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Ok So I fired Her Up

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Guest		#1 Posted : Monday, April 02, 2007 12:30:03 PM(UTC)
Rank: Guest Groups: Guests Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC) Posts: 5,254		Well I got off work early today and thought what the heck, lets fire this thing up ,Essential Extractor PSII High Capacity,. I had a case of some wine let over, grabbed a half full bottle of some rondiaz rum, put 2 gallons of water in the still and started heating. With the 1100watt hot plate heat times have been pretty darn slow. I wrapped the unit in foil bubblewrap and that helped quite a bit, but its still not great. I kept checking the unit and when I went outside the last time I had steam coming out the condenser, I turned on the water to a slight trickle and temp dropped to 140. It slowly started to creep back up. I noted the temp on thermometer and it was at 160f after it stopped. After about an hour the temp was still at 160f and it was running quite well. As I was standing there I watched the temp drop to 142fish then rise back up to 160f. It did this quite a few times when there was about 120mill in the test jar. At this point I tok some video of the flow rate and temp. As of right now, about 3 hours into the run, my thermometer is still stuck on 160, and at last measure I was at 90%. My real concern is the lack of reaching the 173 temp. I used 2 lab grade thermometers and they both say the same. I put the bulb of the thermo at the condenser level. The cooling water ,tap about 55f, is a slow trickle out of the condenser. I am thinking 1 of 2 things. 1. The hot plate is underpowering the unit and the heat is not making it that high. 2.It is that hot however the cold fresh water radiating though the last canal ,whatever you call it, the highest one,, giving me a false reading. I do however have another question about methanol, if say my temps really were 160, I assume the meth that was there would boil off ,which would be not much,and I would not be getting the bulk of the rest of the ethanol...correct? I think i just answered my own question.. anywho the distillate coming out smells heavily of wine, yet is crystal clear.. is this normal? some pictures and the vid http://www.rabeb25.mikesdecks.com/BEER/Water%20Distilling/ Thanks Bryan

aceofspd		#2 Posted : Thursday, December 06, 2007 8:36:38 AM(UTC)
Rank: Newbie Reputation: Groups: Registered Joined: 12/6/2007(UTC) Posts: 1		"Your termometer is not inside the mash so the temp isnot the true temp. My pot still (with thumper) stabilizes at 156 degrees. At this point the condensate taste clean. This is where I empty the thumper and start collecting the run. When the temp starts to rise by 4 degrees, you are nearing the end. I change collection jars and taste often. The physics are the physics. Different mixtures have different boiling points. The tempature of boiling will remain constant until the percentage of components make a significant change. If your set up only reads 160 degrees when it stabalizes, and you wait until 170 degrees to collect, you will MISS the ethanol. 156 degrees is what my thermometer mounted in its unique place with the starting alchol volume and various other contaminantes (ingrediants), at my altitude and pressure, reads. YOUR RESULTS WILL VARY! Watch your thermometer more for CHANGE than for the acctual temp. Greg"


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