"I finally had some time to do a cleaning run and sacrificial run. Unit is a pot still, 13 gallon SS keg with 36 inch copper column angled at 45 degrees then a copper liebig,32 inches long, 1/2 inch core with 3/4 inch jacket. 1/2 inch lines to a fountain pump in a 30 gallon barrel for cooling. For cleaning run, ran 3 gallons of 50/50 vinegar to water. checked for leaks at 180 F and let the mix blow steam out for 20 minutes then turned on condenser. Knocked steam down in 6 seconds. Ran this for 1.5 hours. Let cool, then added 4 bottles of old white wine. As I installed a thermometer in the top bend of the column, temp would not rise until steam was pushed up to upper column, then temp. rose quickly. Ran the wine off at a broken stream. The product smelled like a strong brandy. Ran this out for 2 hrs. and shut down.
I started a 10 gal. SF wash on 8-17-14. OG was 1.072. Ran in a ferm. box at 65 to 68F. Let run for 2 weeks. On 8-29-14, FG was .995, so I racked into 2- 5 gal buckets (aprox. 4 gallons each)
Loaded the boiler with 4 gallons of wash and lit the burner. Ran at medium heat while I prepped the jars and cleaned the buckets to receive a new wash. When temp hit 150F, I turned on pump. at about 165F started getting drips. Very exciting to see crystal clear liquid coming out of a rig you built. Turned down heat to low and began collecting in 8 oz jars, filled to 6 oz. at 180F, the temp held for about 30 minutes with a thin stream. This temp rose very slowly over the next 1.5 hrs with the stream alternating from this stream to broken stream to fast drips. Kept collecting thru to 190F another hour and collected until column was showing 204F and stream had slowed to 2 drips per second.
In all collected 16 jars at 6 oz.
First jar was 160 proof, next was 145, next was 140 and so it went to jar 16 which was 78 proof. Total time from firing to shutdown was 4 1/2 hrs.
I have the jars in my rack I built to hold them in order. They are capped with paper towel and resting peacefully on the shelf awaiting evaluation. All jars are crystal clear. I was expecting a strong smell towards the end with some oil drops or cloudiness, but nothing.
I am looking forward to the cuts, hope my nose is up to the task. B."