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Offline joseph9936  
#21 Posted : Friday, October 19, 2012 4:43:12 PM(UTC)
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the higher alcohol is in the heads and that part has the hangover stuff in it, so why shoot for the higher alcohol content? I am just worried about keeping the middles anyway.....
I have the milehigh one and love it. reflux enough and I have got 94 but use it for weed killer along the fence.....
Offline Maddawgs  
#22 Posted : Saturday, October 20, 2012 2:09:08 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: ohyeahyeah Go to Quoted Post
The Brewhaus PSII is a CM(coolant management) type reflux still. The other two types of reflux stills are VM(vapour management) or LM(liquid management). Each of these still types are suitable for making a "neutral" spirit, basically vodka. The packing they use causes the vapour to condense and evaporate numerous times allowing them to produce a very high alcohol percentage while also stripping away most of the flavor of the distilate.

The flute is also a type of CM still. Sort of. The difference is that it uses plates instead of packing and the plate number will ultimately determine the amount of times it is distilled. The flute is a home sized copy of a type of still made by Carl Stills(and others but if i remember correctly OD used a Carl schematic for his design) and Carl sells them as "modern pot stills".
The condensor at the top of the still is called a "deflagulator" and is used to load the plates. Once they are loaded the water is turned down, almost off to the deflag and collection begins. At this point you can think of each plate as a simple thump keg. So four plates means four thumpers.
http://homedistiller.org/theory/refluxdesign/steps
There is a chart on this page that shows basic percentages for each time redistilled. You can see that HillBillys getting 88% with 4 plates is about right.
So whats the point of this fancy still that costs much more to buy or build and makes a lower percentage abv%? Flavor. When making whisky retaining flavor in the distillate is the goal. Bourbon rules require an abv of less then 80% and most commerical bourbons come off much less then that. Most full flavored whiskey(bourbon, scotch, irish ect.) are coming off the still around 70%. And for traditional pot stillers thats usually two or three times distilling. The flute(plated column still or modern pot still) allows you to produce a full flavored distillate at a desireable abv in a single run. The commercial versions allow you to disable plates so you can adjust to exactly what you want coming out the final condensor. OD included plate disabling in his second flute design but if you want one like that you are going to have to build it yourself. As far as i know Hillbilly is only selling their version of the first "magic flute".

Hi ohyeahyeah,
Thanks, that is exactly the type of answer info I was looking for. I love the description, learned a lot.
thanks again. Todd
Offline Maddawgs  
#23 Posted : Saturday, October 20, 2012 2:16:27 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: joseph9936 Go to Quoted Post
the higher alcohol is in the heads and that part has the hangover stuff in it, so why shoot for the higher alcohol content? I am just worried about keeping the middles anyway.....
I have the milehigh one and love it. reflux enough and I have got 94 but use it for weed killer along the fence.....

Hi joseph9936,
I think (and I could be wrong) that some are getting up in the 90's from the hearts also. I think (and I could be wrong) this would help when you do you dilutions on that you may get more final product--94% will yeild a bit more than 90%.
Thanks, Todd
Offline joseph9936  
#24 Posted : Saturday, October 20, 2012 2:23:57 AM(UTC)
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your right it didnt come out like I was thinking....lol I really meant during my stripping run usually my higher percentage is the heads but once i do 2-3 stripping runs then that really brings up the percentage in the hearts and easier to split between the different stages.... I love the mile high one i have and just bought the sight glass :-)
Offline nchooch  
#25 Posted : Tuesday, October 23, 2012 2:08:36 AM(UTC)
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"
Originally Posted by: ohyeahyeah Go to Quoted Post
The Brewhaus PSII is a CM(coolant management) type reflux still. The other two types of reflux stills are VM(vapour management) or LM(liquid management). Each of these still types are suitable for making a ""neutral"" spirit, basically vodka. The packing they use causes the vapour to condense and evaporate numerous times allowing them to produce a very high alcohol percentage while also stripping away most of the flavor of the distilate.

The flute is also a type of CM still. Sort of. The difference is that it uses plates instead of packing and the plate number will ultimately determine the amount of times it is distilled. The flute is a home sized copy of a type of still made by Carl Stills(and others but if i remember correctly OD used a Carl schematic for his design) and Carl sells them as ""modern pot stills"".
The condensor at the top of the still is called a ""deflagulator"" and is used to load the plates. Once they are loaded the water is turned down, almost off to the deflag and collection begins. At this point you can think of each plate as a simple thump keg. So four plates means four thumpers.
http://homedistiller.org/theory/refluxdesign/steps
There is a chart on this page that shows basic percentages for each time redistilled. You can see that HillBillys getting 88% with 4 plates is about right.
So whats the point of this fancy still that costs much more to buy or build and makes a lower percentage abv%? Flavor. When making whisky retaining flavor in the distillate is the goal. Bourbon rules require an abv of less then 80% and most commerical bourbons come off much less then that. Most full flavored whiskey(bourbon, scotch, irish ect.) are coming off the still around 70%. And for traditional pot stillers thats usually two or three times distilling. The flute(plated column still or modern pot still) allows you to produce a full flavored distillate at a desireable abv in a single run. The commercial versions allow you to disable plates so you can adjust to exactly what you want coming out the final condensor. OD included plate disabling in his second flute design but if you want one like that you are going to have to build it yourself. As far as i know Hillbilly is only selling their version of the first ""magic flute"".


Good explanation OYY,
The flute is definitely CM, but I regard it as more of a hopped-up pot still ....and your analogy to the 3 or more thumpers is right on the money.

One of the advantages I don't think you mentioned is the increased take-off from the diameter , the 4"" versions are able to pull a gallon/hour of 90% ...the 3"" versions are about half that.
I've built 3 of them and although they're somewhat expensive to build and very expensive to buy, I don't think there's another still design out there that can produce 90% without stripping out all the flavor AND do it at pot-still speeds.

I really enjoy running mine and if I for some reason found myself without a still one day, I'd build another."
Offline Maddawgs  
#26 Posted : Tuesday, October 23, 2012 5:05:54 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: nchooch Go to Quoted Post
Good explanation OYY,
The flute is definitely CM, but I regard it as more of a hopped-up pot still ....and your analogy to the 3 or more thumpers is right on the money.

One of the advantages I don't think you mentioned is the increased take-off from the diameter , the 4" versions are able to pull a gallon/hour of 90% ...the 3" versions are about half that.
I've built 3 of them and although they're somewhat expensive to build and very expensive to buy, I don't think there's another still design out there that can produce 90% without stripping out all the flavor AND do it at pot-still speeds.

I really enjoy running mine and if I for some reason found myself without a still one day, I'd build another.

Hi nchooch,
Good info.
Thank, Todd
Offline Canada1961  
#27 Posted : Sunday, February 10, 2013 7:26:53 AM(UTC)
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Be careful of Mile hi....Its my understanding that they are going bankrupt
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