Neutral Spirit .

[shadylane]

- Heat the wash
- Harvest the heads up to 78°C <— Well, first off … as you heat the boiler, ALL of the wash will heat up, not just the heads. If you don’t understand this, you need to read a while longer.
- Maintain the steam temperature at 78°C to harvest the hearts <— Good luck with this. You’ll be watching the thermometer a LONG TIME waiting for it to produce. Again, you’ve got a lot reading to do.

+1 stirrin
Things don't happen just because an uncalibrated thermometer says it's going to.
Things happen, then you measure.
Run the column based on power and take off rate vs ABV

[Yummyrum]

Mods could we get the title of this thread changed, there is not one single diagram or real reference to a CCVM

Yes , done it Sporicale . Should have done it earlier .

[drmiller100]

Hello everyone,



Can you briefly describe the distillation steps for each design?
What I understood, don't judge me if I'm wrong, help me instead:

- Heat the wash
- Harvest the heads up to 78°C
- Maintain the steam temperature at 78°C to harvest the hearts
- Play with the valve to have an output output of around 1L/min to have a good reflux rate


Thank you again for your clarifications

To clarify. Your temps listed are above the column not at the boiler.
I run my stills by temp. Altitude and barometric pressure change the temps a bit. You can calibrate by measuring boiling water.

Or, run the still full reflux for 15 minutes. Note the temp above the column below the condenser. Run the product off the top of the column off as quickly as you can pull product. Reflux full for 5 minutes. Note the new temp. Often it will be a degree or so higher than start.
Start pulling product. If the temperature rises you are pulling too fast.

Once it is running I actually measure temps 5 percent down from the top of the packed column. If it starts to rise I know I'm pushing too hard and can throttle back product pull without affecting quality.

I like 12 or 13mm marbles. I like offset lm.

This is only if you are after neutral or azeo

[drmiller100]

- Heat the wash
- Harvest the heads up to 78°C <— Well, first off … as you heat the boiler, ALL of the wash will heat up, not just the heads. If you don’t understand this, you need to read a while longer.
- Maintain the steam temperature at 78°C to harvest the hearts <— Good luck with this. You’ll be watching the thermometer a LONG TIME waiting for it to produce. Again, you’ve got a lot reading to do.

+1 stirrin
Things don't happen just because an uncalibrated thermometer says it's going to.
Things happen, then you measure.
Run the column based on power and take off rate vs ABV

How do you measure abv? I use temperature

[still_stirrin]

How do you measure abv? I use temperature

I use a Proof & Traille hydrometer.

But I regulate vapor production by adjusting the heat input, which I “measure” with an ammeter (current to the heat element). I don’t have a thermometer on my still anywhere. I’ve run the boiler enough times to know how much current is needed to produce the rate of product at the spout for optimum operation of my system, ie - EXPERIENCE makes a great tool for running your still.

Ironically, the %ABV doesn’t matter differentially (drop by drop). But integrated in the collection jar (a given volume) tells me the “average %ABV” of each jar. A temperature reading (measured with a an alcohol thermometer) tells me if my measure %ABV needs to be temperature corrected. Usually, the product off the spout is cooled to the calibration temperature of the measuring hydrometer such that correction isn’t warranted.
ss

[shadylane]

How do you measure abv? I use temperature

The simple way, with a hydrometer.
Because measuring the temp of vapor is prone to mistakes.

[Yummyrum]

How do you measure abv? I use temperature

The simple way, with a hydrometer.
Because measuring the temp of vapor is prone to mistakes.

interesting point ,if you use Temperature to measure ABV , you have to take Barameteric Preassure into account .
If you use a density meter to measure ABV , you have to take temperature into account .

Never wondered this before , but does Barametric pressure effect the reading of a density meter AKA , Proof and Tralle alcometer
I'm guessing not , as there are no correction charts supplied with Proof and Tralle to compensate Pressure .....but maybe it does to a lesser degree .

I think that in the lower range of AVB reading ...(read less than 90 %) , temp would be quite accurate , but at the top end , the last 5-6% , where 0.1 deg C is the finest resolution of an electronic thermometer affordable to mere mortals , things might get a bit loose . I would prefer the accuracy of my 70-100 % Alcometer at that end .....but thats just my opinion .

[shadylane]

To me, trying to adjust a column based on temps is frustrating.
Every change upsets the balance and takes a while to settle down.
I'd rather let the column run itself. The take-off rate slowly decreases towards the end of the run.
That means each jar takes longer to fill and it's easier to catch the beginning of tails.

When making neutral spirits, Ya don't want tails contaminating the last full jar.
That would be a waste, I'd rather have a couple ounces in the last pint jar.

[Saltbush Bill]

To me it just seems like a complicated pain in the arse.....converting temps to ABV.
Id rather just know that my PC was cooling the spirt enough to get a reasonably accurate reading using a tube and alcometer.
Yes on a reflux still I do use temp an top of packing, but only to tell if I'm maintaining sufficient reflux or if I'm drawing product to fast.

[jonnys_spirit]

I don't measure ABV when the still is running anymore. I find that I pay more attention to the smell, taste, and feel of the output.

