My Alembic and What I have found...

[MountedGoat]

I just got two questions in the span of ten minutes asking questions about the alembic that I use and what experiences I have had with it. I know that it isn't the work horse of this forum, though I think that there are enough folk here that are using one and I assume that we are all in the same boat.

First off is the water seal around the lid on my model. Accordingly it is a hand made piece of work and therefore should be treated like one. If the lid doesn't fit perfectly I see no reason why you couldn't help it fit a little better. Mine does seat pretty nicely and it is really snug to the touch. It doesn't rock or anything of that sort.

water seal image

WATERSEAL.JPG (6.84 KiB) Viewed 5694 times

I fill my water bath to the very tippy top of the trough with the lid in place and that is enough for about 6 hours of running. If I am doing longer than that I use as hot a water as possible to top it up SLOWLY, because I have had the pleasure of the vacuum happening due to the addition of cold water. Scared the shit outta me!

Next up the Reflux Lentil. When I began I used a wet towel on top of it that I would keep wetting the entire run with the water from the worm bucket. I found that a little itty bitty cork fits nicely in the drain hole and that keeps the loss of water to a minimum. This is most likely the wrong way to do this and I assume from the pictures that you run that water out elsewhere. I have thought of setting up a spray mechanism on this part, but my runs take some time already and much more and I might get left by my lady friend so...

Next up is the thermometer that is in the top of the onion shaped lid. I find that with the lentil in place it takes until 80*c to get the foreshots, without it is around 65*c. Then it runs well around 86*c and really hits its sweet spot at about 88*-94*. I finish when it hits about 98* and by then I am down below 100proof.

The product coming out is almost always at 165 for the fores, 155 for the heads and hearts, then it starts falling to 150 for a while, then once it hits 140 I collect tails. So all in all I am getting a very pure pot still product. A lot of copper flavor coming out though, which if you don't know what that means then stick a penny in your mouth (not advised if the penny hasn't been washed ).

Finally the worm and output. I use about 20gallons of water to cool a 25gal run. When the water is clear and reflects your face it is cold enough, and when cloudy you still need it cooler to get an accurate reading with your alcoholometer (sp?). The output is a very consistent pencil lead size stream that generally doesn't pour out, but rather slides back up the bottom and trickles about 2cm behind the output.

output stream

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Lastly here really quick is that there is another piece in the picture on top of the worm bucket that is a 1ft section and I guess that it just adds height or something. Makes for a longer down before chilling, I haven't used it yet so couldn't help there.

If you have more to add to this then please do, kinda a work in progress.

[Ftero]

I am grateful for your having taken the time to post your experiences with your still.

As I understand it, the other section of copper tubing, is to make hooking the goose neck to the coil when using the lentil. I haven't used mine yet, but on a dry fit, the tubing included with mine, did not line up. I guess it depends on how high the still is, in relation to the coil etc. No matter; it was an easy matter to cut and flare another piece to fit.

Without the lentil, I too, start to run the water, and begin collection @ 65 degrees, but have never run it past 92 degrees. I tend to collect all the way down to 40 proof. It's easy to throw out the tails later.

I still use rye paste to seal the pot, but have used teflon, plumbers tape a time or two instead. It sort of defeats a bit of the antique aura of the pot still, but clean up sure is a lot faster.

Later

[MountedGoat]

Without the lentil, I too, start to run the water, and begin collection @ 65 degrees, but have never run it past 92 degrees. I tend to collect all the way down to 40 proof. It's easy to throw out the tails later.

What size run are you doing and how long is it taking you? Are you finding a similar output to what I explained or more or less? When I run it less than 90 degrees I find that it is a somewhat sporatic output, going from stream to drip and back. Takes half hour per 500ml rather than 15 minutes per 500ml and I am not noticing a difference in flavor. In fact I found that I got out of a 25gal run, 3L of hearts and out of a 20 gal run, 2.5L of hearts. Since finding that out I figured that I might as well run at a faster rate since I wasn't losing that quality.

I still use rye paste to seal the pot, but have used teflon, plumbers tape a time or two instead. It sort of defeats a bit of the antique aura of the pot still, but clean up sure is a lot faster.

Can you show in a drawing or explain more in depth what you mean by that? Seems that it would take a lot of paste to seal up the the lid. Rather, where do you seal it? On the lid part or on the pot part of the trough?

