Search found 293 matches

by snuffy
Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:14 pm
Forum: My First .....
Topic: My first neutral run. Sorry, no copper here!
Replies: 8
Views: 1583

Re: My first neutral run. Sorry, no copper here!

It will be very interesting to see if the vacuum still can concentrate the heads and tails congeners. Heads are actually a tiny amount but it only takes a trace to contaminate the hearts with an objectionable taste. If you could get the heads reduced down to just themselves, it would probably only b...
by snuffy
Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:41 am
Forum: Novice Distillers
Topic: Best still for newbees - expert poll
Replies: 31
Views: 4542

Re: Best still for newbees - expert poll

It seems to cut both ways. Getting anything really good takes patience and practice. A pot still will teach you cuts (or you will be drinking swill). A column still is a more complex build, so a simple pot (liebig or worm, doesn't make much difference) gets you up and running so you can see what's i...
by snuffy
Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:33 pm
Forum: Research and Theory
Topic: Different column idea
Replies: 16
Views: 3042

Re: Different column idea

Search "spiral still" - or see Riku's book. They can delivery azeotrope and get sharp cuts if you run them slow. The best designs use a short column and a spiral without packing. They aren't as efficient, so they don't produce as fast, but they are 1) air cooled and 2) self regulating at l...
by snuffy
Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:07 pm
Forum: Novice Distillers
Topic: Best still for newbees - expert poll
Replies: 31
Views: 4542

Re: Best still for newbees - expert poll

Small pot still. Easy to build and try out. If you have patience, you can learn to make cuts. Small so there's not a big threshold to getting started. If you've got money and don't have tools or skills, buy one from a reputable seller. Ask around. Then if you like it, build another something or othe...
by snuffy
Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:09 pm
Forum: Novice Distillers
Topic: STRONG "apple wine"....how?
Replies: 16
Views: 3486

Re: STRONG "apple wine"....how?

The trick with apple brandy is managing the cuts. The apple aroma is right at the end of the heads. Miss the cut and you lose the flavor. One trick is to triple distill and put apple pulp in the thumper. Hard cider has a lot of heads in it, so it can be fiery and deliver death-dealing hangovers. Get...
by snuffy
Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:44 pm
Forum: Still Related Hardware
Topic: Stainless - Copper Soldering Advice
Replies: 11
Views: 4476

Re: Stainless - Copper Soldering Advice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkSVKeM1Bs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Copper plating really helps. Doesn't take much.
by snuffy
Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:46 pm
Forum: Novice Distillers
Topic: Brandy: to strip or not to strip?
Replies: 9
Views: 2871

Re: Brandy: to strip or not to strip?

with a stripping run, you can use the spirit run to get a sharper cut and less heads. Brandy tends to have a lot of heads. I've used both pot stills with thumper and column VM stills. The product is the same, but with the column, there is more of it.
by snuffy
Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:05 pm
Forum: Column Builds
Topic: Thoughts on my reflux column design.
Replies: 89
Views: 23801

Re: Thoughts on my reflux column design.

it takes very little to induce turbulence. a single strand of wire with a few bends in it should be enough. The bends will help hold it in place. The butterfly valve will have an opening more or less equal to the sine of the angle of the valve if 0 degrees is closed - subject to the geometry of the ...
by snuffy
Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:07 pm
Forum: Research and Theory
Topic: i was tryingto do some research
Replies: 1
Views: 739

Re: i was tryingto do some research

Image

Heh.
by snuffy
Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:50 pm
Forum: Sugar
Topic: MIKE"S SIMPLE FIVE recipe.
Replies: 31
Views: 6771

Re: MIKE"S SIMPLE FIVE recipe.

