new here from ontario canada

[john.0_o]

Hi gang
I'm john and i'm from canada,currently i live both in canada and the u.s (missouri).
i have been pot distilling for about seven years now and have just built my first reflux and coincidently came across this site.by the looks of it i have jumped the gun and built myself a less then worthy still head from a design i found online.

i haven't run it yet and i'm not sure i'm even going to run it as a reflux still until i do some mods to it????
i have been snooping around here a bit and come to the conclusion that removing the bottom cooling tube and moving it up just under the top one would be the best thing to do other then completely redesigning the whole apparatus?

anyways...the site is great and full of great advice and stories and safety tips/techniques ( funny story,lastnight i had a dream about a still blowing up and burning the h#ll out of my back and then today i came across the story about the fellow getting burned,i was going to do a run tonight but i opted against it because of that dream)

anyways(yes another one)... it's great to find a group of people who love what they do and seem to be well educated on it.i will do my best to contribute what i can,if i can,when i can but i'm sure i will end up taking away more then i give(sorry and thanks)

i do have a recipe that i have been using for a few years that i have had tasty and good results with that i would love to share with you all if anybody is interested,it's nothing special but it works well and ferments almost as fast as something with turbo yeast but with lalvin 1118.

John

[mrhooch]

John:

Nice copper!

I was never a big fan of that type of design as it destroys the thermal gradient in the column that produces the high abv you are probably looking for. I'm not saying it won't work, but it may not be as efficient as you would like.

IMHO, the pipes going through the column don't allow you to add any packing material which is crucial to getting the higher percentages.

I haven't tried it yet, but Big Al's (the fish store) sells the ceramic packing which they use for salt water filtration which looks real similar to the packing others have used.

As a guy who reconfigures his still every couple of batches, (I'm sketched a few ideas for the Mark 9, soon to be posted), I would try it out first, it will produce something!

If you are not too impressed with the results, then ditch the lower cooling line (just disconnect it) which in this design requires some cutting.

PS. If you can blow through your column, it won't blow up. However depending on how much heat you use during distilling you might get a column surge which blows your wash through the column and makes a real mess. That said, you will hear a lot of liquid gurgling in your column before that happens, and you can reduce the heat appropriately.

Mr. Hooch

[beelah]

Welcome John and nice to see more Canadians on this site.

I am out on the West coast and have been on this list serve for under a year and have learned all sorts of good information.

[blind drunk]

Welcome aboard John. Used to be from Ontario, but not anymore. Cheers, bd.

[john.0_o]

John:

Nice copper!

I was never a big fan of that type of design as it destroys the thermal gradient in the column that produces the high abv you are probably looking for. I'm not saying it won't work, but it may not be as efficient as you would like.

IMHO, the pipes going through the column don't allow you to add any packing material which is crucial to getting the higher percentages.

I haven't tried it yet, but Big Al's (the fish store) sells the ceramic packing which they use for salt water filtration which looks real similar to the packing others have used.

As a guy who reconfigures his still every couple of batches, (I'm sketched a few ideas for the Mark 9, soon to be posted), I would try it out first, it will produce something!

If you are not too impressed with the results, then ditch the lower cooling line (just disconnect it) which in this design requires some cutting.

PS. If you can blow through your column, it won't blow up. However depending on how much heat you use during distilling you might get a column surge which blows your wash through the column and makes a real mess. That said, you will hear a lot of liquid gurgling in your column before that happens, and you can reduce the heat appropriately.

Mr. Hooch

i was going to fill it with marbles before i put the top cooling tube on but i decided against it.i think i could easily stuff some pot scrubbers down there or better yet i can get copper turnings from somebody i know .

i think for now i will use it unpacked untill i put the bottom tube up top.if the design is no good i figure there is no point dinkin around with it untill it works properly.
John 0_o

[mrhooch]

Well you can still stuff in some copper scrubbies into the lower part, I can't tell if it is 2" or not, but No Frills has the best price on the good scrubbies. Instead of taking them apart, I roll them in between my hands to squish them up a bit so they will slide snuggly into the column.

As for worrying about the design too much, just run it!!!!

PS What are you using for a boiler?

Mr. Hooch

[john.0_o]

i just got done doing a 5 gallon run(in three separate runs my pot isn't the biggest) and it actually worked pritty well.when i was doing a cleaning run with just water i thought there was no hope it was either steam or a drop every minute but once i got something with alcohol into it it worked great.

here is what i figured and what works well:first off hook all your water lines up and run some water through it to get all the air out then cut off the water,then put the heat to your pot and wait.once it starts to heat up feel the the tube it will get hot at the bottom and the heat will slowly work its way up,once you feel the heat at the 90 bend at the top a few seconds later it will start to drip out the condenser,now turn your water on but don't turn it on much it will only take a drizzle(this surprised me) if you want it to pump the booze out pretty fast keep the water very low and keep a feel on the condenser it should feel a bit warm but not at all hot,i kept it so the bottom was about room temp and the top half was warm.

it is very very touchy with the water and takes very little if you want a fast run but i would imagine the slower it goes the more pure your alcohol would be.

all in all i think i might try and go with this one it's easy to control(once it's set its good for the whole run) and be able to do very fast and seemingly clean runs and slow and very pure runs.

john 0_o

[mrhooch]

Congratulations on your first run!!!! First of many I figure.

