New Easy Still with adjustable thermostat.

[Usge]

Firstly, if your beer/wash tasted sour, that's a good thing. (so long as it wasn't "vinegary"). If it's sweet, it means it ain't done fermenting yet—the sugars convert to alcohol leaving it sour—thats what you want. 2nd, a 10% wash/mash has a higher starting temp than higher proof low-wines (2nd run). It sounds like you are doing the right thing ignoring the temp gauge all together and just monitoring the still to try and maintain a smooth flow. Use your hydrometer to check things as they come off. That's a more accurate way to work anyway. (recognizing that the temp of the distillate and size of your combined sample can throw things off).

If you are doing a 2 Run process:
Your first run should just be a stripping/reduction run. I'ts fine to separate things out (cuts) just for practice. But, you could really just collect it all in one large container (after tossing foreshots). You are shooting for a 1/4 to 1/3 reduction. So, on 4L, that means you should probably get back 1 to 1.3L that should be somewhere around mid-30s percent wise in E02. If your "low-wines" are coming back 58%..that's a little high, and probably an indication you have not gone far enough (collected enough).

As an example: starting with 4L of UJSM @ 10%, I get back just over 1L (about 1.2). That starts coming out at around 60-65% and drops throughout the run. Combined it's about 35%. If your distillate is 40c, it's throwing your hydrometer reading off. Check the correction tables (generally, your hydrometer would be erring on the high side, and you'd need to reduce the % reading to correct it). If your distillate were colder than the calibration temp of the hydrometer, you'd need to "add" % for correction. Most hydrometers are calibrated at 20c.

After doing 1/4 to 1/3 reduction several times, 3 or 4 "stripping runs", you'd then have enough to do a full "spirit run" on your combined low-wines. That's the one you want to separate out and make your cuts on. (after tossing foreshots). Save what you don't use as feints. There are differing views on how far to take this 2nd run. Some people stop around 30%...some take it on down to 10% to try and extract as much of the alcohol as possible so it can be re-run. It seems to be a personal preference and it's entirely up to you. Just keep track of what has gone in vs what has come out...so you don't boil your pot dry.

[SiliconJaguar]

OK, Thanks for all the good info. You have helped me understand a few more things once again.

Also it's good to know that I was doing the right thing with the run.

Out of interest I have just mixed a fresh wash.

-20 litres tank water. (18 room temperature, 2 boiled in a jug to bring the temperature up a bit).
- 5 Kilo's Raw Sugar.
- 2 cup's Molasses.
- 2 Level Tea Spoons Yeast (White Varietal).
- 3 heaped tea Spoons of DAP.
- 1 Level Tea Spoon of Biocibus.

This one seems to be slower to take off. The first one I did was going crazy within the first 3 hours.
This one is fermenting already but very slowly. I don't know whether it's because I didn't warm / float the yeast first at 40 deg in 10x must like before. Or whether it's the molasses making life a bit harder for it.
It also could be that I didn't heat dissolve the sugar as well this time ?? Who knows.

I probably should have woken the yeast from it's hibernation a bit nicer then just throwing it in a pre mixed wash? Who know's.

I guess it will still be ok, just take a little longer to get a foot hold. ???

I think I probably needed more Molasses to transfer the flavor also, but I wasn't game to put any more in as I had heard it can cause issues.

Anyhow, we will see how this next lot goes in a few week's time.

.-.-.

[Dnderhead]

premixing sugar is important, if you just dump it in the fermenter you could fiend it just sitting on the bottom in a big icy looking mass. not rehydrating yest will give the wash a slower start but should catch up.

[SiliconJaguar]

Hi Guys. Well here's a bit of a catch up.

I've done 2x 20 ltr washes so far.

Running 4x 4ltr runs at a time. I've been keeping the first two 750ml lots from the first run and then running the second half through again to produce a cleaner double strength lot of 750 ml.

I'm yet to bother with carbon filtering as I don't have a holder for the carbon yet. But I do have carbon. It will be interesting to see if it improves the taste or smell at all.

I'm also keeping my eye's out for a cheap second hand water reflux still.

Some things about these fan forced units with meter and thermostat.

At times it can be very hard to keep them running solid and with a clean flow.

