Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

bt1 wrote:Howdy,

I bought two 3" faced thermos so I use em.

The boiler one really just let's me know how long before the bubbler fires, you get the same by feeling where the heat is in the column anyway.

The top one varies a lot and I leave this in but can't say you'd drive a bubbler by this. For mine its, top plate, bottom plate and output/abv.

bt1

Hi where did you get your thermos and price please

try this

So wih an 8-10% 40L boiler charge of a whiskey/rum wash using a 4 plater, rougly what volume can you expect to get for your fores/heads and drinkable product?

Pretty random question mate. 700 ml heads. 2-3 litres of 92%

Bushy wrote:Pretty random question mate. 700 ml heads. 2-3 litres of 92%

Yep sounds about rigt. You've only got 10% total available in 40L so 4L maximum (and it's impossible to extract every drop of that 10% and of that not all of it is drinking stock - heads, fores, tails.)

So with a total of less than 4L of pure ethanol available yes, as bushy said you're looking at 2.5-3L max.

Keep the other litre or so after you throw foreshots and add it to your next run.

The onset of tails is easy to identify, my still in it's current configuration as a 4 plate running UJ, shows the bottom window fogged up and the 2nd window starting....



Once the bottom two sight glasses look the same the ABV is usually around 88% and I'll close flow to the RC, wind up the power and strip tails out.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

Great pic mac. Geeze that ss looks nice and love the sg's :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Excuse the newbie question, but what is the expected (or aimed for) ABV running a 4 plate 4 inch SSG with say a rum wash (as per your recipe) when running the bubbler the way you describe?

Also, is it possible to get a TPW into the 90's without a packed section? Good enough for a neutral in another words?

Thanks in a advance.

Vatoe wrote:Excuse the newbie question, but what is the expected (or aimed for) ABV running a 4 plate 4 inch SSG with say a rum wash (as per your recipe) when running the bubbler the way you describe?

Also, is it possible to get a TPW into the 90's without a packed section? Good enough for a neutral in another words?

Thanks in a advance.

I aim for around 91 to 92% ABV, but there's always variables to a degree.

Yes it's possible, wont taste too good, as a bare minimum for an excellent neutral you'll want 4 plates & a packed section.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

MacStill wrote:

Vatoe wrote:Excuse the newbie question, but what is the expected (or aimed for) ABV running a 4 plate 4 inch SSG with say a rum wash (as per your recipe) when running the bubbler the way you describe?

Also, is it possible to get a TPW into the 90's without a packed section? Good enough for a neutral in another words?

Thanks in a advance.

I aim for around 91 to 92% ABV, but there's always variables to a degree.

Yes it's possible, wont taste too good, as a bare minimum for an excellent neutral you'll want 4 plates & a packed section.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks. So 91-92% for rum or thereabouts. So tails come in the percentage drops into the 80's and we see the fogging as in your picture a couple of posts up.

Oh, I see a packed section in my future to have one still to do all my runs :dance:

I have removed the crap from this thread so back on topic now please ;-)

Vatoe wrote:

MacStill wrote:

Vatoe wrote:Excuse the newbie question, but what is the expected (or aimed for) ABV running a 4 plate 4 inch SSG with say a rum wash (as per your recipe) when running the bubbler the way you describe?

Also, is it possible to get a TPW into the 90's without a packed section? Good enough for a neutral in another words?

Thanks in a advance.

I aim for around 91 to 92% ABV, but there's always variables to a degree.

Yes it's possible, wont taste too good, as a bare minimum for an excellent neutral you'll want 4 plates & a packed section.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks. So 91-92% for rum or thereabouts. So tails come in the percentage drops into the 80's and we see the fogging as in your picture a couple of posts up.

Oh, I see a packed section in my future to have one still to do all my runs :dance:

Sorry for the interruptions from someone who's turning into a long term PITA when he's drunk, and cant take no as an answer in private, I believe admin is now dealing with him behind the scenes if he'll listen, but I doubt it.... yet again! :doh:

Back on track now though, your summation is pretty good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

For everyone elses info:

The thing is this thread is just to get you guys going, once you know what's going on you'll change your run strategy to your own liking, it's just a starters guide :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Once into the more tech side of things, those questions and discussions are best suited to their own topics/threads.

We hear it all the time that off topic dribble in these types of threads makes doing research a nightmare for new distillers, so this is why we get upset when people blatantly go out of their way to derail these informative topics.

Cheers.

