Trials with new PS iI

[Moscca]

Yesterday I did a leak test with my new distiller .... No leaks !
But the temperature on the thermometer only raised till 93 C.
Today did a 4l vinegar - 4l water cleaning run and the temp. raised till 96 C.
I checked the thermometer in boiling water : exactly 100 C.
Shoudn't it be 100 degrees at the height of the exit ?
Tomorrow I will do a 4 l trash alcohol (30 %) with 4 l water.
I have 2 40 l washes bubbling, 1 panela, the other panela with fancy molasses
I hope something good will come out of it !!!!

[HolyBear]

What type of heat were you using?
Were you running the reflux head?
What type/temp of coolant system are you running?
And probably most importantly, have you read through the CM mod link located in Mr Prairypiss signature???

[Moscca]

I did the water run with the 2 columns, no cooling, the vinegar one in pot mode, water from the tap, 27C, full open 6l/min, played with it till I got only liquid coming out of the condenser.
I read the CM link among a lot of stuff I have been reading the last months. I am new to distilling so I have a lot of questions, I try to solve them by reading, but some things escape me.

[rad14701]

I hope you don't do your run until you've researched enough to know about running a still properly... This is an important part of the theory that you must understand fully...

[Moscca]

Yesterday did a pot run with my still with 4l of local cheap alcohol (30%) and 4 liter of water.
The first 400 ml came off at 76 %. I played a bit more with it till I saw some oily substance in the distilling.
Today I trew everything back in the still and did a reflux mode run. The first 400 ml came off at 86 %.
I will keep this to clean my measuring tools before using.
Everything worked out fine, thanks to all the info available here

[HolyBear]

Hey meccasa, can you answer my questions? I may be able to help. I run a PS II high high cap. Couple years of exp...

[Moscca]

Hi wacabi1, thanks for asking !
I use propane to heat, electricity I rather expensive here in Honduras, and sometimes we have power cuts.
For the moment it is an old stove I use, but I have a Blichmann burner under way.
Seems that everybody in fond off that burner, bit pricy.
With the water run I was not using the reflux head.
Water is tap water, 27C about 6L/min. at full.

[HolyBear]

During your cleaning vinegar / water run it raised to 96 then it started coming out the exit port? If that is what your saying then think about what we are doing in distilling. We are taking a mixture of different substances and boiling them. Different substances (vinegar/water) have different boiling points, waters boiling point is 100c but vinegar must be less than 100c because the mixture evaporation temp was 96c. In the new distillers reading lounge there is a thread that can explain it much better than I. Lots of good basic info there...ill find it and post here....

Here it is... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 46&t=16635

[Moscca]

That is just my problem, I looked up and vinegar is a mixture of water and acetic acid (5%) which has a boiling
point of 118C ., so it should raise the boiling temperature of the mixture !
I read some other starter had the same question with his first refux but can not find the thread anymore.

[Moscca]

Thanks Wacabi1, gone read it tomorrow, have to go no now .... BTW today did tha first 2 stripping runs and am very pleased
with it, what a nice smell !!
Will post results tomorrow.

[Prairiepiss]

There isn't a problem. It's a cm still. Your thermometer is above or after the reflux condenser. So of course the temps are going to be lower.

Or if you were running pot still mode. It's only a reference tool. And not needed during pot still mode.

I have never used a thermo in my cm still. I use my parrot when in reflux mode.

Don't het caught up on the temp thing. Every still, every still charge, and every person will get something different.

Now go read do I need a thermometer in my pot still in the must read new distiller reading lounge.

