Still Running Tempetures

[Catch 22]

:moresarcasm:Greetings, First post here so go easy on me. Can someone shed some light on this question of mine and yes I tried to do my "homework" first, but "still" could not find the answer. If one is running a still head temp is at 172.5(f) for optimum performance, how do the temps get to 179.5(f)? Wouldn't you lower the heat to maintain the 172.5 as the boiler gets lower in volume, rather than letting it climb? This is why I stay up late and drink ! HELP

[Prairiepiss]

Take the thermometer out throw it on the ground. And stomp on it. Now you you can run that pot still like it should be.

[Prairiepiss]

Oh yea you can't control the temps. The ABV of the wash does that. There are some good threads in the must read new distiller reading lounge. About temps and still running.

[Truckinbutch]

Rekin there ain't much left to cover in this answer

[corene1]

I am pretty new here also and have only run a pot still. I use my thermometer just to let me know when the temps are getting close to producing vapors. When I get my first trickle of product I adjust the heat by the stream of distillate that is coming from the condenser. On stripping runs I let it run at a nice smooth stream and for spirit runs I lower the heat a bit to get a slow smooth stream with a little break in it. Every still will have it's own little characteristics that you will have to adjust for. The thermometer after that pretty much just gives you something to look at. Use your smell your fingers and taste buds to tell where you are at in the run. The fores on mine have a banana smell and the tails have a very distinct wet cardboard smell. The heads have a very sharp flavor to them and are quite dry to the feel.The hearts are in the middle and you will have to decide for yourself where you start your keeper jars and where to start your heads and tails feints jars. Do your take off in very small quantities at first and learn the differences. In time your nose and taste will tell you right where you are at.

[Prairiepiss]

Just pit you hand on the riser. When the top gets hot. It's about to produce. No thermo needed.

[TDS]

Catch22, are you running a potstill?
Because if so, then yeah, what they said.

If you're running a reflux column, you can stabilize it at a good temp using your reflux control.
There are some great threads about it here.

Cheers!

[Catch 22]

Thanks for the info A'll

[Ayay]

You can control the temp with a pot still by controlling the heat input, but not by measuring the temp. Observing the rate of output and measuring the ABV of the output is far better than measuring the temp with a pot still.

A reflux still is run according to the temp. No use measuring the ABV here because it should all be in the high 90's.

Either way, you have to make your cuts. Cuts are the other area where the run is made or broken.

There are exceptions somewhere between an enhanced pot still and a dehanced reflux column. This is where you choose between the thermometer and the alcometer, or choose both.

[Catch 22]

My post said nothing about about cuts, only about running temp of a still. Should it be ran at a certian tempeture range? Is the temp regulated by solely thru the output the condensor? I understand that different stills run different than others and if one doesn't have a temp gauage, then one would not know the temp would he. I was only trying to get a general feel on the running temp range. I believe this was posted at the Welcome Center. This site is confussing: one persone says white another says it's black, some come on here a think their funny with the quick comments and then their are the ones that generally help a person out and to them I say "thank you" If the question seem to be beneath you, then please just don't answer!!!

[Prairiepiss]

I gave you the answer to these questions. You can't control the temps. The ABV of the still charge in the boiler determines the temps. 173 is the boiling point of 100% alcohol. And 212 is the boiling point of 100% water. Bit you will have a mixture of alcohol and water in the boiler. So the boiling point will be somewhere between those two numbers. And you can not control that as the still is running.

As I said there are some great threads in the must read new distiller reading lounge that explains this much better then can be explained here in your thread. The problem is you are fixated on just looking for one answer. But its not that simple. So you have to look at all threads that deals with temps.

[Kravenhed]

I think you will find....the more you read.....even though everyone gets to right place we all take different roads, you will begin to see a common thread of knowledge as you expose yourself more and more to this site....everyone here started as a beginner ....down their own road, and the only advise they can render is what they know....and I know if you hang around long enough and actually make enough likker you will find out we all know the same thing, just a subtle differences that gives each of our likker it own special taste. I wish you luck my friend, but your gonna have to learn patience.

[Truckinbutch]

My post said nothing about about cuts, only about running temp of a still. Should it be ran at a certian tempeture range? Is the temp regulated by solely thru the output the condensor? I understand that different stills run different than others and if one doesn't have a temp gauage, then one would not know the temp would he. I was only trying to get a general feel on the running temp range. I believe this was posted at the Welcome Center. This site is confussing: one persone says white another says it's black, some come on here a think their funny with the quick comments and then their are the ones that generally help a person out and to them I say "thank you" If the question seem to be beneath you, then please just don't answer!!!

Appears that you only want answers to your questions that Justify what you have already determined for yourself .
I'll never try to help answer another question for you . You are on your own , pal .

[rad14701]

The best answer is to read the entire parent site three times and the entire New Distiller Reading Lounge at least once, whether you want to or not... Things will start to make sense as the "connections" start to gel in your gray matter because you'll learn answers to questions you don't even know you have yet... Or you can try to be spoonfed one answer to one question at a time, which we just won't do... Independent research into the theories and fundamentals is mandatory, not optional...

[something fermented]

Catch, don't take the responses from others in the wrong light.

