Following the right way to do a run with T500

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Re: Following the right way to do a run with T500

Postby Jayson_Black » Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:29 pm

Although I am a newborn baby in the distilling world I have a massive amount of experience with thermometers. The thermometer that Still spirits uses in the T500 is an extremely cheap nasty (Less than $1 from china) thermometer with wild swings in calibration from one unit to another. I have had as much as 8 degrees C out from a calibrated thermometer. So I too even on my very first run based it extremely loosely on the thermometer and concentrated more on the output. Small spurt, drip, drip, drip, drip - Small spurt, drip, drip, drip, drip X repeat. I have to look into water control though as I live in a town of 1800 people and water pressure is all over the place even when nobody in the house touches anything. (Settles down around 10 pm) but I found the the Ball valve tap to be way too touchy. I would move it just 0.5mm and I would get wild swings in temp. Luckily I purchased a Voltage controller (to limit scorching after boil reached) and found I could better control the temp and output with that (To an extent). But also take what I say (other than the thermometer knowledge) with a grain of salt. Still, much experience needs to gain before I can say I know what I am talking about with T500 Distillation. GLA Happy Distilling!
Jayson_Black
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:23 pm
equipment: Turbo 500 Copper

Re: Following the right way to do a run with T500

Postby Hick1960 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:07 am

Jayson_Black wrote:Although I am a newborn baby in the distilling world I have a massive amount of experience with thermometers. The thermometer that Still spirits uses in the T500 is an extremely cheap nasty (Less than $1 from china) thermometer with wild swings in calibration from one unit to another. I have had as much as 8 degrees C out from a calibrated thermometer. So I too even on my very first run based it extremely loosely on the thermometer and concentrated more on the output. Small spurt, drip, drip, drip, drip - Small spurt, drip, drip, drip, drip X repeat. I have to look into water control though as I live in a town of 1800 people and water pressure is all over the place even when nobody in the house touches anything. (Settles down around 10 pm) but I found the the Ball valve tap to be way too touchy. I would move it just 0.5mm and I would get wild swings in temp. Luckily I purchased a Voltage controller (to limit scorching after boil reached) and found I could better control the temp and output with that (To an extent). But also take what I say (other than the thermometer knowledge) with a grain of salt. Still, much experience needs to gain before I can say I know what I am talking about with T500 Distillation. GLA Happy Distilling!


Hi Jayson
Like you I use a t500 and quickly realised not to rely on the temp the thermometer showed and concentrate on product output flow. I had a similar issue with water fluctuations and looked at buying a water flow controller. Decided to build my own which is just a small container with a float valve to which the water source goes to and a small fish pond pump which provides a steady flow through the needle valve which came with the t500. Works a treat.
Hick1960
 
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:19 am
Location: Gippsland, Victoria
equipment: Turbo 500
2” pot with Shotgun condenser
2” Boka
1” gin pot still
4” FSD Neutralizer

Re: Following the right way to do a run with T500

Postby nudder12 » Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:58 pm

Hick1960 wrote:
Jayson_Black wrote:Although I am a newborn baby in the distilling world I have a massive amount of experience with thermometers. The thermometer that Still spirits uses in the T500 is an extremely cheap nasty (Less than $1 from china) thermometer with wild swings in calibration from one unit to another. I have had as much as 8 degrees C out from a calibrated thermometer. So I too even on my very first run based it extremely loosely on the thermometer and concentrated more on the output. Small spurt, drip, drip, drip, drip - Small spurt, drip, drip, drip, drip X repeat. I have to look into water control though as I live in a town of 1800 people and water pressure is all over the place even when nobody in the house touches anything. (Settles down around 10 pm) but I found the the Ball valve tap to be way too touchy. I would move it just 0.5mm and I would get wild swings in temp. Luckily I purchased a Voltage controller (to limit scorching after boil reached) and found I could better control the temp and output with that (To an extent). But also take what I say (other than the thermometer knowledge) with a grain of salt. Still, much experience needs to gain before I can say I know what I am talking about with T500 Distillation. GLA Happy Distilling!


Hi Jayson
Like you I use a t500 and quickly realised not to rely on the temp the thermometer showed and concentrate on product output flow. I had a similar issue with water fluctuations and looked at buying a water flow controller. Decided to build my own which is just a small container with a float valve to which the water source goes to and a small fish pond pump which provides a steady flow through the needle valve which came with the t500. Works a treat.


The needle valve on the T500 is way too sensitive.
This won't solve all water flow problems, but to make it easier to make small adjustments try either....
- clamping a clothes peg onto the valve dial, or
- some other "leverage" item such as drilling a long screw into it. May need to add a screw on each side so that it's not unevenly weighted and makes the dial turn purely because of the weight of the screw dragging it around.
nudder12
 
Posts: 45
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:22 am
equipment: Still Spirits T500 reflux still

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