EZ In-Line Filter

[Rod]

I have just been reading about the new EZ in-line filter by still spirits

after seeing one at the brew shop , price $59 for the in-line version , $120 including buckets etc

filters $7.50

http://stillspirits.com/webfiles/StillS ... _Notes.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

they are meant to replace the Z filter

Has anyone used one yet and if so is there a significant improvement

Rod

[Dnderhead]

for git it!!! I make good enough shit not to use it ,if I cant Ill quit !!!!!


ant never cooked and not going to do it again

[Rod]

[quote="Dnderhead"]for git it!!! I make good enough shit not to use it ,if I cant Ill quit !!!!!


not all of us are that good

I am making neutral spirit and adding bits , some commercial , some home made

[blanikdog]

I'm with dunder and I don't regard myself as 'good', just a pot still user.

[Rod]

shame neither can help ,

but maybe somebody can help

rather than say how good they are

[tracker0945]

Ease back a bit there Rod, What they are saying is that they have spent a bit of time learning how to make spirits without having to spend $100 plus to clean it up afterwards.
Up until recently I have been making the same stuff as you (neutral with some bought and some home made additives).
I too, initially had to use carbon to make it drinkable.
I gave away the fast fermenting, you beaut store bought, ready to use kits and learned to make a simple sugar wash and then learned to distill it properly.
Have had no need for carbon or filtertng since that time.
I have just now started to get a bit more adventurous.

I do not know anything about these new filters, I am not trying to tell you how good I am, just that perhaps you may be a bit better off if you invested that money into a bit more experimentation, equipment up-grade etc. then you too may have no further need for carbon.

Cheers and good luck on your quest.

[junkyard dawg]

guess he told you guys

don't be stupid Rod. You ask a question and you don't shut yer yap long enough to understand the answer. You got two consistent answers from a couple of well respected members of a public forum and you then complain that they can't help with their informed responses? Thats breathtaking in its stupidity. How can you ask a question like that and think that any response would be unhelpful??? You clearly have such a poor understanding of the subject that you will buy into any sexy thing you are told, but the plain old boring truth is bad advice??? don't believe the hype and never trust advertisers. They are out to seperate you from your money.

Heres the straight dope... Both of those carbon filtering systems are junk. I wouldn't consider either of them acceptable in any way for a well made spirit. Moreover, carbon is truly unnecessary. don't spend time or effort on it, learn how to ferment. They are equally shitty filters...

[junkyard dawg]

As alcohol is a solvent, concentrations higher than this may dissolve some byproducts,
making them difficult to remove. These by-products can then reform once spirit
has been watered down.

get it?

[junkyard dawg]

The Foam Washers are reusable for up to about three batches but need to be replaced
when they no longer recover to their normal width.

thats another gem...

silly me, I thought the goal was 'pure' clean spirits...

[Oaty]

Reading all the commercially inspired sources, I started with the same notion that polishing with carbon was necessary and vital to good spirits. Using carbon gave very reasonable results. However, after reasearching, reading, improving my set-up I no longer have that opinion. Most of the improvements made were in learning how to run the rig. These are the two best threads that I found:Distilling Advice and Distillation 101. I don't feel that carbon polishing is necessary; learning to run a rig is.

If you wish to continue with carbon , I would suggest that you stay away from commercial filters. Most are overly expensive and just don't work well. Build your own if you must. Here's a link that is informative on the subject:Carbon Book
Again, I would follow the advice of the previous extremely knowledgeable posters and simply spend your time and money learning to run your rig.

[Dnderhead]

if you really want to do carbon. don't wast your money, throw some in a wide mouth jug with your product and shake it once in a while. then run threw
coffee filters. does the same thing with the price of a pickle jar. but carbon just wont make "bad" stuff good. it will takeout "flavors" but not heads./fore shots.
sort of like if you made a bad batch of gravy so you run threw a sieve you take out the lumps but its still bad gravy.


ant never cooked and ant going to do it again

[Dnderhead]

not only that it looks like plastic and thats "not good", and at 100$ you can do a lot of sugar head to practice on and you can dilute and run again and again until you are satisfied. it is "art" much like cooking that you will have to learn. taste/smell/ feel /sound,the more you do the better you will become.
you cant just learn by a book, you git the recipes/ideas from a book/forum then then try it ( also try different ways not all work for every one) and practice .

[theholymackerel]

Them bastards are smart. A 7.50$ filter that good for one use. Then ya throw it away and buy another 7.50$ filter fer yer next batch.

