 Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 463   Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)
|
Hi everyone. It would be interesting to know how many (if any) followers of this forum are using an Easy /Air Still. That is
what I have been using for the past 8 to 10 months. I am sipping on a brown sugar and molasses batch which I distilled a
third time this morning. (third time's the charm)
While doing that I also started another corn meal sugar wash which came out great last time. Air stills do take a lot of time
to run a 5 gal wash but you get some very flavorful output. However not the neutral vodka I was hoping for. that is why I
am ordering a reflux still in Feb. I am trying to find more info on vapor management vs cooling management stills. And are
there any vapor management stills out there for sale if that is the way I
want to go?
Thanks all and Happy Hoochin' New Year
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 463 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)
|
OK so I guess I am alone in my misery. It may be small but I have fun with it. I'm talking about my still!! Just wait a month or two and I will be right up there with the big boys. LOL
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
Joined: 7/25/2009(UTC)
Posts: 2,209
|
maybe lotsa folks had unsatisfactory experiences with small rigs and cant think of anything positive to say. btw why vapor mgmt??
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 463 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)
|
you control the amount of vapor leaving the tower via a valve in between the column and condenser which automatically increases or decreases reflux. pretty sure that's how it works. I am looking for more info
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
Joined: 7/25/2009(UTC)
Posts: 2,209
|
i dont think that controlling reflux is as important as controlling the boiler temp to get the slowest amount of output-- after that just enough cooling at the top to do the job. im not a believer in stacking components before taking the output. i believe that slow and low heat application takes care of that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
Joined: 7/25/2009(UTC)
Posts: 2,209
|
I just thought about the valve. I put one in my BH rig an never used it ill see if i have a picture
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
Joined: 7/25/2009(UTC)
Posts: 2,209
|
"Dont be taken in by vendors hype--its just a valve  "
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 463 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)
|
Hi Scotty, thanks for the pic. the pics of a VM head that I have seen have the tower condenser above the take-off and the less pure etho passes the takeoff and gets condensed above , and the purer makes it's way through the valve to the product condenser. Purer etho finds the path of least resistance before less pure. And that would be the takeoff. Control that valve and you control the purity. I think there is no need to control the tower coolant because everything that passes the takeoff needs to be condensed anyway. so you can run h2o full blast. I still have not found a vendor for this type of still though.
Thanks again. You may have the best of both worlds with your set up. Talk to you soon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
Joined: 7/25/2009(UTC)
Posts: 2,209
|
there is no way to control which alcohol comes out first. it is totally dependent on boiler temperature
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 8/7/2012(UTC)
Posts: 86
|
i'd like to hear hokeys explanation of how the vm separates alcohols.:)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 463 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)
|
Hi Crabby. All good questions. This is why I like this site so much. That is a question I would like to find the answer to. I went briefly to HD site and read a little. I'll go back tonight and try to find more. I'm sure I will be getting the PSIIHC like Maddawgs but just for education sake i would like to know more about VMs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 463 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)
|
[ATTACH=CONFIG]779[/ATTACH]
Not too bad for my little table top air Still. Second distillation of a sugar wash. Keeping in practice till my PSIIHC shows up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/27/2012(UTC)
Posts: 526
|
The defeg is above the the condenser outlet in the type of still your talking about. The defleg acts just like the cooling ports in the BH rigs, it condenses everything that rises up to it, the cooled vapor liquid drops back down the colume to be turned back into vapor. In some stills there is a vapor tube on the outside of the defleg that returns the vapor to a certain point in the column.
The defleg does not hold the fore shots and heads from the column. If the BH stills are run correctly it will produce as clean and potent a product as any still out there. There are things that can be done to the BH still to improve the transfer of flavor during distilation but as far as purity goes the only thing that would allow you a higher ABV would be a vacume still.
All your doing with the valve is creating the condition that allows total reflux by stoping the vapor from escaping the column. That is what the cooling tubes in the BH still does also, but it does it without being a closed system. A closed system creates pressure, that pressure must be monitored closely or you could have a steam bomb on your hands.
Unless you have a good amount of experience running a still I would suggest you shy away from a closed system still.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.
