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EE PS2 - first run questions
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Offline Charlietuna  
#1 Posted : Sunday, April 28, 2013 5:25:47 AM(UTC)
Charlietuna


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"Hello all,

I've been running a pot still for a little while now with success. I am also a wine maker of many years & feel I have the wash / mash under control. Just a few questions about the new essential extractor tweeks. I've attached a picture of the set up for critiques

When I received the new column, I ran a vinegar / water solution to clean.

My water pump is a cheap ($14) 120 gal/ hr. I've decided this is may not be enough, so I've ordered another & will run one to the partial / column condenser & one to the total / product condenser. Using a beer keg & propane cooker. I have a very sensitive dial for controlling the gas flow & feel good about temperature control. I have the lower section of the column packed with copper mesh.

I've ran two small runs. one with two gallon of old bad wine a friend gave me, the second with old beer that didn't turn out well.

1. the old wine run. 2 gallons in a 15 gallon keg pot. top column temp hovered around 165 F (top of column) for most of the run - I thought it would be higher. Production slowed & I didn't push it much past 175. Felt it was a waste of time. Took off 50 ml of heads, took 3/4 of a qt of heart. 173 proof product. Don't know much about the wine, but the product had a bad odor & not really drinkable even when cut to 80 proof. still had a bad odor.

2. Old beer. about 3 gallons to start. cook temp (top of column) 175F up to 195 toward end. only 1/2 qt of heart. which makes sense due to not much alcohol in the wash. 160 proof hearts. Smelled like crap & not drinkable.

Here's my questions. Was it due to my poor cooling water that my proof was lower ? was it the wash quality or quantity? I'm currently making 12 gallons of corn mash that has proven to make good tasty product in my old pot still. Will improving my cooling up my proof? so I can run crap wines & beer to make tastless product?

I am planning on using a cooler for my cooling water instead of the bucket in the picture & changing out ice bottles to keep the water cool. Also will be monitoring temp of this cooling water. What's the ideal temp of cooling water? [ATTACH=CONFIG]836[/ATTACH]

With this old wine / beer I was hoping to get upwards of 180-190 proof to achieve the tasteless / odorless product from what I knew wouldn't have good taste.

I appreciate any constructive criticism.

Thanks,
CT"
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Offline Bushy  
#2 Posted : Sunday, April 28, 2013 9:18:01 AM(UTC)
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Hi Charlietuna, Condenser cooling water has nothing to do with product ABV.

Quantity of wash at a given alcohol % will create a certain amount of alcohol available for distilation.

The quality of the wash has a definate effect on the flavor of the finished product. Even when run properly through a reflux still. But can usually be cleaned up with carbon filtering.

It sounds to me as though you had too much cooling water going to your tower and the boiler heat was too high. That will destabilize your tower and mix all the factions together.

Your $14.00 pump should be fine until it gives out. One of my pumps is a $19.00 pump and it's been running for a year and a half now with no problems. I use it to the product condenser wide open for the whole run. My other pump that I use to the tower is a pond pump, it does'nt seem to mind the flow being turned down as much as the cheaper one does.

A temp of 165 degrees is low for the hearts run unless your at a high altitude. Your return is about right if the wine you started with was at 12%. Total alcohol in 3 gallons at 12% is 1.4qt. You never get it all though, and then there are heads and tails to account for.

Stabilizing the column at 165 degrees for 1 hour allows you pull off the different factions,fores, heads, hearts, and tails, a little cleaner. But at 165 degrees the product flow should stop before all of the heads have come across. Once the flow stops the stabilizing of the column begins.

After stabilizing for about an hour turn the tower water down just a little and wait 3-5 minutes for the tower temp to stabilize again. I like to get my tower temp stabilized for hearts production around 172-174 and collect in numbered half full pint jars for makeing cuts later on. Once the temps start to rise on their own you can either let go or try to restabilize at a higher temp, but it's not easy and rarely worth while. You can collect usable tails up to about 184-186 degrees, after that it's just collecting feints for the next run.

BTW if you want flavor run in pot mode. For neutral,(Vodka), run in reflux.

Hope this helps a little.
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Offline Charlietuna  
#3 Posted : Sunday, April 28, 2013 2:47:14 PM(UTC)
Charlietuna


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"Thank you!

This is the exact type of feedback I was hoping to get. Looks like I'll need a valve to control the column condenser water flow & give it another shot.

Thanks again!

Ct"
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Offline Gravelier  
#4 Posted : Monday, April 29, 2013 2:47:03 PM(UTC)
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Hey Charlietuna:

I tried to run some sour beet through my reflux still. It comes down to garbage in, garbage out. It was interesting. It was drinkable. But I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
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Offline Charlietuna  
#5 Posted : Monday, April 29, 2013 3:34:33 PM(UTC)
Charlietuna


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"
Originally Posted by: Gravelier Go to Quoted Post
Hey Charlietuna:

I tried to run some sour beet through my reflux still. It comes down to garbage in, garbage out. It was interesting. It was drinkable. But I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.


I can definitely see that. I'm going to get some charcoal filters tomorrow & play with cleaning the odor out.
I have my good corn recipe fermenting now & will be running a tried & true recipe with better cooling control by next weekend.

Thanks for the replies!

CT"
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