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Typed this all out then realized I should put this at the first, Pot still 58L/rim burner/25ft of 1/2" copper for a worm. Started at 64% and stopped at 30%. About 9-10L at 50% total (head/heart/tail) for a stripping run.
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Ran a batch today, mixed 20L of 10% and 15L of 20% a total of 35L @ 15%.
So, raining very hard and +8 temp outside...and I'm waiting...and waiting...
Normally it takes about 30 minutes to go from start to foreshots in the summer/warm fall.
This time at this temp it took 55 min which seemed like forever.

Was it because the weather was colder or the barometer was lower or humidity was at 100%?
Or was it because I normally run batches of only 10% or so? 15% is slower?

Next question;
Seemed very slow, fast drip to a small pencil lead size of output. I measured and it took 3min and 20sec to get 500ml. (9.375L per hour approx) Normally it seemed faster so I'm wondering at what rate do you guys do strip runs? (this was spirit run speed as far as I'm concerned)

Probably was temp that caused longer heat up.I run around a qt ever 10 minutes when stripping a qt every 15 to 20 minutes on sprint run

I got a PM from another guy here who also said I'm running fast.
Here was my response;

I really cranked it once and pulled tails all through the run. But at this speed I have distinct cuts and almost flavourless hearts. (I don't blend in any heads/tails) No hangover and no bad tastes. Also even at this speed it still comes out ice cold (25ft 1/2" copper in ice water). 40L in a 58L keg takes 3hr's from start to all cleaned up and put away.
Interesting, I thought it was running slow, I guess I better not complain then. I seem to race at everything...or so the wife says.

If it is outside temp then I guess tomorrows run will be it until spring. Hopefully I'll have enough for Christmas gifts ect. Something else I'm thinking too is putting insulation on, that will help time.

It's way faster than i run, i get 6l an hour stripping and 4l an hour spirit run.

The loss of heat would seem to be from your gas burner, i can't see the weather causing a doubled heatup time.

Either needs blowing out with some compressed air or the regulator adjusting or some such i'm guessing.

the more likker the quicker it gonna run all thangs else bein equal.
how cold was it. them little cylinders/all cylinders will freze up on you causein it to run slow if you aint putin them in a bucket of water.
if you listen an look your flame gonna talk to you an when your likker starts runin it
gonna agree or not.

so im tole

Punkin, I think the burner (homemade 1" square tube welded in a 12" square and 75 or so tiny holes, replacement flex tubes for a BBQ bolted on) should be alright as far as plugging up goes. If anything the holes are a little large causing 3" flames with about an inch of that being yellow. I think I might rebuild it and drill smaller holes over the winter.

Goose, the propane bottle did get wet with moisture (as was everything else) seemed to sound the same though and it wasn't frosting up. The bottle is pretty new (almost full) I don't know it just seemed strange to take SO long to heat up. Once it was going it dribbled away, but not like normal. I take notes like when this starts and that finishes, but I don't think I've ever timed filling a jar before.
Oh well, I'll time the next one too and we'll see. I'm running the next batch probably tonight. (was going to be today but the kids won't bugger off to a friends house for 3 hr's)

The regulator/temp control knob on my turkey burner can be fiddly sometimes. The knob will be set to full on but I'll only get a small flame. Usually twisting the knob back and forth or turning off and on the propane tank will get it going properly. You may have something similar on a smaller scale. I'm also open to any suggestions about my situation as well. I don't much like having to fiddle with my gear to get it to work right.

Hack, most propane valves can be taken apart and cleaned. Wipe clean/dry but don't oil it when you put it back together, there's oil in the propane. (that's what gums stuff up)

Well, I did another run (and wrote down a bunch)

8.5L of 50% and 20L of 13% = total 28.5L of whatever %
Temp -1 cold wind blowing (I was going to do it tonight but the garden hoses were getting froze by 2:30)
3:00 Start
3:24 boiling chips getting noisy
3:32 lyne arm getting hot to touch
3:36 foreshots start (200ml)
3:38 heads start 1L in 5min 30 sec (64%ABV)
4:09 4L done slowed to 6 1/2 min per L
4:25 7L done slowed it to 7:34 per L
4:33 8L done Checked it's at 50% ABV
4:52 10.5L done it's at 9:20 per L
4:58 11.5L done, checked and it's 25%ABV
4:58 shut down also

Other than at 4:25 where I slowed it down myself, it was slowing on it's own. By 4:30 or so I went back to wide open and it still slowed down. Temp was still around -1 or so outside, no wind. Collected in 500ml mason jars. I did find a bit of a propane leak and small flame around where the flex hose hooks to the burner, could be losing heat/pressure there I guess. It'll be fixed for spring.

