The beginning of something beautiful.

[DrunkASAskunk]

Thanks Mac

Yeah i plan on getting plasma cutter and also a cold saw 1 pice at a time

[DrunkASAskunk]

Well today my final bits arived from Mac ^:)^ and I am very happy to say that Mac's gear is some nice high quality gear.
So I have done my cleaning run with vinigar ran 50/50. Put 5 liters in took about 1 n 1/2 hours to run it all through some prity bad looking stuff come out at the start but then it came clean.
Now that is over and done with I am about to start my first run. Got all my jars ready got 55 liters of rum wash all up to run in 2 batches. Tonight I am just planing on stripping every thing down
then tomorrow on with the importan part of the job. :-D

One question if someone would not mined ansering. :)) Is it ok to try your first stripping run to see what the diffrences are as you start to refine your stripping from your fineal run. I meen like
I been braking my neck wanting to drink my own home made boze :)) .

[BackyardBrewer]

If you're sampling from the middle of the run I'd say so. Water it down to 40% and try some hearts.

It'll be better next run but sure, why not taste some hearts?

[googe]

Good stuff mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: , hope it all goes well for you. Your striped stuff will taste like shit lol . Do you mean taste the stiped stuff then taste the spirit run?. Cause it doesn't matter how good you think you've done a strip run it will taste like shit.

[DrunkASAskunk]

Hey Im doing this under the cover of darkness :)) But a camo net would be good

[DrunkASAskunk]

yep first run tasts like shit :laughing-rolling: now im going to bed

[Distillnation]

Nice work mate.

How much wash was in your boiler?
How long was the run?
How much did you get out of it?

Are you running a gas burner set up?

[DrunkASAskunk]

So I gess the first thing I got so say after running the last of my wash today is Yep I am hooked I think I am going to have to build a bubbler at some stage :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Distillnation asked these questions.

How much wash was in your boiler?
I did 2 runs with about 26lters a run. Total of 52liters taken from 55 liter ferment.

How long was the run?
Well to be truthfall I did not time the heat up but once I started getting prouduct out the end it came very fast. I was filling a 1 liter jar every hmm 12 to 14 minets. Each run once at operatin temp lasted 2 hours I took as much as I could from each of the 2 runs then a we bit more for extra flavor.

How much did you get out of it?
Each run produced the same amount almost right down to the last drop. The first 5 liters came out at about 50 to 60% then at the end of the 5 jar it made a fast drop down to about 20 to 30% I continued to run it all the way down to 10%. I did that just for the extra flavor less water to add in the next run when I do it next.
I took a total of 10 liters of 50 to 60% and another 5 liters of about 30 to 10%.

Are you running a gas burner set up?
Yes I ran gas for this lot of boze. I am going to take a gess and say I used about $10 worth of gas juging by the fill of the bottle. Not to bad I thought.

I got some pics to post but I cant be stuffed at the moment. I got to say all this moonshining is hard work I think I need a sleep. (-|

Also a big thanks to SBB for his advice the other night in the pub. ^:)^

[Distillnation]

That's awesome. Must have been coming out in a nice stream to be filling jars that quickly :D not to mention the short run time. Might have to get myself a pot still for the stripping runs.

You got a good amount too, and sounds like a run works out pretty cheap as well seeing as $10 of gas is getting you 10L. Won't find good quality commercials that cheap.

Where did you get your molasses from for the wash?

Looking forward to seeing the pics you took!

Oh and I'll definitely go in for a length of 4" to make a bubbler ;)

[Cane Toad]

Hmmmm 4./hr doing a stripping run :think: :think: :think: once you get the feel for the still,I reckon you can crank that up a bit mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[MacStill]

Hmmmm 4./hr doing a stripping run :think: :think: :think: once you get the feel for the still,I reckon you can crank that up a bit mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yep! throw the flames of hell at it and watch the bugger piss.... bet you could crack 20/LPH out of that rig :music-deathmetal:

[Distillnation]

20L/hr. Damn that is just ridiculous. Would that be possible with a 2" pot?

[googe]

.Yeah have to agree thats pretty low for what you've built! What reg have you got on your burner?. Like Mac said you should be able to get 20 if the ones he's built do and there very similar to yours, I think :think: ive got about 19.5-19.8 out of the 2' 3 way liebig, you need heat baby :happy-partydance:

[Yummyrum]

So is output more to do with heat input or riser size?

My stripper is basically a 1/2" inside 3/4" liegib coming straight off the top of my keg via a 4" riser of 40mm .

I'm using a 2 ring banjo burner but it still takes me around 5 hours to strip 50 liters down to 20%

Edit :just read googes post

looks like I need more heat LOL

[googe]

This is what I used to use yummy :D viewtopic.php?f=49&t=1672&start=20

[MacStill]

20L/hr. Damn that is just ridiculous. Would that be possible with a 2" pot?

Caveman & Linno have cracked over 19/LPH out of the 2" swan I built :music-deathmetal:

[MacStill]

So is output more to do with heat input or riser size?

My stripper is basically a 1/2" inside 3/4" liegib coming straight off the top of my keg via a 4" riser of 40mm .

I'm using a 2 ring banjo burner but it still takes me around 5 hours to strip 50 liters down to 20%

Edit :just read googes post

looks like I need more heat LOL

Heat is the main thing, but you also need throughput too.... the easier for the still to push vapour the better, your liebig is a little on the restrictive side for high performance stripping.

Shot guns rule in this department :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Distillnation]

Caveman & Linno have cracked over 19/LPH out of the 2" swan I built :music-deathmetal:

That would be a lot better than doing stripping runs in my LM. So 2" column with an elbow going into a 2" shotgun would do the trick? If I make the condenser modular I could reuse it on a bubbler.

[DrunkASAskunk]

I wish I had have taken more pic's of the run but hey you all know what that looks like. While I was running my still I thought I probly could have put alot more heat in to it but Im only using a 2 ring burner and I was also playing around with the heat to see what would happen. I thought this would be a good time to experiment with heat to see what would happen with the boze%.

IMAG0237.jpg

If you have been following what I have been doing right from the start you will have noticed that I used 3/4 copper for my water in and out and that I only put 5 3/4 copper pipes in my condenser.
The Used the the 3/4 copper because I thought any smaller might be to much water pressure for my condenser. I had planed right from the start to use my davey pump. Why use such a large pump well because I have it its no extra cost in the set up.

IMAG0233.jpg

Unlike alot of people on this forum I should never have to worry about water cooling problems. :))

IMAG0232.jpg

My cooling tank. :laughing-rolling:

On both runs I took the first 100ml and added to my metho

IMAG0229.jpg

I also did a quick trip down to the hbs and pick up an extra 60L fermenter. Might I also add an over priced fermenter at $70. Any one in SA know where we can get bigger fermenters say like 200l.

IMAG0236.jpg

Stay tuned will be right back after this brake

[Yummyrum]

Used Olive barrels ,Can usually pick them up for around $30 bucks but its Fucken hard to get the smell out of them :laughing-rolling:

Anyone got any tips on this ?