i dont know for sure but thats about what i get as well
30 min per pint
i am no where near a expert but it seems the faster / hotter you run the lower the abv will be

I'm thinking about trying this one:
http://bit.ly/17qxfQb

Thanks for the link, Blaztaz. Did you run a valve on the condenser too? I've always run it full flow from the pump and only valved the reflux.

Hi Hokey,

Make sure you draw off your heads before you bump up your power ... especially after letting it sit for 45 minutes. When you change things, you upset the balance and loose some of the benefit of letting things equalize (the heads won't be as compressed).


This is a common problem with phase angle controllers ... they are non-linear and they're not active all the way up to 100% power. I believe the maximum you can expect is about 94%, so an inexpensive RSC may not even get you that high ... maybe more like 85% or so when you go max scale. You can get some sense for this by plugging one of your household incandescent lamps into your RSC. Set the RSC to max scale, then switch the RSC in and out ... you'll more than likely see that you're no where near 100% with the RSC cut in. That range between the RSC max and 100% power is the "dead zone."

So there's only three things you can do if you need to operate in that dead zone. The first thing is to get a better power controller (which is usually unnecessary). The second is to use a heat source with a higher rating, so you have adequate power when you're well below the dead zone. The final thing is to use your power more efficiently.

Try wrapping several old towels around your boiler -- that's what I did. It doesn't cost anything so if it doesn't work, you didn't waste any money. The towels should provide enough insulation so you can operate your RSC around mid-scale ... that's where you'll get the best degree of control over your power anyway ... and it should keep your power needs well below the dead zone (an uninsulated boiler is just a radiator, so power is lost to the surrounding environment). Make sure you use cotton towels, don't use the ones with the cheap synthetic materials that might melt and stick to your boiler. You can use a few lengths of string to hold the towels in place ... a few turns around the bottom of the column, just above the tri-clamp is all that's needed.

Anyway, it's something that's easy to try and it doesn't cost anything. If it works out, you can play around with the fancy insulation (the foil insulation with the bubbles) and make yourself a shroud that you can just drop on the boiler when you set up your rig.

Regards,
--JB

I really do think it is the amount of heat that I am applying to the pot. I start with it cranked all the way up and it take between and hour and an hour and a half to heat up. Once I get my heat up, I cut it back to around 9 amps. This was where I needed to run it to keep my cooling water from getting too hot. The controller I am using will go up to 12.6 amps, so I am cut back quite a bit. I have insulated my kettle, so I think I have minimized the heat loss.

So yeah, the drip was slow and took forever. I have only had a few runs under my belt, so I am very much in the learning phase of all of this.

From what everyone has been saying, I need to do the following:

1. INCREASE the heat on the kettle
2. Find a way to cool my cooling water more. Not ice cold, but much cooler than the 85f I get with my current method.

If I can do those two things, I should be able to keep my abv pretty high and increase my flow.

Thanks again,
Blaztaz

let me see if i got this right so the colder the condenser water the more it will produce / drip

Let me start at the bottom, the heat source. As you apply more heat more vapor is forced through the column. When it gets to the still head it has two choices, exit or reflux. If you have colder water going through your tower you can have more vapor passing through and still maintain the same reflux ratio. With more vapor coming through you need the extra cooling to make the same percent fall back into the column as reflux.

RC, I don't let think we should let the coolant warm up. At least that's how I feel. Seems to me that a consistent coolant temp is almost as important as a constant heat source, so far as good separation is concerned. When mine gets close to the end of a run I definitely have to crank up the reflux a little more to keep the temp from climbing past what I deem "acceptable."

Side note, might be of interest, I only collect a 2*C range. So anything before say 75*C I cut as heads and anything after 77*C I don't collect. This way I only collect 95% EtOH. Of course at the end one would imagine the reflux ratio is much much greater than the 4-5:1 during the hearts. Technically, the still would come to a full reflux once all EtOH is removed.

p.s. I'm in the mountains so that's about right for EtOH's boiling point after it's adjusted.