It's all good re above.

I probably have guessed the answer to this, but I'll ask it anyway. When you state in your original post "...once your column is up to temp and in full reflux just slowly close your reflux valve until you get a drip or two every second...." Is the "reflux valve" you are referring to here the valve that controls the inlet water flow to the RC? Also "full reflux" means I assume that all plates are loaded with liquid and bubbling away nicely. I think I caught Sam's youtube video in that regard.

So, if I am getting my head around this process correctly, closing the inlet valve, essentially drops the cooling capacity of the reflux condenser (due to restricted water flow), which therefore allows the escaping of some vapour, which passes through to the PC. The PC essentially acts as a better cooler (even if the cooling water is used in a in RC out to PC fashion) and returns the vapour back into liquid form.

My current still is essentially a 'set and forget' still where the controlling of the water flow to a large degree does not effect the temp of the still. Whilst I appreciate the reflux still I have is different to a bubbler, all the bits are hidden in my copper column and by virtue of ease of operation is pretty limited as a learning tool - I am still learning though if that makes sense :o

cheers, once again.

Whoops edit - I should of said - water into PC out to RC in the above post :oops:

Vatoe wrote:It's all good re above.

I probably have guessed the answer to this, but I'll ask it anyway. When you state in your original post "...once your column is up to temp and in full reflux just slowly close your reflux valve until you get a drip or two every second...." Is the "reflux valve" you are referring to here the valve that controls the inlet water flow to the RC? Also "full reflux" means I assume that all plates are loaded with liquid and bubbling away nicely. I think I caught Sam's youtube video in that regard.

So, if I am getting my head around this process correctly, closing the inlet valve, essentially drops the cooling capacity of the reflux condenser (due to restricted water flow), which therefore allows the escaping of some vapour, which passes through to the PC. The PC essentially acts as a better cooler (even if the cooling water is used in a in RC out to PC fashion) and returns the vapour back into liquid form.

My current still is essentially a 'set and forget' still where the controlling of the water flow to a large degree does not effect the temp of the still. Whilst I appreciate the reflux still I have is different to a bubbler, all the bits are hidden in my copper column and by virtue of ease of operation is pretty limited as a learning tool - I am still learning though if that makes sense :o

cheers, once again.

I preface this as someone who has only run a liebig on a pot his stilling career BUT I know you can plumb these things any which way you like.

Personally I intent to have a Y splitter on my water pump...1 goes to Reflux Condenser, 1 goes to PC. I'll run the PC one flat out...cause that's it's job...and the RC will have a valve for controlling how much vapor is allowed access to the PC.

From what I've read it doesn't need to be any more difficult than that.

You are correct that closing the reflux valve will reduce water flow and hence cooling capacity, allowing vapor to slip past and be condensed by the PC.

"Full Reflux" means that all plates are loaded and there is adequate flow in the RC to knock back ALL vapor.

All the pros here, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Brendans post on plated still

Just in case newer members havnt seen it, the link above is a very good description of a plated still.

Cheers.

Vatoe wrote:So, if I am getting my head around this process correctly, closing the inlet valve, essentially drops the cooling capacity of the reflux condenser (due to restricted water flow), which therefore allows the escaping of some vapour, which passes through to the PC. The PC essentially acts as a better cooler (even if the cooling water is used in a in RC out to PC fashion) and returns the vapour back into liquid form.

You've pretty much got that nailed mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

SBB wrote:You've pretty much got that nailed mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks for that. I did go off on a tangent a bit. I was really wanted to know what reflux valve was, but that has been answered as well :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Here's how I've got RC set up.

The thermometer is only there because I'm keeping an eye on my coolant temps after being asked several times, basically I think for the newer guys learning to run these rigs is to forget temps & concentrate more on plate activity, ABV% and distillate output speed. IMHO adding temp probes everywhere will only lead to confusion for the novice distiller with the plated still.



Cheers.

MacStill wrote:Here's how I've got RC set up.

The thermometer is only there because I'm keeping an eye on my coolant temps after being asked several times, basically I think for the newer guys learning to run these rigs is to forget temps & concentrate more on plate activity, ABV% and distillate output speed. IMHO adding temp probes everywhere will only lead to confusion for the novice distiller with the plated still.

DSC_0655.JPG

Cheers.

Cheers Mac, even clearer now. Now just have to be patient for a certain delivery to arrive. 8-}

I hear what you say about the thermo's, but the do look good :clap: