Ok so my setup is the brewhaus 15 gal kettle with the high capacity 3" column packed with copper mesh. I have been running on propane on a bayou banjo burner. My mash that i have been running has been really good as I used to brew beer. The first run I made was really good everything turned out fine. On my second run I did everything exactly the same and the whole run tasted and smelled like tails. I assumed this was because the water to my condenser was warm by the end of the run. I thought that this could be corrected if I hooked my water supply up to the faucet on my next run that way I would get constant temperature ice cold water instead of recirculating the same 15 gallons or so using the pump. I am on my third run now and i have the condenser hooked up to the faucet and im having the exact same problem. When my column temp is 180, alcohol vapor has been spitting out the end uncondensed, as a result the distillate coming out is hot to the touch and undrinkable. Also this run I have been having trouble keeping my whole system at a constant temperature. What I mean by that is ill leave the propane on a constant temp and the system will fluctuate between 150 and 180. No drips (obviously) at 150 to gushing liquid and vapor at 180. And all of this is happening while supplying a consistent garden hose like flow of 40* water through the condenser. have never had these problems before and I have absolutely no idea why this is happening so any help anyone can give me on this would be awesome.. Thanks everyone

"Hi Zach,


You need to resolve this problem before you run your rig again as this is a potentially dangerous situation.

+1 dieselduo but I'll add something:

Make sure you don't have any obstructions in your product condenser on the coolng water side (that includes attaching any valves in the wrong position) or leaving the valve closed (when you believe that it's open). In most situations you shouldn't have any valve in line with the product condenser ... just let it run full flow. The only valve you need is for the column (reflux) condenser.

I've found the liebig on the HC to be fairly capable. So I would imagine that your burner would have to run very hot to see that behavior. Regardless, don't mess around with alcohol vapor. If you're releasing vapor, shutdown and get that problem resolved asap. We want you to stick around and enjoy the hobby with us!

BTW: If you see vapor escaping from the product condenser, there's two things you should do immediately: (1) flame out/power off, (2) increase the water flow to your column condenser to full flow.

Regards,
--JB"

So I guess my new question is if this turns out to be the problem can I refire my mash later or tomorrow or is it just wasted?

I wasnt sure on the technicalities behind it but that's pretty much what I figured was happening after I ruled out all the other possibilities. When I reduced the heat input the temp would rapidly drop down to around 140 and stay there. It was really odd but lesson learned. Thanks everyone for the help, hopefully this helps someone else out too

I re-ran everything the other day after I re packed the column and it worked just like it should. The column was packed too tight near the bottom and was choking the column leaving no room for rising vapor or falling condensing liquid. As a result like Admin said the vapor would break through and cause a sudden temperature increase (from 150 to 180) instantly at the top of the column and start spitting out distillate really fast, but then would rapidly decrease after about a minute down to about 150 all without ever touching the propane valve.
Heeler when all of this was happening it never crossed my mind to take any pictures so I dont have any to post but I tried to explain it the best I could. Hope this helps clarify what exactly was happening.