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Offline Ghostkeeper  
#1 Posted : Tuesday, January 29, 2008 5:16:08 PM(UTC)
Ghostkeeper


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Joined: 1/2/2008(UTC)
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"Hello all.

This weekend I'm about to join you all on this grand endeavor. Well, not quite. I have attempted a practice run, last week with some weak homebrew (around 4%) just to try to get a hands-on feel about how the still operated and get a feel for temp control, adjusting distillation speed and the different stages of the process. I also only had the lower part of the column packed. Things went ok for a little while (about 5 hours or so from heat up to shutdown) and I did get a bit of practice temp stabilizing before I had a surge boil, freaked out and shut it down. I was an impulsive idiot and didn't use boiling chips. What can I say? I had been pouring over ""The Compleat Distiller"", ""Home Distillation Handbook"" and poking around the forums for a couple weeks and just couldn't wait to use my new toy. RollEyes, I've learned my lesson. Though it still kinda smarts that I should have learned a thing or two about surge boils having some experience with them homebrewing for +10 years. Ah, the audacity of youth!

I'm using a Essential Extractor PSII in reflux mode with copper packing with a 1100 watt hot plate (and now using a couple of handfuls of raschig rings as boiling chips.). I be working with an 25l all sugar wash with turbo 24. Sorry, I don't have the abv yet, as it just got started today. But just for educational purposes, I expect at least 14%. We used tap water for cooling the first time and we thought that was rather wasteful so we are going to use the brewhaus water control system. We will also be carbon filtering the product.


So here are my current noob questions:

1. any recommendations on types of insulation for the column and advice on insulating the boiler?

2. If I stop a run midway for whatever reason, what could be the consequences for the wash? Do I have to start it again right away? Is it ok to wait until the next day to continue?

3. When using the brewhaus 1100 watt hotplate, I heat up with it fully open (for about two hours) until I think the wash has reached boil, what would be a good position to draw back too?

4. Any suggestions on additives (salt, sodium bicarbonate, etc.) to help remove off flavors?

5. Any tips on using a closed water system with the water pump from brewhaus? I was going to use a standard coleman cooler (the kind we are all familiar with for camping n' stuff, 40-50qt I think.) with a couple of frozen gallon jugs.


Thats all I can think of right now, but I hope that this thread can generate things I didn't think of. I also understand that these are pretty broad questions so there could be a variety of opinions, which I think is a good thing. I also understand that there is information concerning this in the forums, but I must suck at using the forum search engine because I had a hard time getting answers to my specific search queries, so just a link would be great too. The feedback of anyone using this particular setup would be especially appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
G."
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Offline billybob  
#2 Posted : Wednesday, January 30, 2008 7:18:20 AM(UTC)
billybob


Rank: Junior Member

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Joined: 1/24/2008(UTC)
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"
Originally Posted by: Ghostkeeper Go to Quoted Post
Hello all.

This weekend I'm about to join you all on this grand endeavor. Well, not quite. I have attempted a practice run, last week with some weak homebrew (around 4%) just to try to get a hands-on feel about how the still operated and get a feel for temp control, adjusting distillation speed and the different stages of the process. I also only had the lower part of the column packed. Things went ok for a little while (about 5 hours or so from heat up to shutdown) and I did get a bit of practice temp stabilizing before I had a surge boil, freaked out and shut it down. I was an impulsive idiot and didn't use boiling chips. What can I say? I had been pouring over ""The Compleat Distiller"", ""Home Distillation Handbook"" and poking around the forums for a couple weeks and just couldn't wait to use my new toy. RollEyes, I've learned my lesson. Though it still kinda smarts that I should have learned a thing or two about surge boils having some experience with them homebrewing for +10 years. Ah, the audacity of youth!

I'm using a Essential Extractor PSII in reflux mode with copper packing with a 1100 watt hot plate (and now using a couple of handfuls of raschig rings as boiling chips.). I be working with an 25l all sugar wash with turbo 24. Sorry, I don't have the abv yet, as it just got started today. But just for educational purposes, I expect at least 14%. We used tap water for cooling the first time and we thought that was rather wasteful so we are going to use the brewhaus water control system. We will also be carbon filtering the product.


So here are my current noob questions:

1. any recommendations on types of insulation for the column and advice on insulating the boiler?

2. If I stop a run midway for whatever reason, what could be the consequences for the wash? Do I have to start it again right away? Is it ok to wait until the next day to continue?

3. When using the brewhaus 1100 watt hotplate, I heat up with it fully open (for about two hours) until I think the wash has reached boil, what would be a good position to draw back too?

4. Any suggestions on additives (salt, sodium bicarbonate, etc.) to help remove off flavors?

5. Any tips on using a closed water system with the water pump from brewhaus? I was going to use a standard coleman cooler (the kind we are all familiar with for camping n' stuff, 40-50qt I think.) with a couple of frozen gallon jugs.


Thats all I can think of right now, but I hope that this thread can generate things I didn't think of. I also understand that these are pretty broad questions so there could be a variety of opinions, which I think is a good thing. I also understand that there is information concerning this in the forums, but I must suck at using the forum search engine because I had a hard time getting answers to my specific search queries, so just a link would be great too. The feedback of anyone using this particular setup would be especially appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
G.



All good questions that the seasoned vets here will surely be able to answer :)

But from a beginner standpoint:

1. Wife made me ""socks"" that velcro around the column and top half of the tank for my EPSII. Made from a inexpensive $4 fleece from the discount store. And man does it work! Brewhouse could sell a few of these babies! What I see in pictures is insulation used for AC ducts that people pick up at the hardware stores.

2. People talk about bad runs and havting to start a boil again after it has stopped and say it comes out fine. The booze is still there so no damage done in starting again I'd say.

3. My first and second runs, I put the 1100 watt hotplate on high that comes with teh EPSII and when its boiing hard I back it down 1 notch and controlled the column temp via the brewhouse water kit. Remember the diffuser plate is not needed in the hotplate/EPSII units the Brewhouse sells. Maybe for hotter setups or open flame...

4. Additives, salt baking soda etc... really read up on that. I have not had to use it.

5. Closed water system in a tub or ice chest is the way to go for me. I keep the condenser at room temp to the touch or ever so slightly cool to the touch. Be careful not to overcool the column because if your not watching you'll collect tails in your bucket/jars and you may not want to. Some people do.

You will go through about 1 frozen jug per hour or more in the closed system. I did. The return water can get pretty warm. A run can last 4 + hours with the EPSII in reflux. Again, mine did.

I personally like a stripping run in pot setup with the EPSII.. Nothing in the columns, water on the condenser only and heat plate on high and capture everything up to 96C then shut it off.

Then reconfigure to reflux mode and go. I can't tell you how pleased I am with the Brewhouse setup. If I can do it anyone can :)

There ya have it. My vast experience from my 2 sugar wash runs with my EPSII BigGrin


billybob"
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