by BigRig » Thu Mar 03, 2022 11:46 pm
Now I have had my bubbler almost 12 months I think it’s a good time to update this thread with what I have learned and where I am at with my current process.
This will allow me to look back on how I progress(ed) on the journey and it might even be helpful to someone, someday.
Without stating the obvious, this is relevant to my environment and might not be the ideal process for somebody else.
Per previous posts, I am running an FSD 4” Mac SSG bubbler on a 50L milk can with 2 x 2400w weldless elements and a 5,000L slim line steel water tank.
Each run and wash are different but I like routine and process, i have tried to remove as many variables as possible so I can somewhat replicate a “standard” run over and over.
My water pump is set at 3.66L / minute. The tap is marked so I can get it the same every time. The 12mm garden hose runs at ground level for 20m to my still then rises 5 feet and splits off to the PC & RC. The warm water then falls 5ft to the ground runs 20m along the ground back to the tank, rises 7ft and feeds in to the top of the water tank.
The inlet to both condensers are on the bottom and the valves are on the inlets. The RC has a 1/2" needle valve, the PC has a ball valve. I have the ball valve slightly closed, (again marked so I can get it right every time) to give me some back pressure to ensure water flows to the RC. If I have the ball valve open 100% I found the water bypassed the RC (path of least resistance right ?!). Also for me living in QLD I find that the water temp does not really change too much between summer and winter.
I have marked my milk can at 40L, this is my max fill line to stop puking.
I think with the volume of the bubbler, it struggles to perform properly with low alc washes on a 40L boiler charge. I cannot convince SWMBO i need to upsize to a 100L boiler so i have to up the alc content of the wash instead, a 1.5 run is awesome for this and i will often do them. Some washes don't need them so i can get away with a 1 and done.
If i am doing a 1.5 run, stripping 40L to 20%abv usually nets 10-12L low wines.
Heating up i have the bottom element plugged to powerpoint and top element run through power controller at 100%. When the boiler is getting close to temp it goes quiet, i drop the controlled element to 10%, this normally coincides with heat in the bottom tee. The temp slowly progresses up the column until there is reflux falling off the condenser, after a few minutes of this the plates are now loaded evenly and have a nice bubbling action. This is the biggest tweak > i don't touch anything < eventually the column is that saturated with vapour it won't be able to hold full reflux any more and i will start getting drips out the drain on the parrot. At this point i will start closing the needle valve to get a drip drip drip drip, this is usually 3 turns. I collect 250ml fores cut (approx 20mins), close the drain, put my alcometer in the parrot then adjust needle valve to get a nice stream about as thick as a bamboo skewer, this is usually 5 turns (its 5.5 turns from fully opened to closed).
i will collect in 250ml cuts until i am in hearts then up it to 500ml jars for a handful, being sure not to be greedy i will go back to 250ml cuts before the onset of tails, by this time i have likely upped the power controller to 15-20% to maintain the take off rate. At the slightest taste of tails i stop collecting, crank up the controller to 100%, close needle valve on RC and strip the tails out for future feints runs.
For me this process works like clock work and will sit on 92% the entire run, until it hits 90% for tails. I get clean spirit with bags of flavour.
On a neutral i will do a double distill with more reflux and more power to get the off take i want and the extra 2%abv. The needle valve would be 4 turns and power at 30-35%.
With this routine i can easily do 3 strips plus spirit run in a half day. Sorry i will record more specific times on my next stilling day.
In 11 months i have about 100L of ageing brown spirits plus copious amounts of neutral for gin, liqueurs and Limoncello. The 4" still can make more than most will be able to consume.