Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

So yesterday, Insulated the pipes :P, fired up the bok for the first time (been pretty busy lately).
Used kiwi's guide.
Stripped 75 litres of TPW to 15 litres 40%abv. topped up to 25 litres.
So roughly 20%abv still charge?
Fired her up.
Equilibrate for an hour.
Bled 500ml- foreshots.
collected 1.2 litres...? heads??
collected roughly 1.8 litres of hearts.
collected 1.2 litres tails.
There will be more tails in there and im planning on putting the pot head on and stripping it when time allows again.
The still put out a 95% abv?!
One problem I found though was with the temperature probe. I found with the vinegar an steam run it was at 101.4...
Which doesn't make sense as water boils at 100'c? I remember reading someone else's post with a similar problem?
So I perceived that its off by 1'c?
After an hour of equilibriation the temp was at 79.4 but i presume 78.4??, and remained stead all the way through till halfway through the tails at which point it rose 1-2'c.

Anyway.

Review and critique me.

Onya Zwager :D

Sorry don't have anything constructive to add but its good to hear it's christened \m/

Sounds like success to me. well done.

Re your thermo, test it by boiling the kettle and measuring that. Also fill a large glass with ice cubes, fill with water and test. those 2 steps will tell you how much its out.

I always try and have 3 thermos onhand & only ever buy the ones that are reading the same.

keep up the good work.

zwagerman9 wrote:I found with the vinegar an steam run it was at 101.4...
Which doesn't make sense as water boils at 100'c?

Vinegar contains acetic acid. Acetic acid boils at 100.6 °C. So a mix of vinegar and water is not going to boil at 100 °C. I'm not sure what it will boil at, but not 100 °C.

zwagerman9 wrote:After an hour of equilibriation the temp was at 79.4 but i presume 78.4??

Don't worry about the temp registering at ethanol's boiling point. It won't. You're not producing 100% ethanol. Anything below 80 °C is fine.

Well done.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

zwagerman9 wrote:After an hour of equilibriation the temp was at 79.4 but i presume 78.4??, and remained stead all the way through till halfway through the tails at which point it rose 1-2'c.

Also, it's really the temperature change that's important, not so much the steady temp.

Again, sounds like you've done well.

Was curious about the quantity collected. Did the sniff, the taste, and the shot glass comparison. Only problem with that is. 2 shot glasses, one with a cheap bottle of vodka and the other, me attempting to figure my cuts. . So you say I'm meant to spit out my samples. Kind of like a drinking game solo. Called find the hearts! :laughing-rolling: