Newcomer question: I have a 21L boiler, 32-inch column, fired by a propane camp shower burner. My goal is to distill 3-¾ gal. Of low wines from four batches of mash, each made from 5 gal water, 3 ¾ lbs of malted barley, 10 lbs of pale liquid malt extract, white labs yeast. (Last batch used Bert Strands whisky yeast) Wort came out good. Water adjusted to PH 5.8, steeped barley @ 160-140 deg. For 90 min. sparged, iodine test came out good. Brought to boil, added LME, used wort chiller to 80 deg. Aerated with 02 for 1 min. Pitched yeast and beano. OG- 1.072, TG- 1.022 = 50 div 7.4 = 6.76 abv, in 72 hrs, racked twice, added 10 glass marbles, then to boiler.
My column has no packing; I removed the screen at the bottom. I insulated the top half with pipe insulation. I plugged the column condensers to prevent airflow. I connected water to the bottom in and the top out, of the condenser on the small arm. Checked thermometer on top of column with ice at 0 cent. Added mineral oil, Started burner on med. heat.
Problem: All 4 batches took about 2 hrs to get to 85 deg. F, turned heat to low, then in 4 min. temp jumped to 145 F. I shut down 10 min temp.back to 100F. Increased water flow turned gas almost off. Temp shot to 194F, shut down for 1 hr. Started again at 73 F, in 30 min temp rose to 178 F, light cloudy drip. Six min more at 192.3 dripping at 10-15-drips/sec. Temp stayed here for 3 hrs, then went to 199F in 1 ½ hrs went to 204.8 I shut down. The first 250ml was 60%abv, end average 40% abv. All four batches ran about the same fluctuations in temps. Not like the book says it supposed to happen. I have to be doing something wrong. Like to know before running my low wines.
can't control temp fluctions
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pinetar
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Swag
- Swill Maker
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Welcome Pinetar,
Why do you keep shutting the thing down when it finally gets up to temp? They all shoot up like that. Turn the flame down about half once it starts to drip. Don't run it full tilt during your takeoff period.
As your ethanol boils out of your wash, the concentration of ethanol will naturally also go down in your vapor. This will correspond with a rise in vapor temperature.
No run ever goes just like the book. Yours sounds fairly typical to me.
Read the mother site some more about running your still.
Why do you keep shutting the thing down when it finally gets up to temp? They all shoot up like that. Turn the flame down about half once it starts to drip. Don't run it full tilt during your takeoff period.
As your ethanol boils out of your wash, the concentration of ethanol will naturally also go down in your vapor. This will correspond with a rise in vapor temperature.
No run ever goes just like the book. Yours sounds fairly typical to me.
Read the mother site some more about running your still.
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DBM
- Novice
- Posts: 55
- Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 6:02 pm
heat control
It looks like you are doing good, you just need experience using "your" still. They all operate the same but different "you know what I mean".
Insulate your colum, locate your still out of drafts.
I think my still is a lot like yours. I put three wads of copper mesh in my colum ( bottom middle & top) so that the whiskey coming off is a little over 130 proof. That way it's ready to go in the oak barrels with very little water added. Saves on gas and time.
Try letting your temp get to 150 then turn on the water, this will cause the temp to drop then start back up. When the temp gets to 160 turn your heat down as low as you can get it. As it starts to drop again slowly (very slowly) turn it up, try to get it to 170 and hold it there as long as you can. At this temp you should be getting drops of stuff comming out (this is the bad stuff) throw it out. Keep trying to hold 170 as long as you can, the temp will slowly rise by it's self. When it gets to 174 start collecting in a seperate jug (this is the heads, keep it seperate and run it in your next run) with your heat on low the temp will slowley rise (by itself) and your output should still be coming in drops. when the temp reaches 178 make a very small adjustment to your heat so that the whiskey is coming in a very small stream (bout like a match stem) sometimes it will even make a few drops then flow in the little stream. At this time about ever five or ten min stick your finger in the stream and taste it. At first it will taste like some kind of cleaning fluid (awful). After a while you'll notice that cleaning fluid taste is not there, change jugs, you are now collecting the good stuff. As you collect the good stuff the temp will slowley rise by itself, only adjust temp if your little stream starts droping too much, just keep it coming over at the smallest stream you can. When the temp reaches 198 start tasting again, somewhere around 200 you will notice it taste weak or (watered down) when you notice this switch jugs. Now you are collecting the tails, keep these seperate to mix with your heads to be rerun in your next batch.
