Ha ha ha - yeah was a sh!t weekend for stilling, but still put in some long hours to give TES a good run. Thanks for the fast turn around on the building of it, and i have been trying to get it going since xmas, but had to source a keg, wire up the element, setup the cooling etc. As a result i had 80 litres of TPW, 40 litres of a modified UJSM, and 40 litres of MacRum - ready to go :happy-partydance:
I have been making my own spirits for many years, but mostly with the same setup, and think i have pretty much pushed it to its limits and outgrown it. I was a little unsure of how much benefit this setup would bring, but based on the feedback these plated columns receive on the forums, i knew that there were to many positives to outweigh the unknown (since i have never seen one in real life /nor in operation). So i jumped in the deep end, and started discussions with Mac.
I really wanted an all round still that:
- I could make lots of different brews
- A still i could grow into and would allow me to add to in the future as ideas develop and techniques improve.
- A still that would reduce my current run time - as life gets busier and time is becoming scarce :violin:
- I also have limited space during down time (no shed :(), so i wanted a still that would pack away to be nice and compact
Anyway how does it run, I have to say i am really impressed. I know that there are a lot of members on here who have used these setups for a while, and i have no intension of preaching to the converted, but i thought i would post my thoughts for those that might be interested.
I did 4 runs in 3 days and managed to fit in a crazy weather system in there as well with fallen trees etc, but the show must go on right :-D I certainly blew the cobwebs out of it anyway. :music-deathmetal:
First run was a 40L TPW and 3.5L of 80% Neutral Feints. I setup the still with the neutral column and five bubbler plates. I followed the operating instructions mac has put in the plate column section of the forum (which rant to different to how i run my old reflux still). 50L Keg came to the boil in 100mins using a single 2400w 10amp element. Distillate percentage and temp was high in the parrot and as the heads started coming of i realised with all that was going on i had hooked up the cold water to enter the reflux condenser first instead of the product condenser :violence-smack: I thought i would let it run and see how it went. I set the cool water flow at to keep a nice stream of distillate coming without making it stall and finished at around 2L per minute of 20^C water - and this ended up being virtually the same for all runs. The result was a 4 hour 15 min run that netted (after cuts) around 3.5L of 94% neutral and and 2.8L of feints. So 7L in 4 hours - around 1.75L per hour. Flawless run and the temps and ABV were amazingly stable the whole time.
Second run TPW - reuse the last runs feints and another 40L of TPW. Switched the house round to feed the base of the product condenser first, out the top and into the base of the reflux condenser. This cut the run time by 1 and 1/2 hours :D. Super pumped :dance: So the time from the first take of to the end of the good tails (at 20%ABV) was 3 hours 15mins. Finished with 3.4 L of 94% spirits and 2.8L of feints. 6.2L in just over 3.25 hours takes it to 2L per hour. :handgestures-thumbupleft: Nearly identical outcomes - great consistency, and high percentage clean neutral.
3rd run was an UJSM - for which i took of the neutral column extension and left the 5 plates in place. I tried something different with the recipe as i like wild turkey sourness and after some reading found that their recipe was based on malt barley and wheat as well as corn. I loaded the still up and it was only 10 mins in when I was interrupted by the bloody Oswald storm which nearly tore the roof of our house, and flooded the bottom floor of our house. Anyway after a 12 hour hiatus, i poured the wash back into the still (I had removed it for its own safety ;-) ) and when i put it back in the still it had gone from the lovely clear yellow colour to a browny yellow colour. Not sure what happened whether the air spoiled it (even thought was in a sealed container overnight), or starting to boil it then cooling affected it, but regardless i went with it. The end result of the first generation was quite low in sprirts. After talking with mac it might have been the high grain - low sugar contact of the wash, but the end result the 45L still run finished with 3.85L at 94% avg ABV of heads, hearts and tails, of which i haven't done cuts yet.
4th run was a Mac Rum, which i was looking forward to the most all weekend. I pushed on, and put down a 45L rum wash with high expectations and wasn't disappointed. The wash followed the recipe exactly - and in my opinion - didn't smell or look that great ha ha ha ha. I removed the 5th plate to get a stronger flavoured spirit, and ran it with just the 4 plates, the reflux and product condensers. The final product - well it has had much positive feedback, and i agree it smells and tastes pretty good - can't wait to try it in a month after oaring. Again i haven't done the cuts yet as i only finished it last night and as it is my first rum run, i want to get them right. Total heads/hearts/tails collected down to 20%ABV was 4.8L at an average of around 94%. Temps stable and again the run was faultless. Clean sweet rum, and plenty of it. No stripping run required...
So am i happy - hell yeah.
:text-thankyoublue: Mac
Next stop - get some generations going with the UJSM and Rum, and play with the neutral and Gin basket x_x
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:10 pm