Come on ozzy help a poor chick out

[lil missus]

G'day having a relaxing time running my still on this cold afternoon. I'm running a tomato wash I got from this sight but it's running a little irregular from previous times. Can u help? I usually have my alco temp at 77.1 but to day is dripping slower then the size of a bees dick lol, any way the temp here is about 9c and wondered if this could be my problem? Come on help a chick out lol.

[rad14701]

Try wrapping something around your column and boiler as insulation to conserve heat... Of course, don't wrap the boiler if heating with flame... Perhaps a wind break if it's breezy...

Good luck...

[Samohon]

I have run mine in the yard when it was 12°C with a slight breeze. As Rad has pointed out, insulating the column is the only way to ensure stabilisation within the still. I used a metal shield around the burner to stop the wind getting to it and insulated the column with a fiberglass jacket Mrs Sam made for me from heavy canvas, some old roofing insulation and some velcro. Works very well indeed. Pipe insulation also works, can be easily cut to length, is quite cheap and can be fastened with gaffa tape. Ensure you get the high temperature pipe insulation the use for hot water pipes.

If you have access to run the still in a garage, then ensure that you have adequate ventilation and that the burner is sitting on non-combustible material... The fumes from propane/butane gas can be build up very quickly indeed and can be very unpleasant. Also make sure that the gas bottle is a good distance from the burner, mine is about 2.5 meters... An old fan also helps when running gas in an enclosed space...

Hope it helps you lil missus...

Let us know how you get on..

Have fun and do it safely...

[dougjones31]

or get a bigger burner......

[braemar]

Hi Lil Missus,
I didn't think qld. got down to 9 deg.
Anyway you said you usually have the temp at 77.1 where are you taking that temp reading.
Regards
Braemar

[LlamaFarma]

Hey Lilmissus,

I'm in the Northern Tablelands of NSW and I've noticed a difference between Summer and Winter - mainly because the cooling water is much colder ..... and colder water going into the condenser WILL make it run slower.

I did a run the other day - inlet water temp was 4 degrees C ..... outlet water temp about 40 degrees C.

All You have to do is slow down the cooling water flow a bit and condenser output flow will increase ..... although I am talking about a Pot .... Reflux could be different.

LF