Distilling without an alcometer

[crow]

Ok I ordered some alcometers but they haven't arrived so what I did was run the still by putting my finger under the outlet and tasted it. When it felt warmer and stopped tasting like metho I figured it was good , as the boiler is only 5 ltrs at this stage I kept what I think is fore shots and heads together until the last run . basically as for the tails when the temp rises and the sound in the column changes I've figured this is tails and I run this until it tastes watered down . the product tastes out of this world but really I don't know if what I'm doing is right and why is there a tap on the outlet

[Kal]

Probably the best sensors money can't buy, your nose and tastebuds ;-)

I find it quite easy to tell heads just by smell alone

[R-sole]

You don't mean you've ordered hydrometers off me do you?

I can't recall it if you have is all.... :oops:

[grumpthehermit]

G'day Croweater,

You are running a Pure Distilling reflux rig right ?

I have the same thing as you but not with a 5L boiler.

I don't use an alcometer when running I just collect 150ml foreshots, throw them away then collect 200ml lots in glass jars then taste and smell later to decide what's Head, hearts and tails. if your doing 5L batches, discarding 100ml each time out of a 5L run as foreshots is probably more than enough.

The digital temp gauge is a good guide but as Kal said, nose and tastebuds are a go. Mine normally runs around 79.1 - 79.2, slowly comes up to 79.3 then usually by the time it hits 79.4 79.5 I'm in the tails.

:smile:

The tap on the outlet gives you control. If you reduce how much comes out then your refluxing more, if your refluxing more you should be able to make a better product. I run mine with the ball valve barely cracked open so I am taking no more than 200ml in 15 minutes at a steady drip.

If you have not seen these posts already suggest having a look they helped me get my head around it all. :-D

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=874&p=9951&hilit=+kiwistiller#p9951

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=466&p=3948&hilit=+kiwistiller#p3948

Cheers
GTH

[crow]

Thanks for the reply fellas : 5Star No mate your right , I'm in SA 200km for Adelaide atm , the local brew shop was out . The next joint is 45 kms up the track ,thats ok but they wanted $29 bucks for 1 add $7 courier charge . I thought fuck that so I ordered 2 from Adelaide for around $12 plus postage , should have taken 3 days to get here :? ,didn't happen (starting to think I gave them my Vic address :angry-banghead: thought about asking you but because I'm here just figured this would be faster (wrong) : Grump Thanks mate checked out those posts they were great. I was collecting about 50 ml in fore shots and heads just going by product temp and taste . I had alot of trouble trying to decide where the tails cut in so probably erred on the side of caution . All the cuts I then ran back though with rain water and tried to get them more accurate I think this 5 ltr boiler has got to go its just making hard work out of it :roll: . Anyway my first wash turned out great but the last 1 is a bit iffy to much heads in I'd say ( the taste change might have been from acetone to metho) :laughing-rolling: UPDATE I didn't give that muppet the wrong address just took awhile to get here , as they arrived today , 96+ no wonder testing by taste made my head spin a bit ;-)