Problem s with "Candy"

[goinbroke2]

"Candy" my stripper is starting to piss me off. I've always used propane and thought I'd try a 4500W element in a 58L keg as a stripper. Well, things aren't going so well. First I had a leak and thought that was the problem but the last run went the same way.
2:00pm turn it on (strange to say your turning on a stripper eh? LOL!)
2:30 boiling chips getting noisy
3:00 foreshots
3:02 50% heads (11% wash)
Take off about 1L at 50% and it drops to 35%. Take off a second litre and it's down to 10%!
This is from 40L of 11% wash.

I'm thinking the 4500 is just plain too much and takes it beyond the heating and right to boiling. That's why it's boiling off water with the alcohol. The output is milky too (puking)

Is it as obvious as it seems? Too freaking much power? (oh and the output is cold)
I'm going back to propane until I can rig up a controller of some sort I guess. (45gals of wash waiting now)

[goose eye]

puke will be warm. if it cold puke sound like it wont all the way worked off an wick was to up.


so im tole

[Dnderhead]

Did it do this threw out the hole run? or just at the start?
to much heat
not finished fermenting
boiler to full
bumping

[goinbroke2]

It doesn't taste sweet anymore and has been fermenting forever...45 gal drum in the garage. (next time I'll put the drum on a wood pallet as I think it was wicking the heat through the cement floor)
Anyway, boiler has same amount as I normally run, 40L in a 58L keg. Puke was cold because my worm will knock down a small thermo nuclear reaction. Never bumped it.

The only thing I can think is 4500W (220v) is too much. Instead of heating up the wash and slowly boiling off the alcohol I think it's going beyond if that's possible.
In other words the temp should slowly raise from room temp to 170..then 190 etc until eventually (if left on) the wash would reach 212 and you'd be boiling off water.
I think, it's going through 150-200 stage so fast I'm only getting about 2-3L before it's boiling water with the alcohol. Does this make sense? From room temp to foreshots is almost exactly 1hr. Too quick? I think that's about what it was with propane but I dialed it back after foreshots.

Sounds like I'm trying to convince myself it's just too much heat, but am I missing something?
I think I've ruled out everything else, haven't I ? ....

[goinbroke2]

Forgot to add, I stopped after about 3L because it was at 10%. I'll check the wash left in the keg and see what the ABV is. I'm thinking it's still 9-10%.

[goose eye]

you capin it right off?
ole boys aint capin there outfit til they cant dab there finger in it.
they keep it stired til then unless it low wine charge an then cap it right off. keep it sired will
help keep it from scorchin an getin it all same temp an show you how much heat that warsh can take.
aint all warshs gonna cook the same.
you try a bit of cookin oil.

so im tole

[goinbroke2]

Good idea with the oil goose, teaspoon of canola enough? I turned it on then started hooking up the rest so no it wasn't capped right off. Stirring might be something to try too.

I think I'm plain overpowering it.

Thanks for all the responses and idea's.

[goose eye]

how hot was the warsh when you caped it. when you cookin it hot look in there an see how it actin.
when you stir it do it want to hold bubles. if it do you no that it gonna want to puke even with oil.
ole boys can get it hot then cap it an it be bout 37 to 50+ minutes dependin on what proof the wine is
before it start pissin an dependin if they chargein a doublein keg.
try waitin to cap it til it is dab hot an when you do cap it turn the wick back a bit. last thang you
do before you cap it is give it good stir. if you warsh was dab hot an it puked cant see how
that puke was cold.
yup it dont take much oil.

so im tole

[rednose]

you capin it right off?
so im tole

Goose, sorry for my ignorance, what you mean with capping off, please.

Thanks in advance.


BTW: I'm following all your posts, if you look behind ya, there I am, lol.

So you have a real fan here.

Joe

[LWTCS]

Putting the lid on, closing up the still.

Goose is implying that a bit of preheating and a bit of stiring prior to putting on the lid may solve GB's issues.

Slightly off topic.
Goose, will a drop of oil in my lil 3 chamber doublin tower eliminate foaming when charging with molassas?

Each chamber holds bout 300 ml of liquid. I water the molassas down to maybe 60molassas and 40water but she foams perty good. And the top chamber is relatively close to the discharge end.

Sorry GB.

[MuleKicker]

You may be just plain pushin too hard. you need a good condenser to knock down a full blown 4500w. I know i have about 32 ft of 1/4" coiled in my head and it barely knocks down everything when I run wide open with a 5500w element.

[rednose]

Thanks Larry, got it (there must be a goose dictionary somewhere )

[MuleKicker]

Thanks Larry, got it (there must be a goose dictionary somewhere )

That would be a big book.

