New Gear SOON !!!!

unsub

Aldi have cheap in-line power meters that show watts and amps. That's what I use to see how much my element on the controller is running at.

Clickeral

@Mickiboi said:

No problem :)

And thanks unsub I will look at getting one this weekend :)

Managed to get the RC hot and all the plates fogged up and then condensing, didnt have water flow turned on but had water in the system, PC just wouldn't heat up and I couldn't get steam out the down valve

Guessing this isn't a big issue atm, nothing seemed to leak

Calling it quits now, ill chuck it on again tomorrow and see if I can get the PC hot but I ran steam through the hole thing for about 20mins

The whole thing smells like vinegar now so thats a good sign, will check if the plates are fully clean tomorrow

Should I do just a steam run through or break it down and rinse out?

I know it all seals now at least

Umm Will be doing a stripping run tomorrow on a load of TPW if its good to go?

Still a little worried about the buzzing on my element/ cord?

unsub

Is the buzzing coming from the element, cord or controller?

Clickeral

@unsub said: Is the buzzing coming from the element, cord or controller?

I'm not 100% sure yet its hard to track down

Clickeral

I double checked the wiring to the element and its all good, the buzzing is definately coming from the element so I am guessing it needs tightening

There are no hot spots anywhere (the element guard does warm up though)

I will do about 90Mins tonight (67mins warmup roughly) with the current element with water and vinegar to make sure everything is clean

Then ill swap to the 2400W element and run it at full power to strip the first batch of TPW should take about 2hrs for that including warmup

Going to run till it's finished however

jonno

Just give it a break mate till your 2400 watt shows up. Buzzing doesn't sound right and you don't wanna be injuring yourself because you couldn't wait an extra day

Clickeral

The 2400W element is here

Clickeral

Water vinegar drained, new element installed wired and leak tested

No buzzing at full power I do however have a hissing as the TPW heats

Not sure if ill keep this run or not as I am not 100% if the vinegar is all out of the system

If need be ill keep this batch as cleaning booze

Moonshine

Shoot a video to let us participate! :)

Lloyd

You will soon know the sounds that your boiler makes.
I can set a clock by the sounds of mine. I get a wizzing noise at startup while the cold charge is heating followed by a rumbling and then finally by a churning and then a major rumbling noise.
When all that subsides and goes quiet its VERY close to showtime! The plates begin to load just after the boiler goes quiet. It's normal.

The bigger the boiler the bigger the noise, providing can you throw enough power at it. Once at distilling temp it's quiet as a mouse.

Clickeral

So I got the fores off and am loading the parrot atm, had a slight cooling issue and lost a bit of product as vapour

Have a window open so hope im not getting drunk

Clickeral

Currently at 90% and a slow drip from the parrot

jonno

Its all sounding positive! Bet your excited mate :D

Clickeral

Yeah still learner her but its going good :)

Have worked out how much to turn the RC down once the plates are loaded I think

Getting slightly lower proof then what I expected but all good :)

Clickeral

Down to about 86% but had a small drop and its pretty clean

Tastes like alcohol lol cant get any tomato paste though atm but will water alittle down tomorrow and see

Currently no cuts done and onto my 5th pint jar

Boiler temp at 81.1C

Reflux flow is very very low

Still working out how far into it I should go

Might let the boiler cool down and collect whats left in it tomorrow to rerun at a later date

punkin

You may very well find that you need more power than 2400 watts.

Smaug

@punkin said: You may very well find that you need more power than 2400 watts.

3000-3300 watts seems to be an average running speed for lots of users.

Clickeral

Yeah my cooling is to good for 2400W I have to have the RC Running at a trickle once the plates are loaded to get product out

I took jars 2 and 3 this morning (skipped the fores jar and classed jar one as heads) mixed up two 750ml bottles of 45% tto keep for reference later on

I haven't tasted them yet however

The other 3 and a half jars (1,4,5,6) will be added to the next TPW run (26L)

The 22ish L of tpw left in the boiler I will rerun at a later date as it's still got alchol in it because I didnt have time last night to strip it all the way to 20%

I need to look into my hot line out as that caused me issues last night, may have to buy a pump setup on payday

@punkin I will package those triclamps into the bag you sent at lunch time and try send them back :)

punkin

Thanks buddy. Don't rush it.

Clickeral

Must be doing something right the 45% neutral I bottled this morning has been in the freezer all day and hasn't separated :)

Will have a taste test tonight haha

Clickeral

@punkin I put the package in the post today

Tonight I'll do a run of brandy and hope it comes out ok, been slack lately

This weekend will be a brewing weekend I think

Clickeral

Going to run some neutral tonight (and do the 2nd distill over the weekend)

Will do Bourbon Friday night at this stage

Brandy went ok and I have 800ml on french oak atm the rest went back into the boiler for a neutral run

Still having trouble with cuts as all I can smell is the alcohol smell and it all tastes the same at this stage

I can tell when tails starts (and the cardboard smell) but that hits in about 60% down when I strip the last of the alcohol out

Live and learn getting there slowly

I need more heat, 2400W is nothing and I have to have it in full potstill mode (reflux maybe at a trickle) to get a pencil lead/toothpick of product out the parrot

After I load the plates

Also when I ran the brandy my bottom sight glass fogged up pretty fast :s

Clickeral

3rd run of the still on atm

Clickeral

92% atm and can fully taste the heads 300ml in pretty sure the first two jars will be heads but will let it air and do my cuts/blending tomorrow or Saturday

I may take one bottle of hearts from this run and then put the whole lot back into the still watered down and run it again

I think the brandy I made may be screwed, to much heads but will see how it ages

Clickeral

Problem im having with the flavored stuff and one run is it all smells of heads to me

At least with neutral I can just run it again :s

jonno

More info mate, wash total, percentage. Collection jar size, reflux time etc

Clickeral

Right now its at 30L was about 20% in (28L of 10% and about 2L of 40%) coming out at 92%

I took 150ml of fores and have been collecting in 300ml increments since, currently on jar 6 and it all smells the same really harsh.

Will run again tomorrow after I water it down

Clickeral

took 7 odd jars of 300ml at 90-92% all smells the same increased speed by reducing reflux and it dropped down to 85%

Same smell

Now ripping it out in potstill mode at 80% atm to collect down to 30% ish

Will run it really slow tomorrow night

Not sure if I will keep a jar or 2 of what ive got sitting here atm airing

Clickeral

Hmmm its now smelling strongly of tomato

May give my boiler etc a good clean tomorrow and make sure I have no sediment or yeast in it

Then run the neutral again :p

Drunkas

@Clickeral I have found that when you get a real low yealed wash it can be very hard to fined where the heads and harts is. You need to do very small cuts and don't be shy to letting it air for extended times. With most spirits I make I have found that tails really dose not start till about 40%. Sometimes you might get it early on but just keep you cuts small and air them for an extended time again. Once I hit 40% then every thing after that gets put a side and I treat that all on its own. If its not to bad then I will keep it out of my neutral runs and save up till I got a enough of its type of tails to do a hole run of it. rum or whiskey.
What yeast did you use with your brandy that may also be a factor. I am probably not the best person to try and help you with brandy but I have tried a few different things with mix results. I think for us home brews that are trying to make a nice brandy you need a nice yeast and temperature control. That has worked best for me. Plus nice fruit.

I hope I am not rambling on and I hope this is not off track to what you are looking for.