WATER DISTILLER TEMP

[jammy3003]

Hello M8s. My first post.
Right I have a water distiller which is 575w and the cutoff thermostat set at 160c and it will run at 130c. If i use this for distilling ethanol how would I calculate my cut off points for a wash at 10% or one at 20%. have look aroud the site but can#t figure out how to work thing around my temps. help!
jammy3003

[Dnderhead]

I thank that will work as a pot still,,, temps. will mean -zip-------------------

[jammy3003]

Dnderhead thanks for your reply. I have had a my go. Firstly my distiller is a 750w not 575w as I said earlier.Let me say it is qiuck, From cold start it takes around 20 to 30 minutes to start and another 20 minutes to get 500 ml at 40 to 50% out of a 4L wash with 10%. The temperture of distillate is 50c and I Tried and put the jug in cold water so it can cool it to reduce vapour. Now first try seems clear but the next try would come out a bit cloudy. I discar the first 100ml or so which is clear as a bell. Tried to swicht the machine on and off trying to control temperture but this will make it frot and make a mess. I have the cloudy stuff through a diy charcoal filter and it comes out crystal clear but I want to know is it safe for consumption. I think seeing it work it could improve if the one added an shot pipe extention to the end in order to aid cool the distillate. any ideas to improve on my results?
jammy.

[CletusDwight]

I have a water distiller which is 575w and the cutoff thermostat set at 160c and it will run at 130c.

Not absolutely sure what you mean there.
I take it to mean there is an overtemp cutof set at 160C? (Which would just about save the still if it boiled dry)

If i use this for distilling ethanol how would I calculate my cut off points for a wash at 10% or one at 20%.

If the purpose of the cutof is to save your still burning dry then you could simply leave it as is. It's pretty well irrelevant.

If you put in a wash at 20% (which is far higher than normal), it would boil at about 89C and distil over at about 70% abv.
As the alcohol is removed the wash would deplete. By the time it got to 10%, the boiling point will have shifted to about 93C and the distillate would be around 55% abv.
When all the alcohol has gone, you would be at 100C and zero abv.

Does that help?

[jammy3003]

Thanks CletusDwight. there are lot of posts where people make lot of fuss about being spot on with temprutres and as a newbie I was concerned that constant 130c running temp would be to high. but now having tried it is all easy peasy. what worries me is getting hasey distilliate which is related to high temperture at the condencer and getting it cleared by charcoal. It maybe best if I let it to cool off compeletly before restarting the distiller but that would take so long.

[Dnderhead]

when you see temps. there most likly refering to a reflux still not a pot still.

[Usge]

jammy, as mentioned, potstills pretty much run themselves temp wise. Your only input would be how fast or slow it outputs ..based on how much heat you apply from the bottom. On a potstill, (check the theory section of this site) the amount of alc in the wash/mash/lowwines determines what temp it's going to settle on, and from there...the temp rises as the alc depletes. A look at the chart in the theory section explains this well.

With potstills, the more heat you apply, the faster it runs off. Alas, with most such water distiller units, your wattage would be the determining factor as it runs wide open all the time (ie., even further, you have little control over it). That would be ok for a strip run —ie, stripping wash/mash down to lowwine. But, it would be not so good for a spirit run...IMHO. (others can differ). Other than that, most WD are simply too low in volume to add to the difficulty in any kind of cuts, etc. So, between too much heat smearing things together, and too small of a pot, it's usually an exercise in frustration to make it work out like it should and do spirit runs, cuts.

I've used one. And I'd recommend other than using it for strip runs....to use something else for spirit runs. Something about 20L min that has variable/controllable heat source (ie, gas or elec with rheostat to maintain temp). You can still use this to strip off runs. But, frankly, since I got a 5 gal pot...it's easier to just strip it down that way in one shot...than do 5 runs on the water distiller. (which also tend to leak at the head gasket...and burn/shut off...if the mash is too heavy). Best to make clear likker to start with...than try and clean it up with charcol after you've run it too hard

[Usge]

And sorry for the rambling reply...but Usge is drunk for Thanksgiving.

[jammy3003]

Thanks usge. One question what is sprit run? I was thinking how one would reduce the heat intention at the bottom of the WD pot and I think getting a clay or ceramic floor tile cut to size to fit in the bottom would redeuce the heat. I also like to add a detachable copper pipe to the end of condence about 20cm to aid cooling distilliate. what do think?

[CletusDwight]

not so good for a spirit run

I'm with Usge on this.