So I went from 64% to 25% in 500ml cuts. It's all on the work bench in the order it came out with clean rags covering it to air out. A quick smell and at least the last 2L are tails for sure!
The heart has no smell at all, even the heads don't really have that perfume smell much. When I timed it with my watch I was getting a litre in 5 1/2 min-9min. But when I go and actually check total volume over what time I get 11.5L in 1hr 14min. At 1L in 9 min, it is just dribbling out of the tube....so....slooooow. what size of tube do most on here use? I'm using 1/2" and I could probably do a litre in 3 minutes and it would still come out ice cold! LOL!

Besides speed, any other concerns/observations I could improve on?

I'll just say it one more time, but i would spend between five and six hours (including 50 mins heatup) on a spirit run in my potstill with that boiler charge.











AndNotBecauseICouldn'tRunFasterPunkin

did you put lp in water. they use to use lp as refregernt in refrigeraters an ac an such til all the fires an they switched to amonya. if you recirculatein your water i would put lp cylinder in coolin barel return water an itll keep it from frezein up. you got a hi presure regulater with wick turned up an a 4gal lp tank an it gonna freze up. you dont think it maters let it freze up then pour hot water out your coolin barel over it an you can here the flame pick up.
punkin ole boys i no dont cook like yall so cant help with yalls style but 6 hours on one charge an theyd be getin a new style outfit. 5 hrs an they got there one barel outfit up on blocks charged run nocked down an gone an thats runin cool to the touch at dark thirty.
12 hrs they run 3 charges an gone an that with the first 5 gal of brandy getin off the branch an hid good for bail money just in case.
hack propain is dirty fuel so id be lookin into regulater to

so im tole

I take my burners apart clean them ,they rust from heat /humidity. running hard I use two tanks and larger lines ,depending on how big
a outfit you got.

So I let it air out a couple days and went and did my cuts. (Took it off in 500ml jars)
I got 2.5L of heads, 5.5L of heart and 3.5L of tail.
This seemed more than I would of normally taken but instead of stopping when it got stinky/oily, I watched the ABV. So I have an extra 2L at the end (tails) that I wouldn't have taken off.

Total is 5.5L of 60% hearts and 6L of 50% heads/tails(feigns)

Oh yeah, I tried again to water down and taste to make cuts but had to rely on smell and feel. My tasters must be busted because with the exeption of obvious tails (I tried just to compare) which were bad tasting, to the heads (which burnt) it all tasted the same. I don't think any of it is "scrunchy" but it only gets "oily" at the end of the tails.
We'll see once I cut the hearts to 50% to see what the true taste is I guess.


Don't cha jus love this hobby?

That is alot faster than I do a spirit run. I think the fact that your heads are coming out at 64% is evidence of that. Not sure about the rest of you but my pot still on a spirit run will start at 80% with the heads and hearts may start at 77%. At 64% you have heads, hearts and maybe even a touch tails coming over all at once. I know all stills perform a little differant but I say turn that heat way down and see if you don't get smoother booze in the future.

RumBull wrote:That is alot faster than I do a spirit run. I think the fact that your heads are coming out at 64% is evidence of that. Not sure about the rest of you but my pot still on a spirit run will start at 80% with the heads and hearts may start at 77%. At 64% you have heads, hearts and maybe even a touch tails coming over all at once. I know all stills perform a little differant but I say turn that heat way down and see if you don't get smoother booze in the future.

Just switched to hearts half an hour ago on a ujsm corn and malt spirit run. She's ticking over at 83% (heads were 84/85%) but thats because of the extra yeild from using a little malt. Without it it runs at 81%. Body down to about 68/70% or so before switching to small jars.

It'll depend how much sugar is in the original wash too, mines got 12 kilo to 70 odd litres.

Lots of opinions here on speed or lack there of...http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a

Well, considering the wealth of knowledge and experience on here, I think I'll defer to you guys.
Next run I'll slow it way down and see if it comes out even better.
Had the office Christmas party today and of course took in a bottle of white dog and a bottle mixed with bourbon essence by StillSpirits.
It was cut to 40%. When told it was moonshine the whitedog got the typical "wow that's strong, but smooth" The bourbon got "really good, smooth" A couple said the bourbon still had a moonshine "taste" to it.
Anyway, also took some mixed with SS "rye whiskey" essence and the comment was "lighter in colour than wisers, but taste exactly like it" I have no idea as I've never had wisers. I like the rye though.

So, I need to insulate the pot, re-do the burner itself and make it more efficient and then slow it down.

Thanks all!