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Increase the diameter of the hole to as large as possible, what is your column packing? Make sure your heat source is constant.
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He means that you should run water through it backwards.
in the opposite direction from the way that vapor would travel through the system.
The vinegar advice comes from the old moonshiners who would hide their stills in the woods unused for months at a time. They used long coils of copper tubing for condensers and if left exposed without proper cleaning and drying the condensers could trap water and grime and create deposits of crystaline cupric sulphate... what the moonshiners called 'blue vitriol'.
The old time solution was to fill the condenser or 'worm' with vinegar or spent wash and cork the ends.
There are a number of reasons why this isn't a very good idea... not the least of which is that vinegar reacts with any number of metals some of which may be included in your still.
If you are using a traditional applachian pot still with a copper coil condenser you should probably avoid getting it dirty in the first place and get yourself a nice stainless steel column still to learn on.
if you have deposits or soiling in your still clean it with water, baking soda and a clean plastic brush or non abrasive scrubber.
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Hi !
1] I have the same kind of setup ,Nixon-Stone,
But I have no vapor coming out of the condenser. I guess either the heat is too high. Or the cooling water flow not big enough. What kind of packing do you have in the column ?
2] I think you can reduce the lenght of your column by 1 foot with no significant change in purity, but it would be easier to use a digital thermometer that has a separate attachement so you can read the temperature at your eyes level !
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There's a lad in Australia I believe who is having trouble finding needle valves for 1/4' copper tubing.
He can be found on on the forum. If you live over there and can help him, pleas do.
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in regards to copper scrubbers for the column, do yourself a favor and buy pure copper wool from a reliable source, scrubbers are NOT pure copper and will leave a terrible taste, voice of experience speaking!!!!! I got copper mesh from the Amphoria Society for $15 and boy the next batch was great. I now use the cermic rings in the keg on the bottom for heat retention and that also helps on the temp fluxuation. just passsing on my experiences.....jimbull
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Doc,
What is your rate of flow out of the condenser after collection temp? I read, and personally try to achieve a rate of about 4 drops per second. This is done by regulating the heat, and not the condensation water. I do the same thing, with the pump and the ice. works well for me. I bring the pot to just about temp and back down the heat till i reach a nice steady 173-175 degrees f.with a 4 drop per sec rate. This usually ,and consistantly, yeilds me approx 80-85%. When the temp begins to rise, then i segregate the run from about 180 till 205 degrees F, or so. this i put back in with the next run. That phase seems a bit 'creamy' for my likes. Your still, like mine is also all stainless, I gather. You might want to work some copper into the tower, instead of the rings. When distilling a neutral spirit. the copper helps with reflux and does something with ions or something, helping get rid of negative tastes. I have always used copper pot scrubbers ,high quality, pure copper, with excellent results. Good luck.
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This really depends on several factors. First, we will assume that you are distilling alcohol, just for argument sake. If you are distilling to high purity ,93-96%, on a single run, you should be able to collect approximately 12-15ml/min. If you have 23L of 18% abv wash in the kettle ,ie. 4.14L of ethanol to collect,, then it should take in the range of 4.5 - 6 hours, plus the time to bring the wash up to a boil.
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Thnx Drew I have started to regulate the heat after warm up and it has really helped with the purity. I have gotten rid of almost all the smell without the copper but plan on getting some to help with a quality final product! Through that regulation of temp and keeping it refluxing for 30 min or so before by bringing it up slowy and keeping it below vaporization I have started hitting 92%!! Talk about running round in your underware around the house it was great!! Thanks
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i have distilled 23 lts diluted to 40% it taste like moonshine ,any one out there know why? i put it through a mini jet carbon filter once . would it help to run it through again it is hard to frink even with essence. help!!!
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Hi, all, this is very useful info!<center><table border=1><tr><td>  blackjack.html (9.2 k)</td></tr></table></center>
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