My First Still build and cleaning run...with questions

[Zxlork]

Well I finally got my set up complete. Ended up with a 15.5 gallon keg, 50 foot of 1/2 inch OD soft copper tubing for my worm condenser and a turkey fryer for a burner. Even did a cleaning run on it running it full boar to try and see how much I could push through it...is doing so ran into some problems and a lot of questions.

When I was running it for whatever reason the distilled water would surge coming out the worm. I have no clue why. Here is a picture of my worm before I put it in the plastic bucket.

This is the Coil of my Keg before it went in the plastic 30 gallon trash bin

There are 11-12 coils total in the worm. Each coil is 2.5 inch drop to the next coil below it. I knew people had problems before getting a somewhat uniform downward spiral so that is why I soldered it onto #4 gauge copper wire. Because I did this I am stumped as to why I am getting surging. I do not have any marbles in my keg which I will try next water run. Maybe I'm getting surge boiling in the keg itself? Also I plan on eventually insulating the copper pipe. I did put a 18 gallon metal trash can with a hole big enough in the bottom so i can tighten my Tri clamp. Here is a picture of my keg set up and my whole set up as well.

This is my 15.5 gallon keg with a metal garbage can over it as a heat shield so it is more efficient

Here is the whole set-up I am running together.

The only thing I could think of that would cause surging is if somehow there is solder in the join I had to solder connecting the two soft copper tubing together. however if there was any i also inverted the copper tubing so it would be on the top if any did remain in their. Any suggestions?

Also I did not know if I am running enough heat. When running it on max I am getting 1 pint every 10 minutes so that's 3/4 of a gallon per hour. Sounds a little slow a stripping run but maybe that's just me.

Look forward to hearing from you guys,
Zxlork

[Dnderhead]

my guess whould be to much "up" on the lyne arm (slanted part). it is condensing and trying to come back down but the vapor keeps pushes it up.
insulate or reduce the angel.

[Zxlork]

Ok ill try that. Any comments about heat source?

[Dnderhead]

I do not see any problems there, just a good steady heat is all you need.

[rubber duck]

I have never tried to distill water so I'm just speculating here but I suspect water would surge a little. Try it with a alcohol cleaning run and I'll bet it doesn't surge.

That's a nice looking rig.

[rad14701]

my guess whould be to much "up" on the lyne arm (slanted part). it is condensing and trying to come back down but the vapor keeps pushes it up.
insulate or reduce the angel.

+1

I would also reduce the length of the small diameter lyne arm...

[Zxlork]

Currently...it come out of the keg in a 2" to a 90 degree bend to a 45 degree bend. Then reduces from 2" to 1" then 1" to 3/4" then 3/4" to 1/2" Then another 45 degree turn to make it level then goes straight to a 90 degree bend down into the worm.

What I am thinking of doing is replacing the 1/2" 45 degree bend with a 90 degree bend straight into the coil. that way there is no "level" spot and the shallowest angle is 45 degrees. I think this should fix my problem I hope. Plus it will decrease the overall 1/2" length of pipe by a few feet...I'll just have to adjust where I place the keg is all.

[LWTCS]

that way there is no "level" spot and the shallowest angle is 45 degrees. I think this should fix my problem I hope.

I think your on track.

That span could have a bit of a belly and with that lenth you certainly could be getting some pooling.

Always an upward or downward path I'd say.

[Zxlork]

I so wanted to cry today. So here are my new pictures.

This is how I changed my angels I think it will work out better in the long run.

I am glad I made that change for sure.

Here is the steam coming out of my still.

OK as you can see the steam is coming out at a great clip...just water. However this dam thing keeps coming in spurts to me. For the life of me I can not get the water to come out as a stream. It doesn't seem to spurt out as much as it was before but it is still farm from perfect. I just don't get it. I made the worm so it would go down at 2.5 inches each turn and for whatever reason it won't give me a constant straight stream. Once the still shut down and cooled off I then tried taking a cup of water and slowly pouring it down the worm. Once again came out in bunches. Do you guys have any suggestions what is going on?

I figured even if it had a flat spot or two the water would pool up then as more water came to fill it in the other water would trickle down. Like a lake with a dam. Fill up the lake 10 gallons and 10 gallons goes over the dam. Any suggestions?

[rad14701]

Your lyne arm still looks longer than it needs to be... Also, not sure just how much difference it would make but I'm concerned about your worm bucket having its take off point potentially higher than the wash level in your keg... I've always been of the opinion that it should be lower...