Damn, that's screwed up, but smart. Kinda like Gillette. They got the whole planet off of straight razors which are perminent and give the best shave in the world, can be handed down and re-honed, and switched em over to inferior disposable razors that cause irritation and must be ENDLESSLY replaced.

Canny bastards.

[Rod]

Thanks for the responses

Please put my first comments into the FOF basket

I have been shining for about 2 years

I am using a 5 litre still spirits super reflux distillation unit , with copper mesh in the column

why a still spirits unit , they were the only units in the brew shop , this was before any reading , and posting on this forum

I made reasonable spirit , not odourless and and tasteless , as expected

I follow the directions for the still to the letter with some exceptions

I throw out the first 50 ml ( ie do not put into the next run ) , would like to reflux for longer but do not have control of the heater

run the still at 78 to 79°C , the best I can get without any control of the speed other than cooling water

When the temperature reaches 90°C , stop and throw out the wash , miss some yield , after all the spirit is only worth about $3 a litre

I have tried putting 40% spirit on carbon for about 4 weeks and then also filtering through a Z filter, with not much improvement

Tried using Sodium bicarbonate with 40% spirit , and then distilling again , not a great improvement , and too many losses

My wash is white cane sugar using Willards temperature tolerant yeast @ 18°C and after 2 weeks of fermentation clearing the wash for about a week with still spirits A&B clearing agent .

I have since been back to the brew shop and asked if they had any success with these new units .
He had only done one batch which I tasted and thought this is not as good as mine by a long shot
He said that he thought his stuff was pretty good

Maybe my stuff is not too bad , not perfect , but down under there are not a lot of folks to compare my spirit with
mind you after adding essences , etc it does not come through

thought the new filter might be a maidens pray


FOF---- factor of frustration

[alice]

The turbo yeast you're using isn't doing you any favours. Like everything in life, there's a tradeoff - with the turbo you get faster ferments but you also get unwanted flavours - lots of 'em.

One hint for the SS still heads - if you cut through the column between the boiler fitting and the condenser and solder in a metre or so of 2-inch copper pipe, then fill that with copper scrubbers, you can easily pull 88-90% from your runs.

Oh, and paint stripper wil remove most of that ugly grey shit from the unit, making the whole deal lots prettier too...

[Rod]

did not know the yeast was a turbo , just thought it tolerated a wider temperature range , helpful here in summer

will try a different yeast next time ,any recommendations

I have copper scrubbers , actually mesh , instead of the supplied saddles in my unit now and get 88% spirit

I suppose an extra metre of column would give me cleaner spirit , but a bit beyond my skills

What is under the grey shit

[junkyard dawg]

I think the main problem you have is that you have no control over the heat input to the boiler. Those stills are designed to work with very specific washes and not for redistillation. The heat going into the boiler might be optimized for a turbo wash. I doubt its optimized for making cuts at all... If you put that money into getting a variac or some other form of control over the heat going into the still then you will quickly be able to recognize the distinctions between heads and hearts and tails. You will notice your spirits improve dramatically. This is what folks mean when they talk about learning to drive your still. I don't think the folks at stillspirits have worked out their auto pilot yet.

since its such a small boiler, you could begin to do low wine runs, and save them up till you had 5 liters and then do a slow and careful spirit run. You gotta have control over the heat going into the boiler first, otherwise the distinctions between heads hearts and tails will all be blurred together into a foul tasting but high potency mess. Maybe a small propane burner would work, leave out the demon electricity altogether? You can make good spirit with that, just gotta break outta the stillspirits business model first, and get some control over the heat going into that boiler.

I think theres a sticky with plans for a homemade EZ inline electric element controller.

[tracker0945]

Sounds as if you are getting ready to experiment Rod.
Look up a few sugar washes here on the site e.g. Birdwatchers and many others.
Bakers yeast from the supermarket is as good as any (and easier to find).
If you can adapt your column and fit it to a larger boiler your cuts will be easier to do.
I know you said you have been stilling for a while but now that you know what you have been doing, it may be time to stick the nose into a bit of study again.
You will probably find that with a bit of experience behind you now you will absorb a lot more than you did first time around.

Cheers and good luck.

