newbie's first rig started...

[jawjatek]

Quick update. Ran the sacrificial turbo/sugar wash today and got my first experience running the pot still. Everything worked well; ran 7 gal of mash that I forgot to take O.G of, but it was a pack of turbo 48 and I added 6 kg sugar per directions, for a total of 7 gal. It definitely finished, went to 0.990, all the yeast flocc'd to the bottom, but it never quite cleared up, even though I let it sit where it was cold for a day or two. That T48 mash has a cloying odor I found obnoxious, I understand why most here avoid this stuff.

Anyway, while collecting, I constantly took a little sniff every now and again to try and see if I could start training my nose. I collected about 1.75 gal, in 10 jars which I numbered. I put a coffee filter on each jar with a band. I did measure ABV/proof of each jar as they came out, and noticed the trend from start all the way down to 30% at the last. Tomorrow I will measure ABV again and smell to see how the heads, middle and end differ to train my nose a bit more, record the data, and then chuck it all on the yard ants.

Coming up: I got two Speidel 30l fermenters - they are very nice but a bit $$. I like them better than buckets. They are both bubbling away in a warm closet with two batches of Odin's TnT cornflakes recipe, for my first "real" run next. I used 8 lb of sugar and one ex-large box Corn Flakes in 7 gal total mash in each fermenter. Gonna strip one batch, and add the low wines it with a little backset to the second mash, and run that real slow.

Still need to finish my bok, but I am going to run the pot a while first to get the basics.

[Mikey-moo]

Sounds great

[jawjatek]

So made my third batch of mash today, after I racked off the 2 fermenters into my boiler. Cleaned up and sanitized, then made another batch of Odin's Cornflakes, only this time I added a box of bran flakes as well to each 7 gal batch, and this time I cooked the cereal. The first batch I just added the hot inverted sugar to the ground flakes and topped off. It finished dry, but I thought I should cook the flakes as the recipe states, and take no shortcuts. Today I first boiled the ground cereals for 10 min, then added the sugar and a little citric acid, and finished inverting. Dumped that into the fermenter, and topped off with water to 7 gal each. Pitched my yeast when it got under 100F, and aerated for 30 min. Both airlocks are blooping away like mad. So when I add the yeast at 95 F it takes quite a while to cool down. I put a fan on the fermenters to get them down below 80. They are at 82 right now.

Now I am getting ready to strip the first batch with the potstill. This hobby is fun! Lifting full 7 gal fermenters is not (when you have a dodgy back)! The plan is to add these low wines (minus a pint of hearts to try my very first shine) to the next batch and do a slow spirit run.

[Cashjon]

I'm using the Auber DSPR1, and a Crydom D2440 SSR from Mouser, instead of the homebrew SSVR circuit I was thinking of using. Auber is local to me, so no shipping charges, just sales tax. When I went over, they also had the box with heat sink so I grabbed one, saved me from having to cut and drill some DIY box I was going to use. You can download the wiring diagram from the website. Saved me a lot of time and works great, though I have not made a run yet, still working on the rest, and waiting on my fuel license.
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_ ... cts_id=444

Mr.Jawjatek, I have been doing so much reading on electrical issues and now I understand a lot more than before. I have a question about your Relay you bought from Mouser. To start I got rid of all my 120v elements and I'm going 240v same as yours. I really like the power regulator you have selected from Auberins and they recommend the SSR on there site in this case a 40a relay that only cost $15.50 plus they recommend a heat sink. Question is what is the difference between the 40a relay from mouser for $49.00 vs the one on Auberins for $15.50? Is it better quality or something? I ask because I want to buy the best,safest products available. Thanks In advance.

[jawjatek]

The (Chinese) Auber SSR is probably OK if you want to cut costs. I don't mind paying more for longer life and better QC, so I went with the Crydom.

A good heat sink of proper rating, and thermal compound between SSR and heatsink for good heat transfer, is essential for long service life of any SSR. You want the fins on outside of enclosure so it can radiate in the air. If you put it inside the box, you've trapped all the heat and now need a fan. I also lap the SSR and heatsink surfaces so they mate nicely for best thermal transfer, use a thin coat of thermal compound, and torque the screws to the recommended value. Note: a 5500W element draws 5500W/240V = 23A on 100% power. This has to go thru the SSR. Per the data sheet, the SSR drops about 1.15V at rated current, and that means it is dissipating 23A *1.15V = 26W as heat. A simple rule of thumb is an SSR dissipates 1 watt per amp of load current (rms). That has to go somewhere... else.

A decent quick read to familiarize yourself with SSRs here:http://www.crydom.com/en/service/crydom ... aining.pdf. Lots more if ya search...

