My first run on my first still

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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SV-Distiller
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My first run on my first still

Post by SV-Distiller »

Did my first run on my still today. Did a vinegar and water run yesterday for 4 hours.

Still setup is an Anvil Foundry 6.5 gallon boiler with an Aliexpress 2" stainless reflux still. This is setup with a 200 mm dephlegmator and 400 mm shotgun condenser. I have a sight glass below the dephlegmator and a 500 mm tall extension that is packed with alternating 100% stainless steel scrubbers and 100% pure copper mesh.
processed - Copy.jpeg
(I did fix the angle of the column after this photo. I do need to add some better support then straps.)

For the cleaning run I did a 19 liter/5 gallon batch of birdwatchers 10.1% ABV wash.

Turned on the boiling with 120 volt/1600 watt element at 100%. (Need to wire up a 240V outlet.) After about 30 minutes, I turned on the water pump for my 65 liter recycling water cooling tank with two frozen 3.7L/1 gallon water jugs. I had the water valve open 100% to the dephleg but closed for the product condenser. The top column temp got to 60C/140F in about another 30-45 minutes. I then opened the valve for the product condenser to 100%. After about another 30 minutes I started to get fore shots.

Fore Shot - 100 ml - light blue/green in color and clearly smelled of methanol. (This is the reason for this being the cleaning run even after the vinegar run and cleaning all the parts before hand.)
Jar #1 - 400 ml - a little cloudy but clearing up - 92% ABV
Jar #2 - 350 ml - very clear - 95% ABV
Jar #3 - 600 ml - clear at first but then turned cloudy 92% ABV
Jar #4 - 225 ml - a little cloudy and started to smell like tomato paste at the end. Boiler temp got to 100C/212F during this jar. 80% ABV.
Shut down the still
20210801_140950 - Copy.jpg
(Color looks different in the photo due to light and glass refraction angles)

After Jar #1, I turned the power down to 90% and then turned the water valve for the dephleg down to 80%, water flow to PC was 100% and used these settings for most of the way until the end.

About every 30 minutes I would turn the dephleg water valve up to 100% until I started to see the column temp drop 1-2 C. I would then close the dephleg water valve back down to 80%. During this time, I could see the reflux really taking place in the sight glass and the product flow would stop.

The spirt was coming off the product condenser at 24-25C/76-78F for most of the run. It was coming off as constant drops/broken stream.
Water tank temp was 27C/80F for most of the run but did rise to 32C/90F during jar #4. I did change the ice jugs once during the run.

Total run time about 4.5 hours

I did take a 25 ml sample from the start of jar #3 and proofed it down to 40% ABV. The wife/official tester approved.

Lessons learned
--------------------
Need to take better notes during the run with times, temps, and settings.

Need to get smaller cuts jars. My graduated cylinder needs about 250 ml to float the hydrometer at 95% ABV. So this may be a good cut jar size. I did not worry about it so much for this run because I knew this was going to be turned into fire starter/cleaner.

May need some adjustments to the cooling system like adding another pond pump just for the dephleg. My pond pump is 1000 lph/264 gph pump which I think would be enough. The water temp was coming off the dephleg at around 43-49C/110-120F. There was air/steam pockets in the return line for the dephleg. The water feed lines where running good with no air bubbles. The product condenser return line was running good and its return temp was 27-30C/80-85F but did warm up more towards the end of the run. When I was testing the water system before the runs I would get no air in the return lines after about 5 minutes of running to get all the air from the cooling system.

I have a 13 mm/1/2 inch T fitting off the pump that then goes down to two individual 5 mm ID/8 mm OD lines to each condenser off the sides of the T fitting. The two water feed lines have needle valves before the condenser. Both condenser have individual return lines to the tank. I did not find any leaks in the condenser when I bench tested them before the runs. I may need to retest them after these runs.

Not sure if this is a major issue since I am getting good reflux with 95% ABV and the product off take temp is good.

I have another 19 liter/5 gallon batch of birdwatchers ready to run tomorrow but this one is 11% ABV. With some of the lessons learned changes, I plan to run it about the same as this first run but may slow it down a little by turning down the boiler power input and turning water supply up for the dephleg. Better notes and smaller cuts.
SV-Distiller
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by SV-Distiller »

Before my second run, I did a test flow of the cooling system and found some air leaks on the deph water lines. They were letting in air via the push lock connectors. I changed the lines around and during the second run I did not have any problems with air in the deph return lines.

Correction to the first post my cooling water tank is 45L/11.8G.

I am thinking I will need to make the cooling tank larger but I am also looking to add a simple/radiator fan setup on the water line coming off the deph since the water temps coming off are twice as high as the room temp. I am thinking a simple soft cooper line loop on a box fan will help drop the temp before returning to the water tank.

I ran the second batch a little slower and it took 6.5 hours to complete and I got about the same amount of product. I am running this as a single stage full spirit/reflux run just to get a feel for the system.

I have two batches of teddy's fermenting right now and plan to do stripping runs and then a single spirit run.
CopperFiend
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by CopperFiend »

All sounds good apart from the tasting of the cleaning run. That's an absolute crazy thing to do.... I know it was a later jar down the run and so less likely to be full of nasties but I'd be very careful. Otherwise, welcome to the obsession! Enjoy.
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Stonecutter
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by Stonecutter »

Forget the temp readings. Concentrate on your takeoff speeds and cuts. Get familiar with the smells and tastes of your runs instead of temps and times. Why did you tinker with the dephleg mid-run? It sounds like you had a decent beginning run off your equipment. Now you have knocked upon the rabbits door. Welcome friend!