[Rudi]

What is under the grey shit

Shiney coppery goodness

[Rod]

Sound like I need to find a boiler the same diameter as the current one the still comes with but without the hole the electric immersion heater goes in thru

Then the clamp and and the head will fit

Then use gas to control the heat

I have explored the variac control but they cost heaps

Looked at the suggestion by pintoshine , but do not have the electrical knowledge to make a home made unit or maybe get a kit which I cannot find downunder as yet

Maybe give the gas a go

[alice]

As far as controlling the heater element goes, you can order one of these http://www.sutronics.com/acatalog/detail_bfm240_13.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow from the UK for about $90 AUD . Drill a hole in a piece of aluminium plate to mount it, connect the blue & brown wires from an extension lead to the two AC terminals on the controller, then connect the other two terminals on the controller to the lement in your boiler.

Couldn't get any easier.

[junkyard dawg]

how many watts is that element? can't be a big load... should be cheap, but I'm pretty thin when it comes to demon electricity...

If you got a bigger boiler then you would also be happier. With only 5 liters to work with it'll be hard to get much yield. I hear its harder to make cuts in a small boiler. I think its really nice to be able to make a run and be able to take only the best of the hearts and still have a nice yield. Save up the heads and hearts from a few runs and keep rerunning things and you will soon have a tremendous yield of mostly fine neutral thats been redistilled several times and is as pure and fine as you could ever wish for.

What alice linked to... Wire that up in the power line and your all set. I want one of those

[Rod]

the element is 1000 watts

I think the 25 litre still spirits still uses the same column and condenser , so maybe buy a new 25 litre pot

The element would be larger , have to check

Rod

[gavogr]

The turbo yeast you're using isn't doing you any favours. Like everything in life, there's a tradeoff - with the turbo you get faster ferments but you also get unwanted flavours - lots of 'em.

One hint for the SS still heads - if you cut through the column between the boiler fitting and the condenser and solder in a metre or so of 2-inch copper pipe, then fill that with copper scrubbers, you can easily pull 88-90% from your runs.
.

Interesting any one have any pics of the above mod?

I think theres a sticky with plans for a homemade EZ inline electric element controller.

Hi there first time poster short time member
Just wondering where i might find or if anyone else has found the sticky to the above?
I might hav to start experimenting from what i have been reading.
Different washes hey interesting!

What a Great Site Cheers

[alice]

Interesting any one have any pics of the above mod?

Nah, but honestly, it ain't rocket science. Cut, insert, solder, solder, clean, distill, drink....

[junkyard dawg]

It may not be a sticky, I can be stupid too...

I think Pintoshine posted plans. Try searching for heating element controller and you will probably find something helpful. Pint was also selling kits at one time. Don't know if he still does.

In any case, getting that 1000 watt element under control is really what you need. Its like having a car that only goes one speed... like 43 miles per hour... You need to add a gas pedal so you can go as slow as you want or step on it and go fast.

[gavogr]

Interesting any one have any pics of the above mod?

Nah, but honestly, it ain't rocket science. Cut, insert, solder, solder, clean, distill, drink....

I like that

It may not be a sticky, I can be stupid too...

I think Pintoshine posted plans. Try searching for heating element controller and you will probably find something helpful. Pint was also selling kits at one time. Don't know if he still does.

In any case, getting that 1000 watt element under control is really what you need. Its like having a car that only goes one speed... like 43 miles per hour... You need to add a gas pedal so you can go as slow as you want or step on it and go fast.

I will give the search ago
Cheers everyone

[Rod]

for git it!!! I make good enough shit not to use it ,if I cant Ill quit !!!!!

I'm with dunder and I don't regard myself as 'good', just a pot still user.

I am now making good shit , not as good as I want but a lot better

but well on the way

thanks for your help

[travis]

I also had to start somewhere, it’s a pity I didn’t find this site sooner. I too rushed down the Turbo Yeast, Liquid Carbon, activated Carbon filtering etc. & yes, with (I thought) good results, after a hell of a lot of work. (on the advice from the Brew Shop)

I am now using the “Tried & True” recipes & methods, harvesting my yeast, using backset, careful “Stilling” etc. This is a much more refined, relaxing way of producing a quality product, using my head, instead of chemicals.

“Smirnoff” (Vodka) have just started an advertising campaign here in the UK. They are saying that they distil “3” times & “Filter” “10” (Ten) times, what chemical slutch did they start of with?

Regards Travis

P.S. just like learning to drive, ride a bike or a horse, I have got the hang of my 4 x tube “Frankensill” with reflux. Holding equilibrium is a knack & very satisfying as a good product comes out.

[Rod]

Travis ,

you may find my post on controlling a 5 litre still heating element helpful

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8002

Rod