Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I have been using a 2" boka still packed with stainless pot scrubbers getting 94-95% consistently over a dozen runs, as I cant tell the quality of the scrubbers I replaced them with copper mesh. My last 2 runs I cant get above 92%. One run I think it was flooding because it was packed to tight, repacked it, seemed to run well but could not get over 92. The packed section is 1.5 m and is insulated.

Any help most appreciated

Pack it a bit more but not as much as it was when it was floodng.
How does the 92% taste compared to the 95.6%

With 1.5m of scrubbers it should easily hit azeo. I could with 1m of scrubbers and 300mm of copper off cuts.

Are the copper scrubbers a different thickness in the strands? If they are it could be changing the performance.
You could try 4/5 stainless and the rest copper which should be enough to strip the sulfides out...

The 92% is ok but i am trying to do a good vodka so i would like 94 or higher then i will water down to 40 and run again. The colum is packed fairly tight with copper mesh.the strands are all the same.would happily use stainless scrubbers again but having trouble finding any 304 all the scrubbers i can find here stick to a magent and the packet just says stainless, most likely a low grade.
Thanks for the reply

Not sure where you are but Bunnings near me have stainless scrubbers in their cleaning aisle. On one of the packets of 6 or 8 scrubbers it says 'Guaranteed never to rust'. About $7 a pack. I bought a few packs for my 3" build. I have a stack of copper already to help with sulphides but probably only half what I need to fill the column.
I'm not the greatest fan of stainless as when I last used them (real stainless) they seemed to imbue a 'metallic' taste into the neutral.
On a side note, if you're redistilling 40% through a 92% (on a wash) still and you're still only getting 92% I'd hazard a guess and say your scrubbers are too tight. Even if they were a little loose a 1.5 meter reflux column should shit in 95+% on a 40% run.

Could you have developed a leak? When cleaning/ unpacking her?

Havent seen any leaks but will check again and will remove some packing to see if that helps
Thanks again

The tightness of the packing will have opposite effects on capacity and strength. A loose packing will give you a higher throughput, but a lower strength product. On the other hand a tight pack will give you a low capacity (i.e. flooding at a lower throughput) but a higher product strength. If you felt that the tight pack was flooding then lower the throughput (less heat to still) and see if you get back to the 95% product. Finding the right compromise between capacity and strength will be a trial and error exercise.

When I pack my reflux column I just suck and blow on one end. If I can feel any resistance its too tight.

Cheers Phil

Removed around a third of the packing and used low heat got 94%. Getting better now trying higher heat i really want to get 95+ like it did with pot scrubbers.

i am with warra..stainless gave me a metallic after taste...no probs with el-cheapo...SCORIA...love the stuff, works great in my 3''.