Hi from Sydney south

[Marlin1]

Hi all
New to distilling
I'm up to my 5 run.
Have made a 65mm x 1.5m reflux still on a 50l keg and use a gas burner.
Seem to go ok till I tried a TPW run and found it was getting stuck. I even turned it off after hours of running. Next day opens the boiler and still smelt of wine. Ran it again and got another 3l out of it.
That got me thinking that my condenser was not good enough so I made a new one. It's much more efficient.
However I'm having trouble with it still.
I think it's how cold the weather is.
Was running fine till the sun went down and started getting cold.
I put insulation around the still but I'm thinking it's the boiler that had a issue with cooling at the top. I'll try insulating the keg next time.
Attached are some pics of the new and old condenser, still and a inline condenser I've made.

[Hick1960]

Hi Marlin
I may be totally off the mark here but from looking at your photos, Is the product condenser made with a coil?
Being a Boka and the product being condensed just below the reflux condenser and caught in the well inside, it would be then gravity fed to your product condenser for cooling. With the angle of your product condenser shown, the product would have a bit of resistance getting around the coils.
Just my observation.

[Wellsy]

Welcome marlin1
I do not have a boka so this is pure guess others will correct me no doubt if I am giving you a bum steer.
Firstly bokas are slow, and it may be that 50 litres just takes that long especially if they are low wines or wash.
As for inefficient condenser I would suggest that is not the issue as you still got plenty out the next day, if the condenser was ineffective I would guess there would be nothing left in backset and some had escaped as Vapor. As I said that is just a guess. Insulation on the boiler will make a difference for you definitely
Good luck and welcome again

[Marlin1]

The product condenser seems ok. Runs out fine.

[Marlin1]

I've run it a few tomes now.
Starts off at 93% then drops to a constant 88% no matter how slow I run it.
Think I need more scrubbers. It's full to the take off plate but loosely.