Just bought me Still

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:39 pm

Hey guys... i guessed this was the intro spot

i just picked me still up on wed.. got 3 x 20L washes underway.. using 5kg dextrose and turbo yeast.. apparently had nutrient in it too

They have turned out good.. i brew beer so used some similar techniques.. the wash is almost clear

I am about to put it into the still today, i am gonna..

fill.. seal.. turn on.. wrap in blanket.. till 65 deg at vapour.. then remove blanket and turn on water at 10L/min realising the quicker the longer the process takes.. dispose of all before 75 deg.. keep between 75 and 85 deg.. then 85 to 92 as seconds.. dispose of rest..

Using clean water will make to 40% then carbon filter..

Sound about rite... going for it this arvo

TEC · Post by **TEC** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:52 pm

10 liters per minute for cooling water?

WoW, if I go over about 1 liter every 2.5 minutes it over cools the column I lose equilibrium. I use 1375 watts of heat for input and let the output from the condenser run around 80f to keep from overcooling the column.

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:10 pm

What kind of a still do you have?

Don Ventura · Post by **Don Ventura** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:28 pm

Thats an interesting breakdown of the process.. will be interested in what ppl here think.

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DAMN IM CURIOUS NOW!!!

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:44 pm

You have cooling water running through the column to create reflux? You'll probably have to play around some to figure out how fast to run that cooling water. 10 L/min is really fast.

Let that turbo wash clear up before you run, it'll stink bad if you don't. Even carbon won't help if you run it cloudy.

Whats the blanket about? remember this is about equilibrium and stability. The more stable your still, the better your distillate. (roughly)
If you can insulate it so its safe, I'd leave it on for the whole run...

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:36 am

kewl... so heaps slower for the cooling water.. cheers

the blanket is because it is getting cooler here now... added insulation.. leave it you think.. i was thinking that removing will hold the heating to a slower rate, making it controlable

The wash is definately clear

i got a super reflux still 25L, elect element, got ceramic saddles inside the column.. its a bought one, so will test it

How long it normally take? hours wise..

Post by **Grayson_Stewart** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:00 am

I've never purposely cleared a turbo, and have run them cloudy many times. I've never experienced any off smells or tastes. Of you folks that have experienced that, are you running a reflux rig?

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:02 am

I've only done it once, with a reflux rig. From the Liquor quik yeast instruction:
[/quote] Due to the special yeast strain used, the alco-base will not clear naturally. SuperKleer KC Finings will remove most of the haze. Filter the Alco-base using a wine filter such as the EUROFILTER a gravity filter or a minifilter jet

They are pretty adamant about having it clear, when I didn't follow those instructions and ran a batch cloudy it came out awful. Just happened once...
The yeast is called super yeast express.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:02 am

oops, not sure how that happened....

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:58 am

Good result, Stangas.

I also have about 10 l / minute coolin' water flow... in my condenser. I don't pay anything for water, just a little bit of electricity, because I've a closed circuit with a pump and a 10 000 l water tank! But in the inside column pipes, I reduce that flow with a valve to get equilibrium.

I generally distill my Turbo washes without to wait, with no problem. No bad taste... But I ferment durin' 5 of 7 days instead of 2...

stoker · Post by **stoker** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:20 am

Bujapat wrote:I don't pay anything for water, just a little bit of electricity, because I've a closed circuit with a pump and a 10 000 l water tank!

hey, I do the same with a 15 000 tank

who can beat that?

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:18 am

Grayson_Stewart wrote:I've never purposely cleared a turbo, and have run them cloudy many times. I've never experienced any off smells or tastes. Of you folks that have experienced that, are you running a reflux rig?

Me too. There is the usual sugar congener smell, but that's cleared up pretty easily with carbon. I tried fining once but it didn't work very well. Came out the same anyway.

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:21 am

Stangas wrote:
How long it normally take? hours wise..

Stripping run will probably take up to 8 hours depending on how fast you run it. If you're going for a high purity run, figure at least 12 hours minimum.

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 2:33 pm

Stangas, you ask to many questions with not enough detail to give one correct answer. The amount of cooling water needed depends on what kind of condenser you are using and what kind of still you are using. Depending on the still design it will effect how much water you use. I heard mention here about over cooling the column, well on my still I could run as much water as I wanted and never have issue with this. As for how long it takes for a run it is not possible to tell until you tell us what the ABV of the wash is before you run it. You said you are using electric elements but how much power are you putting into the wash. What purity are you after. All these questions need to be answered before any of yours can be.
As for clearing the turbo wash, I'm with Swag and Grayson on that.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 3:34 pm

I trust what knuck, grayson and everyone else says about turbos... now I'm thinking there may have been something else wrong with that batch.

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 3:45 pm

cheers guys..

i am starting this morning.. i had heard that it can sometimes take many hours to complete..

will post resuslts this arvo

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:49 pm

workin beautifully..

got almost 3L out of her at the moment..

cooling is variable... i get what you were laughin at

havent tested it yet

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:46 pm

What rate are you collecting at Stangas? Between the above two posts is about 4 hours. If you started collecting when you made the first post and by the second post you have 3 liters you are collecting at 12.5 ml/minute which if you have a 2" (or close) column is a good collection rate for optimum purity. If you just started warming up when you made the first post then your collection rate may be too fast. What kind of still are you running. If post more information about your setup and what you are running we can offer better advise. Do you have testing equipment? If so what is the ABV?