How big are those Aussie condoms? 500 g seems like a lot of protection....
by snuffy
Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:07 pm
Forum: Novice Forum Graveyard
Topic: Re-using yeast
Replies: 9
Views: 1443

Re: Re-using yeast

If you ferment in 5 gallon carboys and rack your mash, the yeast left behind from the racking can be refrigerated. It will settle out into two layers. There will be plenty of dormant cells to start a new fermentation. Also, this gunk, when boiled to burst the cells, makes a good yeast nutrient. Sinc...
by snuffy
Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:47 am
Forum: Materials Safety
Topic: PTFE - Acceptable synthetic?
Replies: 74
Views: 59653

Re: PTFE - Acceptable synthetic?

This will probably keep coming up, so here are a few things to keep in mind: Things can be proven to be unsafe, but they can't be proven safe. It's like proving there aren't any tigers in Peoria, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. And there might be a zoo in Peoria, so all the evide...
by snuffy
Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:35 pm
Forum: Novice Forum Graveyard
Topic: Question about Jacking
Replies: 16
Views: 3112

Re: Question about Jacking

I've done it with dry ice after chilling the wine in a freezer down to 0F. The dry ice gets surrounded by a shell of ice and that's it. Everything that tastes bad in your starting liquid will taste even worse. It's very inefficient and not even mildly amusing as an experiment. As has been repeatedly...
by snuffy
Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:44 am
Forum: Yeasts, Enzymes, Fungi, Nutrients
Topic: Mashing with Rid-X septic treatment only, success it works!
Replies: 47
Views: 12982

Re: Mashing with Rid-X septic treatment only, success it works!

There isn't any evidence to support the belief it might be harmful.

http://msds.reckittprofessional.com/cus ... 0893_r.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
by snuffy
Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:35 am
Forum: Yeasts, Enzymes, Fungi, Nutrients
Topic: Mashing with Rid-X septic treatment only, success it works!
Replies: 47
Views: 12982

Re: Mashing with Rid-X septic treatment only, success it works!

I, for one, support fearless experimentation. The worst that's gonna happen is you get some stinky strippings and dump the lot. Do it slow and watch the head temp, that will give a little clue as to the composition. I find the fact that this involves an enzyme that goes after cellulose very interest...
by snuffy
Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:09 am
Forum: Fruits & Vegetables
Topic: apple wash
Replies: 47
Views: 11062

Re: apple wash

Earlier this season, I took a gallon of fresh strawberries and macerated them in neutral for a week, put that in the thumper and steam distilled it off. Came over very nice, but lacking in sweetness. So I macerated some more strawberries and then filtered it. Came out tasty. I've also put sweet cide...
by snuffy
Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:38 am
Forum: Fruits & Vegetables
Topic: apple wash
Replies: 47
Views: 11062

Re: apple wash

Apple squeezing time is coming soon around here. This year I'm going to freeze some of the squeezed pomace. Then when it's distilling time, I'm going to put some in the thumper and see how that works. We don't add sugar, so it takes a long time to work off and comes out about 6-8% depending on how g...
by snuffy
Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:22 pm
Forum: Research and Theory
Topic: Latent Heat of Vaporization
Replies: 8
Views: 3629

Re: Latent Heat of Vaporization

Your last question boils down (heh) to one theoretical plate above whatever the charge %abv is at the time. If you've got a lot of heat loss from the column, you'll get some reflux and it will be a little higher if you run it slow, fast and it won't matter much. But it sounds like you are basically ...
by snuffy
Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:04 pm
Forum: Research and Theory
Topic: I never get enough reading material
Replies: 13
Views: 2412

Re: I never get enough reading material

The Compleat Distiller - Nixon & McCaw Mountain Spirits / More Mountain Spirits - Dabney Designing and Building Automatic Stills - Riku Alcohol Distiller's Handbook - Wilkie Pyrotechnia - Birenguccio (Trans. Smith) That'll get you started. And the one, the only, the original: http://distillers.t...
by snuffy
Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:43 am
Forum: Off-Topic Discussion
Topic: Distiller/chemist/engineering feedback needed
Replies: 15
Views: 1797

