Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

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Friendsofemily2
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Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Friendsofemily2 »

We ran our first run, we have a vevor 3 gal and ran sugar wash with raisins. The still has a thumper. We ran roughly 5 gal of wash. At no more than 195 degrees
Batch 1 was 3 oz foreshore, 16 oz heads 75%, 16 oz hearts 70%, 8 oz 62%. Total retained was 40 oz for roughly 2.5 gal wash. Calculated at the end at 15% abv wash. Our next run we Will be using bsg - fsg calculation to get potential wash abv. My question is this. We ended up with 2 runs combined proof of 139 run1 and 142 run 2. Ultimately we finished the 5 gal run with 79 oz of final product measured by proof hydrometer. My question as a novice: does this sound correct , and because we micromanaged the boiler Temps ( never over 195) did we do it as right as I think we did?
We were not expecting 150 proof from the start.
Happy but astounded.
Thank you for your thoughts to this newbie
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Wildcats »

Alot if excitement is expected on the first run. Keep doing them and save up enough to make a full charge of low wines. Run em with water at about 35% abv. The second run will clean up the product and have a higher proof. Good luck and stay safe. Replace that lid gasket with Teflon tape. And any other plastic in the vapor path. Cheer's
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by JAMAWG »

Did you do a sacrifice or a vinegar run first? If you didn't do a cleaning run, it is strongly recommended to toss out what you got. Lots of crud left in the system of a new still. Especially Vevor.
If you run low and slow enough you can get even higher proof out of one of those.
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sadie33
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by sadie33 »

I am very new to distilling. I have the Vevor 5 gal. I did my first few runs (steam,vinegar, steam, 50/50vodka run) with the thumper, but then found out it doesn't really work as a thumper (no inside pipe going down into the thumper content) unless you fix it (which I plan on doing eventually). I have been doing my runs with out and I like it better.
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Buffalo
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Buffalo »

Welcome Friendsofemily2.
What did you mean with we ran it with "no more than 195 degrees"? That seems pretty low for either the pot liquid temperature or the vapor temp.
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by elbono »

Buffalo wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 12:36 pm Welcome Friendsofemily2.
What did you mean with we ran it with "no more than 195 degrees"? That seems pretty low for either the pot liquid temperature or the vapor temp.
It's a vevor, besides the usual "don't run by the thermometer", if it's reading within 10° you got a good one.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Friendsofemily2 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:22 pm and because we micromanaged the boiler Temps
You have no control over boiler temp, the boiler will boil at what ever temp the mix of wash components at the time dictates.
Look at it this way, water boils at 100c......the right amount of heat input will have it simmering "a slow boil" ......a heap of heat will have the same water almost trying to jump out of the pot. In both cases the water is 100c ......no more or less.
You are not boiling water , you are boiling a mix of components all with different boiling points, further this mix is constantly changing as the lower boiling point components leave the wash in greater amounts first. You can only manage the amount of heating power supplied ......you can not manage the temp.
Link below by Zymurgy Bob, explains it better than I can.
http://www.kelleybarts.com/PhotoXfer/Re ... gMyth.html
Friendsofemily2
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Friendsofemily2 »

Jamawg, yes we cleaned using the recommended process. Yes ran low and slow, was trying to not boil the water. Yes am familiar with boiling points,

Sadie, yes we added a drop tube, brass / copper fitting(female female) with short threaded copper down tube.

Buffalo, it was a thermometer in the vapors above the wash.
We thought that, because the wash is only roughly 11% 2 lb table sugar per gallon water. We considered that if pushed using too many btu's we would also be getting water to boil. Btw, the run stopped condensing at the end, there was no further vapor condensing, it was like the faucet was turned off. My take is that all alcohol was evaporated leaving heavier components and water. I would like some one to explain why that is a wrong assumption. Aka still a newbie.always willing to learn.
The biggest questions from me are
Is 79oz of 141 proof about right for 5 gal of sugar wash. Lol forgot there were 20 oz of raisins in the wash during fermentation.
Final thought, we will be calculating the potential ABV using the sg formula for the next bucket. Thank you all for responding and this wonderful forum. My mind is spinning trying to organize all of the experience from this group.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Friendsofemily2 wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:45 pm We considered that if pushed using too many btu's we would also be getting water to boil. Btw, the run stopped condensing at the end, there was no further vapor condensing, it was like the faucet was turned off. My take is that all alcohol was evaporated leaving heavier components and water. I would like some one to explain why that is a wrong assumption.
It stopped condensing because there was no vapour being made to condense, the boiler contents was no longer boiling, you needed to supply more heat to get it boiling again.
Your worrying un-nessarily about the water, you are no longer boiling water, your boiling a mixture.
Another thing to consider, it is impossible to stop water evaporating as part of the process, even cool water evaporates.
Put a shallow dog bowl full of water out in summer, look at it in a week.....it will be close to empty from evaporation.......keep the dog away though.
Friendsofemily2 wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:45 pm Yes ran low and slow,
Stick to that method but worry less about temp.
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by juana_b »

+1
And pretend you're out drinking, give your thermometer to a friend for the days you are stilling.
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Wildcats
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Wildcats »

You didn't say anything about the gasket. Must be using it.....not a good idea...
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Twisted Brick »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 5:13 pm
Friendsofemily2 wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:45 pm We considered that if pushed using too many btu's we would also be getting water to boil. Btw, the run stopped condensing at the end, there was no further vapor condensing, it was like the faucet was turned off. My take is that all alcohol was evaporated leaving heavier components and water. I would like some one to explain why that is a wrong assumption.
It stopped condensing because there was no vapour being made to condense, the boiler contents was no longer boiling, you needed to supply more heat to get it boiling again.
To follow on what SBB explained, there was not enough heat to meet the boiling temperature requirements of the remaining constituents, but there was alcohol remaining in your boiler. The following chart helps to show this and that the last bit of alcohol vaporized in the boiler before it cut out at 195F was ~63%. (estimated since it was actually a mix of ethanol/water). I suspect you also left a good amount of alcohol in your thumper as well as the thumper prohibitively skewing your takeoff percentages of heads, hearts and tails.

Just a thought, but you would do well to set the thumper aside for now and read up on how to double distill (while erasing forgettable advice like this ).
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Twisted Brick wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:55 pm (while erasing forgettable advice like this ).
Poor Jim doesn't seem to have a clue, :roll: unbelievable that there are sites that write /promote crap like that.
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by EricTheRed »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 2:02 am
Twisted Brick wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:55 pm (while erasing forgettable advice like this ).
Poor Jim doesn't seem to have a clue, :roll: unbelievable that there are sites that write /promote crap like that.
The mind boggles!
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Novice first run with vevo 3 gal with thumper

Post by Twisted Brick »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 2:02 am
Twisted Brick wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:55 pm (while erasing forgettable advice like this ).
Poor Jim doesn't seem to have a clue, :roll: unbelievable that there are sites that write /promote crap like that.
Yup, its crazy. Elevates the process of 'un-learning' directly into a new light. Its too bad we don't have a sticky that specifically addresses myths and dis-information like this to overcome concepts that we continually address, over and over.
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