Hi all,
Did my first sacrifical alcohol run with an alcoengine reflux still yesterday. I believe this is a small, LM reflux still. I've removed most of the stainless steel packing and replaced it with copper mesh. It is fairly easy to remove all the packing except for some right at the top, around the condensor.
Problem is, on the outlet pipe, it has to be connected to a control valve on the still with one of two flow restrictors: a 1mm diameter or a 0.6mm diameter.
Can I use this still as a pot for the purposes of doing rapid stripping runs? I understand I'd need to remove all the packing first and then run it with the condensor on wide open from the start - have I got this correct? Would trying to find some pipe insulation to wrap the column in be of any help? Is the 1mm restrictor going to be too narrow to effectively operate this as a pot still for a rapid stripping operation?