This is the top of my neutral spirits rig:
It has a shotgun dephlagmator running to a curve then into the condenser (on top of a tall packed column). If I run the dephlagmator water at full blast, I can reduce foreshots and heads to a slow drip, but I've never achieved full reflux. Yesterday I read in The Compleat Distiller about the "Vapor Management Still." The book's design looks like this photo posted in another thread: http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... &mode=view
I.e. a dephlagmator at the top of the column, and a T-joint BELOW the deph running to a gate valve, and then into the condenser. I desperately want to make extremely clean neutral spirit, and I'd like to achieve full reflux to concentrate all foreshots and heads. So here's my question in diagram form:
Can I achieve a vapor management effect via idea 1, i.e. splicing a gate valve in the middle of my curve ABOVE the dephlagmator, or do I need to follow the tradition with the deph at the top of the column and an outlet below it leading to the gate valve? I've never run a still with the outlet sealed, and it scares me to death! Mostly I'm afraid of building a big pressure bomb (although I do have a pressure relief valve on my boiler), and to a lesser extent that idea 1 will somehow work more poorly than idea 2. I'm also concerned that my shotgun style deph (made of stainless) won't provide enough reflux. The book calls for a copper coil "cold finger" deph at the top of the column. Incidentally, I also have a dephlagmator twice the length that ONLY achieved perfect reflux
, which I switched out for the one I have now, but I can switch it back in.Any guidance would be most appreciated!