:Edit: I use the temperature gauge at the top of my still as a general benchmark, it’s not a steering wheel but a kind of navigational beacon for me. The only real temperature I look at is my reflux water temp. I’ll maintain that temperature within 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Take it slow and try not to be too greedy 8)
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
-Thomas Paine
howie
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by howie »

tinkering with the RC water is a bad habit, take some time and find the balance of water v power to get a good output, then only small power adjustments are needed after that.
a constant water temp is preferred, some of your runs could take 4-5 hours with a 6.5gall boiler.
will your water setup cope?
adding another 500mm packed column (with insulation) would be good down the line.(then you will need some decent overhead support)
that boiler has a "Linear Digital Power Control", does that mean that you can adjust the voltage to the elements?
but well done, you're on the way.
SV-Distiller
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by SV-Distiller »

Stonecutter wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:24 pm Forget the temp readings. Concentrate on your takeoff speeds and cuts. Get familiar with the smells and tastes of your runs instead of temps and times. Why did you tinker with the dephleg mid-run? It sounds like you had a decent beginning run off your equipment. Now you have knocked upon the rabbits door. Welcome friend!

:Edit: I use the temperature gauge at the top of my still as a general benchmark, it’s not a steering wheel but a kind of navigational beacon for me. The only real temperature I look at is my reflux water temp. I’ll maintain that temperature within 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Take it slow and try not to be too greedy 8)
I mainly was doing some testing to make sure the dephleg was big enough and water flow and feed water temp was enough to cause things to go back into full reflux. Since it was my first run I wanted to see how things changed when making other adjustments.

During my second run I logged the boiler settings, valve settings, boiler temp, top column temp, water tank temp, product temp, product condenser water temp, deph water temp, and room temp about every 15 minutes. I put the output water hose into a cup to collect some with an digital thermometer in the cup. I want to add a temp probes inline on the water feeds and returns to get better readings. I am a tech nerd so I enjoy that part also.

I was able to keep the return temps with in 4 degrees during the entire second run until the last jar which I knew was getting to the end based on the starting ABV of the wash, wash volume, my cut jars volumes and their measured ABV.

I know I need to work on my cuts but saving those for another day. But two runs completed so working out the process too.
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Stonecutter
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by Stonecutter »

I assumed the dephleg fiddling was for experimentation but I wanted to ask anyway. IMO there is nothing wrong with trying understanding what your still is doing temperature wise. All I can say is that from my personal experience, concentrating on temperatures instead of takeoff rates will lead to complications resulting in a undesirable product. Like you, I’m new to this as well and am very much “working out the process”.
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
-Thomas Paine
SV-Distiller
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by SV-Distiller »

howie wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:22 pm tinkering with the RC water is a bad habit, take some time and find the balance of water v power to get a good output, then only small power adjustments are needed after that.
a constant water temp is preferred, some of your runs could take 4-5 hours with a 6.5gall boiler.
will your water setup cope?
adding another 500mm packed column (with insulation) would be good down the line.(then you will need some decent overhead support)
that boiler has a "Linear Digital Power Control", does that mean that you can adjust the voltage to the elements?
but well done, you're on the way.
I was testing the system and finding that good balancing point. During my second run, I ran the reflux at 100% until the column temp started to come up to 60C/140F and I turned power down and 45 minutes later I turned the deph water down to 80%. That is when I started to get fast continuous drops off the PC. I am getting 93-94% ABV temp corrected off this setup right now.

My end setup will be water limited so I am working to find that balance with limited water right now.

Yes, with the Anvil Foundry, you set the boiler temp and then you can adjust the power level from 0-100%. I set the boiler temp to 100C/212F/boil and then adjust the power level. This system is a dual voltage system with 120V/1600 Watt and 240V/2800W. I am currently running it on 120V but plan on wiring up 240V. But that will just bring things up to temp faster. The spirit run wattage will still be about the same. I will need to find the balance for stripping runs.
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Stonecutter
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by Stonecutter »

SV-Distiller wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:26 pm
howie wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:22 pm tinkering with the RC water is a bad habit, take some time and find the balance of water v power to get a good output, then only small power adjustments are needed after that.
a constant water temp is preferred, some of your runs could take 4-5 hours with a 6.5gall boiler.
will your water setup cope?
adding another 500mm packed column (with insulation) would be good down the line.(then you will need some decent overhead support)
that boiler has a "Linear Digital Power Control", does that mean that you can adjust the voltage to the elements?
but well done, you're on the way.
I was testing the system and finding that good balancing point. During my second run, I ran the reflux at 100% until the column temp started to come up to 60C/140F and I turned power down and 45 minutes later I turned the deph water down to 80%. That is when I started to get fast continuous drops off the PC. I am getting 93-94% ABV temp corrected off this setup right now.

My end setup will be water limited so I am working to find that balance with limited water right now.

Yes, with the Anvil Foundry, you set the boiler temp and then you can adjust the power level from 0-100%. I set the boiler temp to 100C/212F/boil and then adjust the power level. This system is a dual voltage system with 120V/1600 Watt and 240V/2800W. I am currently running it on 120V but plan on wiring up 240V. But that will just bring things up to temp faster.The spirit run wattage will still be about the same. I will need to find the balance for stripping runs.
Be careful trying to rush to get up to temp. Without the use of an anti-foaming agent and proper degassing, puking and scorching can occur. I heat up at about 60% of my heating element capabilities it takes a little longer but losing a great AG because of impatience is even more frustrating. Ask me how I know.
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
-Thomas Paine
howie
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Re: My first run on my first still

Post by howie »

SV-Distiller wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:26 pm
howie wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:22 pm t
:thumbup: all good.
it's better to have tinkered than not tinker at all (lord tennyson i think :lol: )
i got the same still from the same site, without the sight glass, just over a year ago.
the only thing i've added is another column.
stripping runs for me, as much power as the PC can handle, no balancing required.
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