So I just finished up doing the sacrificial run. I was expecting to start at about 10am, but like most things to do with the still so far, that didn't quite go to plan. The little pump I had tested for the condenser couldn't quite cut it when it came to pushing the water up and out of the keg, to the condenser.
So, off we (my Dad and I) went to source a better pump. After heading to the obvious choice (water tank shop), we decided that was a bad idea. ($200 for a pump. Yeah, no thanks.) So we went to the boat shop, hardware shop, pool shop and finally the other hardware shop where they had the 750w submersible, similar to that seen on the bunnings site. (Perfect). So, $80 and an hour later, we had a pump, some tubing and a few fittings. Go home and finally get it sorted. The pump was a little hard to get set up, due to the tubing being a bit too small for the output, but after some heating and pushing it was on.
The pump was working perfect (putting out water damn fast too). Filled the keg with the 10L of watered down beer (stout, IPA, lager), spirits (cheap whiskey), other (alcoholic lemonade), and a couple jugs of boiling water from the kettle to give it a head start.
Now was the moment I'd been waiting for. Testing the voltage controlled. Plugged in the RCD (making sure it was setup properly this time :))), plugged in the voltage controller, and then the element into the voltage controller.
Voltage controller on. Check.
Volt meter reading correctly. Check
Turn on element. Check.
Element working......
Check.
Potentiometer working...Check.
It all worked perfectly.
Got it up to temp and reduced the element wattage. *Note, the condenser has been running the whole time*.
Leave the still in 100% reflux for 30mins before opening the valve to collect foreshots. Collecting at about 1 drop/sec. Get about 150mL out and test it. ~85%. Not bad. The "wash" would have been lucky to be about 5-6% ABV.
Started collecting into heads, still at ~85%. Continued collecting heads (200mL in), and notice an off smell, similar to that of tails. Measure it again and the ABV is about 70%. It has a sweet smell, but when rubbed between the fingers, it has a sort of off, corky smell. Hard to describe.
Because I'm running this at home, I was limited with my water storage. I used my other keg that I use for AG homebrew, so the water was getting pretty warm at this point, even after a few ice blocks and removing/replacing with cool water.
Next time I will use the big esky (few hundred litres) to recirculate the water.
Is there a reason it would have this off/tails smell this early on?I decided it wasn't worth continuing (since it was a sacrificial cleaning run), bumped up the heat a bit and ran it with the valve fully opened. The condenser couldn't quite knock down all the vapor, not sure if that is because the guy only made it with a single-coil or if it was because the water was pretty warm.
Turned everything off and emptied/washed the still and boiler. Pretty happy overall with how all the equipment worked, but might need to get a few things sorted before next run so it is more fluent.
Made a little still bench today as well, but didn't get a chance to use it yet. That can be for next time.
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My TPW is still happily bubbling away, so hopefully that will be ready by/before the weekend, and I can get the rest of the problems ironed out before then.
Is there any rough guideline on what wattage I should keep the element at when running, or is it more unique to each still.
All in all, it was a fun day, even it it was a late start :laughing-rolling:
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