"Hi Jimmy, and welcome.

You asked a question that noone can give an answer to. It is dependent on the amount of heat you are providing, how well insulated your column is, the ABV of your brew or low wines, and the temp. of your cooling water. You just have to adjust it to maintain the take off temp that you need at your altitude.

I have a spring and reservoir, and this time of year, its usually around 34 F. When I first started out in this hobby, before I knew to insulate the column and top half of the boiler, I decided to make a run on a beautiful sunny morning. About the time takeoff started, a massive storm hit. It dropped about 25 F, heavy snow and strong gale force winds. I had to shut the water input down so low, to even get a small trickle, that the whole water supply, hoses and even the cooling tubes froze. Had to shut down, and move it all inside to thaw out. In the summer, I need a fairly heavy flow of water from the same spring though its in the 50's then, in order to get a gallon an hour of 95%. You will also need to add more flow when you get near the tails cut to maintain good reflux and quality, as the vapor becommes hotter. At that point, I also like to increase it enough to attain full reflux for 15 min. to get more good spirit.

Its pretty easy actually, and useing a digital with an alarm really helps a lot.

You will be very happy with your HC unit."

"Jimmy,

More important the colder the temp. However, still a help in warmer areas as there is still a vast differential from 78+C to your perhaps 37 or so. It will still cause some reflux on the side of the column which will slide back into the pot without revaporizing. Not a requirement though."

"


jimmy.23 did you purchase the entire HC unit or the HC column and adapter?


billybob"

"


That would be an extremely short run. My HC starts producing after about 1.5 hours, then I hit the water hard & reflux for 45 min & then start pulling. I fiddle with it for another 3 hours before shutdown, so I'm running 5 - 5.5 hrs. That's with the 1500 hot plate modded to not cycle"

"

Fire it at full until it just starts to drip, then hit the water enough to drop the temp 4 or so degrees (F), stops the flow & starts full reflux. A drip every now & then - a little more water."

"Thanks guys sorry late reply, Yeah Im up North Queensland so simalar to Texas, Yeah own the HC full unit.



Whe you say above, how to know when to add more water or is jst a matter of maintaining temperture and monitoring for the tails?"

"

Mine's all broken down right now or I'd post a pic. I used what's known as Reflectix. Basically it's the bubble wrap that is aluminized and sold as an insulation product. I used metal foil HVAC tape to seal it.

http://www.reflectixinc.com/

I just cut to fit & taped it closed. Where you live it should be plenty. I'm sure there is a comparable Aussie product."

"

Thanks to you,mtnwlkr2 and others all terminology is starting to be come much clearer with readind lots of posts.
After full reflux. when you start to lower the temp.this is when you catch the Foreshores and heads until reaching a certain temp. Is there anyway of telling difference between Foreshores and Heads or when to Cut."

After full reflux you raise the temp to get flow. The first 50 - 100ml will be foreshots - you can tell, smells like hell. This stuff will come off before you reach 78*c. The best way to compare heads, hearts, & tails is collect in small amounts, say 3/4 liters & label them. This way you start getting an idea of what you are getting & at what stage you are getting it. How much of the heads & tails you use for your final product is subjective - you are the one drinking it. Any heads or tails not used should be stored for your next run as there is still plenty of good alcohol trapped in with the lesser stuff. It won't take long for you to develop your taste & smell profiles so that you know when to start & stop collecting. Collect as far into the tails as you wish, it will be recycled anyway.

If you are refluxing then you lose all flavors, except far a sweet aftertaste due to the binding of the sugar to alcohol molecule. If you want taste then you need to pot distill. I don't, so I may be wrong about the percentage, but I believe any abv above 70% will be relatively flavorless. It may be less. Whiskey goes into the barrel about 54%. Just remember, a lot of flavor is actually from the long barrel times these liquors get.