Home Distiller

Finished the first clean and getting ready for the sacrificial run today. Ive been doing that over a flame outside on the side burner of our grill. Ive learned they call it a thumper for a reason! I hope I didn’t wake the neighbors. I have banana mash and peach mash ready to go. The question I have is if I can run the mash on an electric hot plate or should I stick to the flame?

If the hotplate surges (glows red then doesn't glow) don't use it. You need steady heat.

Thank you!

May I suggest you don’t use the Laundry Basket as a collection vessel .

Seriously though , What a gorgeous Still .

Be a shame to use a fruit fermentation on a sacrificial cleaning run .
Also have a read of this https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... t_and_Marc

Elbono is correct in that you need a constant steady heat source . If you must use that hot plate and it is of the type that cycles the power on and off , you can add a large piece of metal , like a griddle plate between the element and the boiler to smooth out the variations .

Alternatively , you may be able to turn it up to Full and use an external power controller .

You will know you have a problem by listening to the thumper . If it runs with a smooth bubbling sound when up to temp , then its OK . But if it bubbles and stops and bubbles and stops , you need to do something about that hot plate .

Playing music while your Thumper gets up to temp and goes through its bang bang stage helps disguise it from the neighbours

I have a 1100W heat plate, but it surged. I popped it open, bypassed the control knob so now power is supplied directly to the element. It doesn't surge anymore, but in order to use it I connect it to a controller.

Salt Must Flow wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 4:02 pm I have a 1100W heat plate, but it surged. I popped it open, bypassed the control knob so now power is supplied directly to the element. It doesn't surge anymore, but in order to use it I connect it to a controller.

A friend sometimes uses a cheap 1800w hot plate. He got lucky, when the knob is turned wide open the heater stays on and doesn't cycle.
He uses a variac transformer for power control. The power can be adjusted from 0 - 120%
That lets him get almost 2200w during heat up.

shadylane wrote: ↑Sun Dec 10, 2023 4:13 am

Salt Must Flow wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 4:02 pm I have a 1100W heat plate, but it surged. I popped it open, bypassed the control knob so now power is supplied directly to the element. It doesn't surge anymore, but in order to use it I connect it to a controller.

A friend sometimes uses a cheap 1800w hot plate. He got lucky, when the knob is turned wide open the heater stays on and doesn't cycle.
He uses a variac transformer for power control. The power can be adjusted from 0 - 120%
That lets him get almost 2200w during heat up.

You guys are bloody lucky over there Shady .
A 300w Variac costs an arm and a leg over here .
Can’t imagine the cost of one that can do 2+KVa

Something like this would be plug and play here in the USA.
240 volt 3kva are also available.
Bubba is using 1/3 of a monster 3phase triac I loaned him.