How many plates?

[GingerStu]

I think I’ve just successfully fudge my third run on the new 4 plate bubbler.

How many plates do you use for different washes ?

I’ve run a trial grain wash too fast and smeared.

Put it all straight back in the boiler on the spent wash and ran again slower with I think to much reflux and got a flavourless vodka…

Third wash was an apple cider been sitting on for weeks in the fridge waiting for the still and ….. maybe to much reflux again and got more vodka…


Any feed back would be appreciated.

Thinking about my next wash running and re-running the same 1 a few times slower faster less plates and so on to work out where it needs to be .

[TheRealMrMessy]

Sounds like some technique to learn on balancing the offtake vs reflux:
- I've got a 4" 4 plate bubbler too. I max out at 4400w with my two elements, but the most I tend to run is 3500w when actively distilling rather than heating up.
- Spirit run with 4 plates - which I use for all spirit runs so far, adding in a packed section above for neutrals, I usually turn down to 2800-3000w when the plates start loading.
- Once the column has settled for 20min or so, I turn down the reflux condenser (go gradually, though with practice I usually get it close to the right spot pretty quick) until I'm getting slow drips to remove fores/heads. Really only use 1.8 or so lpm cooling water, so quite low even with relatively warm water where I am. Generally after this, I don't touch the reflux condenser again unless the day gets stinking hot and I need to compensate the RC flow.
- When I make my hearts cut, I start adding power to find the offtake rate I'm comfortable with, usually around 2-3lph. Sits there through the whole run happily.

The reason you want to do it that way is continually reducing the reflux condenser cooling will reduce your reflux rate. As you want to speed up in the hearts cut to take more off or you'll spend days getting drips, you would have less reflux (liquid travelling back down) as a result if you reduce cooling to achieve it. Adding power means you maintain that reflux rate. There's still a critical point of too much power and you overload the RC cooling, hence why my opening line mentioned balancing :handgestures-thumbupleft:.

You always benefit from - but especially in winter - having a needle valve to control your RC water flow. 100ml per minute can make a fair difference to how the balance is, especially if your water is stupid cold. You need that flow way, way down.

[GingerStu]

I’m glad I put a needle valve in as I’m was pretty much closed. But my water and shed temp is pretty cold at the moment.

I think the apple was more like 1.8lph so was pretty darn slow. But seemed quick compared to the old lm boka.

[Wellsy]

Ginger stu not sure what you are trying to make so difficult to answer how many plates you run.

[GingerStu]

Everything!!!!!

I want to make great rum, whiskey, brandy, possibly a rye one day.

Just more of a question as to what no. of plates do most people use for any particular spirit there making.

[RuddyCrazy]

Stu with my 4 plate copper bubbler I just use all 4 plates for every run, now I use lpg and my BD burner instead of elements and basically on heat up I leave the RC off so when the first drips come I collect around 200ml for the foreshot cut. Then I throw the RC on so the plate trees can fill and compress the heads then once all 4 plates are fully loaded I open the needle valve to let a fast drip to toothpick stream come thru.

Now I also use tank water so my needle valve is fully closed at 5 O'Clock and when I open the RC it's sit on 3 O'Clock so just open and thats enough to set the output. Now around every hour I do put the still back into reflux to load all the plates again and the just set the same on the needle valve.

Now with 4 plates and no packed section the output should be 90%+ with full flavour :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

[The Stig]

Rule of thumb:
3 or 4 plates for dark spirits
5 or more plates and maybe a packed section for neutral/vodka
There are anomaly’s where some people will drop to 2 plates for a heavier flavor etc
That’s the beauty of this hobby , what works for you is what’s right

[GingerStu]

Stu with my 4 plate copper bubbler I just use all 4 plates for every run, now I use lpg and my BD burner instead of elements and basically on heat up I leave the RC off so when the first drips come I collect around 200ml for the foreshot cut. Then I throw the RC on so the plate trees can fill and compress the heads then once all 4 plates are fully loaded I open the needle valve to let a fast drip to toothpick stream come thru.

Now I also use tank water so my needle valve is fully closed at 5 O'Clock and when I open the RC it's sit on 3 O'Clock so just open and thats enough to set the output. Now around every hour I do put the still back into reflux to load all the plates again and the just set the same on the needle valve.