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:47 pm

couldnt figure the pic.. so the avatar tells all

I have nearly 3L now and stopped
The drip rate got quite slow, so i stopped... normal practice?

The stuff i got is at 76%... so pretty happy with that

Do i need to carbon filter? it looks very clear, and tastes like nothing

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:48 pm

kewl.. will filter today.. i finish me second wash soon

One question... what is the ideal temp to control the head space temp at??

I have been doing 78 deg cel.. does that sound about rite?

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:57 pm

yeah.. its a super reflux.. using 5kg dex into 20L washes i got about 3.5L of 80%

I could have kept it going, but the drip rate got pretty slow, and the cooling water was getting excessive.

I ran it at 78deg. maintaining flow of cooling water.. the max i got to was like 80deg for about 5min.. i took the alcohol when i got to 78 and waited for about 50mL.

I flavoured most of it.. put 4L with oak.. cowboys stuff (Irish cream, and butterscotch) using extra pack for each (sugar i think.. and paid $4).. Some Bundy, 2L Instant Jacks with some bottled oak flavour 10mL, and still had 4L left for oaking more

I did 3 x 20L washes.

Good fun, but ya cant leave it for too longer periods.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:20 am

For information, here is a time table of a sugar wash run made a few months ago :

Time T° Remarks Total Collected
00 : 00 18°9
00 : 26 25°
00 : 48 31°4
00 : 58 34°1
01 : 13 50° Cooling opening
01 : 20 61°
01 : 30 70° a few drops are comin' out
01 : 35 74° 64 ml Collected(méthanol ?) 64 ml
01 : 36 68° Nothing's goin' out
01 : 37 75°
01 : 41 76°
01 : 52 77°8 It comes out 114 ml
01 : 55 77°8
01 : 57 77°8 Purity : 92 %ABV 164 ml
02 : 03 77°8 Purity : 92 %ABV 344 ml
02 : 06 77°9 Purity : 92 % ABV 414 ml
02 : 14 77°9 Purity : 92 % ABV 664 ml
02 : 21 78° Calculated flow : 1850 ml / h !
02 : 24 78° Purity 90 %ABV 914 ml
02 : 33 78° Purity 92 % ABV 1164 ml
02 : 42 78° Purity 92 %ABV 1414 ml
02 : 44 78° Purity 92 % ABV 1500 ml
03 : 05 78° Purity 90 % ABV 2000 ml
03 : 44 78°5 Purity 90 % ABV 3000 ml
04 : 40 81°3 Purity 85 % ABV 4000 ml
05 : 01 81°5 Purity 83 % ABV 4500 ml

I distilled 25 l sugar wash, fermented with Turbo yeast.
My still is a reflux with coolin' tubes in the upper half of the column, 2" column, 104 cm high, packed with 12 SS scrubbers (50cm high).
I noted more infos, but it's in a word file... Difficult to rewrite all here, but I think it gives an idea...

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:24 am

Sorry, I clicked "submit" instead of "preview"

So it's possible to read... Imagine 4 columns :
1 : time in hours:minutes
2 : temperature °C
3 : remarks and purity measure
4 : total collected (cumulated)

Hope it would be readable.

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:16 pm

Well i have knocked off me first bottle of bundy.. and i am still alive.

My conclusion is think i would like to make rum and sour mash properly. So i getting the mollases and corn thing happening.. the sugar wash is great for shooting stuff

I have done the UG Simple Sour Mash.. that i put in today

Waiting on a bloke thats gonna give me some mollases.. he's got a 1000L tank of it.. gonna send some my way for nothin.. well botts here n there anywho

This is easier than beer.. but i really like me beers too.. LOL
now i have 180L of beer in storage.. and about 18L of hootch

hehehe

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:20 am

Well i have knocked off me first bottle of bundy.. and i am still alive.

My conclusion is think i would like to make rum and sour mash properly. So i getting the mollases and corn thing happening.. the sugar wash is great for shooting stuff

I have done the UG Simple Sour Mash.. that i put in today

Waiting on a bloke thats gonna give me some mollases.. he's got a 1000L tank of it.. gonna send some my way for nothin.. well botts here n there anywho

This is easier than beer.. but i really like me beers too.. LOL
now i have 180L of beer in storage.. and about 18L of hootch

hehehe

Good score on the molassas. I've been trying to find a cheap source locally, but no luck so far.
You're going to like the sour mash. It really starts to get good after 5 or 6 ferments. I usually strip 4 or 5 mashes and then do a spirit run. Much easier to figure out the cuts and you get a more consistant product.
The only hard part is waiting.

possum · Post by **possum** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:37 am

Swag, maybee a natural foods co-op would have blackstrap molassis in gallon jugs. I figure there aren't too many animal feed mills in San Francisco.

Swag · Post by **Swag** » Mon May 01, 2006 1:37 pm

Swag, maybee a natural foods co-op would have blackstrap molassis in gallon jugs. I figure there aren't too many animal feed mills in San Francisco.

I can find molassas, the problem is finding some cheap molassas. There are a few feed stores that I haven't checked with yet so I need to do some leg work.
I've just started fermenting some rum with a gallon of molassas I bought for around $15. It works great but I don't want to spend anywhere close to that much for a gallon. Maybe for 50 lbs.
It has made a very happy ferment. Gonna run it this weekend.

partsbill · Post by **partsbill** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:38 pm

possum wrote:Swag, maybee a natural foods co-op would have blackstrap molassis in gallon jugs. I figure there aren't too many animal feed mills in San Francisco.

Hey possum; where ya find it near R'lyeh?