:-O

Power consumption is actually fairly similar to my batch processing.

5 hours to strip 250g (50gph equivalent). My last rum strip yielded roughly the same stripped distillate volume (roughly 200 liters/52g)

145kw @ 1hr (Heatup) and 25kw @ 4hr (Full-out stripping, some minor passive reflux).

That gives me an average of about 49kw / hr.

Granted, this doesn't take into account efficiency losses on my dinosaur fueled steam, which would make those numbers a bit smaller on a comparison with electric.

@punkin said: It's Moonshine and and Sunshine that power the forum. Smaug and I just contribute.

The power of the StillDragon® Organization, stronger than ever after almost 10 YEARS (anniversary coming up next week)! 3:-O

I have had great luck with just RO in the BM, but RO/DI would also be great..

I also use the RO in a steam generator which has bare elements like the B-M, is total loss (inject the steam into molasses to heat it, and top-off the keggle each time, and I have zero deposits with RO, but tons of white stuff stuck to elements and side of keggle and deposits on bottom when just just carbon filtered.. I have thought about using a 1/2" NPT Magnesium RV anode, but have not implemented..

@grim said: My money is still on some kind of Zinc compound (yes, 9 years later). It's common enough in grain and rapidly taken up by yeast during fermentation (highly bioavailable/reactive). The formation on copper has got to mean it's a copper catalyzed reaction (as opposed to a precipitate being formed during distillation/condensation).

Not catalyzed but after google searching this a bit yes, it looks like two different copper/zinc reactions might be the culprit. I wouldn't say case closed, but it's a good lead. Zinc is reactive to copper oxide and copper sulfate, both of which are present on the copper in a still.

Reacting zinc and copper(II) oxide @ RSC Education

Copper oxide and zinc metal react together in an exothermic reaction to produce zinc oxide and copper. ... the white powder (zinc oxide) is yellow when hot and white when cool

And also: Redox reaction from dissolving zinc in copper sulfate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVMe8ZmCZo0

@madspeed said: I have a 5psi pressure relief valve on it and it does get to pop-off point while heating. What is the typical pressure when running this way? Should I be releasing any pressure or let it do its thing?

Do not rely on the PRV working to operate safely.

As @CothermanDistilling notes, every BM using water should have a thermostatic valve installed.

@madspeed said: Doing some initial test runs and getting used to my new 400 liter electric baine-marie still. I have the heating elements covered with water and using the steam to heat. I have a 5psi pressure relief valve on it and it does get to pop-off point while heating. What is the typical pressure when running this way? Should I be releasing any pressure or let it do its thing?

Also, upon initial firing of the elements I get a few thumps. Is this normal? Should I so a slower start and not have all 4 elements cranked up?

Do you have a drawing that illustrates the wall thickness? Is the kettle rated for low pressure steam? How many watts are you able to throw at the kettle? Pressure can range depending on heat input.

Doing some initial test runs and getting used to my new 400 liter electric baine-marie still. I have the heating elements covered with water and using the steam to heat. I have a 5psi pressure relief valve on it and it does get to pop-off point while heating. What is the typical pressure when running this way? Should I be releasing any pressure or let it do its thing?

Also, upon initial firing of the elements I get a few thumps. Is this normal? Should I so a slower start and not have all 4 elements cranked up?

LIFT-OFF TO NEW HOPE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xLuCLc2z1I

STAY SAFE & HEALTHY | DRINK RESPONSIBLY

See what you started Simmo. :-O

He stopped by our booth at ADI.
He was with a distiller friend. He was just a spectator is all.

He is well and looks good.
Lost weight and stopped drinking.

The Artisan forum may be gone. Evidently his domain thingy expired and for some reason he can't renew?
He did explain but I don't really understand what he explained.

The moonshine arrest issue was pretty churched up as they didn't find much of anything other than a still that was more or less incapable of producing the volumes publicized.

He reckons that the arrest was for bragging rights. Was simply a small still that he knocked together and in storage in his warehouse. $250 fine was all.

@Smaug said: Fission yeast seems to be the darling.

This from Stephen Schellenburger:

Team Pombe and the Yeast Olympiad @ Boston Apothecary

Seems to raise more questions than answers? But the dude is a pretty smart cookie so I'm looking forward to any updates he has on the subject matter.