[goose eye]

rednose ha ha. yall no alot more than the ole boys ever will.

lwtcs ole boys dont no much bout them type outfits.
somethangs gonna wana puke no mater what you do. mite have to double an twist but
find out what you cant do then scale back til you can. that why thangs that dont work is almost more
important than thems that do if you learnin from em.
ole boys bartered a couple 55 gal barels of that malt extract an never could get it to quit pukein
long enough to make it worth there while. they didnt no enough.

mule ole boys aint messed with curent but dont them thangs got a nob.

so im tole

[MuleKicker]

yall no alot more than the ole boys ever will.

Bullshit goose. You are a walkin legend.

[quotemule] ole boys aint messed with curent but dont them thangs got a nob.
[/quote]

kinda figgered yer into more traditional methods.

[goose eye]

mule you got me wrong you gota be thinkin dunder or someone else.
now aint no need for no more of that talk.
i aint never run no likker an aint gona in the future.


so im tole

[MuleKicker]

Just funnin with ya goose. You know Im kiddin.
Why ya gotta be pickin on dnder?

[goose eye]

didnt no i was

[goinbroke2]

Goose, I can't turn down the wick as it's wired direct 4500W with no controller. I would suspect when I dump it in my propane rig and run it slow it will be alright.

"if you warsh was dab hot an it puked cant see how
that puke was cold."
Not sure if I get ya. The condensor I'm running will knock damn near anything down so all I get is cold output. My fores,heads,heart,tail, hell water,vinigar,anything comes out cold. Not sure what the limit is but I can knock down 72,000 btu no problem. (maybe I'm using a poop load of cooling water? i just hook it to the tap and let it run through, as the bucket warms I increase water flow.)

I'm so damn busy it's still sitting in the garage half charged! I washed all the other stuff with clean water but the keg is sitting there waiting. I'll try to get out tomorrow and swap it over to the propane rig and run it slow. I like the idea of stirring the shit out of it before capping, wondering if I have co2 left in the wash too?

After flipping through my note book I see I've done...ahem...a "LOT" of runs. After all this time, it's funny how everything can go completely off the rails and leave you wondering "what the hell am I do wrong all of a sudden"? Continuous modifying/adapting/experimenting can slowly move you on a tangent until you hit the wall and wonder how you got there. I'm kinda there, looking over my shoulder going "where the hell am I?" Also wondering "why the hell are all these guys following ME?"
Winter is coming so I'll be going back to smaller batches indoors until it's too cold to run a batch. I think going back to a known procedure will help a lot. And, as much as I like my worm bucket, I'm thinking of building a monster liebeg that I will mount on the wall. Run the two cooling hoses to it, the in and output pipes and be done of it instead of the frankenstein mess and water on the floor I have now.

Bigger...better...faster... (course this is after I finish welding in another roll cage, port another set of heads,etc,etc)

[Dnderhead]

4500=1318.5 BTUs how does that compare to your gas?

[MuleKicker]

didnt no i was

thats me bein funny.... i should have done this : after that.

[goose eye]

how hot was your warsh when you caped it? if it was 220 degrees an started pukein it hard mix cold water with boilin water to get it to cool quick so i aint understandin how puke was cold.

ole boys would try it one more time with oil an get it dab hot an keep it stired then cap it. if it still wantin to puke time yourself an plug it an unplug it til you got you timein down.
make for a long nite but itll be a funny story to pass around with the jug oneday.
aint that thang out of hot water heater. mine got a nob
so them thangs you plug in an forget em once you got your water right?

so im tole

[goinbroke2]

Like they said in the movie Cool Hand Luke, "what we have here is a failure to communicate"

The reason I say it's puking is because the output is milky. It's cold, but milky. I'm guessing that's foaming/bubbling/getting so riled up the foam is exiting through the lyne arm then cooling into milky liquid. I never checked temp when I capped it, I would guess luke warm on the hand.
As far as plugging/unplugging. I tried that but as soon as I turn off power output stops. I mean it stops within 3 seconds. I pulled the cap off so it wouldn't have a vacuum in there and it didn't steam like the propane one does when I open it after a run. With propane, I kill the heat, open it up and let it steam away for 10 stinky minutes as I'm washing up/putting stuff away. With electric, I kill power and everything stops. very bizarre. I switch on, with the cap off at that point though and it's instant steam. As soon as I cap it again and turn on power there is immediate output and normally about 3-400ml gushes out.(I assume what was cooling in the worm after I interupted power)

So, in a nutshell, no I can't switch it on and off because it seems to effect the output in an on-off way rather than slow down-speed up, way like one would expect.

If I get/make a controller I'm thinking I can sneak up on the temp I want and it should be ok.

Dndr, 1318.5btu?? I think your math is off a bit. 4500W is heating the same volume as 72,000btu does in about the same amount of time. I don't know how to figure btu's from watt's but that seems low. Maybe 13,185btu? Or 131,850btu?
If I'm used to running 72,000 then 1,318 should take a week to warm up.

[goinbroke2]

Dndr, I just did a online search and found 4500W = 15364.91btu

Have no idea how that equates

[goose eye]

try a charge of water.

so im tole

[Dnderhead]

well some one correct, 1 w=.293 btu or 1 btu=3.41w