My First Bubbler

Perforated & bubble cap plated columns

My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:57 pm

After a few hiccups i finally got the new bubbler set up and today did my sac run then first spirit run. Damn i loved doing a single run.

I used both 2400w elements to bring up to temp, once i had heat in tee 1(bottom) & 2 (3 & 4 were cold) i turned 2nd element down to 50%. By this time i was already getting slow drips from the parrot drain, assumed it was fores so collected 250mls and discarded. By the time i collected there was heat in all tees and liquid on all 4 plates. i turned water up to just hold full reflux, I went maybe 10 - 15 mins, could've been 5.

Here is where i got a little confused. reading mac's running a bubbler thread he says "Once you've collected fore's your heads should be pretty well stacked in your column from having such a slow take off collecting fores".

Did i actually need to put in to full reflux at all ? Needed Longer ?

The 4 plates loaded unevenly, 4(top) & 3 had ok coverage - maybe 1 cm bath and a medium boil, 2 was flooding?? - 1" above top of bubble cap with a vigorous boil and 1 had minimal coverage - half the height of the bubble cap and a gentle boil.

If a column floods does it normally flood all plates or can it be any number of plates ? Maybe the 2nd plate was right and the other 3 werent ?

Downcomers were front and back, slab wasnt level (falls from front to back). Would this have had anything to do with it ?

Using andrews method i didnt touch water again, i used controller to push through reflux, i got to 70-75% power which gave me the toothpick stream i was after. I noticed the plates levelled out once i was taking spirit but still not overly full.

I operated still outside under the pergola, dont have a shed. it bucketed down all day and was a little cool n breezy. Boiler and column is not insulated. Water supply is a 5000L steel slimline tank with pump.

I know i need to keep playing with it but the end result was Likker at 92% and it was clean and crisp so i was very happy.

Let me hear your thoughts and criticisms
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:44 am

Here is a clip of the top plate, maybe i was kidding myself that the plates were loaded. 3 of the 4 were much the same.

https://youtu.be/ujjvtyzdQfw
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby The Stig » Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:58 am

That looks about right
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby Sam. » Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:18 pm

The plate looks fine in the clip as Stig said.

You want all the plates to be evenly loaded, if you put too much power in it will push everything up the column and the top plate will flood.

Try getting it level next time and make sure your plates are not leaking down the sides.

Adjust power so plates look good, if your output is not fast enough then turn down the RC, all depends on water temp and flow rate.

If your making nuetrel put it in full reflux for a good while (up to an hour), if your doing brown spirits I wouldnt bother :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:52 pm

Thanks sam and stig for reassurance.

Going off what you said i am thinking the flooded 2nd tee had something to do with me holding full power until 2nd tee was hot before adjusting power down, i have flooded that tee. If i had've left full power for longer the vapour wouldve pushed up the plates eventually to flood the top plate as mentioned ?

As the power was reduced the plate above and the top plate had the correct amount of liquid and performed as expected.

I will try turning power down earlier, maybe when i feel hot in the 100mm mount pipe.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby RuddyCrazy » Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:00 pm

Hi BigRig,

I finally setup my 4 plates for running that corn/barely Angel yeast wash and memories came flooding back as it had been that long since I used it. :handgestures-thumbupleft: Now I don't use elements due to the power draw and I just use that BD burner I made and just run it about 7 psi for the heatup and fores collection then when I put it back into reflux to load the plates the top plates always loads up first and I mean load up :laughing-rolling: my bath depth is 25mm and the bubbles go 1/2 way up the site glass, the the 3rd plates fully loads up then I keep it refluxing until all 4 plates are fully loaded. If the 1st and 2nd plates don't fully load I increase the psi until I got full reflux on all 4 plates. Then thats where I keep it for the run, now as I use a 5,000 gal tank for the recirc water I only have open the needle valve on the rc less than an 1/8" of a turn to get the toothpick flow on the output, by going a 1/4 of turn is enough to keep it in reflux too. Now in winter when I do a run I get water vapour coming out of the output :laughing-rolling: as my cooling water is that cold and I only run my flojet pump at 25% which is about 5-7 litres a minute.

