Hi all,
After a couple of runs through the bokakob inline I have a few questions.
When I'm starting the run, do I leave the take off valve fully open? This is because the nasty alcohols boil off first, as such, it would be foolish to send them back down the column....right?
And now onto the next step, after I take say 50-100mils (on a 25 L sugar wash), do I then close the valve entirely so I can allow the still to achieve equilibrium?
BTW...It is a 2200 watt element in a 50 L keg, if that matters
Removing the meth from a Bokakob inline?
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Keeping the valve closed allow your still to reach equilibrium for at least 1/2 hour. After this time all the methanol should be sitting around the top of the column so your not really sending it back down the column, its not going to make it back down to the boiler before it gets reboiled and returned to the head. Even if it did taking the foreshots off at 1 drop per second ensures any methanol is at the head as u take off your 50-100mls.
Heres what i do and it works for me
Let the column reach equilibrium with the outake valve closed for about 1/2 hour. I then open the outake valve so im collecting about 1 drop a second. Once ive collected about 100mls just to be safe, i close the valve and leave it for another 1/2 hour or so to make sure its in equilibrium. Then its ready to go.... Its prob unneccesary but the first 10-20 mls that i collect now i treat as foreshots even though chances are they contain no methanol, might as well be safe and not stingy seeing as though its so cheap.
Heres what i do and it works for me
Let the column reach equilibrium with the outake valve closed for about 1/2 hour. I then open the outake valve so im collecting about 1 drop a second. Once ive collected about 100mls just to be safe, i close the valve and leave it for another 1/2 hour or so to make sure its in equilibrium. Then its ready to go.... Its prob unneccesary but the first 10-20 mls that i collect now i treat as foreshots even though chances are they contain no methanol, might as well be safe and not stingy seeing as though its so cheap.
I've wondered about this too. I can't see how the collector plate is going to selectively collect methanol, considering that during the time the column is equilizing substantial amounts of ethanol are going to be evaporated and condensed.
I've been leaving the valve open as I start up, and taking the first 50 ml or so that comes out, whatever it is, as the boiler heats up, on the theory that these first components to evaporate.
I've been leaving the valve open as I start up, and taking the first 50 ml or so that comes out, whatever it is, as the boiler heats up, on the theory that these first components to evaporate.
if the plate couldn't selectively choose the product of the lower boiling point, then your still wouldn't work.
So i would leave it shut and equalise, then pull the methanol off slowly, the reflux will do all the seperation, and keep the product with the lowest boiling point at the top
So i would leave it shut and equalise, then pull the methanol off slowly, the reflux will do all the seperation, and keep the product with the lowest boiling point at the top
Whiskey, the most popular of the cold cures that don't work (Leonard Rossiter)
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theholymackerel
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CoopsOz and Fadhoul, ya'll aren't understandin' the basics of distillation. I suggest ya go to the mothersite (http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) and familiarise yerselves with basic theory. Especially look at the section on theory.
theholymackerel wrote:CoopsOz and Fadhoul, ya'll aren't understandin' the basics of distillation. I suggest ya go to the mothersite (http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) and familiarise yerselves with basic theory. Especially look at the section on theory.
21 posts before I got a "read the mother site"
That's not too bad!Anyway, thanks for the info....it seems leaving the valve closed right from the get go is the way it should be done
Actually the "nasty alcohols" come off AFTER the ethanol
Except for methanol, the issue is that most materials you'd be likely to distill will not produce any significant ammount of methanol.
Fact is that except to a vanishingly small number of people
Methanol and Ethanol (and to many of those they are actually smelling common contaminants of one or the other) are indistinguishable by smell, so someone complaining that their distillate "Smells Methoey"(SIC) doesn't make much sense....
As a sneaky technical note there is a cheap and dirty field test to determine the presence of methanol.
Dilute the suspect alcohol with water and ignite it.
Methanol burning in the presence of water will produce Formic Acid (Crushed ants) and Formaldehyde (Embalming fluid) and the human
nose is ultra sensitive to either chemical.
The primary smell that people are likely to find objectionable
and describe as a "heads smell" is not methanol, but is instead
Ethyl Acetate, Which is for most people is indistinguishable in
smell from Acetone.
And while there may be a trace of acetone in distillate from fermentation
What tiny trace of acetone there will be will be long gone by the time there is any major "rush" of distillate because it boils at 56degC, where ethyl acetate will typically overlap with ethanol (in an unregulated distillation run) because it boils at 77.1C (which is probably why it is on the list of approved denaturants formulas in the US)
If you only start collecting after a short interval after the "acetate"
smell is completely gone you'll be pretty safe, unless you are distilling uncleared apple cider or grappa "on the pulp"....
AD
Except for methanol, the issue is that most materials you'd be likely to distill will not produce any significant ammount of methanol.
Fact is that except to a vanishingly small number of people
Methanol and Ethanol (and to many of those they are actually smelling common contaminants of one or the other) are indistinguishable by smell, so someone complaining that their distillate "Smells Methoey"(SIC) doesn't make much sense....
As a sneaky technical note there is a cheap and dirty field test to determine the presence of methanol.
Dilute the suspect alcohol with water and ignite it.
Methanol burning in the presence of water will produce Formic Acid (Crushed ants) and Formaldehyde (Embalming fluid) and the human
nose is ultra sensitive to either chemical.
The primary smell that people are likely to find objectionable
and describe as a "heads smell" is not methanol, but is instead
Ethyl Acetate, Which is for most people is indistinguishable in
smell from Acetone.
And while there may be a trace of acetone in distillate from fermentation
What tiny trace of acetone there will be will be long gone by the time there is any major "rush" of distillate because it boils at 56degC, where ethyl acetate will typically overlap with ethanol (in an unregulated distillation run) because it boils at 77.1C (which is probably why it is on the list of approved denaturants formulas in the US)
If you only start collecting after a short interval after the "acetate"
smell is completely gone you'll be pretty safe, unless you are distilling uncleared apple cider or grappa "on the pulp"....
AD