G’day guys from Sydney Northern Beaches

[Kevo]

Hi to all. I am an absolute beginner at this ‘game’. I’ve been following this forum for a few months, reading, reading and then read some more. Was really confused at first but gradually the mist is clearing…

Started with a simple air still from eBay to see if I could make this my latest hobby in my retirement and decided I could.

Have now bought a Digiboil 35l and Alcoengine reflux still. I don’t plan on mass producing huge quantities of grog but am partial to the clear spirits like gin and vodka. The missus is also a keen vodka imbiber…
For now I will produce clean, clear spirit (hopefully) and maybe cheat by adding essences to make some into rum, bourbon etc.
The pot still will follow in due course as I get away from the ‘cheating’ and progress towards true distilling.
One step at a time…

So my reflux column is currently soaking in 12l of 50/50 white vinegar/water which I will then run through the still to ‘clean’ the inside and packing before doing my sacrificial run (TPW).
First questions are, how long do I let it soak? Do I put the whole 12l through after, or say 10l?
I presume I then flush everything out with fresh water before the sac run?
Should these runs be using the 1mm bore? Should I remove ALL the packing first for the sac?

Apologies for the maybe disjointed questions but as I said, I’m new to all this and just keen to get going.

Recently did a TPW in a small batch of 10l cos I couldn’t believe how simple it could be but was absolutely gobsmacked at what came out of my air still. It took me all day in 4l batches and I ran it as slow as I could starting at 80C moving up gradually as it went on. Have to say, I was impressed. I think ‘Sir Birdwatcher’ has a certain ring to it…
I still have some turbo packs from my initial learning (KISS) but may never go back to them.

Sorry to ramble on a bit but I’m confident enough now to actively join this forum and you know there’s going to plenty more questions as I move forward.

Cheers guys and look forward to your help.

[BigRig]

Hey kevo welcome.

So you have soaked the whole column in vinegar / water solution? Including packing ? How long did u end up leaving it for ? If you have left it a while you could, if it fits put it in your dish washer on hot and let it go for the cycle.

Then I would use the turbo crap for the sac run and keep the tpw for your first spirit run.

For the sac run leave the packing in the still so it all gets cleaned / sanitized at the same time. Use the 1mm nozzle. I found there wasn't much difference between the 0.6mm and 1mm so used 1mm only.

[Kevo]

Hi BigRig, thanks for the advice.
I laughed when my wife shouted “What the hell is this in the dishwater.” :D

I did soak the still overnight before a good hot wash, then ran fresh water through it to flush the insides.
When I ran a just water through it I set the digiboil at 100C and the outlet finally stabilised showing 101.4C at the top of the column.
I understand that you really want to get a stable temp at the outlet when distilling but if I am going to run a sugar wash through it which I think needs to be 75-80C what temp should I set on the boiler?
I’ve read here that you shouldn’t be distilling by temp but I’m taking a learners course here and just following things on YouTube, this forum etc. if I can get 95% ABV out the end I’ll be very happy…
I’m sure that first run (sac) I’ll be spending the whole day in my ‘lab’ as my wife calls it.

I’m more than happy to leave the packing in too as I’m not sure how I’d get it out or put it back…

[The Stig]

what temp should I set on the boiler?

110 deg

if I can get 95% ABV

Wont happen, youll get 92 - 93 % when temp corrected

in my ‘lab’ as my wife calls it.

Get her out of that habit, what will people think if she says "hubby is cooking something up in his lab"?
Start calling it the brew room or something better

[Kevo]

Cheers Stig, sorry for any ‘dumb’ questions that I may throw out there but when you say setting the boiler at 110C how does that affect the distillate run off? Will the temp at the top of the column plateau at 75-80’ish being controlled by the still or can I expect to see it skyrocket?

I’d certainly be happy if it comes out anywhere near the nineties ABV.

When you put it like that ‘the lab’ doesn’t sound good does it! :))
There will be a name change coming…

[The Stig]

The digiboils are thermostatically controlled , to bypass that you need to set it so it won’t turn off the heat.
The head of the still will stay where it needs to be untill all the alcohol is depleted, rising slowly along the way.
You will also need to read up on doing cuts
And, good to hear a name change is coming

[Kevo]

Many thanks mate! More mist has cleared…

[Kevo]

Okay! After a fair delay while following my other passion of chasing trout on fly down Kosciuszko I’m back in the fold to run my first TPW through my new reflux still after the wash has been sitting dormant for the last couple of weeks.
After siphoning I ran about 23 litres through pretty hard as a stripping run taking no cuts at this stage. Not being sure where to stop collecting I trusted the column thermometer together with my taste buds.
I stopped at a vapour temp around 92C after it ran happily at a constant 77.5C before rising as the ethanol was depleted.
My yield was 2.7 litres at 92% ABV (temp corrected).
My question is, is this the expected yield numbers for this volume TPW? Diluted down to 40% I should get around 6.3l for my spirit run which I’ll do tomorrow and take all the necessary cuts to try to educate my tastebuds.

[BigRig]

Yeah mate the yield is what is expected. Indicates a wash of 10-11% abv.

If you aim too high you will stress the yeast and cause off flavours.