Remember to let the product air out for a day or two, you are dealing with total recovery of all stuff in the mash, and the smells do get concentrated in the final product, but the nice thing is they leave easily from the finished product.

Yes it is a fine line running the cooling controls. I'm still trying to find valves that allow me to control my flow rate to within .5 ml per minute.

Have fun!

Mr. Hooch

[john.0_o]

Congratulations on your first run!!!! First of many I figure.

Remember to let the product air out for a day or two, you are dealing with total recovery of all stuff in the mash, and the smells do get concentrated in the final product, but the nice thing is they leave easily from the finished product.

Yes it is a fine line running the cooling controls. I'm still trying to find valves that allow me to control my flow rate to within .5 ml per minute.

Have fun!

Mr. Hooch

thanks and yes this is a first with anything other then a pot still and i think it went well.

what do you mean air out? like in an open container? it really doesn't have much of an oder it has a bit of a vanilla taste but it usually does in the pot still too.
i have some that i will age and some that i will drink...this is hot stuff feels nice and warming,you just cant take a breath after you take a drink or it chokes you out.

have you tried just a ball valve from the hardware store

Welded_Ball_Valve_With_Drain.summ.jpg (1.24 KiB) Viewed 1237 times

john 0_o

[mrhooch]

Yup, in an open container. I don't tend to age mine too much, too much fun in drinking it! I love the occasional straight shot diluted down appropriately. Drinking 92% straight is great for giving you a case of 4 day heartburn cause it destroys your guts.

Thanks for the tip on the valve, I need something with even finer control than a needle valve I'm currently using. My setup uses a separate top condensor to provide reflux to raise the ABV. I control the amount of product I collect by controlling the reflux and it is a very fine line which my current needle valve can't handle (about a 1/16 of a turn).

Sigh...

Have good Friday drink, I'm slurping on a hooch and diet coke.

Mr Hooch

[john.0_o]

Yup, in an open container. I don't tend to age mine too much, too much fun in drinking it! I love the occasional straight shot diluted down appropriately. Drinking 92% straight is great for giving you a case of 4 day heartburn cause it destroys your guts.

Thanks for the tip on the valve, I need something with even finer control than a needle valve I'm currently using. My setup uses a separate top condensor to provide reflux to raise the ABV. I control the amount of product I collect by controlling the reflux and it is a very fine line which my current needle valve can't handle (about a 1/16 of a turn).

Sigh...

Have good Friday drink, I'm slurping on a hooch and diet coke.

Mr Hooch

what you need is a metering valve and they aint cheap.
http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/produ ... p?cls=7035

http://www.swagelok.com/valves/metering_valves.htm#sml

john 0_o

[blanikdog]

There's a wealth of information in this forum about airing johno, 366 posts actually. Airing is essential if you want quality.

Try the search function, top right fourth button in.

blanik

Edit: post directed to hooch.

[mrhooch]

John:

Thanks for the tip, should have figured out something in the manufacturing field would have a metered valve. Well next time I go to the scrappers I'll look for something like that.

So how's the batch taste?

Mr. Hooch

[john.0_o]

John:

Thanks for the tip, should have figured out something in the manufacturing field would have a metered valve. Well next time I go to the scrappers I'll look for something like that.

So how's the batch taste?

Mr. Hooch

it tastes good,maybe to good.a buddy and i were up until 6 am last night and polished off about a litre of it and i must say i am feeling it a little to day but not as bad if it was whiskey from the store or beer.

we had some ok quality store bought vodka and it tasted like sh## compared to the homemade and wasn't drank until the good stuff was gone.
good luck on your valve search.

john 0_o

i just took a quick look on ebay and got 360 results for metering valves....maybe take a look there

[mrhooch]

Amen to that. People don't believe me when I mix a drink. No taste and no bad headache/hangover the next day. Think they aren't drinking anything until they try to stand up.

You got a batch on the ferment already?

Hooch.

[john.0_o]

Amen to that. People don't believe me when I mix a drink. No taste and no bad headache/hangover the next day. Think they aren't drinking anything until they try to stand up.

You got a batch on the ferment already?

Hooch.

no new batch,i'm going to the u.s in two weeks for about a month and i figured i'd get some more going when i get back,also when i get back i am going to upgrade my boiler and get a turkey fryer setup with a 30 quart pot,that should be big enough for me and i wont have to use the side burner of the bbq any longer.

i have some aging with a couple fingers of toasted oak that i will sample when i get back.it sure picked some color quick.

john 0_o