It looks good I use a big cooler with with 4 - 2.5 gallon jugs of ice 5 gallon of water and a fountain pump. I mainly gudge by flow several drips followed by a short stream then more drips. The thermometer are just a data point. Every still is different as well and different kinds of wash runs differently. Thanks for sharing with us
I do something similar. I now have a 200L rainwater tank sat outside the window, and use a fountain pump to cycle the cooling water round. I have suspended a length of large diameter drainpipe in the tank so that water can only enter it from the bottom where the water is coolest, and placed the pump inside the pipe. The hot output goes back to the tank outside of the drainpipe. This prevents the warm water at the top of the tank being pumped straight back to the condenser. It works fine for my pot still T500 setup, tank temp might gain approx 20 Celsius for a long spirit run.
@@hobbydistiller I've been thinking about doing the same kind of thing but going with a solar fountain pump. They aren't to unreasonable and they have some that claim to run several hours after being in the sun all day. The only problem is we don't get alot of rain here but I could always just fill and reuse the water till it starts to go stale. During the dry months.
@@spikelove9533 I'm the same, I use some of the water on the garden, and top up with the hose pipe when I'm ready to do a run, so that its slowly replaced over time.
In the unit operations lab. for Chem. E. at Berkeley we had a Schott glass still with reflux trays. We would distill glacial acetic acid, take samples from each tray to measure the concentration going up the column, boy that'll wake you up in the morning.
Yes indeed you can. The bubble plates are an effective way to have multiple distillations in one run. The high abv output is also a nice bonus to have, but the purity of the alcohol and the definition with the ‘cuts’ make this a good type of Still to run for a neutral spirit.
Nice man. Was just wondering why do people put the cold inlet on the bottom of the reflux condenser. Shouldn't it be on the top? I mean, the product condenser has the cooling inlet at the bottom which makes sense. In that way you not chasing, or spreading the heat. You holding it back. Hope I make sense🤔🤷♂️
To have the cold input at the top of the condenser, you’d obviously need to have the flow control on the hot output hose of the condenser. But i know where you’re coming from. And all fairness as long as it does the job, of controlling the condensing of vapour, either way is fine.
The Still was from a company called Distillex (not sure if it’s still available), and the additional bubble column section was from Home Distillation Store. Both were through AliExpress.
Good question 👍 I didn’t use any packing in this run as it was just a tester with water. But in subsequent runs I’ve found it is worth trying to make all of the column as efficient and as productive as possible. So when needed, I’ve started to pack that section with copper mesh. Although, in my later vids, I’ve now doubled the bubble section. So the stainless steel section is almost redundant but still a handy piece to have.
@@highly-spirited Do those gaskets come into contact with the spirit, are they safe? Really considering one of these, and I can't find anyone talking about the gaskets.
@@dakkarocka I really don’t get the paranoia, or where it even all stems from, regarding the way some manufacturers seal their Stills. I have yet to see any evidence that anything used is unfit for production/consumption, other than the alcohol these things are actually used to make! Which is pretty ironic when you think about it 🤔
@@highly-spirited Honestly I figured it to be safe on the fact no one had brought it up at all that i've been able to find. I've seen stuff about silicone gaskets, but nothing on the large gaskets between glass sections. Thank you for the response. I'm about to to pull the trigger on an oak still one and I'm excited but trying to cross every t and dot every i I can. Thank you again !
It looks good I use a big cooler with with 4 - 2.5 gallon jugs of ice 5 gallon of water and a fountain pump. I mainly gudge by flow several drips followed by a short stream then more drips. The thermometer are just a data point. Every still is different as well and different kinds of wash runs differently. Thanks for sharing with us
I do something similar. I now have a 200L rainwater tank sat outside the window, and use a fountain pump to cycle the cooling water round. I have suspended a length of large diameter drainpipe in the tank so that water can only enter it from the bottom where the water is coolest, and placed the pump inside the pipe. The hot output goes back to the tank outside of the drainpipe. This prevents the warm water at the top of the tank being pumped straight back to the condenser. It works fine for my pot still T500 setup, tank temp might gain approx 20 Celsius for a long spirit run.
@@hobbydistiller I've been thinking about doing the same kind of thing but going with a solar fountain pump. They aren't to unreasonable and they have some that claim to run several hours after being in the sun all day. The only problem is we don't get alot of rain here but I could always just fill and reuse the water till it starts to go stale. During the dry months.
@@spikelove9533 I'm the same, I use some of the water on the garden, and top up with the hose pipe when I'm ready to do a run, so that its slowly replaced over time.
What's the diameter of the column? 2 or 4 inch?
Try in the middle buddy….it’s a 3 incher.
In the unit operations lab. for Chem. E. at Berkeley we had a Schott glass still with reflux trays. We would distill glacial acetic acid, take samples from each tray to measure the concentration going up the column, boy that'll wake you up in the morning.
Hello. I have a question please.can i get a high purity of alcohol by this method?
Yes indeed you can. The bubble plates are an effective way to have multiple distillations in one run. The high abv output is also a nice bonus to have, but the purity of the alcohol and the definition with the ‘cuts’ make this a good type of Still to run for a neutral spirit.
poly stone yes
You can get around 80 to 90% pure alcohol using one of these reflux columns in a single distillation.
Nice man. Was just wondering why do people put the cold inlet on the bottom of the reflux condenser. Shouldn't it be on the top? I mean, the product condenser has the cooling inlet at the bottom which makes sense. In that way you not chasing, or spreading the heat. You holding it back. Hope I make sense🤔🤷♂️
To have the cold input at the top of the condenser, you’d obviously need to have the flow control on the hot output hose of the condenser. But i know where you’re coming from. And all fairness as long as it does the job, of controlling the condensing of vapour, either way is fine.
Get yaself a pid
Enjoyed watching
Good video . Where did you get the all that kit ie boiler?...
The Still was from a company called Distillex (not sure if it’s still available), and the additional bubble column section was from Home Distillation Store. Both were through AliExpress.
Are you using packing in the extension?
Good question 👍 I didn’t use any packing in this run as it was just a tester with water. But in subsequent runs I’ve found it is worth trying to make all of the column as efficient and as productive as possible. So when needed, I’ve started to pack that section with copper mesh. Although, in my later vids, I’ve now doubled the bubble section. So the stainless steel section is almost redundant but still a handy piece to have.
Where did you find the blue gaskets for the bubble plates?
It all comes part of the bubble plate column section as kit. But I have seen them available to buy in singles and of various sizes from AliExpress.
@@highly-spirited Do those gaskets come into contact with the spirit, are they safe? Really considering one of these, and I can't find anyone talking about the gaskets.
@@dakkarocka I really don’t get the paranoia, or where it even all stems from, regarding the way some manufacturers seal their Stills. I have yet to see any evidence that anything used is unfit for production/consumption, other than the alcohol these things are actually used to make! Which is pretty ironic when you think about it 🤔
@@highly-spirited Honestly I figured it to be safe on the fact no one had brought it up at all that i've been able to find. I've seen stuff about silicone gaskets, but nothing on the large gaskets between glass sections. Thank you for the response. I'm about to to pull the trigger on an oak still one and I'm excited but trying to cross every t and dot every i I can. Thank you again !