First run...3inch Vm/Lm

[Crispy]

Well, my Airstill is offically retired :handgestures-thumbupleft:

A massive big thanks to Sam who went a long way out of his way to help me out, really cannot express how much I appreciate it mate, thx.

2.2m total column height, 1.5m copper packed section
NASA Burner

So I am now running the 3inch VM/LM rig and did a cleaning run yesterday morning with water and vinegar, then fired it up last night for the first real test.

Charged it up with 24l of TPW and had it boiling in about 15 minutes, ran it at full reflux for nearly 30 minutes, then opened the LM side and ran off 250ml, which went straight into the cleaning bottle.

Opened the VM side and ran off 7 bottles of varying sizes...
1 - 200ml @95%
2 - 480ml @95%
3 - 490ml @95%
4 - 550ml @95%
5 - 540ml @ 95%
6 - 250ml @95%
7 - 245ml @85%

Temperature sat on a steady 78.6 for the whole run, until bottle 7 where the temp started to rise to about 82c and this is when I switched back to LM and ran it out til it hit 90c...(another 150ml)...then shut it down.
From turning the burner on until I shut it down was approx. 2h 5m.....so ran off approx 3 litres of spirit in 1h 20min..
I am very happy with the results of my first attempt....so thanks again to Sam.... and for all the great info on this site, which without, I would never have had the knowledge to do this.

Cheers,

Crispy

[maddogpearse]

Nice looking rig ;)
Would you be so kind as to upload a few more pics for us to have a ganger kind sir?
I think it's a pretty cool idea running two stills in one :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[rumdidlydum]

Congrats crispy :handgestures-thumbupleft:
You will soon get to know your rig and how it behaves in different situations. :D

[Sam.]

Good looking rig there ;-)

Glad to see its getting some use again and by the looks of it you nailed it first run :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Crispy]

Second run completed....

43 litres in the boiler...Nasa burner had it up to temp in just over 25 minutes. full reflux for 45 minutes...
Temp sat perfectly on 78.4 for the whole run and the burner was barely running enough to keep itself lit...

450ml foreshots
then 9 bottles, totaling 4100ml @ 96%
another bottle - 350ml @ 83% as the temp increased.

here's some more pics for ya, maddogpearse

[WTDist]

sounds like you had a nice run :handgestures-thumbupleft:

what collection speed does the rig pull? was this a single run or double distil run?

[Crispy]

Hi WTDist
This was a single run, with the heads and tails from the last run, as well as 5 litres of feints from the airstill sessions.

Last run collected about 3 liters in 1h 20min but this time I ran it quite slow and pulled about 4.5 liters in just over 3 hours, take off speed didn't really effect the outcome much at all....an extra percent, I guess I may notice it in the tasting, although my palette probably wont be able to pick up the difference in quality anyhow...