Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi my wife and I are new to distilling spirits with the pure still . So we know the ethano boils at 78.5 but our still seems to be stabilizing at 76 deg is this temp ok or do you think there something going wrong with the boiler or thermostat ? ( still is new). Spoke to the supplier and he said "that's how your still will run ". Manufacturer states it gets to 78 , then should we expect that it should reach/stabilize at 78, not 76

I moved your post to the welcome, as this is your first post and may as well be your intro.

By stabilising do you mean it starts coming out?

Have a good read in the beginers area as ther is a wealth of good info there to cut your teeth on :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Oh and welcome mate :D

Different things come off before ethanol.

You should have a good read through the beginners section lots of good info and you'll soon come to understand most of what you have been told is ordinary advice at best.

If you follow the advice here you'll soon be making some some great booze

Oh where's my manners welcome mate

Hi Thankyou for the welcoming :greetings-waveyellow:
So we turn the water on at 50 deg put the tap slow position , temp gets to 76 deg and it starts to drip , & stabilizes at this temperature. But is that safe or should it really reach 78 & stabilizing.

Welcome mate. As the boys have said, have a good read of the beginners section before you go any further and you'll soon realise that the instructions you got with your still aren't worth the paper they're written on.

Thanks for the advice guy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

From one Newbie to another

Liquids start to evaporate before their boiling point

So at 76 you're still getting ethanol evaporating

:-).

Agree with all that has been said, but another point to keep in mind is that the cheapo thermometers that come with most of these stills are just crap. Some of them are easily off by plus minus 2deg (have seen by as much as 6 deg). Buy a good one or just use the cheapos as a guide only.
Another hint: alcohol water mixtures will boil anywhere between 78 and 100 deg depending on alc concentration.

cheers, RS

The actual temperature that the thermo is reading isn't important, you're more interested in change in temperature.

true, but, the way I read it, dazza is worried whether 76 is significantly different from the advertised 78, which it is not if it is one of the cheapo thermometers imho.
cheers rs

So went back to the supplier today who also said that it could be the temp gauge . he gave me a different one to test mine with and what do you know - mine was 5 deg lower . The new gauge was going up in temp while the other was going down . Cheap ! I'm also getting a new tap as it is leaking through a spot in the brass . Hope thinks go better next run .

Dazza...welcome... sounds like you got it sorted.. BUT you did use the B word...where is the brass in the system...if it is in the collection or vapour path ...get some mods done. Read up about the NO NO of brass and booze.
PS. as mentioned, your thermo may be out a smidge but as Zakand others said, keep an eye on temp CHANGE, not the degrees so much.
Also, boil up some water, it will be 100C...test your thermo.

Is the Brass thing because of lead ?
Not sure how ethanol vapour can extract this,
All potable water fittings are brass

Knocklofty wrote:Is the Brass thing because of lead ?
Not sure how ethanol vapour can extract this,
All potable water fittings are brass

Perhaps the solvent nature of ethanol can erode the protective oxide?

Cold water can extract a portion of the 8% (on average) Lead from new brass alloy of brass fittings. Brass fittings, Lead solder alloys and Copper pipes over a period of time form a protective oxide that holds the lead within, so it's only new shiny brass you need to worry about. Apparently, to condition new brass fittings to prevent lead escape is to run water at high pressure through each fitting for ten mins, then reduce flow to a trickle for three days.

As has already been pointed out

Knocklofty wrote:Is the Brass thing because of lead ?
Not sure how ethanol vapour can extract this,
All potable water fittings are brass

You really do need to go have a good read of the beginners section
Stay safe

Cheers Phil

Swap it to stainless and then forget about lead.
Or pickel the brass every now and then.
Running water through it for 3days sounds like a crock o' shite, not to mention wasteful.

scythe wrote:Running water through it for 3days sounds like a crock o' shite, not to mention wasteful.

HA HA, I agree. I forgot to mention that was info from the USA FDA :sad: .

Dazza24 wrote:Hi my wife and I are new to distilling spirits with the pure still . So we know the ethano boils at 78.5 but our still seems to be stabilizing at 76 deg is this temp ok or do you think there something going wrong with the boiler or thermostat ? ( still is new). Spoke to the supplier and he said "that's how your still will run ". Manufacturer states it gets to 78 , then should we expect that it should reach/stabilize at 78, not 76

G'day Dazza.

I too have a Pure Distilling kit.
Mine does the same as yours as in temp stabilizes at 76 degrees.

I've run half a dozen washes through mine and they have all been consistent with the temp stable and then increase towards the end of the run.