Jammy, the water distiller is OK for an experiment to see if you can make alcohol. And it worked.
But if you want to make alcohol spirits that you can drink and enjoy you will need to make a proper still and learn the techniques. The water distiller is really too crude to make a good drink and it's unlikely that you can make it much better without spending more money than it is worth.

A spirit run is a second distillation to improve the quality , purity and taste of your alcohol. The first distillation is called a 'stripping' run because it is just a crude distillation.
You shouldn't need to ask the question because the answer is on the parent site under Distilling|Distilling the wash|Stripping.

[Usge]

Thanks usge. One question what is sprit run? I was thinking how one would reduce the heat intention at the bottom of the WD pot and I think getting a clay or ceramic floor tile cut to size to fit in the bottom would redeuce the heat. I also like to add a detachable copper pipe to the end of condence about 20cm to aid cooling distilliate. what do think?

Jammy, most poststillers do 2 runs on their wash/mash. The first run is simply to reduce the volume of your mash/wash. You do a stripping run fast/hot. When you run a potstilll like this is it smears everything together..which is fine for just collecting everything to prepare for a 2nd run. When you have enough low-wines (as they are called) saved up, you charge the still and do a 2nd run on them...slower this time so it separates everything better, and you collect in smaller separate jars so at the end, you can smell/taste the various components of the run to decide what to keep for drinking, and what to passover and return (or save) as feints for next time. If you just keep everything you collect out, it's going to be nasty. So, you wont' be keeping everything that comes out. And for those little 4L units, it's like a cup full is all you'll end up with. You'll need to read up some more on the main site to understand it all better, but that's a nutshell overview.

As to modding the little water distillers, I've done a few mods on them. If yours was like the one I had, it has a finned air cooled coil in the top of a plastic head, sealed with a silicon ring and a plastic nose. I attached a 90 degree compression fitting onto the end of the coil in the top of the head, and attached another piece of 3/8inch copper tubing to it. Cut the bottom of the plastic nose out with an Xacto knife. I bent the 3/8 tube slightly outward. It doesn't really change the operation of it...but it got rid of the distillate dripping into plastic.

As to adding ceramic discs to the bottom of it......it "might" work somewhat..but in my experiences, anything substantial enough on the bottom to alter the temp like that would also cause the heating unit under it to overheat and do a thermal shutdown (not to mention even if it "did" work without shutting down, it's not really what I'd call an optimal situation for controlling the heat — Ie, after you get it started you realize you need to raise or lower the heat more...what do you do?). I've even had thick mash that just burned on the bottom a little cause thermal shutdowns on it. At least mine...was sensitive to things...because it has a high wattage rating (heat) and was designed to be used only with water. Putting ceramic or copper pieces in the bottom loose "does" keep it from puking up (foaming up into the head/coil) though. I could go on and on. The end result is..if you are trying to make something you want to drink....there are much better, more productive routes to take.

[jammy3003]

Thanks again Usge. very helpful tips. I will read on there is a lot of things to read and understand. I will use the WD to strip down and leave it as it is.Thanks again to all for your replies.

[Usge]

You're welcome jammy. Yes...it's a lot to learn, etc. And it's a lot more work than people realize. Just take your time....you'll get it A lot of things that you'll read about, will make a LOT more sense and congeal after you've done a few runs and have your own experience with it. It makes the reading sort of sink in...in a practical way. Like I said...it's a personal journey, which makes it important to keep good notes..so you can go back to things over time.

As to your WD...frankly, if it were me, (and I had one) I'd just use it to make distilled water (which you can use to cut your booze with), and move on to a 20L pot. Not sure what you are interested in making, but if you want to make "vodka" or "neutrals" then you'll want some kind of column/reflux head for it (VM ..vapor management type reflux stills are pretty popular for this). If you are more inclined to flavored spirits (bourbon, brandy, etc) then a potstill setup would be more suited. You "can" detune a column/reflux head so that it has more flavor, (lower proof) or "tune" up the potstill by packing the column tube used on the head to "raise' the abv and lessen the flavor somewhat, but neither one of those situations is as optimal as the original design. You can also build "both" kinds of heads to use on the same pot.

If you are intent on keeping your WD for use in this hobby, I would definitely do the one mod to remove the plastic from the vapor/distillate path. Use a "stainless" 90degree compression fitting to attach a piece of copper pipe through the nose. (cut the plastic out of the bottom of the nose as I mentioned before). That's the main thing. Make sure if you take the silicon ring gasket off the head..that you observe "carefully" exactly how it's positioned. I took mine off and couldn't get it on just right and it leaked. If you need to take the coil out of the head...there's a silicon rubber gasket that holds it in. Just pull straight up and it should come off the base. Careful not to bend the radiator fins.