Re: Distiller/chemist/engineering feedback needed

Lime water scrubbers for coal plants produce gypsum and calcium sulfate as waste. This is frequently used in drywall. Very high sulfur coal would produce excessive amounts. So probably mostly sulfates of calcium -- depending on other metal ions in the scrubber solution could have other metal sulfate...
by snuffy
Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:45 am
Forum: Recipe Development
Topic: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
Replies: 23
Views: 11880

Re: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate

Did the spirit run last night on 3 gal of low wines from concentrate. By very slow distillation in the CM rig, was able to separate the apple flavor from most of the heads. At the risk of a derail on technical matters: http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f312/warbaby442/jughead/cmwatercleaning.jpg mor...
by snuffy
Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:40 am
Forum: Recipe Development
Topic: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
Replies: 23
Views: 11880

Re: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate

The tricks to getting the CM head are a precision flow control valve, a water pressure regulator and power management. I'm using a micrometer hydraulic flow control valve and it gives very precise control. I tried a fixed regulator at 40psi, but that was too high and am now using an inexpensive plas...
by snuffy
Wed Aug 19, 2009 3:55 pm
Forum: Recipe Development
Topic: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
Replies: 23
Views: 11880

Re: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate

I run a packed column 3' to 9' depending on the phase of the moon with either a VM or CM (100% reflux) head. The flavors have to go somewhere. Column stills can do a good job on flavored spirits. I'm leaning more towards the cooling management head because it can separate the heads into several dist...
by snuffy
Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:36 am
Forum: Research and Theory
Topic: Cooling water temps
Replies: 2
Views: 814

Re: Cooling water temps

I think your friend is correct about the need for consistent, steady input temperature. The temperature will only affect the amount of water used, so colder means less water consumption. For commercial distilleries, water consumption is a cost that has to be controlled. Here's the tail end of a stri...
by snuffy
Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:52 am
Forum: Fruits & Vegetables
Topic: apple wash
Replies: 47
Views: 11062

Re: apple wash

20 gallons of cider in a day is a lot of work for two people. I've found that gentle distillation (I've used both pot with thumper and column) gives the best separation of heads. I get a higher yield with a column. I've been using vapor management (VM) on the last several batches and was very happy ...
by snuffy
Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:41 am
Forum: Fruits & Vegetables
Topic: apple wash
Replies: 47
Views: 11062

Re: apple wash

Grind them up, squeeze them out and ferment the cider. Check out cidermaking... We use stuff from these folks: http://www.leeners.com/cider.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/yates/MG10.3.01.htm" onclick="w...
by snuffy
Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:12 am
Forum: Novice Forum Graveyard
Topic: Tri Clamps
Replies: 20
Views: 2190

Re: Tri Clamps

I've dealt with both of these: http://www.stpats.com/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow http://www.klgstainless.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow There's been some experimenting with electro...
by snuffy
Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:06 pm
Forum: Recipe Development
Topic: Metamucil
Replies: 22
Views: 3935

Re: Metamucil

Um, what's the purpose? I'm a little puzzled. Here's the ingredients -- there are several different formulations. http://www.metamucil.com/drmetamucil/products/dosage_info.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Maltodextrin is pretty fermentable. Not ...
by snuffy
Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:34 pm
Forum: Recipe Development
Topic: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
Replies: 23
Views: 11880

Re: Apple Brandy from Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate

I've had good luck with the frozen concentrate. I get mine from a restaurant supply. A case of quarts makes about 8 gallons. If you dilute carefully and watch the s.g., it's about 1:1. A little sugar doesn't hurt. Any skinned fruit with pectin will have a lot of heads. The flavor is towards the end ...
by snuffy
Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:48 pm
Forum: Research and Theory
Topic: perforated plates
Replies: 56
Views: 10239

Re: perforated plates

I lost all my PCB making supplies in the flood last winter so I just ordered up a bunch. I CAD the pattern, then laser print it (reversed) on the flimsy paper they use for color adverts. There's also special paper for this -- it's a little easier to use because it doesn't require soaking. Then fuse ...