[Moscca]

So finally I could start with the real thing !
I did this weekend 4 stripping runs and 1 spirit run.
I had 2 washes of total 77l. The stripping runs took about 2h50min each.
Tossed the fore shots every time (150ml) away, between 72 and 76 ABV.
Then I collected till 20 ABV. Had some 16l of low wines.
Could had a bit more, misread my ABV meter in the beginning, stopped at 25 instead of 20 !!
Spirit run : everything in the still, added 3l water to get 40 ABV.
Fore shots : 200ml @ 86%
Then in 500ml jars till 17% = 21 jars = 10,5l
Total run time : 7h25min, 500ml/16min more or less.
I was amazed every time by the wonderful smell that come off !!
Now letting aerate 2 days and then the cutting, the hard part !
This morning I realised that I forgot in al the excitement to put copper mesh in
the column .... is there still something I can do about that ?
I have to isolate my still because the see breeze is really affecting performance !
Today I will start a second generation wash.
Please let me know what I forgot besides the copper mash !
About the thermometer : I have it in top at the height of the condenser exit.
Strip run : to get a tooth pick steam 92-93C .... 100C
Spirit run : 82C ... 100C
It was nice info, but at the end ... but this was also my first run !

[HolyBear]

Looks pretty good, especially for a first run!!! Yep copper mesh will help increase your abv and will cut the sulfates. It takes alot of mesh. Per mulekickers advise, I cut mine into 11' (tofit inside of a 3" column) rolled fairly tight. I can't remember how many I put in there but it was two bags worth. I also shoved some loose mesh aground the condenser pipes in the head trying to leave the exit port open. If you experience huffing, try taking a small amount of mesh and shove it into the exit port leaving just a little sticking out.
I like to label my jars with freezer tape(easily removable for next time), with jar number, % and proof. I take the readings right before I change the jar from within my parrot. I also try to at the same time as taking the readings alot of smelling/rubbing/ etc like Tater says here... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 46&t=13305

[Moscca]

Last Saturday I started a new 2nd gen. panela wash. Total 25L, 5L dunder.
The pH was 4.3. I added 5 spoons 5.2 pH Stabilizer from Brewhaus, only to see the pH rise till
4.7. I decided not to put more and added the yeast, it went nice, strong bubbling and it is still slowly bubbling.
I am afraid the the 3 gen wash will have an even lower pH, so should I put more of that Stabilizer ? Or trying baking soda ?

[RumRaider]

Looks pretty good, especially for a first run!!! Yep copper mesh will help increase your abv and will cut the sulfates. It takes alot of mesh. Per mulekickers advise, I cut mine into 11' (tofit inside of a 3" column) rolled fairly tight. I can't remember how many I put in there but it was two bags worth. I also shoved some loose mesh aground the condenser pipes in the head trying to leave the exit port open. If you experience huffing, try taking a small amount of mesh and shove it into the exit port leaving just a little sticking out.

Wacabi,
I had the opposite experience with the copper mesh. I use 1 or 2 looosely rolled pieces of mesh. I'm sure it lowers my abv a little but not enough to worry about. It eliminated the huffing problem altogether. I 'm also curious about the mesh you put in the outlet port. It seems like that would make the huffing worse as its another place for the liquid to pool and block the vapor path. Where has my thinking gone wrong?

[Moscca]

I put 1 rol copper mesh of 10' and my ABV is also a bit down.
Would it help to place mesh in the boiler ?

[RumRaider]

Would it help to place mesh in the boiler ?

I dont think it will help the abv but it will break the boil so that the heat is more evenly distributed throughout the boiling wash.

[HolyBear]

Ok, sorry been working outta town for a few days. You are using a 3" PSII high capacity right??? If you are using the reflux head, copper packing will help you alot. I have 2 bags of brewhouse (the I think they are 30' roles in a bag) cut to 11' sections, roles fairly tight and shoved in there. I also have a little bit around the cooling tubes. When sucking on the output tube, it should feel like sucking on a cigar.
The huffing can be fixed by adding a little to the output tube. What I think it does is back up the cooled liquid a bit and gives it something to flow on...

[Moscca]

I'm using the PSII for the moment in pot mode, so only 1 roll in the column.
I don't want to have to much reflux, I think (?) it will give me more taste.
Would a roll in the boiler help to reduce the sulphur ?

[HolyBear]

Having copper in your boiler will help in bringing the wash to a boil, it gives the bubbles an edge to form on. I'm not sure about reducing the sulfer while in the boiler, I'm pretty sure that it should be in the vapor to reduce the sulfur. Yea, if running in potstill mode without the reflux head you will get more flavor. Also, removing the lower section from the PSII will give more flavor. I've also found that using jars deeper into the tails gives more flavor as well...