[Dnderhead]

poring water in a tube , does that, I mite be wrong but I believe it is caused by friction, (you can try it with plastic tubing) the water you pore in catches up with that running down, so that is not a good test.
some thing else that can cause surging, cooling water that is to cold, surging can happen until the "cooling" water is "hot" on top and cool on bottom.
(try warmer cooling water) any water added neads to be added to bottom. you want your vapor to cool gradually.

[scarecrow]

I think dunderhead has it. I just recently built a pot still and worm in a bucket.

When I ran the vinegar and water wash I was getting a steady stream and a little bit of huffing.
When I did the water flush, It huffed a lot more (but settled down when it got into the run) and the output was not constant. It drove me nuts. Dribble, drip drip dribble, pour etc.

I drained the container and checked the worm for downhill running and any flat spots. Couldn't find anything wrong.

Then I did an actual sugar wash run. Dang. A whole different kettle o' fish now.
The output had a constant solid stream. It huffed at the start and then went away as the top layer of water heated up.
It huffed again at what I think was the temperature spike going from heads to hearts. It huffed for about 2-3 mins. I noticed the water got hotter, and the hot water got a bit deeper. 5 mins later it settled down and got on with the job. Not once did it break stream, but it did get slower at the temp spike. It then picked up again for the run home.

Don't worry too much about the results from a water flush. Because it happens at a much higher temp, it is also more susceptible to variations in temp. Mine has no insulation and it was a bitch on the water flush.

Your lyne arm still looks longer than it needs to be... Also, not sure just how much difference it would make but I'm concerned about your worm bucket having its take off point potentially higher than the wash level in your keg... I've always been of the opinion that it should be lower...

Mine is like that and it doesn't cause a problem. Rad, what is the theory behind that assumption?

http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... d=4248&t=1

I did notice that your lyne arm is fairly long and uninsulated. Copper transfers heat rapidly. Try some insulation.

scarecrow

[rad14701]

Mine is like that and it doesn't cause a problem. Rad, what is the theory behind that assumption?

The additional drop should cause the vapor to collapse more readily back to condensate... That entire vapor circuit forms its own equilibrium and the lower you force the vapor to fall the further it should condense thus reducing condensers work load...

[blanikdog]

I agree with dunder on this one. The up angle is far too high IMHO. There must be a lot of cooling happening there. Sure it gets the condenser at working height , but ...

Maybe, as dunder suggested, some insulation would help. It certainly wouldn't hinder.

blanik

[The Baker]

snip

the output was not constant. It drove me nuts. Dribble, drip drip dribble, pour etc.

snip

scarecrow

Tell me about it.

(Sigh)

Anyway I have a date with a surgeon at the end of the month....

[Zxlork]

To be honest I don't think there is a ton of reflux happening during that uptake but if there is that's OK with me. I was hoping for just a little to aid in separation of heads, hearts and tails.

[Dnderhead]

the only way to makes cuts on a pot still is by smell/taste and feel. they "blur" together or overlap. going by temps. etc does not work.do to variances in wash/mash. even making the same wash/mash/low wine each time does not work, but comes closer.

[Zxlork]

Yeah. I just figured a little reflux would only seperate the heads hearts and tails more than normal pot still. Granted it will probably be so little I will never notice. Btw I am currently ferminting 5 gallons of cheap vodka wash for a cleaning run and man does it bubble a lot more vigorously than wine or beer fermentation.

[Zxlork]

Just in case anyone comes upon this thread I am currently running my still for the first time as we speak and there is no surgeing at all. Pencil lead size stream coming out I'm tickled pink!

I will note that although I keep trying to get my hands dirty on this strip run of Birdwatchers it is so nasty but then again I'm running it pretty hard. I did however add baking soda 4.5g per liter to help get rid of some of the oils. So after today's run I have another 12 gallon wash to run through tonight then spirit run tomorrow

[Zxlork]

here is my rough data:
12.5 gallon in boiler
Prep start 12:00
Heatup start 1:12
Pencil Lead Size at 2:22
Stopped 4:31 getting 10% ABV

Got about 3-4 gallons

Flour Paste
1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 tsp salt

Without a doubt I will need to make a parrot. I kept pulling some off in a thin tall jar which wasn't tall enough so I had no clue what my abv was at the start and couldn't read it until close to the end because I couldn't read anything above 30% because my glass was too short.