When I did have a thermometer in the vapor path I used it to gauge the end of a strip run. ie; when it was around 212*F that means the strip run is done...

I do have a thermo-well in the boiler to measure liquid temp but the face of that one broke and I never used it either...

I will measure abv after I do cuts to confirm whether I need to proof it down to ~60%abv for aging.

Whether I decide go with 110, 120, or 130 proof for aging I then use volume to estimate my drinking strength. Approximately two parts likker and one part water = about 40%... Give or take depending on how strong I want it in my glass that evening...

If I bottle for gifts I will measure the ABV and label it more accurately. Go figure...

Cheers,
jonny

[Salt Must Flow]

As long as you have a good reflux column of adequate height, adequate packing, operate at a suitable power and a adequate take-off rate, you'll get 95%+ ABV from start to finish. You can test the product occasionally with a spirit hydrometer if you want to, but if you aren't getting consistent ABV then something is wrong.

Once you have used your reflux column for a bit, learned how to operate it, know what power to operate at, know your take-off rate, you'll find that testing your % ABV really isn't necessary unless you're introducing some variable that may affect how the still performs. When I first started using my reflux column, I tested my % ABV often. When I was testing different power inputs and take-off rates, testing % ABV was helpful. If my take-off rate was too high then the % ABV would drop. Once you have your operation parameters worked out, the % ABV should remain consistent.

[drmiller100]

How do you measure abv? I use temperature

The simple way, with a hydrometer.
Because measuring the temp of vapor is prone to mistakes.

interesting point ,if you use Temperature to measure ABV , you have to take Barameteric Preassure into account .
If you use a density meter to measure ABV , you have to take temperature into account .

Never wondered this before , but does Barametric pressure effect the reading of a density meter AKA , Proof and Tralle alcometer
I'm guessing not , as there are no correction charts supplied with Proof and Tralle to compensate Pressure .....but maybe it does to a lesser degree .

I think that in the lower range of AVB reading ...(read less than 90 %) , temp would be quite accurate , but at the top end , the last 5-6% , where 0.1 deg C is the finest resolution of an electronic thermometer affordable to mere mortals , things might get a bit loose . I would prefer the accuracy of my 70-100 % Alcometer at that end .....but thats just my opinion .

Barometric pressure pushes on the liquid and the floaty thing negating it out.

Temperature is Immediate when you pull to fast and don't have enough reflux it shows in seconds.
Temperature is much more precise.
It is easy to calibrate as you run it at full reflux and it is calibrated. Then pull product until temp roses then back it off a bit.

For continuous it is mandatory to have temp at the top and at the boiler.

[drmiller100]

To me it just seems like a complicated pain in the arse.....converting temps to ABV.
Id rather just know that my PC was cooling the spirt enough to get a reasonably accurate reading using a tube and alcometer.
Yes on a reflux still I do use temp an top of packing, but only to tell if I'm maintaining sufficient reflux or if I'm drawing product to fast.

Said with absolute respect I can see how temp is meaningless for less than 90 percent.

My comments are meant to only be used in reference to the thread title.

[Yummyrum]

How do you measure abv? I use temperature

The simple way, with a hydrometer.
Because measuring the temp of vapor is prone to mistakes.

interesting point ,if you use Temperature to measure ABV , you have to take Barameteric Preassure into account .
If you use a density meter to measure ABV , you have to take temperature into account .

Never wondered this before , but does Barametric pressure effect the reading of a density meter AKA , Proof and Tralle alcometer
I'm guessing not , as there are no correction charts supplied with Proof and Tralle to compensate Pressure .....but maybe it does to a lesser degree .

Barometric pressure pushes on the liquid and the floaty thing negating it out.

Thanks drmiller , makes sense , I can put that notion to rest

For continuous it is mandatory to have temp at the top and at the boiler.

Totally

[The Booze Pipe]

The Amphora Society’s book Making Fine Spirits written by Zymurgy Bob has a conversion chart for Head Temperature to Distillate ABV Conversion. It’s usually accurate and a good reference. I look at it like another tool in the box to use.
Although, I haven’t used any temperature while refluxing (CCVM).

[Karstr]

I hope it's okay to borrow this thread a bit. I'm planning on making a still for real clean product. I have been watching a few russian YouTube-videos, and many of them are using a liquid-collector/rectification module, in the bottom of their packed coloumn. Can anyone explain why?

[drmiller100]

I hope it's okay to borrow this thread a bit. I'm planning on making a still for real clean product. I have been watching a few russian YouTube-videos, and many of them are using a liquid-collector/rectification module, in the bottom of their packed coloumn. Can anyone explain why?

Great question. I suggest you alstart a new thread.

[Yummyrum]

I hope it's okay to borrow this thread a bit. I'm planning on making a still for real clean product. I have been watching a few russian YouTube-videos, and many of them are using a liquid-collector/rectification module, in the bottom of their packed coloumn. Can anyone explain why?

Great question. I suggest you alstart a new thread.

Post up some pics or links so we know what you are talking about .
If it looks it different to what we normally expect , I’ll split it to a new topic .

EDIT: I see you already have
viewtopic.php?t=92019