Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey all,

Looking for some thoughts on what could be causing a problem I'm having with the parrot on my pot still & how i can fix it. The parrot has a 2 inch section with a flange that connects to the 2 inch PC. The 2 inch section has 2 small holes in it to help woth surging etc but I've been having problems with the condensed alcohol coming out the holes. Unless I'm running under 1L/hr it drips out onto the hot boiler & the harder you push the still the more that runs out.

Anyone know what could be causing this & how I could fix it? I've tried making sure the parrot is vertical, tried turning it in relation to the PC and even tried putting a bit of copper wire inside the hole to try and make the alcohol run down it instead of coming out of the hole but nothing seems to help.

I've attached a video for reference.

[youtube]https://youtube.com/shorts/C0N2qzF-_Tw?feature=share[/youtube]

Thanks all

I personally would like the holes higher in the reducer bit closer to the pc, bigger holes and more of them if you are expecting to run faster and not have the leak.

Try this https://youtube.com/shorts/C0N2qzF-_Tw

Is this a new problem? you have had that rig for a while, yes?

How cold is you inlet water? Are you maintaining a temp gradient in the pc?
Getting that happening might help slow down the surging your getting.

You may be able to install it without the gasket and plug the holes, leaving a small gap, possibly some sort of X shape wire spacer to help keep it firmly located in the ferrule.

I have seen vapour breaks that extend higher than the outlet via tubes, might be worth considering.

I seem to be having a "summer surging" problem myself, bloody vapour puffs, pretty sure my water is too cold. My oulet is well away from my boiler (no parrot), and I have a jury rigged solution, just need some "spare" time to work out the exact issue.

Thanks for the replies guys.

RC AL, you might be onto something. The inlet water is cold out of the mains water but I may not have been running enough water through it. The outlet temp is warm but the Pc itself is cold to touch once you get past the first quarter of it. I might try running with more water & see what happens as that is the only thing that would have changed from run to run. I have had the problem on & off since I started using the still but usually it was only happening at higher power levels so I might have had the water flow lower last run.

I've been meaning to work out a recirculating system for it. Was thinking of using the water from the pool but thats about a 30m run & 7-8m climb and this time of the year the water is 30+ degrees so not sure how I'd get on. Other option is a 1000L tank like most use but I'm not sure it will stay cool enough to run it all day.

Mate most commercial rigs have a fitting that sits inside the 2" vented fitting to prevent that. You can order one easy. I'll take a pic of mine later. Mine is in 3" but use to have one in 2"

Yea Nathan is correct , it “should” have a centering type setup so the grog can’t leak out if the holes

most of the parrots i've seen have an upward pipe on the reducing section.
it is very important to the working of the parrot as i can induce lot of huffing by blocking this vent ( or by forgetting to remove the plastic cover :smile: )
maybe extending the hole out and upwards?

I ditched my parrot a few years ago and just made a new 3" to 1/2" cone, put an easy flange on the 3" and 1/2" copper pipe on the other end. When I want to check the ABV I just put a 50ml beaker in place as the cut jar then I have a 50ml measuring cylinder that holds the alco meter, pour in the beaker and get a reading then pour the cylinder into another cut jar. Wash out the cylinder ready for the next test and no smearing at all.

Of course you did.
Meanwhile the civilized people are moving forward

Nathan02 wrote:Mate most commercial rigs have a fitting that sits inside the 2" vented fitting to prevent that. You can order one easy. I'll take a pic of mine later. Mine is in 3" but use to have one in 2"

Thanks Nathan, that's kind of what I was considering making to try to fix the problem. I might have to look around & see if I can find a 2" one.

Asked the mob that made the pot still about it & they said for me to just weld a couple of elbows onto it. Seems like a dodgy way to fix the problem though...

RuddyCrazy wrote:I ditched my parrot a few years ago and just made a new 3" to 1/2" cone, put an easy flange on the 3" and 1/2" copper pipe on the other end. When I want to check the ABV I just put a 50ml beaker in place as the cut jar then I have a 50ml measuring cylinder that holds the alco meter, pour in the beaker and get a reading then pour the cylinder into another cut jar. Wash out the cylinder ready for the next test and no smearing at all.

Basically what I used to do... got sick of it very quickly! The parrot is a big step up over the old way

I never have my parrot physically attached to the still. I use a lab stand and clamp to hold it and have the product dribbling into it from the condenser.

This is an old picture but it demonstrates what I mean:

hjubm2 wrote:

Nathan02 wrote:Mate most commercial rigs have a fitting that sits inside the 2" vented fitting to prevent that. You can order one easy. I'll take a pic of mine later. Mine is in 3" but use to have one in 2"

Thanks Nathan, that's kind of what I was considering making to try to fix the problem. I might have to look around & see if I can find a 2" one.

Asked the mob that made the pot still about it & they said for me to just weld a couple of elbows onto it. Seems like a dodgy way to fix the problem though...

an elbow to emulate the breather on my parrot?
i still think it might be your condensate running past the breather hole, but that breather hole works quite hard to equalize pressure. if you block those holes you will probably find the alcometer starts jumping around.
so maybe the added upward tube would stop condensate being pulled out of the hole. :think:

howard wrote:

hjubm2 wrote:

Nathan02 wrote:Mate most commercial rigs have a fitting that sits inside the 2" vented fitting to prevent that. You can order one easy. I'll take a pic of mine later. Mine is in 3" but use to have one in 2"

Thanks Nathan, that's kind of what I was considering making to try to fix the problem. I might have to look around & see if I can find a 2" one.

Asked the mob that made the pot still about it & they said for me to just weld a couple of elbows onto it. Seems like a dodgy way to fix the problem though...

an elbow to emulate the breather on my parrot?
i still think it might be your condensate running past the breather hole, but that breather hole works quite hard to equalize pressure. if you block those holes you will probably find the alcometer starts jumping around.
so maybe the added upward tube would stop condensate being pulled out of the hole. :think:

Hey howard,

That's exactly what their wanting me to do, get elbows welded on to look like the one you circled.

The Stig wrote:Yea Nathan is correct , it “should” have a centering type setup so the grog can’t leak out if the holes

Hey Stig, any chance you stock the fitting that Nathan is talking about?

No we don’t because our parrots have a breather built into them

The Stig wrote:No we don’t because our parrots have a breather built into them

Bugger. Do you only do stainless parrots? If you can do a copper one I might look at changing the whole thing out to be done with it once & for all...

Only stainless

Anyone know where I can get a (preferably) copper 2" centering ring or of a decent fabricator/welder that can make one for me? I can't seem to be able to locate one that will work woth my still atm.

Cheers

Grab a a cheap stainless funnel and section the cone to suit :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Or a copper reducer?