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Hello again :)

@punkin said: Welcome @Sadi very nice to see you here, i missed you sneaking in. Please start a thread and tell us what you've been up to there for the last couple of years.

Thank you for your kind words @punkin.

I have been busy with some family affairs and did not have time even to read the posts in the forums, but I have not quit distilling. Now things are more sorted out and I have more time for our hobby.

Here is a bit of an update:

Those of you who read my posts elsewhere know that I am very excited about every aspect of this hobby and like to try all. I have been working with a modular glass setup which allows me to do many of the possible setups and I even tried continuous distillation.

As I gained more experience, now is the time for moving from experimental to some proper working environment and a proper setup.

I can't thank @Lloyd and @SDeurope enough.

With their great help, I am in the process of gathering the parts for a CD setup. Hopefully I will be joining the SD family soon.

My boiler "problem" is yet to be solved and I was working on different ideas. I think I will go for a couple of milk cans.

After considering various options on how to heat, I decided to try an induction stove and it arrived today. You may find this interesting. I experimented with it for boiling water and it looks very promising. It heats water faster than an electrical water heater (a kettle?). It has build in controls, very easy to adjust. It seems I can have the advantages of both gas and electrical element heating aswell. We shall see when I have the milk cans made.

I have two uj style fruit ferments going on. One is apples for brandy and apple pie and one is grape+raisins for raki. I have also kind of perfected my raki making process, which may be interesting for some friends who are doing infusions.

A friend brought a bottle of sake the other day. We liked it very much and they are asking if I can make some. I am now working on rice. I have to find a workaround since I can't find koji here.

I think this sums it up briefly.

It feels nice to be posting again and thanks again for the welcome @punkin

Cheers

Sadi

Comments

  • Great stuff Sadi. Really interested in your Raki. If it's not breaking a commercial recipe i'd love to hear more about it as to details. The arak recipe i follow for my friends who love ouzo is really popular.

    Also interested in how the fruit works in a ujsm style, can you desribe the process? do you mince the fruit or slice the apples etc?

    Love hearing how things work in different corners of the globe.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Hi @Sadi, it's great to see you here! I'd love to see more of what you are doing, use as many pictures as you like (no need for external picture hosting, just upload here directly when posting a comment).

    I always had that induction stove idea in my mind when thinking about the 50L MilkCan. Please post some pics and specs of the unit you have now, so far I did not find one large or strong enough locally.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • edited June 2014

    welcome!

    Raki is made of grapes and raisins? This is very interesting for me - I am sure your Raki is really a treat. :)

    The thing with the induction stove is also very interesting, I love using induction heat in my kitchen, it is quick and tidy, so we were also thinking about using it for our distilling.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • edited June 2014

    Thank you for the welcome :)

    I will write about my findings about induction heating soon I hope @SDeurope

    I wrote about raki here @Sunshine I hope you will like it.

    Cheers

  • edited June 2014

    @SDeurope said: I always had that induction stove idea in my mind when thinking about the 50L MilkCan. Please post some pics and specs of the unit you have now, so far I did not find one large or strong enough locally.

    The options I had here were the same I guess.

    There were single 2000W and double 3400W(1400+2000) choices.

    The other brands that I have looked here are almost the same, single ones have 30cm width and 26cm hotplate if double it is 60cm. Ofcourse they are not strong enough to support the weight of the boiler and the column.

    I am aware of the 4"column power requirements, and 2000W seems low. My initial idea was if it worked sufficiently at take off then slow heatup time could be ok or I could get another one to have 4000W which should be enough.

    I have used several different pots and boiled water with it. So far I am optimistic. I hope it will turn out to be as efficient in terms of heating speed and energy consumption as the info online suggests.

    The downside maybe that you may have to make a boiler that suits it and the milk cans may not be suitable. The boiler has to have enough flat surface at the bottom and should be able to support itself. Insulation should help also.

    We will know more after I tried it with a boiler hopefully soon enough.

    Cheers

    Sadi

  • Also has to be magnetic.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • OK, I have to admit, induction is out of question for our 50L Milk Can. No idea where that one came from (I guess I never have inspected the bottom of that vessel before), but it has a ring at the bottom causing a gap of about 2 cm to the bottom plate. I know that induction works up to a gap of about 1 cm, but not more.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • That could be an advantage if you can find just the right size automobile brake disc to put between the can and the heater.
    The induction heater tends to cycle on and off which is not so great for distilling but the big chunk of metal would act like a heat battery or buffer.

  • Good point! I'm all for such an induction experiment if we are able to find a strong enough portable induction stove in the proper size.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • I love you work Sadi! How about Using a 3 phase welder, set it to a high frequency, and wrap the boiler with induction coils. That's a lot of theory work up front, but may not heat a large pot of liquid.

  • edited June 2014

    Thanks @Philter,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ipZ4vdivbU

    Seeing videos like this I really could not help to think how wrapping our boilers with induction coils would be.

    I remember reading that it was tried, but was long time ago and don't remember where now.

    Cheers.

  • Good to see you here again Sadi I am always interested in your adventures with distilling I hope your family is well and all things have worked out for the best

  • edited June 2014

    Good to see you too @cooperville :)

    I was trying to follow your recovery, I hope all is well with you...

    It is business as usual here now, I guess it means everything is fine, thanks.

    Cheers

    Sadi

  • My big thanks to @Lloyd and @SDeurope.

    I now have all the parts for the CD. :) I am impressed at the excellent quality.

    When I have a boiler made I can start using it hopefully soon. I will post pictures then.

    Cheers.

  • Looking forward to it @Sadi. New toys are always such fun to play with.

  • WtG Sadi.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited July 2014

    Finally, I was able to get the boiler welded.

    First I did a vinegar run.

    For this one, I used most parts that I got and did a vodka run from a wheatgerm wash.

    image

    The purpose of this run was to clean everything some more and see how things worked.

    Everything worked perfectly.

    image

    It was easy to pull azeotrope

    image

    I used my induction stove

    image

    I was able to pull ~2.8 liters per hour from a 12% wash. It seems I need more power but this was not bad.

    Overall, I am very satisfied. :)

    My thanks to @Lloyd and @SDeurope

    Cheers

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  • @Smaug said: WtG Sadi.

    Ditto, from Tan and me.

  • Congrats Sadi !!!!!

  • I only followed your advice @FullySilenced, thanks.

  • edited July 2014

    I tried another setup today, only three perforated plates and a bit of reflux for stripping an apple wash, trying to see if I can compress tails.

    image

    I think it was successful.

    Cheers

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  • Congrats! It looks impressing! :)>-

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Great stuff, @Sadi. A Crystal Stripper with perf plates, something to consider. What's that on the first plate? Stainless steel wool?

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Secret Turkish goat hair packing I think... SDeurope... :D after all Sadi can't tell turkish secrets... B-) But I Can! :))

  • Thanks @Sunshine :)

    @SDeurope said: Great stuff, Sadi. A Crystal Stripper with perf plates, something to consider. What's that on the first plate? Stainless steel wool?

    Thanks and yes, I tried to see if reducing the volume on the perf.plate could do any good. It doesn't seem to help. As stated before by knowledgeable members, I found that these plates are responsive to power only. :))

    @FullySilenced said: Secret Turkish goat hair packing I think... SDeurope... :D after all Sadi can't tell turkish secrets... B-) But I Can! :))

    :)) You made me remember a quote, @FullySilenced

    "The secret is, there is no secret."

    Cheers

  • edited July 2014

    I think it is better to continue with these experiments in a new discussion: My 4" Crystal Dragon

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