[BW Redneck]

If your distillate tastes metallic, its usually a problem of cleaning the insides too much. Only use hot water for the condenser. The other is that the still just hasn't been broken in enough to form a good patina on the inside. The patina is insoluble, but the clean copper can dissolve just slightly. After a few runs and some drying time between them, the patina forms and the coppery taste disappears.

You say you have a problem with the distillate tending to "wick up" the end of the tube. Take a round file and make two concave surfaces that meet together to form a point, then bend the point downward. This creates a drip tip that won't let it do that. If you're having trouble picturing this, think about the tip on an oval shaped leaf, especially one from a tropical plant. They are designed to shed water without it running up the bottom side. If this were to happen, mold would be able to grow.

[vajravarahi]

I also have a water sealing alembic. It hasn't got the use it should, but I'm sure it will.

The biggest problem with mine is the depth to which the lid is covered by water is just a couple millimeters. And that's with the trough filled to the brim. I'm thinking of having someone skilled (that ain't me!!) add some copper to the inside of the lid so it effectively sits deeper in the water trough. Maybe this would help also the sealing between the lid and the pot.

My spout has the same problem as Goat's. My little (5 liter) standard alembic doesn't have that problem as the spout wasn't straight cut like it is on the big one. And when I had the parrot installed, it'd drip along the outside of the parrot onto the floor. I'm thinking of having some kind of threaded union setup between so I can quickly screw the parrot onto the spout (I'm sorry if that sounds dirty to you )

Anyway, the standard alembics seem to work well, and I like the design of this one with the lentil and lyne arm. I just wish they'd made it like the regular ones and seal it with a biscuit.

[Ftero]

Sorry for the belated response Mounted Goat. I've been absent for awhile...

My alembic is not the water seal model, but rather the press-fit type. So, I have a much smaller surface area to seal than you do.
The teflon that I have used is in tape form. So, I just wrap around the junction a bunch of times and that's it. I ran out of tape a bit ago, and have been too lazy to re-stock the teflon, and am back to using the rye paste again. I'm so lazy in fact, that when I finish my stripping run, I will empty, and re-fill the still through the top of the onion cap, instead of breaking the seal, and having to re-apply the tape or rye paste. Of course, my still has one of those threaded fittings to attach the goose-neck to the onion cap.

I've got a 30 liter still, which holds my 23 to 26 liter washes pretty well. I collect about 125ml every 5 minutes or so. I use a normal electrical stove to heat, which causes the output to vary a bit, but I don't worry much about that. It takes about an hour to heat to 65 C on a stripping run. I find that I get about 3 liters total from the spirits run, out of a wash that size. Hearts amount varies on how well I cared for the wash while it fermented I guess... So, I don't know how that correlates to the output you are getting from your still.

I've been fighting fermenter temperature control lately, and that has been messing with my output. I just ran a batch of rum, that had fermented at too high a temperature. What a waste. I had maybe a cup or so of hearts, and a ton of tails.....

I gave out all my booze to the young guys at work yesterday, so I have an excuse to start some more.... Young pups will drink just about anything I guess eh?

[MountedGoat]

So I have just finished up a couple more runs and this time it was a grappa style spirit that I will call Grape Rum (due to the pomace and sugar). I used a false bottom, removed the reflux lentil and finished a run in three hours with 3 gallons of 70 proof stuff. It was great out of the condenser. The first run tasted great and the second even better, just as the pot. The last time that I tried without the reflux lentil the outcome was less than delicious.

This is a work that requires some skills for sure and after a year and a half I am still wildly amateur. Sure I know more than I did even a month ago, but it is a work in progress for sure. Back to the Alembic though...

Without the lentil I was able to cut my time in half including cleanup. The second run with the lentil produced 2 gallons of 160 proof clean tasting spirit. Very neutral, though not completely. Still, it burns your nose when you smell it, though the flavor is so very smooth. I will age a little brandy for a bit to see what it comes out. Thinking that some whiskey and rum will be next through it in order to find out the differences in flavors.

[Ftero]

Dude! how big is that pot!
Yeah, after a year doing this, I'm in the same boat as you; I've learned so much, but still don't know hardly anything.
That babe in the woods status doesn't deter me in the slightest though.