"Using the 1100W hot Plate. Assuming I do everything correctly how long will distilling 25L of mash take in pot still configuration verses reflux?

Thanks"

Running in Reflux mode today and started at 8:30am and
10:30am I had just retreived the foreshots. Its 12:03 now and Im just getting to the hearts right now with an abv of 93%, hopefully it will stay or get a little higher for awhile, Temp is 78* and very stable as we speak. Ill be editing this and adding on all day. 12:50 now and Ive extracted 2 quarts. I must add here that a lot of cold water and the water control valve are very helpful. I have to work on the big water thing though as Im using a 6 gallon bucket and the water needs to be changed out often even with many ice bombs in there.

I dont have any insulation for my column although I have looked around for some with no luck. Im on 4 1/2 quarts right now at 3:30 and still going strong. still cant get above 92% but thats fine by me at that abv! I do have mesh packed around the cooling tubes and it took 3 rolls to do the column good to the point where its not too tight but they dont fall down either. All I can say at this point is to surely get the water control valve as most of the time with the hot plate I almost have it completely shut off, just a trickle going through or it cools the column too much and nothing comes out of the condenser! UHHHHH, 1 of the times that I switched out the water I hit the heat adjustment control for the hot plate and turned it down to about 10 from 12 so who knows how long this has been like this! SOAB!!!!!!!!!!! Okay so now its 7:50 and Im on quart 8 out of probably 9 maybe 9 1/2 Im guessing, who knows how long that heat control set me back so this test is worthless! Oh well! I cant wait to see this electric bill as it ran all weekend last week and all weekend this week. Soon Ill go with the turkey fryer propane set up as I do have it but wanted to get some kind of a grasp on the hot plate first! finished up at around 9:30 and was still getting 82% but there was very little coming out at this point and I have quite enough and not worried about not getting all the tails. Didnt want to change out the water again either. Ended up with 8 1/2 quarts of 93% and 1 quart around 88% being the tails and the 1st quart that was around 93% also but was smelly and Im calling that the heads which will go into my next wash in probably about 2 weeks. Peace out!

Mesh around the cooling tubes, does he mean around the cooling lines that go into the water to be cooled and what type of mesh or I guess insulation.

Running cool water to the top of the column keeps the temp down in the head of the column which cools down the steam(vapor) which makes stuff that you dont want in your shine like water and other contaminants like oils. Running cold water to your condenser is what makes your shine come out as a cooled liquid instead of still steam and loose half of it as it would dissipate into the air as it came out of your still. . Basically you dont turn any water on until your heard starts to come up to temp (173*) but turn on both waters before you reach this temp as you want to use full reflux for about 1/2 hour to really bring the heads up and separated better and then slowly turn the water down at the head to start drawing your foreshots out and discard the first 50-100ml. After that collect in small jars and keep track of what order they came out so you can distinguish your heads, hearts and tails better. The colder the water the better as it will help condense your product in your condenser. You will find that unless your using gas heat that you wont require much water to your column head. I only use a 8 gallon primary bucket for making wine and washes in and regular tap water and have to change it out about every 1 1/2 hours as it getting luke warm around there. As long as your cooler is right about next to your still then there is plenty of hose as im always struggling with actually a little too much hose but dont really want to cut it because then Ill move everything around and find out there too short!

Thanks, I was actually at a big plumbing supply store where I could have gotten that or maybe even something better but forgot all about it!

Its been quite awhile since I have been here. I havent done any stilling in quite awhile actually but do have a sugar wash sitting there ready to run. I am low on everything and really need to get my butt back in the basement and get busy again!

No thanks, I like to stay a little under cover and I dont jhave video equipment either.

I have a 50 gallon (190 l) trash container that the city will not let me use, I have found a use!

"I use this:

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