I have read plenty of times where guy's that use elements just turn up the power to push past the RC and I've don't bother with doingthat for 2 good reasons first with my cooling water I would need to be putting 30+ psi thru my burner and the second I don't want to wear ear muff's as the noise from this BD is loud when running above 10 psi and also I don't see any point when we have a RC to use at it is intended by simply regulating the waterflow for the required output.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby The Stig » Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:04 pm

Electric is WAY different to gas Bryan.
I use the power up to push past the RC to stay high ABV and run faster .
We “on-gridders” aren’t afraid of using power to help us
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby Amberale » Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:45 pm

The Stig wrote:Electric is WAY different to gas Bryan.
I use the power up to push past the RC to stay high ABV and run faster .
We “on-gridders” aren’t afraid of using power to help us


Yep!
With my near freezing cooling water in winter. Even with a needle valve I have to drop down to under half a litre /minute if I only use one element.
By using the second element with a power controller to drive it I get a much smoother run.
Voltage fluctuations as various electric appliances switch on and off have less effect.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Sat Mar 27, 2021 4:57 pm

Did my 2nd spirit run today and took on the couple tips given and it went way better, almost perfect actually. One and done macrum (2nd gen).

I ended up with 9 x 250ml hearts keepers and couple litres of stripped tails. Was surprised how much flavour comes through AND CLEAN.

I will need to re-learn cuts with this rig. I think i might've gone for the strip a little early. All good though i will do a feints / low wines run and see what i can squeeze out.
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Re: My 4" Mac SSG Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Thu Mar 03, 2022 11:46 pm

Now I have had my bubbler almost 12 months I think it’s a good time to update this thread with what I have learned and where I am at with my current process.

This will allow me to look back on how I progress(ed) on the journey and it might even be helpful to someone, someday.

Without stating the obvious, this is relevant to my environment and might not be the ideal process for somebody else.

Per previous posts, I am running an FSD 4” Mac SSG bubbler on a 50L milk can with 2 x 2400w weldless elements and a 5,000L slim line steel water tank.

Each run and wash are different but I like routine and process, i have tried to remove as many variables as possible so I can somewhat replicate a “standard” run over and over.

My water pump is set at 3.66L / minute. The tap is marked so I can get it the same every time. The 12mm garden hose runs at ground level for 20m to my still then rises 5 feet and splits off to the PC & RC. The warm water then falls 5ft to the ground runs 20m along the ground back to the tank, rises 7ft and feeds in to the top of the water tank.

The inlet to both condensers are on the bottom and the valves are on the inlets. The RC has a 1/2" needle valve, the PC has a ball valve. I have the ball valve slightly closed, (again marked so I can get it right every time) to give me some back pressure to ensure water flows to the RC. If I have the ball valve open 100% I found the water bypassed the RC (path of least resistance right ?!). Also for me living in QLD I find that the water temp does not really change too much between summer and winter.

I have marked my milk can at 40L, this is my max fill line to stop puking. 

I think with the volume of the bubbler, it struggles to perform properly with low alc washes on a 40L boiler charge. I cannot convince SWMBO i need to upsize to a 100L boiler so i have to up the alc content of the wash instead, a 1.5 run is awesome for this and i will often do them. Some washes don't need them so i can get away with a 1 and done.

If i am doing a 1.5 run, stripping 40L to 20%abv usually nets 10-12L low wines.

Heating up i have the bottom element plugged to powerpoint and top element run through power controller at 100%. When the boiler is getting close to temp it goes quiet, i drop the controlled element to 10%, this normally coincides with heat in the bottom tee. The temp slowly progresses up the column until there is reflux falling off the condenser, after a few minutes of this the plates are now loaded evenly and have a nice bubbling action. This is the biggest tweak > i don't touch anything < eventually the column is that saturated with vapour it won't be able to hold full reflux any more and i will start getting drips out the drain on the parrot. At this point i will start closing the needle valve to get a drip drip drip drip, this is usually 3 turns. I collect 250ml fores cut (approx 20mins), close the drain, put my alcometer in the parrot then adjust needle valve to get a nice stream about as thick as a bamboo skewer, this is usually 5 turns (its 5.5 turns from fully opened to closed).

i will collect in 250ml cuts until i am in hearts then up it to 500ml jars for a handful, being sure not to be greedy i will go back to 250ml cuts before the onset of tails, by this time i have likely upped the power controller to 15-20% to maintain the take off rate. At the slightest taste of tails i stop collecting, crank up the controller to 100%, close needle valve on RC and strip the tails out for future feints runs. 

For me this process works like clock work and will sit on 92% the entire run, until it hits 90% for tails. I get clean spirit with bags of flavour.