A lot of what goes on here is about safety. Safety has a lot to do with the level of awareness and education you have on the topic at hand. Certain questions by newcomers set off red flags for people who absolutely know the answer to the question but feel you need to spend some more time with the fundamentals. Take your time, read the parent site and the new distillers forum a couple times, then go ahead and ask away with the questions. At some point, you need to actually do it to learn (ie. making cuts) while keeping in mind what you've read on this site.

Prairiepiss already gave you the answer. Read it on the parent site here to make sure you've got it.

First and foremost, be safe and then have fun

Welcome!

[corene1]

Maybe this will help if boiling points at specific ABV's is all you want.

[F6Hawk]

Watching a thermo gives a newbie a sense of comfort at first. Nothing wrong with that. If you want to use one, go for it. My friends do, and they swear by it. I have tried it both ways, and now I understand why you must have one for a reflux system, but don't even need it for a pot still.

What they are trying to tell you (besides READ and DO YOUR HOMEWORK), is that your wash creates vapors whenever it is ready to. Nothing you can do about it with the heat, except change the TIME at which it begins to boil (by adding more heat, thereby getting to the boiling point faster). But once you hit the vapor temp, adding more heat just makes the bubbles move faster, it doesn't heat up the water more. The temp will continue to slowly climb in a pot still because you are removing ethanol, and the boiling point approaches that of water at 212°. By controlling your heat input, you are only changing the liquid output of your still. More heat, more liquid in a given time. Less heat, less liquid in a given time. But the temperature? You cannot affect that with the heat. It is determined by the chemical composition of all the components of the wash. As the more volatile compounds vaporize, the temp increases towards 212°. But... (and remember this is on MY still, using MY thermometer, others will vary) the point at which I consider the output to have an undesirable flavor is about 202~203°. No sense collecting after that for ME. But others may enjoy that tail-sy flavor, and so will collect more.

If you want to see for yourself what I am saying, put 2 gallons of water in your still, and heat it up until you get some output. Now turn the heat down until it is barely dripping, maybe 1 drip per second. What's the temp? Now, crank your heat up as high as it will go for a few minutes. What happened to your output rate? What happened to your temp? Did it shoot up to 215~220°? Just don't run your still dry doing this...

[F6Hawk]

Also wanted to add about the chart corene was kind enough to post...

It shows you what temp your wash vaporizes at based on ABV. If you don't know your ABV, but you are getting stable output at 196°, then your wash is 14% ABV. But guess what? Now it's not, because you just changed the water/alcohol ratio. Now there's less alcohol, so the temp must go up to keep your solution boiling. Now it's 13%, and the temp is 196.5° (which you won't know unless you have a digi thermo with decimal tenths readout). And so on.

Another neat thing about that chart is when you are doing multiple runs. Say you distill run 1 as pictured, and your output is at 54%. You want to combine it with your last two stripping runs and do a spirit run. But because you follow all the safety rules set forth on here, you water it down to 40% ABV and run it nice and slow one more time. What will your ABV be on this spirit run?

READ MORE:

You will have output at about 183°(instead of the 199.5° on the chart example), and said output will be about 77% (instead of the 54% shown on chart). But do those temps matter at all? No. Temp goes up and ABV of wash goes down, and nothing you can do about it. It just is what it is, and you trying to maintain a temp is not possible, unless you are somehow putting the same amount of ethanol into the still as it is putting out. Hope this helps!

[corene1]

Also wanted to add about the chart corene was kind enough to post...

It shows you what temp your wash vaporizes at based on ABV. If you don't know your ABV, but you are getting stable output at 196°, then your wash is 14% ABV. But guess what? Now it's not, because you just changed the water/alcohol ratio. Now there's less alcohol, so the temp must go up to keep your solution boiling. Now it's 13%, and the temp is 196.5° (which you won't know unless you have a digi thermo with decimal tenths readout). And so on.

Another neat thing about that chart is when you are doing multiple runs. Say you distill run 1 as pictured, and your output is at 54%. You want to combine it with your last two stripping runs and do a spirit run. But because you follow all the safety rules set forth on here, you water it down to 40% ABV and run it nice and slow one more time. What will your ABV be on this spirit run?

READ MORE:

You will have output at about 183°(instead of the 199.5° on the chart example), and said output will be about 77% (instead of the 54% shown on chart). But do those temps matter at all? No. Temp goes up and ABV of wash goes down, and nothing you can do about it. It just is what it is, and you trying to maintain a temp is not possible, unless you are somehow putting the same amount of ethanol into the still as it is putting out. Hope this helps!

Well said F6!

[redmud]

Welcome catch 22. You would be surprised how many times the same questions are asked just in diffetent ways including this one.Which might explain sarcastic replies.
Its tough to understand all of the subtleties involved in making good likker with so many variables at first, from creating a succesfull ferment clearing it, tranfering it, then distilling it.
If you try to push the temp up in any type of still turns out all you do is create more vapor, turn it back down and you stop wasting good alcohol vapor through the vent or the end of the worm and condense it back to liquid.So the temp input is essentially just vapor control.The temp of the vapor is controlled by the boiling point of your wash.

Good luck, have fun, and stay safe.

[TDS]

Grrumble grumble...

Still don't even know WTF kind of still he is running... Grumble grumble...

[texashine]

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