Home Distiller

After fighting soldering SS and finding success with a couple simple EZ flanges today's sac cleaning run with a new sight glass was a ball! I learned more today about how my CM runs than I have running blind for the last two years. Now I know without a doubt that I've been running this column in a flooded condition most of the time since I have the heat settings marked on the propane regulator and a few minutes of experimentation. This alone will help me make a much better product.

In this thread: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 8#p7285988 bearriver says:

bearriver wrote:I would find out how much heat it takes to flood that column, then back off until the flooding becomes settled above or inside the packing. If you can keep the flooding just above the packing in a safe and controlled manner (stable) then it will perform much better. I call running in this fashion the sweet spot for my reflux still.

I also seem to remember Dad posting a similar video with the same comment.

I believe both were right in that the column held >90% until the sight glass suddenly fogged signaling the onset of tails which it did quite suddenly, by the way. The glass was bubbling merrily along, I looked down at the parrot and when I looked up less than ten seconds later found this:
I marked that jar by situating it with an empty between where the sight glass was bubbling and the tails where the bubbling suddenly stopped and the glass fogged. The difference between the jars was striking and added a new way for me to find the tails in a run without using my senses of taste and smell after airing out.
Here's a pic of the old column with a new window:
Oh! And if today wasn't cool enough, I repurposed this portable swamp cooler to supply cooling water to the condensers. I found it almost new on top of everything in a dumpster a while back and finally got around to swapping the dinky onboard pump to the fountain pump that I was using in a barrel full of water which heated up pretty good by the end of a run. The still stayed nice and cool throughout a 4 hour run and used about three gallons of water in evaporative cooling.
Needless to say, I've had a great day with the hobby today!

tp

Like it. Can you explain more about how you used to run it and how you would do it now? Also I have ordered parts from that same vendor, good prices.

I guess I ran it more like a pot still with reflux. If I wanted more takeoff I turned the heat up. Turns out I was flooding the column doing that. Flooding is the main reason I wanted the sight glass...that and the fun of watching stuff drip and boil. It wasn't much of a big deal when I'm going whiskeys or rum but it will make a huge difference when I run the All-Bran and neutrals. I also imaging it will improve the flavored drinks by simply making sure that I'm not flooding the column and contaminating the takeoff.
Kind of a WAG but it makes sense to me.

Now, I'll be watching that glass and running the heat so the reflux boils anywhere in the glass and marking the jar where the glass fogs up. I'll be running slower and probably making a better product for it.

tp

just ordered sight glass and some other stuff from the same vendor as well, TP how long did delivery take? I'm in Canada btw.

Nice!!

Looking good, tp. So you went with the sight glass on top after all, eh? Last I saw you were leaning pretty heavily toward putting it on the bottom.

johnarms wrote:just ordered sight glass and some other stuff from the same vendor as well, TP how long did delivery take? I'm in Canada btw.

Under 2 weeks iirc. The extra gasket and ferrule took longer.

skow69 wrote:Looking good, tp. So you went with the sight glass on top after all, eh? Last I saw you were leaning pretty heavily toward putting it on the bottom.

Thanks! I gave it a lot of thought and decided my priority was seeing what the reflux was doing rather than watching fora puke. Mission accomplished.

tp (independent thinker)

I'd like to get some comments from those that run sight glasses regarding the video. Is this in fact how it should be run or...?

tp

You could prolly take it up a little, kinda hard to say without seeing the top of the packing. But we are getting close to splitting hairs at this point. Here is what mine looked like a while back. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 17&t=53122

Last run I left a good 6" of visible head space and found out that I can easily fill that up with dancing reflux and lose the top of the display into the copper above. It took more power to do it, but the charge ABV was lower so I don't think it's a fair comparison. I could also see what looks like boiling bubble creation much deeper into the packing bed this time, like 4 inches or so. Upon further reflection and re-re-re-reading Odin's wisdom I now think that might be a measure of the "aquatic environment" or "fluidized bed". [I don't know why I can't get comfortable with those phrases.] Or maybe it's just the packing is looser at the top. I'm thinking I'll leave 10 or 12 inches open next time and see how it goes.

If I were you I wouldn't be afraid to crank it up a little more next time and see what happens. You will still get a distinct change in the sound at the top well before it pukes. Oh wait, is that a CM? I don't know if you will hear it unless there is a vent on top, and I don't remember your latest modification. LOL

Stay in touch,
skow

Good video. The glass certainly shows you can balance it right at the top of the packing.

What are you using for packing in that video?

Reason I ask, is that I also think it shows you have optimized the density of the packing. If it were too loose you couldn't hold a "aquatic enviroment" at the top. Used the phrase just for skow69...

skow69 wrote:If I were you I wouldn't be afraid to crank it up a little more next time and see what happens. You will still get a distinct change in the sound at the top well before it pukes. Oh wait, is that a CM? I don't know if you will hear it unless there is a vent on top, and I don't remember your latest modification.

CM with an added coldfinger mounted in the removable column cap. The coldfinger reaches to the top of the glass and the packing is just below the bottom of the glass.

DAD300 wrote:What are you using for packing in that video?

