skow69 wrote: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.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.
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