby RC Al » Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:07 pm

Awesome little still Peter
I love those camping burners, I use one under my 900w 6l Super reflux, I shut it off as soon as the thermo hits 60c, dropped my heat up time from 30 mins to 10 :happy-partydance:
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby bluc » Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:13 pm

:text-+1: love ya still peter c :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Carter Heads are Here

Postby Tesla101 » Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:28 pm

PeterC wrote:
Tesla101 wrote:I'm not clear yet on how the oils are extracted from the botanicals and fall to the bottom of the oil reservoir for the vapour to pass through, but I'll keep researching. I'm sure the answer is there.

As vapor passes through the botanicals it picks up volatile flavours and carries them through to be condensed with the spirit. The materials carried over vary somewhat depending on the concentrations of alcohol and water, as has already been mentioned. There is also some passive reflux happening in the Carter head and this condensed vapor pools in the bottom along with some of the heavy juniper oils that are less volatile and get washed down. I find it better to run the still and collect some spirit, heating everything up prior to loading the botanicals to minimise this. The benefit of a carter head after the reflux condenser is you can pause the distillation to change botanical baskets but also the offset design prevents the oils from running back into the boiler and having to deal with them in there. The FSD design also has a copper downcomer that forces the vapour to near the bottom so that alcohol that collects there vaporizes again and this reduces losses plus it is less likely to overflow this section and run back down the column. Makes it very efficient. I don't have this on mine and need to drain it part way through a single botanicals run.

I am still playing with gin recipes so I found the smallest run for me ended up with about 10L of finished product. So I now have a little copper still (see below) and make about 1.5L. Since this is only for gin I don't care if I get oils in the boiler. If I ever get a recipe that we all like then I can scale up again.
Regards.


Thanks Peter, that's a great explanation. So as I understand some of the lighter and higher volatile botanicals oils will make it to the PC with the spirit whilst the heavier and more volatile ones fall down and are trapped in the bottom oil reservoir. That's very clever.

I did see a pic of The Doctor's 9 plate bubbler with twin heads, one being a Carter head, in the thread I mentioned. What an awesome looking still.

Great looking little still you have there too Peter :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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