On a neutral i will do a double distill with more reflux and more power to get the off take i want and the extra 2%abv. The needle valve would be 4 turns and power at 30-35%.

With this routine i can easily do 3 strips plus spirit run in a half day. Sorry i will record more specific times on my next stilling day.

In 11 months i have about 100L of ageing brown spirits plus copious amounts of neutral for gin, liqueurs and Limoncello. The 4" still can make more than most will be able to consume.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby Wellsy » Fri Mar 04, 2022 3:47 am

Nice info big rig thanks for sharing
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby Hick1960 » Fri Mar 04, 2022 4:05 pm

Great post BigRig. I’m sure to refer to it tomorrow when I run my shiny new beast for the time other than the sac run.
Thank you for sharing.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Fri Mar 04, 2022 9:49 pm

Wellsy wrote:Nice info big rig thanks for sharing

Hick1960 wrote:Great post BigRig. I’m sure to refer to it tomorrow when I run my shiny new beast for the time other than the sac run.
Thank you for sharing.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Fri Mar 04, 2022 9:52 pm

I didn't mention my stripping runs as everybody knows what they are and how to already and the post was already getting lengthy.

Now i strip through the 4 plates with no reflux and 4800w, too lazy to pull the still apart and configure as a pot. I get some passive reflux and it doesn't add any extra time to the day's runs.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby Beato » Sat Mar 05, 2022 10:00 am

Awesome 12 month review of the bubbler Big Rig.
I have had my FSD bubbler just on 6 months now and almost everything you have said is the same as my experience.
One point you mentioned about not running as well on low abv wash, I normally run my rum with 5-7l of feints in a 40l boiler charge, but today just ran 40l of wash and it ran crap, bottom sight glass fogged the whole time etc.
Another thing you didn’t mention but prob do anyway, I collect in stubby bottles, and only fill them to a bit over half full then dump the parrot into a glass jug, tip the jug into the stubby to fill it, then you can change stubby while the parrot is refilling. This obviously eliminates smearing of your cuts.
Happy stilling , Beato
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby RC Al » Sat Mar 05, 2022 2:36 pm

Just a comment on how your stripping, my rig can strip twice as fast without the column on, the steam gets restricted by the caps. I have more power via gas, so your results might not be as dramatic.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:20 pm

RC Al wrote:Just a comment on how your stripping, my rig can strip twice as fast without the column on, the steam gets restricted by the caps. I have more power via gas, so your results might not be as dramatic.


Yeah I timed the difference between the 2 different configs for stripping and the difference was negligible once i factored in setting up etc. I have thought of getting gas to help with heat up / stripping but nervous about open flame. Thanks for the feedback :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Beato wrote:Awesome 12 month review of the bubbler Big Rig.
I have had my FSD bubbler just on 6 months now and almost everything you have said is the same as my experience.
One point you mentioned about not running as well on low abv wash, I normally run my rum with 5-7l of feints in a 40l boiler charge, but today just ran 40l of wash and it ran crap, bottom sight glass fogged the whole time etc.
Another thing you didn’t mention but prob do anyway, I collect in stubby bottles, and only fill them to a bit over half full then dump the parrot into a glass jug, tip the jug into the stubby to fill it, then you can change stubby while the parrot is refilling. This obviously eliminates smearing of your cuts.
Happy stilling , Beato


Yeah low alcohol is a bastard isn't it.

I dont empty parrot every collection jar, but i will empty it every so often as i think i am getting close to transition. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Sat Mar 26, 2022 9:55 am

RC Al wrote:Just a comment on how your stripping, my rig can strip twice as fast without the column on, the steam gets restricted by the caps. I have more power via gas, so your results might not be as dramatic.


I stopped being a tight ass and bought a 400mm extension so i can leave the column assembled and do my stripping in pot mode.
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Last edited by BigRig on Sat Mar 26, 2022 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby Hick1960 » Sat Mar 26, 2022 10:54 am

Is there any time difference in running like that for stripping from running over 4 plates with no reflux?
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Re: My First Bubbler

Postby BigRig » Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:27 pm

Hick1960 wrote:Is there any time difference in running like that for stripping from running over 4 plates with no reflux?


Yeah mate. I would say atleast 30mins per strip plus i dont have to keep changing configuration.

It is also quicker than 4 tees without the plates (how i used to do it before i started leaving plates in).
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