nuddy wrote:Out of curiosity are those abv % numbers at the parrot, temp corrected?
Not sure what your pool/tap water temps are. Would suspect a 300W sump pump should be adequate flow rate (not sure on pump head capability and actual pump to condenser height) and mains water tap flow should be no issues, but if your tap/pool water is sitting at 25C for example, you aren't gonna be able to cool below that no matter how fast you pump water through it. Also no blockages/kinks, or significant restrictions in you cooling water inlet pipework? You have a single Y piece feeding into both condensers, no blockages on the PC side?
Does the product condenser feel hot to the touch while running (should feel cool along the first 1/3 to 1/2 of its length from where cooling water enters in from the bottom)? A dephleg is a partial condenser, its main purpose is to carry out phase change (during production it needs to condense a portion of the vapour back to a liquid (sending it back down the column as reflux), while the product condenser needs to cool all the vapour back to a cold liquid. If the product condenser is running hot, your out flowing spirit is also hot.
For interest sake, with an alcometer calibrated to 20C.
At 20C, parrot reading 85%, approx true abv% at 85%.
At 25C, parrot reading 85%, approx true abv% at 82.3%
At 30C, parrot reading 85%, approx true abv% at 80.8%.
Could be nothing, but always an easy variable to account for and rule out any issues it may or may not be causing/contributing to.
Random side thoughts:
What abv % were the boiler charges for these runs?
You're running a gate valve on your dephelg to control cooling? If it is, you are going to find it difficult to get reliable consistent flow rates though it, gate valves are very coarse in terms of how fine you can control the flow of water though. Would get finer resolution or control of your water flow running a needle valve, rotometer (flow meter with a needle valve in it) and to a degree a reduced bore ball valve. For example and this is just me making up a comparison between a gate valve and needle valve so these numbers arent accurate but help explain the concept. The flow rate that you can achieve by turning a gate valve open from closed to a 1/5 turn, a needle valve would need to be turned open 1 full turn, which gives you much finer and more control over your flow rate.
Few rums deep and minds wandering, not sure if it helped.
The Stig wrote:So, last night we swapped out the RC supplied with still for my known working RC and things improved.
Ill let Wik fill in the details .
It handy living close :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
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