Reason I ask, is that I also think it shows you have optimized the density of the packing. If it were too loose you couldn't hold a "aquatic environment" at the top.

Stainless scrubbies this time. When I pulled the copper scrubbies to do the mod they were pretty black and I had a few packages of the SS.
I packed them so that they would approximate the resistance that I had with the copper ones as I felt that I had gotten that part just right. Might as well continue that way.

tp

Awesome job on the sight glass TP. You can probably bring those copper scrubbers back to life by boiling them in vinegar. I boil my bubble plates in vinegar and they come out shiny new

DAD300 wrote:Reason I ask, is that I also think it shows you have optimized the density of the packing. If it were too loose you couldn't hold a "aquatic enviroment" at the top. Used the phrase just for skow69...

Keep using it. If I see it enough maybe I'll get the hang of it. Hell, it only took me six months to figure out what a "sparge" was.

Twinrivers wrote:Awesome job on the sight glass TP. You can probably bring those copper scrubbers back to life by boiling them in vinegar. I boil my bubble plates in vinegar and they come out shiny new

Understood, but if you had seen the ones I hauled out of there...

tp

Thanks for the heads up on the sight glass source TP! My 3" came today as well as 3.5 ltrs of BigSwedes' SPP, still waiting for my 2". Its like Christmas, can't wait to hook it up. Was building a 2" deflegmator for fun when they arrived. Thanks again for the info.

Thanks for the sight glass source TP. My shotgun condenser hasn,t arrived yet to run it in conjunction with my MH cm. So after cleaning, I put it in the column for a spirit run of UJSSM .I had some low wines saved up. One thing for sure, when you hit tails it fogs up real nice.
A nice tool for that purpose.

I have been inspired by the fun you have been having so In the last few months Ive been building and working to have some of that same fun myself. Here is my version of the same video. 40" x 2" modular CM with a 4" RC. I have lengths to go from 6" of packed colum all the way up to 58", been running at 40" because of ceiling restrictions for now. The packing is BigSwede SPP. Im still learning how to drive her, Ive gotten as high as 95% after removing fores, but for now I have been making some pretty good single run whiskey's in the mid 80%s. Also it has been FUN!!!

tp

Hey T-Pee and White_Lightning_Rod -I just received my 360 sight glass... She is beautiful but I notice the seals on the end of the glass are food grade silicone. What were yours made of?

Mine are PTFE. You can get them at brew shops or other sources.

tp

T-Pee wrote:Mine are PTFE. You can get them at brew shops or other sources.

tp

Thanks T-Pee. They are not the typical gasket, they are form fitting around the glass almost like a cap (with a hole of course). Arrrgh.... the hunt....begins.

I love the glass fogging being used as a tails indicator!

I wonder if a sight glass would also work well in an LM still to indicate the start of the tails, too. Would it still fog up if the sight glass was put right between the top of the packing and the LM takeoff plates? Or perhaps the batter location would be above the LM takeoff plates... Hmmm.

Wish I had that bubbling. Is that just from copper packing or are there plates below the glass?

White_Lightning_Rod wrote:The packing is BigSwede SPP.

tp

TP
What are using to seal your glass to the stainless sight glass ends?

Man I just love this thing.

My sight glass was up and running today. It come with food grade silicone seals... . I had to improvise so i took it apart and wrapped the glass with PTFE tape
made an overhang to cover the indise of the glass then finished the wrap
Because of the big gap between the glass and the housing I had to use the silicone gasket... .
I did wrap it a few times with PTFE to get it covered.
Future plan to either 1. Find a PTFE gasket to fit, 2. Fully wrap in PTFE tape, 3. Make an everlasting gasket to fit up the glass and in the gap.

Now the good stuff...

...THE videos!

The first is running in 100% reflux before collection even starts...



I like that the stream is running down the center of the column, as well as the sides of course...

A good close look at the glass. This is just after fores but before collecting heads and product. I left a little packing at the bottom so the packed column gained height and I didn't leave a huge gap between the packing and the plates.



During collection... this was a spirit run on a first gen sweetfeed that was stripped to 2 gallons of about 45% ABV. Diluted to about 25-30% in the keg



Toward the end I had a small temp jump and I could taste what I thought was very early tails. I switched out collecting jars just in case and then a minute later I got this



This was quickly followed by All in all a good day and $60 well spent... plus a near half a gallon of good liquor.

Get the condensate boiling visibly in the glass and hold it there. I think that's where you'll see top efficiency.

tp

T-Pee wrote:Get the condensate boiling visibly in the glass and hold it there. I think that's where you'll see top efficiency.

tp

Yeah... I noticed that mine was a smooth ride as opposed to yours. Im assuming that its because I was hitting it with only 1500W. Results... I can't complain... about 2.2 liters of delicious product over 95%. It did take almost 4 hours though. So bump up the power, and the condenser, open the takeoff to stabilize where I want to land...?

Bump the power to make more vapor. The more the better. Increase condenser flow to stablize it. This will define your upper limit, also. Don't heat more than you can knock down. When you open the takeoff, then you can bump up the heat some more to compensate for what you are taking out of the system.

Having visual access reduces the guesswork some, doesn't it?