First runs

sawman10

Dash 2 is in place and ready. Cleaning run of 50-50 water vinegar went well. Played with the controller box and needle valves and they seem to react quickly. Do I need to tear it down and clean it now or will the first sacrificial alcohol run clean good enough. I did back flush the whole system with water.

I will be starting two 20 gal sugar washes tomorrow. How much head room will this need? With a full 20 gal I only have about 4 inches, will this be enough or do I need to reduce the batch size.

When the product comes out of the parrot, what is the ideal temperature?

More questions later

Philter

It's best to run some sacrificial alcohol after your backflush and toss it. 4 inches of headspace may not be enough. However the wash will expand with applied heat and also the boil will create height. You could try it and if possible drain part of your wash if it starts to puke. Be sure to de-gas your wash as well.

If it were a whiskey, then I'd leave much more headspace and/or use some anti-puke silicon.

Your product should be cool to touch from the exit of your product condenser. I touch the top outlet of my product condenser to ensure that it's cool. All vapours should be condensed before the surge arrestor.

I hope that helps you a little

sawman10

Product was cool when coming out. I will have plenty of room in the boiler, was looking for the head space requied for the fermenter. I have 20 gallon food grade containers with air locks.

I will be using an industrial type chiller

punkin

I wouldn't bother with a sacrificial run if it's just a Dash. There is no flux or nasty residue that a good wash with hot water and detergent won't remove. Only some machining oils and stuff.

sawman10

Hi Punkin, That sounds good to me. I have cleaned it good and even ran it through the dishwasher before the vinegar run. This is my setup now, but just a work in progress.

punkin

Nice. The temprite is enviable for sure.

crozdog

you got that right Punkin! lookin good sawman10

Moonshine

@sawman10, impressive, never seen a machine like that TempTek before. What's it worth?

sawman10

Hey Moonshine, The company that i work for is closing and I was instructed to scrap this.(I just couldn't do it ) We purchased this a year ago and paid about 5k for it. when i did the cleaning run I was only using 5 gallons of water and the temp never got over 90f on the return side, i was supplying it at 74f. I will have a 20 gallon container when i get it setup.

Smaug

That's a really good temp split Sawman10.

sawman10

I know that the clean out runs will be different than a real run but i am getting there. Started 2 20 gal sugar washes today. Thanks for all the parts Smaug

sawman10

Guess what, I learned that 4 inches of head space is not enough room for a 20 gallon sugar wash. can't wait to run it. It is going crazy.

FullySilenced

Well how did you learn that fact? The hard way? IF so sounds like there may be a story in that learning experience somewheres... :)

Philter

@sawman10 said: Guess what, I learned that 4 inches of head space is not enough room for a 20 gallon sugar wash.

It's a steep learning curve sawman10, but a very rewarding one at that. Degassed sugar washes are more forgiving than Whiskey mashes. I always have a few 4" bubble tees with sightglass (minus the bubble plates) at the base of my column to watch for pukes.

sawman10

This is just in the fermenters. Just a big mess on the shop floor. Haven't puked the column yet but I am sure it is coming. :) May have to order another 4" tee.

Philter

You might be fortunate enough to escape the puke, but see how it goes.

Simethicone (Gas-X or similar) is great stuff and you only need 2-4mls per 40L. I bought a little bottle off Punkin, and it's worth it's weight in gold.

sawman10

Checked the wash today, it has been working for 6 days. The starting SG was 1.09 and today it was at 1.03. Do these #'s seem to be ok?

My fermenting containers are not as air tight as i would like them so I am looking for something better.

Has anyone used anything like this ? from ebay.

cooperville

I have all ways looked at those fermentors and hunk they would work really well good cheap option although for some of us the postage would just not make it possible I would say go for it if you live in the states

crozdog

quite a few beer guys use rotamoulded plastic conical fermenters as they are cheaper than SS. They are really cheap in the US compared to the 1 Aussie manufacturer I've found.

Don't sweat the fermenter sealing totally. plenty of guys use glad wrap :-O yes plastic food wrap to cover the top of their fermenter. The main thing a lid does is stop airborne contamination falling in. The co2 will form a protective layer on top of the ferment

cooperville

@crozdog, have you got a link to these in australia?