Home Distiller

here she is, my baby, works great

can only upload 6 photos at a time so here have some more

Looks great. Did you weld up that keg yourself?

A chest freezer? Thank you for the idea sir, I was just thinking of ways to keep the fermenters warm during the winter!

beardedbrewer wrote:Looks great. Did you weld up that keg yourself?

No, unfortunatly the other half won't let me near things like that

Paid some joker about $40 and I gave him some of my product once I got some through the still (like most places, alcohol is literally a second currency down here)

Great looking set up. I really like the idea of the chest freezer. I'll be doing some kind of insulated fermenting box myself at some point. I ferment in the basement and it stays pretty cool down there in the winter.

Have fun and stay safe,
S-C

I got agree on the chest freezer. Makes a great fermentation chamber.

I happen to have a deepfreeze that broke down a while back. Have been putting off taking it to the dump. Glad I kept it

Thump35 wrote:I happen to have a deepfreeze that broke down a while back. Have been putting off taking it to the dump. Glad I kept it

hahah and they say hoarding is a bad habit, everything has a use

I can hold roughly 150L of wash in there (2x60L 1x 30L) plus my heater (i was using a heatpad but it broke, so am temporarily using a mini oil column heater, set at about 26C.

Mine is a small one. I was using it for keeping beer on ice when we'd have fires over the summer. But am definitly going to repurpose it now.

I wonder if a reptile heater would work out for this. They don't put out as much heat as a heating pad. But do last a long time.

Do you run that heating element on the 240 volts because it seems that would scorch the wash because that element will glow red. I was thinking of using a 240v 5500w element and running it on 110v which would be about 1325w and the element would never glow red just dont know if it would take forever to heat 10 gallons.

many of us use 5500 watt elements on full 220. Scorching will not be an issue if you use an ultra low watt density element.... water heater elements do not glow red, they need to be submerged at all times.

In that case I should be able to use a 2000W 110v element for a 10 gallon boiler. i am restricted to 100v I dont have a 220v option.

water element is submerged in the wash so, can't glow red, I was thinking of upgrading to a 5500W but that means rewiring some of the house (i'm only flatting) and my electrician mate has moved cities....

but I'm not fussed with a 1 hour warmup.

I don't know much about the difference between 110v and 220v but wouldnt the 110 volts be a half circut so you would only get 1000w out of the element ( I'm just guessing, I actually have no idea sorry)

pounsfos wrote:water element is submerged in the wash so, can't glow red, I was thinking of upgrading to a 5500W but that means rewiring some of the house (i'm only flatting) and my electrician mate has moved cities....

but I'm not fussed with a 1 hour warmup.

I don't know much about the difference between 110v and 220v but wouldnt the 110 volts be a half circut so you would only get 1000w out of the element ( I'm just guessing, I actually have no idea sorry)

A 240V 5500W element will produce 1375W at 120V...

rad14701 wrote:

pounsfos wrote:water element is submerged in the wash so, can't glow red, I was thinking of upgrading to a 5500W but that means rewiring some of the house (i'm only flatting) and my electrician mate has moved cities....

but I'm not fussed with a 1 hour warmup.

I don't know much about the difference between 110v and 220v but wouldnt the 110 volts be a half circut so you would only get 1000w out of the element ( I'm just guessing, I actually have no idea sorry)

A 240V 5500W element will produce 1375W at 120V...

what do you think an average heat up time/ run time would be on a 10-12 gallon keg pot still with the 240v 5500w element to run ? with a 10% abv

rager wrote:

rad14701 wrote:

pounsfos wrote:water element is submerged in the wash so, can't glow red, I was thinking of upgrading to a 5500W but that means rewiring some of the house (i'm only flatting) and my electrician mate has moved cities....

but I'm not fussed with a 1 hour warmup.

I don't know much about the difference between 110v and 220v but wouldnt the 110 volts be a half circut so you would only get 1000w out of the element ( I'm just guessing, I actually have no idea sorry)

A 240V 5500W element will produce 1375W at 120V...

what do you think an average heat up time/ run time would be on a 10-12 gallon keg pot still with the 240v 5500w element to run ? with a 10% abv

There's a calculator on the Parent site to calculate the heat up time for a given set of variables. Actually, I think it's one of Rad's programs.

There's also tons of info on the forum about different heating element implementations. If you're running 110V, look for Mr.P's Harbour Freight thread.

S-C

Yes, the Heating Time To Temp calculator on this page will get you the answer...