Fixing up my hot plate cycling, safely!

This hobby is fun & enjoyable, but it is not tiddlywinks. Be safe!

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thesource674
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Re: Fixing up my hot plate cycling, safely!

Post by thesource674 »

skow69 wrote:
thesource674 wrote:Hmmmm interesting. Maybe i can find a way to insulate the sides of the pot. The bottom is just about 3/4 an inch on all sides smaller than the hot plate surface but it maintains a solid boil at full blast. Maybe its the upper part of the boiler I should insulate to keep the vapor a higher temp? When i ran the 12% ABV cider through it most of the hearts were coming around 86-92 C if the thermometer that plugs into the dome is accurate. Proof was about ~130 in the heads, ~160-165 in the bulk of it, then I started the tails when the flavor started tasted a little watered out down to about 20 proof.
This brings us back to the often repeated point that you can't take the reading of a thermometer in a pot still as literal. We know that H2O at 86-92 C can't be vapor. It has to be liquid. A mixture of water and ethanol could be vapor, but the composition of that mixture is constantly changing, so it quickly becomes very complicated. All we can really be certain of is that some of the heat from your hotplate is being used to heat the charge and some is being lost to the environment. If you can change that ratio so that less is being lost, then your boil will be "faster" or "more vigorous", more vapor will be created, and consequently you will get more product coming out. So anything you can do with insulation to direct more heat into the pot will make your distillation more efficient, regardless of what your thermometer reads. This is why they say you can't run a pot still by temperature, you have to run it by input heat and output flow.

It is unfortunate that your boiler doesn't cover that heating surface completely because that is your main source of wasted heat and it is hard to recover. Anything you can do to redirect that into the pot will help, as well as insulation on the sides and top. I just don't find it helpful to use the temperature as an indicator of efficiency, it is better to use the flow rate, i.e. measure your takeoff in ml per minute or ounces per hour, etc.

Yes this is very true, currently im almost at a solid, steady, stream but currently its just a real thin stream or a consistent heavy drip. Looks like I need to get just a bit more juice to the juice and ill have a lean mean machine going. But for now at least it is working very well and im practicing my cuts! The distillate so far has a great apple aroma and flavor. I just need to figure out how much heads to blend in without making give gnarly hangovers. But thats more for the fruit mash threads than here :ebiggrin:
Pikey
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Re: Fixing up my hot plate cycling, safely!

Post by Pikey »

thesource674 wrote:It works perfectly and while the controller seems to cap out at max heat well before I go all the way up i definately have control and can do a slower temp increase and get a steady boil. It still doesn't come out in a steady stream but rather a steady drip ..............!
It seems to me your controller has an internal over current protection inside - I think you may get better results with a different controller ?
mulligan wrote:
NZChris wrote:
der wo wrote:I feel relieved.
When I entered this thread, I hoped another member would confirm we if I am right or contradict me if I am wrong. But noone answered. I was a bit nervous...
I was nervous about advising someone who clearly didn't have a clue, to do something so obvious that they should have been able to work it out for themselves. We are talking about mains voltage here.
Idiots and under-educated (I include myself) are going to do it anyway. Is it better to try and help people and encourage them to do more research (with emphasis on safety) or take this forum's particular known angle of berate them and let them learn the hard way while doing stupid unsafe stuff with no guidance?
I agree mulligan. We are all playing with quite dangerous stuff - ethanol gas - high proof liquids - high temperatures - naked flames for many ! :shock: potentially high (explosive) pressures if we design wrong - and the potential for a nasty nip from a bad electrical connection is another aspect. Our fathers would feel confortable experimenting with these things and thinking them through for themselves. Sadly our children (in this country anyhow) are not even allowed to rewire a plug nowadays and have no idea how to repair a car. I feel anyone who is prepared to have a go should be helped as far as we can and educated in the arts of achievement and safety as we know them.

Apologies for not joining in der wo - I never even saw this thread :oops:

You done a great job mate ! :thumbup:

Yes we all make mistakes but :- "The man who never made a mistake, never made anything ..."
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