I use the mashback method so I usually quit at this point ( you are burning more gass than you are getting alcohol, so what's the use)
I hope this info is what you were looking for, my wife often accuses me of telling someone how to build a clock when all they wanted to know was what time it is.
Insulate your colum, locate your still out of drafts.
I think my still is a lot like yours. I put three wads of copper mesh in my colum ( bottom middle & top) so that the whiskey coming off is a little over 130 proof. That way it's ready to go in the oak barrels with very little water added. Saves on gas and time.
Try letting your temp get to 150 then turn on the water, this will cause the temp to drop then start back up. When the temp gets to 160 turn your heat down as low as you can get it. As it starts to drop again slowly (very slowly) turn it up, try to get it to 170 and hold it there as long as you can. At this temp you should be getting drops of stuff comming out (this is the bad stuff) throw it out. Keep trying to hold 170 as long as you can, the temp will slowly rise by it's self. When it gets to 174 start collecting in a seperate jug (this is the heads, keep it seperate and run it in your next run) with your heat on low the temp will slowley rise (by itself) and your output should still be coming in drops. when the temp reaches 178 make a very small adjustment to your heat so that the whiskey is coming in a very small stream (bout like a match stem) sometimes it will even make a few drops then flow in the little stream. At this time about ever five or ten min stick your finger in the stream and taste it. At first it will taste like some kind of cleaning fluid (awful). After a while you'll notice that cleaning fluid taste is not there, change jugs, you are now collecting the good stuff. As you collect the good stuff the temp will slowley rise by itself, only adjust temp if your little stream starts droping too much, just keep it coming over at the smallest stream you can. When the temp reaches 198 start tasting again, somewhere around 200 you will notice it taste weak or (watered down) when you notice this switch jugs. Now you are collecting the tails, keep these seperate to mix with your heads to be rerun in your next batch.
I use the mashback method so I usually quit at this point ( you are burning more gass than you are getting alcohol, so what's the use)
I hope this info is what you were looking for, my wife often accuses me of telling someone how to build a clock when all they wanted to know was what time it is.
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Longhairedcountryboy
- Swill Maker
- Posts: 315
- Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:30 am
- Location: Michigan
With your still adjustments (no packing, no reflux), you basicaly have a pot still. Your abv's and temps sound about right. I think you need to get your gas dialed in better. I usually fire the wash up real hard to start and when the temp hits 150F I back it off almost to nothing. I watch the thermometer closely and make fine adjustments with the gas valve to make sure the temp is slowly rising. First run, distillate starts dripping mid 170's give er take. For strippin, I try to maintain a stream that's just more than a drip for the whole run. I do alot of gas valve jockeying, making fine adjustments trying to keep the take off steady. The temp will rise kind of fast at first and then sloww down somewhere in the 180's and then go fast again up to 208, when I usually quit the run. Final % abv of my low wines are in the 50's or so.
For the spirit run, aim for 1-3 drips a second by controling the flame. The output will start at a lower temp, and it will go through periods of rapid rise and periods of slow rise. When the temp rises rapidly you will notice a difference in the smell and taste of the output and when it rises slowly the smell and taste won't change much. Just try to keep the output steady.
Your temps will probably be different than mine because your still is different then mine, but if you keep a steady output, you will figure out your own rough temps to watch for. I hope this helps. Good luck with your spirit run.
Let us know how it turns out. I am curious about how the extract tastes as a whiskey.
For the spirit run, aim for 1-3 drips a second by controling the flame. The output will start at a lower temp, and it will go through periods of rapid rise and periods of slow rise. When the temp rises rapidly you will notice a difference in the smell and taste of the output and when it rises slowly the smell and taste won't change much. Just try to keep the output steady.
Your temps will probably be different than mine because your still is different then mine, but if you keep a steady output, you will figure out your own rough temps to watch for. I hope this helps. Good luck with your spirit run.
Let us know how it turns out. I am curious about how the extract tastes as a whiskey.
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pinetar
- Novice
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- Location: Adirondack Mountains
Thank you
I want to thank you guys very much. I feel Iam in the ball park now. I have printed your advice to study more. One reason I kept shutting down was the foaming, but the tip in more reading about minerial helped. I will let you know how my final run turns out. Thanks