Not sure if I did it right, but here is the log I recorded for the run.
Neutral Run with Vapour Management Column 2/1/2012
Boiler charge:-
• Approx 33 litres of 50% ABV low vines (with sodium carbonate added at rate of 1 teaspoon per litre)
• Approx 20 litres of 11.8% neutral sugar/grain wash
• Approx 53 litres total in keg boiler
• Boiler 18 gallons (81 litres) with 2400 watt element (no controller)
Run Log:-
• Started boiler 6:05am
• 8:16am - Column temp at offtake branch 70+ degrees c. Turned on cooling line, valve off.
• 9:15am - Column temp 77.2 degrees c for 1 hr. Opened valve slightly to bleed foreshots at a few drops per sec. When valve opened temp went up to 77.4, then gradually up to 77.7
• 10:10am - Closed valve again to stabilise (approx 450ml foreshots collected). Temp 77.7
• 10:30am - Temp 77.7, opened valve slightly and started collecting. Bottle (all 750ml capacity) 1 - Approx 96% ABV at parrot, column temp 77.7 degrees c
• 12:39pm - Temp 77.8, Bottle 1 full, changed to bottle 2, shut valve again 5 minutes. Temp stable @ 77.8, opened valve slightly and collected distillate at a few drips per sec. Approx 96% ABV at parrot
• 2:13pm - Changed to bottle 3, temp 77.8, Approx 96% ABV at parrot. Opened valve to ½ - ¾ open. No obvious difference in output or temp.
• 2:30pm - Opened valve to fully open. Output slightly increased a few more drips per sec but still not quite a broken stream. As distillate in parrot still felt reasonably cool, I stopped still and removed the wispy piece of ss scrubber from the top of the liebig condenser. When I started still output now exiting in a broken stream.
• 2:47pm - Changed to bottle 4, temp 77.8, Approx 96% ABV at parrot.
• 3:09pm - Changed to bottle 5, temp 77.8, Approx 95.5% ABV at parrot.
• 3:31 pm - Changed to bottle 6, temp 77.8, Approx 95.5% ABV at parrot.
• 3:53pm - Changed to bottle 7, temp 77.8, Approx 95.5% ABV at parrot. As distillate in parrot still felt reasonably cool I removed the wispy piece of ss scrubber from the outlet of the liebig condenser. The output was now exiting in a broken stream (almost continuous pencil lead sized stream).
• 4:17pm - Changed to bottle 8, temp 77.8, Approx 95.5% ABV at parrot.
• 4:40pm - Changed to bottle 9, temp 77.8, Approx 95.5% ABV at parrot.
• 5:01pm - Changed to bottle 10, temp 77.8, Approx 95.5% ABV at parrot.
• 5:24pm - Changed to bottle 11, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 5:46pm - Changed to bottle 12, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 6:09pm - Changed to bottle 13, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 6:32pm - Changed to bottle 14, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 6:56pm - Changed to bottle 15, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 7:20pm - Changed to bottle 16, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 7:44pm - Changed to bottle 17, temp 77.8, Approx 95% ABV at parrot.
• 8:09pm - Changed to bottle 18, temp 77.9, Approx 94.5% ABV at parrot.
• 8:35pm - Changed to bottle 19, temp 78, Approx 94% ABV at parrot.
• 9:01pm - Changed to bottle 20, temp 78.7, Approx 94% ABV at parrot.
• 9:10pm - Temp increased to 78.7, Approx 86% ABV at parrot.
• 9:10pm - Temp increased to 78.7, Approx 86% ABV at parrot.
• 9:15pm - Temp increased to 79.9, Approx 86% ABV at parrot. Turned off still.
I know everyones stills vary but based on the above, do you think I should have closed down the valve at slight changes in temp or ABV to stabilise more often?
Also did I end up running too fast? I think the fastest collection rate was around 2 litres per hour.