test run - low output

[CaptainPurple]

32 gquart pot with about a gallon of 1/2 cheap whiskey, 1/2 water for a test run.
Initially I had a 3/8" dia tube water cooled coil, but upsized to a 5/8" air cooled 20' length (only gets hot to about 10') http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xl3loopL7Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


The temp is measured by a 12" thermometer which extends down inside the copper cone.
After I get the whole thing running at 100 deg C, I back it down to about 95 since it should be about 80 to 95 max. to get alcohol, not water, right?

Seems to continue to have low output, but then what is normal?

I'm wondering if its possible that the system is too large and there is reflux action within the copper cone (its too hot to touch) No vapor is escaping, the coil is cold for the last 10 feet.

In theory, shouldnt it take about an hour to boil the acohol out of a gallon of water at about 95 C ?
Calibrated the thermometer. Cant get any output below 95 C
If I boil it at 100 C, I get 20% alcohol
I'm guessing too big a pot.

[Dnderhead]

the thermomater should be at the take off point. for what ever good it does in a pot still.
1/2 water and 1/2 40% =20% wash , if that is what you mixed. so you did not do a thing?
it should work.thow I dont know about the cooling coil. if it was 20% you should git
about 60-70% out depending how it was run.
you shure your not loosing vapor?

[HookLine]

Is that a valve on the output line (at the junction of the coil and lyne arm)? Or is it a 3-way connector?

[CaptainPurple]

no, its just a T fitting. it was the only flare fitting I had at the time to connect the coil, and also I like to open the capped port, to wait for the vapor to start coming into the coil, then close it up and let it go through the coil.

[rumlover]

Being quite new to this hobby I hesitated to give an opinion , but here goes. Your setup is verry similar to my own, with the exception of the propane burner...Mine is a commercial elec hotplate.
First I would check for a vapor leak.

Did you use flour dough paste to seal the stillhead?

I would go back to the 3/8 condenser and stick it in a 5 gal bucket. I use 15 feet of 3/8 in a water bucket and it works great. Air cooling is something that everyone here would love, and if increasing the diameter and length of the coil would do the trick, IMO we would be switching over.

And last, I would keep my propane tank farther away from the operation. If you are inside, I would move the tank outside...but that's just my opinion. I work with propane a lot and push the envelope as far as safety is concerned and I don,t like having the supply that close to a source of ignition,especially inside.(although I won't say I have never done it).

Well, I hope I did not make as big an ass of myself as I did the first time I offered advice here.

[Hawke]

I would just tighten up the coil you have and put it in a bucket. Even a 10% wash should be coming out at around 35 to 40% on a stripping run through that unit.

[CaptainPurple]

This just in:
I'm pretty sure I made the cone too high. (10" cone) That and too big a pot for a gallon of "mash" or whatever you call it. I put in 4.5 gallons of 8% "mash" or whatever, now I can run it at 90 C ( measured about 1/2way down into the cone so temp. at top is lower) I can get a steady dripping output of 65% alcohol.

The coil works really well, it only gets warm about a 1/4 of the way down. Of course the OAT is about 37 deg F right now. So my vapors are pretty much condensed in the 1st 5 feet. I found if I put some scraps of copper on the hot part of the coil, they really suck the heat out of it like a radiator.

[rumlover]

I really don't think your stillhead is too high. Your boiler looks about like the one I used. It sure doesn't hurt to have a little head room should your boiler puke. I have an onionhead on my boiler which is probably taller than yours.

How many btu is your salamander?...I run my rig with a 1500w hot plate and with a 12 abv wash I get 70abv output at 45f oat....80abv inside at 74f.
Try a vinegar/water run..If you can get a about a pencil-lead sized output stream you should be ok.

[CaptainPurple]

I dont know the BTU, its a bayou classic 32Qt turkey fryer. I have plenty of heat, was trying to keep the heat down to get alcohol. I think the main problem is the thermometer sticks down too far into the cone, making me think the temp was too high. I should probably just run it at whatever heat that gives me a steady output, then if I get a dilute product, I could re-distill that I guess. I ended up with initially a 65%, and decreasing from there.


I think I will still make a larger top opening, and lyne arm. I llike to think of an unrestricted flow of vapor to the coil. Right now its a 1.5 inch pipe.
Although I have seen commecial stills much higher than mine, with no lyne arm, just a tube at the tip-top, going right to a huge coil condenser

[Dnderhead]

if what you mean by low output is low percent alcohol .then that is what a pot still does,a tall column will git a bit more but not by much.
some fruit mash I run once slow and have 40% , but most I run twice. and my target is 60% . then that puts me right at
what I want to age at. a larger column will have more vapor avalable, larger lyne arm will take off vapors faster, a taller column will give
slight reflux and slightly higher proof.

[blanikdog]

Get rid of that thermometer to begin with. You aren't running a reflux still and it's confusing you. Temperature has no bearing on potstilling and you can't use it to control output; it just keeps getting higher and higher and is totaly irrelevent. Then have a read of the posts in here re thermometers on a pot still. It's all here if you look for it.
There's nothing wrong with your still - although as hawke said, it would be better if your coil was in a bucket of water - you just haven't read enough.

blanik

[CaptainPurple]

Yes I see about the thermometer. I had read on the here, about how you want to measure temp. at the breakover point so I figured the temp was off, (since mine was too long) but had no idea that much off. Anyway, forgetting about the thermometer but I do love me that air-coil. Hot on the top, cold on the bottom. I had no idea it would work so well.