Now with 4 plates and no packed section the output should be 90%+ with full flavour :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

So you let the whole thing heat up and take foreshots before stacking heads.. I’ve been wondering on that. As it can take a long bloody time to heat the rest of the column up after plates get loaded.

[RuddyCrazy]

Stu the motto we have for this hobby is " Hurry Up and Wait" so heat up and run time are just part of this great hobby :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now with my BD burner it does take about an hour to heatup 45 litres before the first drips arrive, then after foreshots are taken and all the plates are loaded the RC is set for the run then it's just a matter of taking cuts until one of the plates starts to fog up.

Then I put it back in reflux to load up the plates again and compress the tails then when at the end of the run all the plates are fogged up and the tail cut down to 20% is less than 200ml :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Once you get a few runs under your belt you can then work out the best run strategy for the still and it's happy days from then on.

Cheers Bryan

[GingerStu]

Thanks for the help guys.

Was a much better stress free run today.

Marked my needle valve so I knew where off was once running.

Heated up full power with no reflux cooling as soon as plates loaded completely I turned down to around 3200w.

Played with needle to find out full reflux with minimal cooling. Then slowly opened to take of fores at a drip .

Once underway with cooling water pretty darn cool was running needle at 2 o’clock with full closed being 3 o’clock.

Great flavour wicked speed . All in all great run.

Again thanks all for your feedback..

[GingerStu]

Rum turned out to clean..

After letting sit over night and blending this morning pretty wide cuts it’s not ugly but it’s not a strong rum flavour..

My first rum I did on the old still was wow that’s rum but ugly. With time was fantastic.

Guess I’ll try less plates next run..

[marls]

Rum turned out to clean..

After letting sit over night and blending this morning pretty wide cuts it’s not ugly but it’s not a strong rum flavour..

My first rum I did on the old still was wow that’s rum but ugly. With time was fantastic.

Guess I’ll try less plates next run..

How many plates did you use and or did you use anything else with the plates? Also how fast was your off take?

[GingerStu]

Rum turned out to clean..

After letting sit over night and blending this morning pretty wide cuts it’s not ugly but it’s not a strong rum flavour..

My first rum I did on the old still was wow that’s rum but ugly. With time was fantastic.

Guess I’ll try less plates next run..

How many plates did you use and or did you use anything else with the plates? Also how fast was your off take?

4 plates , no packed sections and after early heads I stated pushing 5lph trying to bring ABV down to let more flavour across..

[TheRealMrMessy]

Glad to hear the run went better this time, but 4 plates makes a great rum flavour here bloke.

Which recipe? How many generations?

[GingerStu]

Macrum

4kg backstrap
4kg sugar
4l dunder 1st generation
Boiled yeast as a nutrient
Shell grit
Bakers yeast

Pretty much same as my first run which I used my lm head only no column in pot mode which gave crazy flavour and after 5months on oak is awesome.

Guess I like a bit more funk.

[TheRealMrMessy]

Try and stick with it a couple more generations and see what you think. If you're looking for a bit more funk this early, yes drop a plate and it should strengthen the flavours.

I did a bunch of macrum last year and the first two generations I put in with a neutral strip run haha. Sweet, but hardly rum, and gave a little something very pleasant to the next FFV batch. Generation 3 I blended with a sour mash bourbon to see what happened (just took it out of the barrel two weeks ago - interesting and an okay mixer, but not a sipper), and I kept from generation 4 as rum.

The flavour complexity offered by the dunder needs some time to build - but don't rush it by adding more, or you'll run into pH and possibly gravity issues fast. As you start getting around gen 4-5, oyster shells are your friend. Chuck one-two nice clean ones in just before you seal up the fermenter.

You should also read up on rum oils if you want to head in for a few generations. Catching them at the end of your spirit run is easy with bubbler - turn off the RC and let the tails run out, they'll be super concentrated by the bubbler and be quite cloudy coming off. You can learn to cut the oils once you learn the behaviour, and keep the rest as feints. Rum oils go back in the boiler for the next spirit run - another flavour builder.

[GingerStu]

Ive got my next wash down already with the 2nd generation so now the question would be run 3 now and not no what brought the extra flavour the wash or plates??

Decisions decisions.