Couple of basic questions using Kegland Alcoengine

[slops5511]

Hi All

I thought I would get myself into distilling, i have been home brewing beer and bottling it for past decade or so. Mostly extracts but a year or so ago I got myself a brewzilla but its been collecting dust for a good 6 months or so now.

I received my kit from kegland last week despite the brisbane floods it arrived within a week from down south to qld. The kit includes a 25ltr digiboil and a reflux still. I have completed my vinegar run and sacraficial run.

My goal for now is create a clean neutral spirit for using as vodka as well as mixing essence with for now. I have 3 more TPW's fermenting so I will be doing stripping runs with these over the next week or 2, I see these as more practise with the reflux to learn what happens when I do this and that before I do a final run with all the low wines from these washs.

My questions
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During my sacraficial run I had to keep both the 1900w element on if I switched to just the 500 the temp at the top of the reflux still would drop to about 40c where as the digiboil said the temp was around 88c. To keep the liquid flowing I had to run the digiboil almost flat out, this did not seem right to me as most instructions say once you get the top of your reflux upto temp to back the heat right off. My question is 500w enough to maintain refluxing? I had 25litres of TPW in there. When running 1900w and even 2400w total the temperature at the top of the reflux just sat at 78c. Maybe my water flow was too high, I had it as a slow flow the water was warm but not hot im guessing 35-40c.

I have purchased a variable voltage controller from ebay for better control of the elements, I may have to modify the wiring as the digiboil electronics may not like a lower voltage im all good with figuring that out.

My next question is when I do my stripping runs and ditch the foreshots, when i do the final run do I need to ditch foreshots again? I am guessing yes as combining all the stripping runs would increase a potential tiny amount of foreshots times 3.

Thats it for now. Thanks!

[BigRig]

This is the same kit i got when i started out. This is a boka still fyi.

the spirit take off is determined by the valve and not water flow, just run the cooling water flat out.

The boiler with PID is useless, you cannot run a still by temperature, It just doesn't work like that.

Set the temp on the boiler to 105c and then ignore it. Run the still with both elements on during heat up then switch the 500w element off, not the 1900w element. When the vapour rises up the column the temp on the thermometer will also climb FAST. Don't freak, it will stop and stabilise somewhere aroung 77 - 80c. When the temp stops bouncing around, set a timer on your phone and leave it in full reflux for 20-30mins to stack the column. Once the time is up, open the valve and collect the spirit in cuts jars. Too easy.

Get in the habit of taking foreshots on every run that way you wont forget.

[slops5511]

Cheers for the reply

Cool so 1900w is fine then to run the whole run?

I didnt do the 30m thing with the valvue closed once upto temp for the sacraficial run but I will make sure I do that for my stripping runs.

Your right the temp does rise fast I figured thats where its reaching the evaporation point for the alcohol and vapors come shooting up the column. So water flow doesnt matter too much cool i wont stress about that part then, i dont want to run it flat out ill waste alot of water, I will make sure no vapours are escaping the top tho using my nose as a sensor for that. I have a pool right next to where I am distilling so ill figure out how to cycle that through the still to save water in the future.

I stupidly ordered the PID controller because theres a video on the kegland site where he shows how to use it to "automate" the process oh well I will use it for something or give it away to somebody.

[BigRig]

Cheers for the reply
Cool so 1900w is fine then to run the whole run?

Yeah mate, it's fine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[slops5511]

BigRig - what have you progressed to after starting with the alcoengine?

[BigRig]

I went to a 2" boka and pot still combo from 5 star. Good kit, wish i kept the boka.

Now i am running a 4" bubbler

[slops5511]

I have a few runs under my belt now and here is how I am running this still and a couple of mistakes I have made.

Stripping runs
I have done 7 or so of these now, they take about 5 hours total.
- install the 1mm fitting and close the ball valve
- dump TPW into digiboil turn the heat on while its filling to get this kick started
- wash out fermenter
- connect hoses but dont need to get water flowing yet
- put in bbq temp sensor that lets you monitor the temps from your phone (inkbird)
- Mix up a new TPW while you wait for it to heat up
- once the digiboil gets to around 75c i will turn the water on, you dont need much water flow maybe 1/2ltre a minute -i have not measured this.
- keep an eye on the bbq temp you can see in my pic below the temp ramps up then shoots from about 40c to 80c in a minute then will drop back to 78c it does this every time.
- as soon as the temps start ramping up turn off the 500w element and leave the 1900w element on
- leave this for 30m for everything to stabilise and as far as i have researched this will help compress the foreshots and early heads
- after 30m just crack the ball value and keep adjusting until you get a couple of drips per second. take off the foreshots nice and slow i take 150ml.
- close ball valve and setup the still to go into a parrot and then into a 5ltr demijohn
- open the ball valvue fully and let it go
- it takes 3-4hours to extract 4 litres this way and at that point its sitting around 20-30% this is where i switch it off and rince everything out.

spirit run
I have only done 3 of these, one time with 2 stripped washes and the other with 3. What I learnt is the higher ABV requires lower wattage its easy to overload the top of the reflux and alcohol will run out of the top of the still.
- It takes a long time to do the spirit run, 2 washes you can manage in around 8 hours where 3 will take a good 12 hours.
- install the 0.6mm fitting and close the ball valve
- Dump in 2 or 3 stripped washes, mine are usually around 60%-70% so i double the amount of liquid in there by adding the same amount of water resulting in around 30-40%.
- use the same steps as above for heating it up but with the higher abv charge in the digiboil its going to ramp upto 78c alot quicker at this point switch off the 1900w element and run on the 500w this is different to doing a stripping run as the higher abv generates more gas when i use the 1900w element it overloads the top of the column and alcohol flows out the top running down the side of the reflux this strips the paint off it by the way and you loose that nice copper look.
- use the same steps as above keep it running like this for 30m then open the valve, first 150m is foreshots then start collecting into jars. I have 30 300ml jars from kmart it takes 28min to fill each jar.

my mistakes
- leaving the ball valve open on the digiboil. I was tipping in my stripped wash and i lost half of the first jug on the ground :(
- running too higher wattage during the spirit run. The condensor works well no gas escapes the top of the column on 1900w but liquid does out the top of the still.

other things to consider
- get a voltage controller, i got one of those black ones from ebay cost me about $30 shipped. This lets me control the voltage to the digiboil, some people convert the digiboil bypassing the pid controller but I run it down to 80v and its all fine, led display is still lit up just as bright reading the temps no worries. I used this for my last spirit run and i dial it down to 90v with both elements switched on, i can hear some slight blubbling at the top of the column so it may still be getting overloaded a bit and could probably dial it back a little further maybe 80v.
- get an alcohol burner to use up your foreshots and early heads. I got a trangia and made a few out of beer cans its really easy. They fit nicely under a charcoal chimny to get it going for the smoker, also Ill be trying this out camping, boiling water for coffee.

thats it hope it helps someone else out starting with one of these things.

pic of temp ramp up during my current spirit run

[RC Al]

Dont bother refluxing for so long (at all even) with the stripping runs, your going to do cuts on the spirit run anyways, save that hour between the 2 strips, just let it flow. Long term you will get more yield.