I decided to do two quick stripping runs and then a final good run
1st stripping run I left the column water feed in and one pot scrubber. I got about 5 litres at an average of 65% but had to quit early leaving quite a bit of alcohol in the wash
2nd stripping run I removed the column water feed but left one pot scrubber in. I got about 7 litres at 55%.
Cut it all back to 50% and z-filtered it to take out any impurities etc. I ended up with about 16 litres.
Popped it all into the SS this morning, checked the ABV and added a little more water to bring it down to 40%.
Fired up the element, dialled the power to 1400 watts and waited.
Since my last runs I'd replaced the digital temperature sensor I was using with a USB one hooked up to my laptop which gives me data logging, graphs, low high alarms etc etc. I had the first alarm set for 35 degrees to warn me to switch the water on.
The water went on after about 40 mins but the temperature rocketed very quickly (less than 2 mins) from 35 up to 78. I'd planned to hold the temperature down at 70 for a while to ensure the the foreshots came out en-masse first but the output started to flow. I upped the water flow and backed the power down to 900 watts and the temp fell after about a minute. I held it at 72 with very little output for about 15 mins before steadily reducing the water to bring the temperature back up.
I chucked the first 200ml into my degreasant can (for bike cleaning) and held the temp steady.
The first 400 ml had a very very slight fruity smell but after that the output was odour free.
After 10 hours I'd collected 7 litres of 92% average, the temp stayed rock solid until the last half hour when it went up by a degree. Still no smells or off colours even when the % dropped to 90%.
A very good run
Statistics: Posted by MrCat — Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:54 am
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