Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year from a new member in Perth. I signed up New Years Eve while sitting in my shed eagerly watching my Alcoengine reflux drip out its first spirit on a cleaning run using a TPW. This is my first foray in to the craft. I was inspired after visiting a distillery in the Cotswolds a few years back and have been reading up since then. The Minister of Finance approved my discretionary spending just before Christmas but on a fairly tight budget, hence the kit I have.
The first output of the cleaning run was a thick yellowish substance that is still at the bottom of the jar this morning, it's slowly blending. Then I got a blue tinged clear fluid and I was so happy! This cleaning thing was working and the distillate cleared up soon after. Even now I can see the transition in that first jar.
My initial joy turned to frustration as my output rate slowed. The first 15 minutes seemed like a good rate but it dropped to roughly a drip a second or less. In the end, I gave up and shutdown after collecting for 2 hours but only getting about 250ml of distillate. I had followed advice seen elsewhere to detune the reflux for stripping and removed 6 of the 8 ss scrubbies and used the 1mm flow restrictor. My cooling appeared to be working just fine with the product coming out cool. I know others have mentioned it comes out hot and I was worried about this after finding the output on my vinegar run hot. I was concerned about the amount of water being used to turned the flow down until finding vapour escaping the top of the column. Flow back up and it settled down. I've got a pond pump arriving soon so I'll be able to recirculate to reduce water wastage. At least the pool got topped up last night!
I'll pull it apart this evening and make sure there's no blockages in the output path and have another crack. I had made up a 25l TPW which is still in the boiler and I want to get it through until the end. Given it's the cleaning run and will be ditched, is there any harm if it takes a few nights for me to get through?
Cheers