Good morning all,
Today is my first stripping run on my new alcoengine, sitting on a digiboil boiler.
I have moved up from the Air Still which I've been using for about a year. By the time I was finished playing I was doing 25ltr TPW washes, (thanks Birdwatcher :handgestures-thumbupleft: ) doing 6 stripping runs, 4ltrs a go in that little toy after all. Diluting to 30% for spirit runs, then doing cuts.
Each strip took about 3hrs 20 mins from go to whoa, yielding 1.1lt, stopping at ABV of 20%
Ending up with 6.6 ltr of stripped anywhere between 38 to 42% ABV.
Mixed it all up, took 100ml, diluted to 30%, scaled that amount up and diluted the lot to 30%, normally ending up with around 8.9 to 9.3 litres of low wines @ 30%
ran two spirit runs, taking 50ml foreshots (this I used with paper towels to clean still between runs)
260ml of heads (this I saved until I had 1.6 ltr. Diluted to 4ltr, ran a 'triple distilled' run using the botanical basket to make Gin for the missus, mostly for her anyway ;-) )
1.1ltr of hearts/take
310ml of tails (this I saved and added 100ml to each stripping run to boost it a little, nothing wasted)
The left over low wines I stockpiled, waited until I had 4ltr and did another spirit run. About one every 4 to 5 washes. The heads took a bit longer to add up, normally a 'triple distilled' run every 8 washes.
Anyway, had a lot of fun with that little thing, learnt a lot about sniffing and tasting. By the end wasn't sniffing and tasting any more, had everything down to timers then watching the mls and changing out containers at the tried and tested levels. I used tap water in the still, then bottled water when watering down the stripped product before filtering **learn from my mistakes!! NEVER filter the gin! doh!
Moving on, I ran a vinegar and sac run yesterday, Am doing my first strip now, Water from the tap @ 6ltr, digiboil set to 95 deg, but running on both elements atm, am using the 1mm take off fitting for the strip, will change to the 0.6mm fitting for the spirit run. Everything is wide open from the start, no getting equilibrium for the strip. First drops at 45mins, column head is sitting at 79.6 deg. Just measured the time to collect 10ml, flow rate atm is about 1.5lt an hour. Will stop when ABV reaches 20%.
I loved my little toy, but none of this stepping up and feeling, fairly, confident would be possible without you guys ^:)^
Thanks, Mikey