my first still workin good so far

[salmonskin]

well here she is my first still. after a couple clean out runs ive put 5 batches through so far. always perfect clear output with varing % out put
notice small hole in top of coloum, this is 6'' long tube sealed at other end i can insert very accurate elect temp gauge i can controll / moniter my temp very well.
my first question is i read this morning a post that said you dont need a temp gauge in a pot still? after reading the chart on boiling points of mash at different
percentage of alcohol to water i find it very accurate and follows very closely to chart as alcohol comes out my temp rises as i neer pure water. it seems good to me
i can adj temp very close to what im looking for.
second question is on foreshots and cuts
how much forshot should i throw away for 5gl run, ive been dumping 150ml or so and keeping heads to put in next run
i seem to be getting more heads every run, should i dump it also, im looking for more hearts on every run.
im new and having a little bit of a challenge on my cuts so far but im learnin
thanks for a great place to get true info on this great science, ive got a lot to learn

[Condensifier]

Nice still salmonskin. You did a good job buildint it.

I like the coors pony keg, too.

[salmonskin]

im currently lookin for a 15gl kag to upgrade any brand better or worse/
i also have been doin a lot of searchin on types of stills and am a bit confused.
my coloum is 12'' long 3''dia would there be any benifit to addin copper scrubbers/ maybe layers of scrubbers and glass marbles in the coloum?
also seem to see more good notes with guys runnin bucket with worm over a libeg like i made, i already shortened mine as it was way too efficiant
and still seems over kill, this time of year my water runs really cold and only need very small flow to cool the vapor. even in hot weather my well water is around 50 or so , just wonder how itll work in the summer with long supply hose
thanks for any input

[beefbandit]

hey dude nice build,
wish mine was that good . im a newbee here to but can answer a couple of your questions.
first is adding scrubbers etc wont make a hell of a lot of difference with out something to force reflux in the column (cooling of some sort on the coloum its self).
and im running a 15mm worm condensor 3 long curls through a 20L bucket (nice compact), it was around 30dc on last run and with water only trickling through it, long dark green hose running into the garage,
it worked fine nothing escaped condensing. i have herd of people putting ice in the bucket aswell for those really hot days. It would make your still a little more compact too.
also i am using a 50L (which is around 15gal) keg really good size for a small distiller.

150ML per 20L is what im throwing away as foreshot. and have read on here that your only sposed to keep tails to rerun with next brew. as you said all the bad head chemicals get condensed then you
run them through again and again condencing them even more getting more and more head each time, vicious circle kinda thing.

hope this helped a little. MK

[salmonskin]

thanks beefbandit im happy for the input, i see lots of guys puttin coils inside the coloum , been wondering- i got a lot of 3/8 aluminum tubing around would i get any cooling if i made a wrap on the outside of the entire coloum and flowed cold water threw it, wouldnt touch the product at all no contamination just cooling with scrubbers and glass marbles in layers? after more reading im dumpin all my heads from now on, as you say just compounding the problem thanks for the help

[beefbandit]

yea there is a thread on here about having cooling tubes on the outside of the column. I dont think the whole column should be cooled tho, just around the top half.
definatly no aley on the inside, cant see why not the outside tho. might not have as good heat transfer as copper tho.

i am verry new to this tho, you would do well in looking in the column distillation and design forum, has been verry helpfull to me.

im going for a CM design, with cooling tubes running through just below the top of the column, interlinked with the worm condensor.