The temperature gauge tends to suffer from thermal runaway. At times it can just go nuts and rocket to the top and switch out the heating and fan. If this happens during a capture section it means starting again and throwing away the heads yet again.

This can be quiet annoying. The best bet is to remove the limiting screw just below the thermostat knob so you can run it past the 100 mark. Also it is a good idea that when the unit gets up to temp (around 80 deg C) to switch it off, could to 5 (slow) then back on again. This tends to settle down the temp sensor and help give a more accurate reading and a smoother run.

The idea in it's self is great but definately needs some work. The whole getting away from flowing water thing really helps with making it a kitchen item.

I have also tried both coconut and molassis in the washes and it never really seems to transfer any taste to the output. Some of the runs show a bit of discolourtation at the end but nothing worth the effort I feel .

I will probably just try a normal sugar wash next time.

I do wonder about the benefits of throwing some Molassis in as I read that doing this negates the output of Methenol for some reason ?? Any light on this?

Anyhow, the playing continues.
.-.-.

[Oracle]

I'm not sure it's possible or practical with that apparatus. The element is on/off and will give you some inconsistencies in the run, gurgling and spurting etc. I imagine. It's not the right way but no other way with that rig but try setting the temp to say 90-95 and just let it go and see what you get but I'm afraid you're gonna get heads throughout the run. When the green light is on then the element is on and vice versa with the red. Gonna be alot of temp fluctuation with it and alot of problems and headaches.

Curious about the observation that "you're gonna get heads throughout the run." Is this primarily because you think the temperature is gonna fluctuate too much (cycle on/off) or is it more a problem of volume (boiler) and inadequate head space/cooling coil? What could be done with this sort of set-up to reduce the "heads throughout the run"...?

I have seen several references to this sort of unit "popping" its top. Makes me wonder if there might be too much cooling and the distillate is backing up in the coil and increasing the pressure in the boiler section...

SiliconJaguar, just curious, is the distillate coming out of the unit still warm or is it cool?

[SiliconJaguar]

Hi guys, I'm pleased to see a follow up post on this subject again finally.

Lots has happened.

OK. Firstly I had to bodge my still to keep it running already.

I believe the temperature sensor has died, but ti could still possibly be the controller.
It basically won't turn on any more. So I put a trimpot across the sensor connector and adjusted it to make the unit run again and then replaced the pot with a similar sized resistor.

Originally I contacted the importer / seller. But found him extreamly unhelpful, difficult and in my opinion highly dodgie. So be warned. I will not say too much more here but if anyone wants the full details feel free to contact me.

Needless to say the original 1 year verbal warranty of instant replacement was a joke to say the least.

I have since been in contact with the manufacturer and although very slow to finalise have promised to ship replacement parts and a second still at whole sale price.

In the mean time I operate the unit with out a functional temperature gauge which was highly inaccurate anyhow in my opinion.

I simply remove the heads, take off sections in 150ml increments and stop as the alcohol content drops off.

Now to answer some questions.

Yes the distilate comes out warm. (Your opinion on how this effects things please?).

No the element does not cut in and out through out the run when the unit is running correctly and the temperature is set to high. SO there should not be any stuttering of the flow.

I would be interested in getting some of the output tested myself. But personally I believe if you discard heads and tails correctly and as specially since I am double distilling I should be getting a pretty clean product.

My unit never pop's it's top but it also has more head space then the smaller design, and breathing holes in the top of the boiler, also sealing rings.

I have also looked at buying a water cooled still.

Unfortunately for suburban use I still feel it is too restrictive in its use of water and time to run and refill etc.
For me the Fan cooled counter tom model is much more usable.

.-.-.

[woodward]

hi i read your problem and i think what you need to do is set your thermostat to about 185
the wash will not get hotter than 170-180 as long as there is alcohl so at 185 your run is over
hope this helps.i worked for a chemical company and run a comercial still and that is the way we done it

[woodward]

i worked for a chemical company and run a commercial stripping still we would watch a temp gage it was a circular chart that run around with the time leave ink a ink mark and when the temp started to go up we would shut it down. set your temp at 180
and when it shuts down your run is done at 180 f not c

[fuji0010]

Cantherm's MQT control thermostats. These thermostats were developed as a small, inexpensive, high performance bimetal thermostat used as a controller.

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programmable Thermostats