Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Ah .. OK thanks. This actually comes out as reducing the outflow temperature from my usual 60 to something closer to 50, is that right, Stig?

From memory I used to run mine around 57c seemed a good compromise between speed and reflux. It does depend on what water temp u have going in I think :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Arismac wrote:Ah .. OK thanks. This actually comes out as reducing the outflow temperature from my usual 60 to something closer to 50, is that right, Stig?

The consensus here for a t500 is drip..drip..dribble of the distillate output, but I have found there is a great variation with the flow rate within the drip..drip..dribble range. It’s all a matter of practise and finding what output rate by eye gives you the most distinguishable cuts. I only refer to my water out temperature when I make an adjustment and then it only to make sure I haven’t made too drastic of an adjustment but my water out temperature very rarely goes over 50 but this can depend on your water in temperature as well. It’s all a matter of practise and trial and error and listening to advice from experienced people, so you probably shouldn’t listen to me too much. :))

Many thanks, gents. I certainly noticed my drip ... drip ... dribble had increased to dribble only when I ran the re-still. I will take a careful note of the temperatures on this next re-still due tomorrow after adjusting back to drip ... drip ... dribble. I will report.

Setting a constant temperature is now very easy since I included the T700 water flow regulator in the cooling water feed.

Mac, you should also keep in mind that you are using different packing so this could have an effect on the relation between water out temperature and distilling rate and I know from experience that air temperature and wind can affect distilling rates in a t500. So many things to learn, even with what most consider a simple still!

I hear you, I really hear you. Quite marked variations between cool days and hot days, even ambient temperature of plumbing around water supply. I thought it was my imagination but delighted to hear that I was not dreaming. Important for an old f*** of my age. :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

But I love the learning ... you are NEVER too old for that.

Every day is a school day no matter your age.
I used to keep the out going temp between 50 and 55 depending on everything being discussed above

The Stig wrote:Every day is a school day no matter your age.
I used to keep the out going temp between 50 and 55 depending on everything being discussed above

That is interesting, mine would be in full reflux under 55c. I did separate the water inlets tho, the pc went back to water tank cause it didn’t heat up much and the rc went to separate drum. I do have much colder temps here all year round :-B

I find it hard to determine a good distillation rate from the water out temperature but as I said, I only look at it to make sure I don’t make too big of an adjustment. Just finished a TPW now and up here we are having a reasonably hot summer where nearly every day here for the last 2 or 3 weeks has been 40+ so my recirculating system is up and down as we had a 17C overnight temperature a coupla days ago. God help me. After the cool night my water temperature in was about 29C and then today it was 34C. But if ya just watch the distillate flow it’s still manageable and I still have the voltage controller to fall back on. Anyhow, ya can always have a drink after if things get too much, and that’s the whole idea isn’t it?

I think it is really worth while considering the Water Flow Regulator for the cooling water. It really does allow for adjusting the still output and keeping it within a very small margin. I have not yet had the temperature fluctuate by more than 2 degrees over the five runs I have done since installing. 5 Star Store can supply.

Again I am in our debt gentlemen, I cut the flow temperature back to 55 C for the re-still and it has certainly produced a better spirit. Should also mention that I packed the column with very clean saddles and copper mesh. Made up a bottle of "Hoggers" Gold Medal Bourbon and it compares very favourably with the real thing except in price and I win there by a great big margin. :laughing-rolling:

My local HBS gave me four point five stars (4.5) for a sample of my T500 double still product today. Says I would have got five stars if I had run it through a carbon filter.

Is he right??

:text-merryxmas:

How does he know you didn’t?

I fessed up :angry-banghead:

If your cutting correctly you shouldn’t need to filter, I never did/do

I wonder how much difference there would be.

Considering I am very happy with 4.5 stars and have no ambitions to be a "Stig" I am really quite contented with his rating. I could not even get 2 stars when I first tried. :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: