StillSmart

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-18T11:24:11+00:00

Just got round to sorting my cuts last night, I kept about 4.5 litres to make 10 litres at 40% could have taken more, I had no tails but could I could detect heads to some extent in the first 4 litres, last time I was too critical about cutting heads and ended up with a bland, almost dry tasting neutral, this time I'm much happier, just sampled some that's passesd through the Essencia filter and it's my best neutral so far, Ive said that before more than once but this time I'm properly impressed

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:24 am

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-14T15:48:27+00:00

I was just gonna say Capt is the man for that question but he has already answered. He is our resident expert on bubble column hybrids. I only have theory so far. He has experience.

Statistics: Posted by ant — Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:48 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-13T22:35:57+00:00

@Capt-Cudellez

My packed column is approx 1meter I'll have to measure it to be precise but it's close enough, the distillate I was collecting was actually reading 93% but it was coming out at 14.5°c so I added 1% for the temp difference (0.2% per 1°c lower than 20°c I think is the rule)

I had my VM valve half open, next time I'll open it up more and check the % to see if it remains constant, the beauty of the sight glass is you can adjust the power exactly to the point you get reflux and you can constantly check it's still going as you increase take off, my coil has a few kinks in it and is restricting the flow, so I'll use another next time also.

Think I've got the plate bug now, I can see 8 of them in my dreams!

@AM

Killers and swabs are well posh, I bought a few at a time from GT's £1.75 each for the 500ml ones, adds up but you only pay once I guess.

I'll collect more in each one next time, when I started the run I would have been happy with half the collection, that's why I only did 250ml cuts, I ended up pouring the first cuts into bottles, just so I could re-use the jars again, then used all my small jars, then the last 500ml went in a Demijon, lol

I didn't see my glass steam up but I could smell tails with my head next to the boiler, then the temp went up from 81.1 to 81.3, the output dropped by 0.5%, I called it a day, I'll check the cuts tomorrow if I have time.

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:35 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-13T19:14:19+00:00

Anavrin wrote:
7.5lt from the hearts collection! I think the first litre at least is possibly heads but that's a job for another day, to be fair I think changing to SS scrubbers has made more difference than the torpedo but who cares, it's a good haul :-)

Yes it is a good haul, Nice job. I particularly like your clean collection protocol. Kilners and Cotton Swabs, way to go and worth every penny for a good setup like that.

You might consider getting a SS saucepan lid for the Essencia. I picked one up in a charity shop and it won't break no matter how many times I drop it

AM

Statistics: Posted by Almanac — Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:14 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-13T18:53:49+00:00

What length is your packed section, I used SS scrubbers for years and was able to get 95.6% with 39", I'm surprised your not getting more ABV. Do you check your column is plumb when running?

As for running for speed, there is usually a trade off, I go for just under 1.5L/h, I can run at over 2L/h and still pull azeotrope, but the resulting spirit is slightly hotter.

If you are taking off spirit faster, you need to be putting in more power to maintain the reflux ratio else something has to give, then you'll hit physical limitations on how much power can go in down to column diameter an packing you are using.

Statistics: Posted by Capt-Cudellez — Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:53 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-13T18:35:20+00:00

Hi Ant

How hard do you think you could push it in terms of output rate, 2lt per hour would be nice :-)
I'm gonna push it harder next time but I'll have to wait a month until I've got enough strip to run it again :-(

I'll be adding another plate before Xmas, that's for sure

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:35 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-13T17:45:28+00:00

well done. do not underestimate the effect of the bubbler. The rock steady high speed high abv output will be largely down to that rather than the scrubbies I think.

Statistics: Posted by ant — Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:45 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-13T00:11:04+00:00

7.5lt from the hearts collection! I think the first litre at least is possibly heads but that's a job for another day, to be fair I think changing to SS scrubbers has made more difference than the torpedo but who cares, it's a good haul :-)

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:11 am

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-12T23:00:58+00:00

I'm getting bored now! Got work tomorrow and an early start, I now have 6lt, it's still 94% and still coming at exactly the same rate and the temp is still rock steady!

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:00 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-12T22:21:05+00:00

Well done you.
You know that we expect a full report when you have the time?
Robert.

Statistics: Posted by Easydrinker — Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:21 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-12T22:07:37+00:00

Still going, got just over 5 lt so far!

This is crazy, 21 - 250 jars, plus a litre of heads/fores and no sign of tails!!!

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:07 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-12T21:50:37+00:00

You are probably done right about now.
Really hope it did all that you hoped for.
And thanks for sharing.
Robert.

Statistics: Posted by Easydrinker — Sun Oct 12, 2014 9:50 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-12T20:47:22+00:00

I'm running it for the first time tonight, all I can say so far is this is looking the best run I've ever done! I changed my normal Racshig ring packing for 1M of SS scrubbers.

I had 20lt of strip to start with that I added 10lt of water to, so 30lt at just over 30%

I took 200ml fores

Almost a litre of heads on my Boka output, the output from the plates suddenly slowed and the temp increased a little so I called that the heads and switched to the VM output for the hearts collection, I also found I could run it at a higher take off from the boka output than before.

So far it's been rock solid for a couple of hours, I've collected 3.5lt at 94% and it's showing no signs of letting up, I'm collecting 1.2lt per hour, 250ml at a time in 500ml kilner jars, I'm gonna run out of jars soon!!

Statistics: Posted by Anavrin — Sun Oct 12, 2014 8:47 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-12T19:43:57+00:00

Really nice, I got one of the original copper ones, and love it to bits. The window will start to fog before your thermo gives indication that tails are approaching - its like an early warning system.

I like the bigger windows that yours has too.

Statistics: Posted by Capt-Cudellez — Sun Oct 12, 2014 7:43 pm

Re: It's Arrived! Still Dragon Torpedo

2014-10-10T11:49:02+00:00

That is very nicely made. I am sure you will love the performance.

Statistics: Posted by ant — Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:49 am