Argentina is the twilight zone. The first columns I bought from you guys. I put them in my suitcase and jumped on a bus. At that time the would scan some bags and not others. This one time I had all the components of a 4" 4 plate column deflegmator and condensor ( yes it was heavy). My bag got scanned. I thought I was phucked. I open it up and this asshole customs guy comes up and said whats this. I said its a fractioning column for making whiskey. He said Whiskey no-one makes whiskey here. I said yes this is why I am going to do it. He said this kind of gear is prohibited here in Argentina. I sais yes thats why I am bringing it in its hard to get here. He said no its prohibited to import it not to have it. I said yes thats right I am bringing it in so that I can start learning how to make whiskey. He said Whisky no-one makes whiskey. I said thats right. He said no one does it and this gear is prohibited. So his calls his supervisor over, he said whats this stuff. I said its a fractioning column for making whiskey. He said whiskey, no-one makes whiskey here. I said yes this is why I want to do it. He said this stuff is prohibited here. I said thats right you cant get it here. Let me come back. Anyway it just so happened there was a distant relative of my wife who was at my wedding with here comes up and looks at me and winks and said. Hey this is for personal not commercial use correct. I said sure it is. He went inside and his supervisor comes out and said. Is this for Personal use. I said sure it is. He said OK fine. Do you have a receipt. And I handed over the SD receipt. He said wow this stuff is expensive, no wonder you cant get it here in Argentina. I said actually its not that expensive. He said OK I have to charge you import duties. How about 30%. I said sure. So I fork out my credit card and he hits it for 1500. He was looking up his list of good he said what do we put this under. I said hmmmm Kitchen equipment. He siad OK sure. Then after he rang up the charge he said whiskey, no-one makes whiskey here in Mendoza. I said sure thats why I want to do it. Then he pulls out his work business card and said look when you get up and running I really like whisky, can I come to your distillery. I said well I am not sure as its only for personal use. He looked at me and said bullshit now get out of here and get on your bus. This is one of many stories.

I absolutely adore RM for rum. IMHO - EDV493/RM - is the king of rum. Prove me wrong.

What other rum yeast has a pedigree like this?

Thirty Years of Rum Technology at INRA @ Boston Apothecary

I might try to add the honey at 'flame-out' to avoid losing a bunch of it's aromatics?

@punkin said: That's the stuff, it's late tails. Bit of a revelation when i found it, took a couple years for my taste buds to catch on to all the flavours and no-one talked about it back then.

I suspect the home distillers either didn't know for the most part and the few that did thought it wasn't worth mentioning as everyone knew.

Seems like most home distillers get too caught up in the dead center hearts cut and takes em a while to venture into the deep end of the pool.

That's the stuff, it's late tails. Bit of a revelation when i found it, took a couple years for my taste buds to catch on to all the flavours and no-one talked about it back then.

I suspect the home distillers either didn't know for the most part and the few that did thought it wasn't worth mentioning as everyone knew.

Test it like that on purpose? Most typical stainless hardware is 304, and it will corrode in high chloride environments (NaCl - Salt Water), 316 is a more stable grade, but far more expensive.

Sometimes that kind of surface rust is due to residue from the tooling to cut the threads. However, rusting of stainless hardware is actually very, very common, see:

Rust on Stainless Steel Nuts - Why are my stainless steel nuts rusting? @ Portland Bolt & Manufacturing Company

Just replace the bolt, no big deal.

I don't see any issue at all with the welds.

Hi this is my first post so I wasn’t really sure if I should start my own thread or piggy back on to somebody else’s thread. Apologies for the lengthy post and if it is in the wrong place.

Not even sure if this is a question, statement, introduction or seeking confirmation. Some background first.

I have been using a 4” 4 bubble plate modular still for 8-10 months and whilst I am happy with the final product I feel like there is something not quite right with the process.

The gear:

• 4x4x3 Tees
• 50L boiler
• 2 x 2400W elements
• Power controller
• Gate valves on outlets of defleg / PC
• Parrot

I predominantly run rum (sometimes a whiskey) as a single run. No stripping just run it slowly and take tight cuts. The product then goes on oak for 6 months.

On heat up I run both elements defleg open, once at temp I will drop 1 element to 35-40% and slowly take off fores. Once fores taken I will gradually close defleg to ½. At this setting I will have a take-off approx 2L /hr, so not quite the toothpick stream I have seen mentioned all over the net. Initially I was happy with that – it is a big step up from my 2” homemade pot with multiple strips then spirit run. Now I want to speed things up a bit. If I try push the 2nd element higher I get flooding on the 2nd &/or 3rd plate.

Now the reason I am here, after reading a lot about ProCaps and how it fixes flooding, I managed to get a 2nd hand set from oldmate on gumtree. I ran a sac run last weekend and wow I was able to run both elements at 100% and they wouldn’t flood, not even close (but y’all already knew that). I was squealing like a school girl at a Bieber concert. I did eventually dial the elements down to my normal power settings to see how it compared to the bubble plates. It was a definite improvement but not mind blowing 4-5L like some suggest.

Looks like I need to re-learn my still’s sweet spot. Obviously there is a lot of factors at play but i did read somewhere a figure of 1500w per cap.

1. In theory run 4500W for the 4” plate with 3 caps. At these numbers what am I likely to get?
2. Is this a guide for best power efficiency? Hydraulic performance? something else?
3. Best or highest take-off rate without flooding plates during a longer run?
4. Best or highest take-off rate without smearing the product?
5. Because they can handle more power do I have to run them at the higher power?
6. If 1500W per cap is the optimum / maximum rate what is the minimum if I wanted to run the still slowly. I am guessing the lowest power I can go to without stopping the bubbling?!
7. Is there something else from what I have or haven’t mentioned which you think might need tweaking to give a better experience?

Thanks Swampy.

@grim said: Influence of sodium chloride on wine yeast fermentation performance @ Dovepress

Oh for heavens sake. I never would have thought that.