Dephlegmator and bubble plate column observations.

[Barney Fife]

I finally got my new 3" bubble plate column, and finally the dephleg together, and ran it last night. My observations for your mulling, especially for those who share my obsession with rums... The first run, with my old standby rum wash, resulted in a whole new dimension of rum flavors that I have never before attained. Thinking about it further this morning, what might be responsible for the great flavor(it's even better this morning!) could be the high input energy. Pugi comments that we need to "run hard; push the flavor out!". He may have been onto something, as I've mentioned earlier. By running hard, we may be caramelizing some of the wash(rums). With a pot still, this caused a lot of smearing of the tails into my hearts, so I would do 5 to 6 strip runs at 4500 watts, then a spirit run at 2250 or 3000 watts to get better cuts. Some of the great caramel flavor from the strips would be lost, unfortunately, but not all. Now, what I'm tasting is very rich in caramel, almost butterscotch in flavor; with the dephleg, we're able to control the reflux, and thus the cuts, quite effectively, which keeping the power up(ran at 4500 watts all the way, after collecting the heads at 1500). So I'm thinking I was able to use the high power to create the caramel/butterscotch flavor notes, while using the dephleg to knock down the heavier tails from the hearts. The transition to tails was quite sharp, though I had to stop short as my cooling water had got too hot. Definitely need a better cooling water system. A radiator is in my near future.

I think the real hero with all these new style stills is not the plates, but the dephlegmator(note proper spelling). Unlike typical reflux columns which send all the vapor back down to be re-distilled many, many times on the random packing, thus stripping away all flavor, the dephleg allows the distiller to finely control the reflux, while allowing the lighter compounds to go straight through the dephleg and into the product condenser. and with minimal surface areas back in the column, the richer flavor compounds aren't being knocked down by all the refluxed alcohol, and can instead make its way north, up the column, and eventually into the condenser. We could test my theory easily by adding packing above the plates in one of our columns and seeing how much flavor we keep, or lose, VS the ABV. I have run mine without the dephleg now, and once without. The dephleg was good for roughly 18-22% ABV higher ABV VS without it, but the flavor wasn't anywhere close to the same.

I'm not looking for arguments; just sharing my thoughts and observations. I reserve the right to change my thinking as I learn to drive this thing further....

[LWTCS]

Interesting talking points Barney.

I can't imagine running w/o the deeflag-o-tomater any more.

[Kentucky shinner]

I agree , once you have sampled product made using a dephlagmator. Your screwed IMO.

[kenfyoozed]

I would have to agree. It just taste cleaner. I wonder if this is from the dephlegmator as well?

[Bagasso]

I think the real hero with all these new style stills is not the plates, but the dephlegmator(note proper spelling).

Interesting I had the idea that the water in the plates did a better job of holding on to the chemicals that make up the tails than metal, copper or ss. Would be nice to see what comes out of a regular pot still with a dephlegmator (no plates or packing).

[Barney Fife]

Would be nice to see what comes out of a regular pot still with a dephlegmator (no plates or packing).

I'll be doing exactly that, soon. I built my new column completely modular, meaning, each piece can be removed and used separately. I can take my dephleg and run it without the column.

[LWTCS]

I'm set up to run mine with the single thumper and with the straight pot too (and acourse the tower)
But after this last aged dunder/aged low wines experiment,,,I really much prefer all the pieces in the line up. Just such a nice compliment of flavor and crisp clean abv.

[rockchucker22]

What design did you use for your dephlegmator? Glad to hear your report beings how you helped to pioneer the small scale plated column with your 2" design.

[The Baker]

Would be nice to see what comes out of a regular pot still with a dephlegmator (no plates or packing).

I'll be doing exactly that, soon. I built my new column completely modular, meaning, each piece can be removed and used separately. I can take my dephleg and run it without the column.

Will the column be the same total height as before?

(Will you be replacing the bits that held the plates with plain column?)

I guess that would be a 'fairer' comparison.

[Austin Nichols]

Again we see another good reason to have a removable plate tree

[LWTCS]

Again we see another good reason to have a removable plate tree

He he,,
Only to further conclude it is better to have the plates than not......
Course there is still the "should i go 3 plates today,,,,,,,,,or 5" question.

[Samohon]

Great report on the dephlegmator Barney... I'm set to start my flute build soon with the addition to my arsenal of a 1.5M length of 4" tomorrow...
All results I've heard so far are on a concentrated carry through of the flavour, but it would be a nice experiment to add a dephleg to the top of my pot still...
Maybe this could be done with a simple 3/8" coil wrapped round 8" of my 2' riser..?

Keep us posted on any developments...