Perfect project for a rainy day!!!

[rad14701]

Say also,,,,,,I got a demo job comming up in a few days. Part of the scope is to remove some sliding (tempered) glass doors.

We usually break the glass, then load into the trash bin for transport to the Trash Trailer.

Will that shattered tempered glass make for good (surface area) packing?

I would typically be more interested as tempered glass bits as boiling chips.

Yes, broken tempered glass works well for packing... Smoothing the sharp edges improves safety and protects the column from scratches...

[FLquacker]

Got to make my first fermented run today with the new reflux.....

For the wash: In the fermenter Friday night @ 10pm

20 L water (bottled)
8 lbs dark brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 (256 gr turbo classic)....yea I know. Bought a month or so ago and thought what the heck. Gonna be a throw away run probably anyway.

Ferment was all but done Saturday at 10 pm.( 24 hrs) Moved to the fridge. I have no SG measurements.

In the boiler at 10a Sunday.

First 300 mls came off at 90% abv.

Pulled off 2800 mls...stopping at 30%. ( Had other things to do)

What I did to the column:

Wife picked up (2) copper pot scrubbers. $3 (I'll get more)

Pushed (1) down about 16" from the top...the other about 8" from the top.

**This will not be a throw away run**

I read somewhere about the "leathery" smell of a brand of Jamaican rum. This stuff has a similar type aroma, kinda chocolate leathery smell. Not a bad taste at all.

Next batch I'll let the wash settle a bit more (still got another pack of the turbo)....top 1/3 had cleaned up pretty good to a root beer color.

I did find what most suspected...there is little to no reflux management to be had with the external cooling coil. Basically, a fancy pot still

LOL..but I did produce my 1st REAL spirits today....man that stuff is baddd-asss!

[LWTCS]

Give it a month on chared oak and you will have really impressed yourself

[FLquacker]

Well..curiosity and boredom got the best of me this evening.

Picked up a few more copper scrubbers today and added 3 more for a total of 5 in the column.

Dumped ALL the first run back in 1 1/2 gallon water and gave it another go.....not bad.

Ended up with about 1000 mls of 85+ ABV...ABV and pleasant aroma dropped off quick on the next 300 ml cut. ABV dropped off to 65%. Started seeing the oils down in the jar when watching the drip . Next 300 was nasty!

So the column is definetly "refluxing"...used a good deal of power management thru the run though.

I'm gonna fill the column up right past the cooling coil and see what happens next time. Still got about 16 " to work with.

That will leave me with 8" to the vapor exit, off the column. There's about 4" above, so I'll have about 12" of "head area" in the column.

Getting an understanding of "Quality is better than Quantity"

[rad14701]

Sounds like you're gaining some good learning experience there, FLquacker... Nothing beats hands-on experience for demystifying the processes involved...