[Cashjon]

Well thank-you very much, that's exactly what I wanted to know, I will definitely go with the better SSR. Thanks again for the post and link, I have learned so much lately about stuff I was afraid to even touch before. I will have to look closer because I never even realized that the Auber SSR was from China. I try to stay away from anything from China in all parts of my life if possible. I'm a strong believer that if I can not buy made in North America US/CAN then I try to buy European. But thanks to our lovely leaders and corporate greed that's a hard to find. Oh and one last comment, you are just cookin with your start-up. Sounds like everything is going great.Did you make a fermenter out of barrel or ?.. or did you buy something, you mentioned aerating I was going to make a loop aerator but that is still in the thought phase.

[jawjatek]

I did my strip run of cornflakes the other day. All went by the book. I threw the first pint on the ants, collected in qts, and took it down to below 20%; got 13 quarts. This will all be added to the next batch of wash for a 1.5 spirit run. That stuff has just about stopped bubbling and will be ready to go this weekend.

The next night, I did swig quite a bit out of the quart #4, so I got to taste the first I ever made. No headache or tummy upset; no worse than my usual Old Forester or Flor de Cana. News flash: Over-indulgence in ethanol may cause hangover the next day, and it don't matter who made it.

I'm using 2 of the 30L Speidel fermenters, and a aquarium pump with 2u sintered steel air stone deal-ly from the online brew sites for aerating mash. There is a "barrel guy" nearby that has tons of various barrels, but I want a 20 gal food-grade (no garlic) with screw lid for doing my UJSSM mash, and he is out of those for now. Other home shiners clean 'em out, I reckon. He said they go fast, and will call next time he has any.

Still need to get off my butt and finish my boka head for neutral. Figured I'd learn on the pot still first, I have some serious nose and tongue training to do, and it doesn't take all day and night to run a batch - 4 hours tops, then you can take your time, proof and sniff/taste each jar the next day or so when it has aired out a touch and you feel like it. The tried and true sugar mashes likes Odin's cornflakes whisky or Rad's All-Bran makes it simple to get started without any effort dealing with a complicated mash or grain. I did tweak Odin's recipe to a combo of cornflakes and bran cereal this time to see how that tastes.

[jawjatek]

My thread needs more pictures:


My first 1.5 spirit run went great last night. Took 6 hours, ABV started at 68% and I ran until 20%. I discarded 300 ml foreshots, got 17 quarts (dropped jar #7 oops). Power setting was 20% at first, then "chased" the BP up from there to around 35%. When ABV went under 40% and I could smell tails (Hey! I'm learning!), I increased power to 40%, turned up coolant water, and stripped off tails, stopping at 20% ABV.

I noticed the cold water feed to the Leibig needed to track the power setting pretty close, and I had trouble going low enough to get a perfect stream with no huffing. I didn't notice until I was done that the copper mesh I put in the end of the Leibig last time had come out when I washed it out. Doh! Anyway, I am going to add a valve in the coolant outflow somewhere to control the flow easier than adjusting the faucet. I decided to T into a cold water line in the basement and add a faucet near to where I run the still, because running hoses across the garage pisses off the wife - of course she decides to do the laundry right when I am setting up ...

I got really hammered taking sips from the jars tasting, slept until noon, but no headache. Nice sweet taste of, well, cornflakes and all-bran, some of the middle hearts have a nice sweet taste with almost no smell. Gonna let the jars air, then go try to make cuts. Basically I am cutting out the middle hearts for drinking, and save the rest as feints.

Next up: sweet feed mash.

[jdetechguy]

My friend did a great job TIG welding the ferrules. I may add a drain later; I have some pumps around that will handle that for now. I also wired up my 5500W stainless Camco heater element in a 2" TC adapter that will go in the lower ferrule (yes, its grounded, and will make a good enough connection to the keg thru the clamp). Now to add a 240V 30A breaker and 6L-30 receptacle to my shop panel. Then I can hook it up and test by boiling some water.

This has to be the nicest looking Keg I have seen. Where did you pick this up?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[jawjatek]

Bought a new one on sale here: http://www.kegco.com/index.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

A friend gave me one, but it was dented, funky, and probably belonged to Anheuser-Busch. Decided not to use it.

[jdetechguy]

Bought a new one on sale here: http://www.kegco.com/index.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

A friend gave me one, but it was dented, funky, and probably belonged to Anheuser-Busch. Decided not to use it.

Thanks. Nice job too.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[Cashjon]

Erased: Was talked about in Electrical

[still_stirrin]

A stepped drill bit would get you up to 1" or possibly 1-1/4". It is useful for other hole too, especially in copper. I have also use a Dremel to cut larger holes, like the square hole needed for the PiD. Otherwise, you can sometimes find a good deal on the Greenlee punches on eBay.
ss

[Joeygiordano]

Is that teflon tape around the screw connector? Is that OK to use?

