Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I have been doing this for awhile but still struggle at times with how to run my still, i have a CM reflux still the issue i had yesterday was it ran very slow, i was getting about 92% but it was running at 1lt every 1.5 hours, i am suspecting it was due to cooler weather, i am in Qld but definitely cooler yesterday.

I have a 2200watt element in a 50lt keg, i guess my question is should i reduce the reflux to increase the flow rate or just leave it to run like this?
If i reduce the reflux i am pretty sure the product will come out at a lower abv.

I can reduce the power if this will help at all, but i don't think this will be useful.

Cheers

Can you post a pick of your setup?

On my bubbler with 4 plates I run a minimum of 2400w of 50L (3000-3600w is better) and after I have taken off fores at a slow drip a second. Ill dial back the RC until I am collecting at 2.5LPH and I typically get 90-93% (temp corrected) out of a 10% charge you may need to adjust your RC a lot to increase output

I am in VIC and its bloody cold atm, the run I did last night I had the hose in as low as I could have it while keeping the shot gun working (distillate was coming out at 16C so safe as, have maxed out my 2" shotgun before by dropping the input water to low and running 4800w)

As long as the RC isn't fully turned off you will still get reflux, part of me thinks 2200w isn't enough and that 2400w is the minimum in my mind.

I have done 4.5L per hour at 93% before using more heat and almost maxing out my RC, issue was more flooding my old plates doing that.

My procap plates and my bigger RC ive done 7-8LPH at 4800w and 93% without flooding.

If your setup is similar to mine im happy to use my old plates and do a video call showing how I run mine if that helps?

Shaun wrote:I have been doing this for awhile but still struggle at times with how to run my still, i have a CM reflux still the issue i had yesterday was it ran very slow, i was getting about 92% but it was running at 1lt every 1.5 hours, i am suspecting it was due to cooler weather, i am in Qld but definitely cooler yesterday.

I have a 2200watt element in a 50lt keg, i guess my question is should i reduce the reflux to increase the flow rate or just leave it to run like this?
If i reduce the reflux i am pretty sure the product will come out at a lower abv.

I can reduce the power if this will help at all, but i don't think this will be useful.

Cheers

i am in North Brissie too and the weather over the weekend was cold and very windy. hence why i put my runs on hold until next weekend (weather permitting).

My last run a couple weeks ago had similar weather and it was a bastard to run the still.

I will never do a run in those conditions again.

Bloody Banana benders.
Soft.
:teasing-neener:

Here is a pic, unfortunately i can only control water flow from one point for both the RC and PC.

First step would be to split the water supply so you can control flow to the PC and RC separately.

PC needs full flow all the time .
You only need to control the RC

Yeah i don't think there is enough vapor going upthe column yet i can't control the RC with out slowing the PC, time to find some one to mod this or buy a new still.

Shaun wrote:Yeah i don't think there is enough vapor going upthe column yet i can't control the RC with out slowing the PC, time to find some one to mod this or buy a new still.

from the picture, i assume the water flows through the RC, then through that 10mm pipe, then into the PC?
if that's the case, a fairly simple mod would be to cut the bend out of the 10mm pipe.
then you could fit separate hoses to the RC & PC and control them individually. :think:

Exactly :text-+1:

Maybay i will go at with an angle grinder, i just setup a radiator so will need to both run through that.

When you cut it leave enough of a stub to fit a compression fitting then you can fit garden hose fittings to it.

Shouldn't the RC be filling from the bottom? Looks like your current setup is filling from the top. If you modify it as suggested, you can water-in from the bottom.

All condensers should fill from the bottom otherwise they don’t fill properly

The Stig wrote:All condensers should fill from the bottom otherwise they don’t fill properly

Hmm have been running both my RC and shotgun via counterflow for awhile, perhaps I should switch back to water in the bottom and see how it goes. Also alternate between RC control being on the inlet and outlet depending how I feel

Sorry for late reply, the intake is from the PC and flows up, but i guess also flows down from the RC, i bought this and they have it labelled that way i have never tried in reverse, if i cut it as shown then i could have both running correctly.

Also if i split up the lines i will have 4 lines, can i run the both intake and output lines to a single line each as i have setup a closed radiator system, so both intake lines come from the one main line and both output lines go to a main line, i can add adjustable 3 way hose adaptor like the one i have in my first pic.

yes.
the RC already has a valve on it for fine adjustment.
if that rig is anything like mine, you will probably find that the RC uses very little water to reflux.
if you are keen on refluxing i would suggest adding at least a 600mm column between boiler and the RC.
i can't see a clamp on the boiler/column connection, is that soldered or usually tri-clamped?
do you/can you put packing up that column at the moment?

The column screws in to the boiler, i have packing up to the RC, i have thought about getting and extra piece and some clamps to extend it, next time i run it i might swap the hoses around.