my first run with 220v

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jholmz
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my first run with 220v

Post by jholmz »

ok posted before that i finally got switched to 220v. ran my first run with it last night the 26th. ran an 8% smoked corn wash. big learning curve from 110 to 220 tested it with water 10 gallons from cold tap to rolling boil in 8 minutes. so i loaded my 10 gallon wash into the boiler put still head and liebig on tightened it all up and then cranked the controller 22.5 amps on ampmeter. kept checking for heat at top like i usually do, when starts to get warm i turn on water to liebig. i felt the still not much heat felt the top of the keg it was pretty hot turned around and felt still head again burned hand turned on water to liebig at usual flow rate ( not enough) some steam escaped and liquor poured out as a gusher. cranked water up and controller back to 12 amps got her settled down still running a half pint jar at 2 minutes. turned down to 10 amps slowed collection to 4 minutes for full half pint. considered this as stripping and learning run. from turn on to end of run went a little deeper than usual playing with controller took it down to 15%, run lasted 2.5 hrs start to finish started fores at 110 proof first collection jar 100 proof 24 full half pints going down to 35 proof tested and tasted some today and got 2 pints that im gonna keep out of second run pretty smooth and good flavor little bit of bitterness. smoked 8 lbs of cracked corn for 6 hrs on hickory the smoke from the corn came through on the whole run.
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S-Cackalacky
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Re: my first run with 220v

Post by S-Cackalacky »

Sounds like a good step forward as long as you can get the heat under control. I'm sure it will work well for you with a little practice.

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MitchyBourbon
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Re: my first run with 220v

Post by MitchyBourbon »

Good for you. If you were using 120 before how many watts were you using before? What do you have now? Or are you using the same element?
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lampshade
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Re: my first run with 220v

Post by lampshade »

It's good to experiment with the new, 220 VAC power configuration.

You cannot assume that when your ammeter reads 10 amps in the 220 VAC configuration, that you are injecting the same power that you did when your ammeter read 20 amps in the previous 120 VAC configuration.

This is true because our setups do not use sinusoidal signals. Instead, our setups use bursty signals, which are not sinusoidal. The only way to compare 120 VAC and 220 VAC operation is by using a "true" power meter, but those are more expensive than the cheap ammeters that most people use. The problem with cheap ammeters is that they mislead many people into thinking that they are accurate -- they are very inaccurate for use with the bursty signals that we use.

That's not to say cheap ammeters don't have their place. If you know "your" rig, then you know, from a lot of first-hand experience with your rig, what you can expect when the ammeter says, for example, 20 amps or 10 amps. Just don't expect anybody else to know what to expect what "your" rig will do.

Here's a good analogy. We trust that our speedometer accurately reports our car's speed. So when it says 60 mph, we can reasonably assume that we are still under the speed limit for many highways. But, what if we replaced our speedometer with one that only has letters along the edge. Then, when it says "E" mph, we really don't know if we are under the speed limit, we only know that E indicates that we are going faster than D and slower than F. We can't even know whether E is half-way between D and F. We only know that our speed today, at E, is the likely the same as yesterday, when the speedometer said E.
Last edited by lampshade on Thu Nov 28, 2013 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jholmz
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Re: my first run with 220v

Post by jholmz »

i didnt have the ammeter hooked up with the 110 that was another upgrade when i went to 220, it is the same element im thinking around 8 amps is where i need to run it for a nice spirit run gonna wait for my next batch to finish fermenting and do a 1 1/2 run. trying to get the learning curve on this one shouldnt take long , but ill keep playing till i get it where i want it . I do love the 220 with just the one run ive done with it though
WalkingWolf
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Re: my first run with 220v

Post by WalkingWolf »

jholmz wrote: . . . . trying to get the learning curve on this one shouldnt take long , but ill keep playing till i get it where i want it . I do love the 220 with just the one run ive done with it though
Second only to upgrading to a keg, going 220 was the ticket. Lampshade makes a valid point on the meter and at the same time it's not that critical to what you are doing either. All we need is the guage to be consistent thereby allowing us to learn how to dial in the equipment (on mine it'll dial in @ ~10-11 amps for cruising speed). Sounds like your enjoying your setup and honing your craft. Keep it up and best to ya.
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Re: my first run with 220v

Post by Theo »

Jholmz, Start the water as soon as you turn on the heat. Just a little cooling will keep you from being surprised when the condensate starts flowing. Once things get cooking you can dial in the heat & cooling.
You have lots of power available. Practice to see how many amps give the required flow rate. It is so simple with electricity to make a small adjustment on the knob & get an instant response.

Be safe! :thumbup:
Still happy, Still learning, Still reading
Theo

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