[Mikey-moo]

Is that teflon tape around the screw connector? Is that OK to use?

PTFE tape (aka Teflon) is one of the approved materials on this site.

[jawjatek]

Sipping from a pint pulled from my 1st gen SF mash strip run at 45% the other weekend. An interesting flavor, and smooth. After stripping I used about 25% hot backset to dissolve another charge of sugar, aerated it well until cool, and added it back to my fermenting tub with the trub, UJSSM-style. I topped it off with water, and it fired right back up. Two days later it has a nice strong earthy beer smell, I guess that is the sour mash. Smells better and stronger than the cornflakes, for sure. I'm going to strip it and do one more gen of sour mashing for wash to add to the strips for the spirit run. Sounds like a plan.

I did take jar 4 of the cornflakes at 64 ABV and put in a couple pieces of toasted white oak.

Time for one more sip of SF strip before sacking out. Here's mud in yer eye.

[jawjatek]

Decided to make another, better, Leibig, and soldered up a 42" jacket unit using 1" over 3/4", with a ball valve on the water output for cooling control. I must say my soldering is getting much better - the joints actually look good, and I had no leaks. I blasted it with steam and vinegar, then ran the feints from my cornflakes run mixed with water as a sacrificial. I was able to strip at a higher power setting and the new condenser worked even better than the old one. Chucked all the distillate down the drain even though it was crystal clear and smelled great.

I learned some new things :
1. don't fumble the wash hydrometer 'cause they break easily (Doh! ordered 2 new ones).
2. Leibig "huffing" goes away if you have the cooling set perfectly, i.e., about 95-100F coming out of the hot side and a proper thermal gradient across the condenser. No copper mesh needed, just turn down the water flow a tad and the huffing stops.
3. when soldering the female side of a copper union, put the nut on the threads to protect them and keep from getting any solder in the threads.
4. Got some Reflectix insulation to insulate the boiler with, which makes it more efficient, and doesn't hurt as much when you accidentally let your leg press up against it!

So I am still waiting for this first gen of sour mash SF to finish off, its been 7 days and is almost done. The pH is pretty low from the backset, which is why it is taking longer to finish. I broke my hydrometer, but the mash is starting to taste pretty sour instead of sweet, so it is almost ready to rack off. Ordered some calcium carbonate and some 5.2 buffer to use to control pH if needed in the future. Looking forward to some UJSSM/SF sour mash, but it is a few weeks away as I plant to do 3 strips and then a spirit run. Got two more mash cycles to go yet...

[jawjatek]

One last update and I will let this thread drop. So I ran the first UJSSM - style SF batch and was very happy with the results. Got some fine tasting hearts and the rest will go in the next run. Using about 25% backset each batch, with some calcium carbonate to raise the pH back into the good range, and changing out the spent grain every other run. I'm having fun learning the pot still and will stick with it awhile. No need to run the boka yet. I want to find a good molasses supply and try my hand at some rum soon. Arrrrrrrr, Mateys!

Edit to add stats from run of gen I simple sour mash sweet feed (SSSF):
Started heating 00:00 (elapsed hours:minutes) at 100% pwr, 13 gal simple sour-mash sweet feed gen 1 fermented 10 days with 25% backset from initial non-sour strip run.
00:46 first drops, went to 25% pwr and collected 1 pint fore shots (64 ABV), then ran @ 1 qt heads into feints/strip carboy. Then collected in qt jars.
jar 1 01:15 62% ABV 30% power
jar 2 01:38 60% ABV " "
jar 3 01:55 58% ABV " "
jar 4 02:11 56% ABV " "
jar 5 02:28 52% ABV " "
jar 6 02:43 50% ABV 40% power (taste is good, fire test burns)
jar 7 02:55 48% ABV " " "
jar 8 03:07 46% ABV " " "
jar 9 03:21 42% ABV " " (would not burn, taste is still good)
jar 10 03:36 40% ABV " " (won't burn, taste OK) - stopped collecting jars here and ran the tails into the feints/strip carboy at 50% power.
04:11 24% ABV
04:16 went to 60% power
04:30 ABV < 20%, stopped run here.
So yield was 10 quarts in jars to cut, and about another gallon into feints carboy combined with first strip (non-sour mash). Will add this to next run.
Taste is WAY better than first strip with no backset - nice sweetness and flavor of the grains.
Started gen II of SSSF using 4 gal backset, 25 lbs sugar, aerated until cooled. Added back to fermenter (20 gal Brute trash can white HDPE) with 1/2 cup calcium carbonate to control pH, with most of the old SF replaced with new that was boiled a bit to kill bacteria. No yeast added as there is plenty of barm in the trash can. Topped up with tap water. SG = 1.070, pH = 4.6. Went to bed and slept late. This morning I could hear it bubbling fiercely.