My New Rig

[tlb63]

I am in a bit of a whirl wind with this setup. The picture shows my gas setup but i have now converted over to electric. I am using a 220v 5500 watt element with a temperature controller (thermostat). My question is i done a cleaning run and turned the controller up to 190 i was getting a staedy stream along with vapor coming out the output tube. The top of my column was running around 85 - 87 degrees. This rig is made up of all stainless. The output tube is 3/4", Also as I was doing the cleaning run I had cooling water running. i would like to know if I need to change the output tube inside the condender to copper. Just for information I was doing this as if i was running for real I collected 6 quarts in about 45 minutes. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Samohon]

Hello tlb63...

In an all stainless still, its good to have a little copper in the vapour path, it really helps in getting rid of any sulphides...
No need to change the output tube to copper, just add some copper mesh/scrubbie inside your column...

About Temps...
H20 boils at 100C, Ethanol boils at 78.3C. In your vapour path you are going to have a percentage of ethanol and H20.
This fact will cause the reading to be higher than the 78.3C as there is some H20 in your product as well as many other compounds...

Hope it helps...

[tlb63]

I forgot to add that i have copper mesh 3/4 of the way up the column.

[Dnderhead]

"I need to change the output tube inside the condenser to copper"
no,no, copper should be in the boiler or in the vapor path.
this is because any sulphates react with copper making copper sulphates ,then this stays in or drops back into boiler. if sulphates react with copper after the you can have copper sulphates flakes in your product.

[tlb63]

Dndnrhead that s what i am asking that if i need change the 3/4" stainless tube inside the condenser to copper due to the cooling aspect of this monster

[tlb63]

I believe it is in th e temperature control. Learning how to control it with the electric is being the test. I turn it on and in 25 minutes I am up to teperature. I'm not sure on the controlling of this unit. After I get it up to temperature what should I turn the control back to to maintain it's temperature. I am thinking about once I get it up to temperature shutting down one leg of the 220v and running it with 110v. I'm not sure about this though. It seems as though it's going to be a trial and error dial. Just documenting everything I do and the actions I am taking until I get the right configuration. But if there is any input anyone may have, it would be greatly appreciated.