Brewer's Edge Pot Still Teperature issues

[HoverMc]

During my Mash run and my Spirit run, as my heating elements were on I would get product out of the still but as soon as the element shut off (due to at desired temperature) my product would stop. How do I keep the element on but still maintain temperature?

[acfixer69]

You don't run a still by temperature. It is run by power input. You need to read and understand the basics.

[howie]

without using a power controller, either plugged in directly or wired in across the elements, you will struggle.
and as acfixer says, you also need to understand that you do not, and cannot, control the temp of a distillation.
the unit looks ok, very similar to my brewzilla, so have a look what some people have done to these units to make them handy little boilers.

[Skipper1953]

What brand/model PID are you using?

[howie]

What brand/model PID are you using?

i don't think he has one, that's one of the problems.
that unit has a 1000/1600w switchable element with just an onboard digital temp controller.
good for brewing beer and mashing but, without a separate power controller, nearly useless for distilling (especially spirit runs).

[shadylane]

During my Mash run and my Spirit run, as my heating elements were on I would get product out of the still but as soon as the element shut off (due to at desired temperature) my product would stop. How do I keep the element on but still maintain temperature?

The temp control is only useful for mashing.
Turn it on high and leave it there for distilling.
If the heater is to powerful wide open, buy a separate controller to plug it into.

[LWTCS]

Yep.
Need to picture an open flame.
The heat input (flame) is low or the heat input high.
But there must not be an interruption of input.
An interruption in heat input will instantly cause vapor to fall out of suspension.

[Yummyrum]

This topic is about how to modify one of its friends .
viewtopic.php?p=7628454#p7628454

You are not alone . Everyone that tries to use one of those mash/ boilers for distilling has the same issues . Hence the above topic I linked to whereby the internal Temperature Controller is bypassed so you can safely use an external Power Controller

[Saltbush Bill]

A lot of newbs to the hobby have trouble with the fact that you can not control the temp at which your boiler boils, its one of the first facts that you have to understand. This should help you with that. http://www.kelleybarts.com/PhotoXfer/Re ... gMyth.html
What you can do though is control how hard the boil is , a gentle simmer , a rolling boil, or a raging frothing mess........this is done by the amount of energy input, not by the temperature changing.

[Old one-eye Joe]

Would this be why the drip stopped? I had a ten gallon pot on a two "burner" hotplate. It seemed to be going just fine until it just stopped. The pot was still boiling. Headspace was just over 200 F. The coil was packed in crushed ice and water. This is the first/throwout run and I had left the grains in the wash for the distillation. I have now strained it to have a wash. Lesson learned - yes, strain it out to make a wash BEFORE you ferment. ( They told you that. But did you listen?)
Cheap lesson in the sacrificial run.

[Crash]

A lot of newbs to the hobby have trouble with the fact that you can not control the temp at which your boiler boils, its one of the first facts that you have to understand. This should help you with that. http://www.kelleybarts.com/PhotoXfer/Re ... gMyth.html
What you can do though is control how hard the boil is , a gentle simmer , a rolling boil, or a raging frothing mess........this is done by the amount of energy input, not by the temperature changing.

Wow that was incredibly helpful. I was way off on how distilling/boiling works. Now I'm going to jump down the rabbit hole of power input, boiling rates and all that good stuff. Thanks for the link. It made things easy to understand

[JimBob88]

I also have a mash&boil system that I purchased for brewing beer then used it in this hobby. Because it operates on a thermostat style system where the elements kick on once your temp drops below set temp and will turn off once it is a few degrees above the set temp it’s next to impossible to dial it in on a spirit run using a pot still head. What I did was on a pot still head only strip using and crank your temp setting up to above 212 so the element remains on at all times. I also have a small column for it that I was able to do spirit runs with doing the same principle. You will need an external power controller so you can set the temp setting to above 212 to keep the element on full time but then control the power supply going to it. I don’t even bother using mine for anything but mashing now.

[Demy]

As the others have said, the problem is the on-off system..... think in terms of regulating the power just like you regulate a flame as already mentioned. No interruption but a power adjustment.