my 1st tpw

[fizzydrink]

hi all
you probably remember me as the guy with the posts reflux who wouldn't shut u about water flow.
anyway after your suggestions I have just run my first tpw.

I got my wateflow t almost 500ml a min and can happily say the next time I touched the tap was to turn it off.

I turned it on and let it do its thing, sat on 79 for a bit and it slowly went up till I cut it away at 90. I cut it Into about 200ml jars

one thing though I am a bit disappointed that after all that I only have almost 1l.

I think though as I had a bit of vapour this is where I lost it. I need to find a jar with a narrower neck or something so I don't lose it. or maybe punch a hole in one lid and stick the copper pipe through it?

I also didn't measure my sg or anything so be should remember to get a bloody notebook to write all this down.
it does smell better than the turbos though.

I might keep these cuts or I might just put it all together. at least that way I have something to drink. not sure. I'll wait and see what the % is

cheers for the help

fd
;-)

[JayD]

hi all
you probably remember me as the guy with the posts reflux who wouldn't shut u about water flow.
anyway after your suggestions I have just run my first tpw.

I got my wateflow t almost 500ml a min and can happily say the next time I touched the tap was to turn it off.

I turned it on and let it do its thing, sat on 79 for a bit and it slowly went up till I cut it away at 90. I cut it Into about 200ml jars

one thing though I am a bit disappointed that after all that I only have almost 1l.

I think though as I had a bit of vapour this is where I lost it. I need to find a jar with a narrower neck or something so I don't lose it. or maybe punch a hole in one lid and stick the copper pipe through it?

I also didn't measure my sg or anything so be should remember to get a bloody notebook to write all this down.
it does smell better than the turbos though.

I might keep these cuts or I might just put it all together. at least that way I have something to drink. not sure. I'll wait and see what the % is

cheers for the help

fd
;-)

Mate glad to hear you survived this run, if you were losing vapour it sounds like your condensor did not have enough water running through it, some S/S scrubber up your product condensor might help. any vapour escaping is a potentially dangerous situation especially if your running gas and needs to be sorted before it sorts you out.

Good luck
J

[fizzydrink]

sorry, this vapour is from where my spirit comes out into my jar at the end of the pipe.
still an issue you think? I'm not using gas so I wasn't too worried, it did cross my mind though.
I'll increase the rate a bit next time

cheers
fd

[Camikaze]

:text-+1: definately mate. Alcohol vapours are baaadd.

Even if you boil with electricity, that escaping gas will fill any void in your stilin' room before you know about it.

What temp is the distillate coming out at?

EDIT - posted same time as FD.

[fizzydrink]

according to my thermo at the top of the condensor,between 80 through to 90 when shutdown. I don't have a second thermo to measure in the jar. invest in one?
waiting to cool to measure the %
I'll def increase the flow rate

[Camikaze]

Yeah mate, I would.

I pinched the coffee machine thermo that clips onto my collection jar. :D

[fizzydrink]

actually I think I have a digital one. should it the spirit come off at a certain temp?

cheers
fd

[Camikaze]

You want it coming out of the condenser relatively cool. Your digital thermo should work fine mate.

If you end up using and alcometer/parrot to determine your proof during the run, you'll want the product coming out around the alcometer's calibrated temp. Low 20's I believe. Should be written on it or on the instruction sheet. Saves you having to do any calculations to compensate for temp differences.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Phil]

Hi Fizzydrink, does your still have a product condenser? Ideally the output should be as close to 20C as possible. I'm not sure what your restriction is with increasing waterflow however with my Boka I run the water flat out and any adjustments can be made via the heat or output rate/reflux. I think you better get that notebook and hydrometer out so you have an idea what your output should be!

Lastly with the TPW I strip a few washes, to the strips I add water down to 35% and then do a slow reflux run taking off at 95% ABV. The final spirit is a huge improvement over a single run wash and although it sounds like heaps of work it is really worth it.

[fizzydrink]

hi phil.
I don't really have a restriction with water, I could never get flow rate right. which I need for my fiddly still
I will be getting that notebook out lol

cheers

[Phil]

Fair enough, however as others have mentioned crank up the cooling. If you see vapour your gonna have a bad time :scared-eek:

I would keep that first run for a strip run later. Soon you will have plenty of quality shine.

[Sam.]

From memory the thread about cooling water for this still, the outcome was that the flow has to be around that 500ml mark.

What is the temp of the water going in?

Can you physically see vapour/steam coming out of the outlet? If this is the case and your flow is right then there is something weird going on :think:

[fizzydrink]

hi sam

not too sure of the temp going in. normal town water so should be cool enough.

when calibrating the flow I was about 2 secs off. surely that can't be it though.

I have changed the plastic hose to a piece of copper pipe. which bends down like a 'L' closer to 100 degree bend than 90 though

any other ideas? maybe get a quote from Mac?

cheers
fd

[MacStill]

maybe get a quote from Mac?

cheers
fd

There's your quote :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Seriously though, it would be a good step up from your current rig :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

So you definitely saw vapour/steam coming from the outlet? Through the whole run?

Or were you assuming it was there because you had such little yield?

[CyBaThUg]

Where bouts u living cuz I know up here in the ville I got to pump water through cuz the water temp is high ATM being summer

[fizzydrink]

yeah sam, through the run, not a constant steam, just before it started to dribble out the pipe, and when flowing

I'm in perth so its not too bad, even though we've had a few warm days

[Sam.]

Well then yeah I would say you need to pump more water through the condenser, but I have never ran one of those stills so hopefully someone else can add some wisdom :think:

[fizzydrink]

cheers, I'll do that next time, I'll have to put another tpw down first. phil said about keeping it for the next run, but I saw a nice sounding lemon cello recipe. might just do that with it. should be OK?