StillSmart

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-12-22T18:54:43+00:00

>I trust that is from your wine and not your spirits, if it is, read more about making cuts, I >have been hangover free for a while now.

I never planned to sup any.

I didn't make cuts, not did I filter, so if I have a slight tendency towards dark places earlier in the day its entirely my own fault.

I tasted some like a chef would, and then some more. Not a lot but enough to cause a slightly less than normal performance the day after.

I know how to make cuts, in theory, and will plough all the 40% back into some red wine I made 3 years ago that has a touch of brett. I will be sure to cut every 200/300mls .

I am sure I will appreciate the difference.

Let's call this a 'yardstick moment'. You have to see and taste the improvements from here on in.

No women were harmed in this adventure, though the thought did cross my mind.

Nadolig llawen.

C

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-12-22T11:43:44+00:00

cocwg wrote:
I think I may have a slight hangover

-----

I trust that is from your wine and not your spirits, if it is, read more about making cuts, I have been hangover free for a while now.

Statistics: Posted by YHB — Sat Dec 22, 2012 11:43 am

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-12-22T10:36:12+00:00

Brian, yes you are probably correct in that 8kg's was too much for the wine yeast, though it should have been able to ferment to 17%, also I was a little lazy with the ph adjustment. A bit too much tartaric acid to start then maybe a little bit much of the potassium carbonate to try and correct I'd never fermented in the current location before so was unaware what the ambient temps were during day/night - and we had a very cold snap too. I did use 3x brew belts in the end to get some reasonable movement.

Nutrients? Well I hydrated with Goferm protect and used Fermaid-k after a couple of days bubbling.

If I'd have been clever I could have used the water out during a run to start a new ferment too - but things are getting a little crazy this time of year for all this forward planning!

I do have a temperature controlled 'pod' to conduct ferments but it was full of rose from this years limited harvest. I shall use that in future. That should do nearly 3 runs worth at a time.

I think I may have a slight hangover.

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Sat Dec 22, 2012 10:36 am

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-12-21T22:06:31+00:00

I am glad things worked out for you and you have started your journey.

There is nothing like the real thing to see what it is all about. Many percieved problems dissapear overnight and you wonder what all the fuss was about.

I filibustered for far to long and designed my still around problems that only existed in my head.

I am fermenting in a cold draughty shed, I have a very well insulated box that I put over the fermenter. I have a 40w bulb in the box hooked up to a room thermostat. The fermenter is about 25deg and the yeast seem very happy.

8kg seems a lot of sugar for a wine yeast, perhaps you could try 6kg next time, what nutrients did you use?

Statistics: Posted by YHB — Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:06 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-12-21T17:24:50+00:00

Well that was rather straightforward.

Made a 25l sugarwash using wine yeast and 8kg of sugar.

Had problems fermenting with the cold but decided to run it today anyway. Wasn't bothered about %age alc volume going in as it was simply a means to learn how to drive it. I should have really.

Anyway I got 1.5 litres of 93% alcohol out the other end after 2.5 hours which made nearly 3.5l at 40ish% .

And its very drinkable. Slight tang/aftertaste but for the proof of concept run that'll do.

I suspect that my initial ferment was very low in alcohol.

I should have measured it going in shouldn't I - lesson number one.

Merry Christmas all and thanks for the help so far

c

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:24 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-29T18:57:27+00:00

That's an interesting alternative view.

Thanks for the steer YHB, I don't want to reinvent the wheel or ignore any proven improvements that others that have gone before, have found.

I'd best just get on with it, and lets see what fate brings,

Cheers all

C

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:57 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-29T17:13:17+00:00

The internet is a wonderful place and you will find all sorts of theories an opinions. Here is another, this time by our very own Mr Cat.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1149

The T500 is very good at what it is supposed to do, give it a try as it comes out of the box and then you will know when you modify, adopt, improve, tweak it you will know if it is an improvement or not.

Statistics: Posted by YHB — Thu Nov 29, 2012 5:13 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-29T16:51:46+00:00

Actually after reading a bit more it seems that copper scrubbers are better than the ceramic saddles in anycase?

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16455&start=24

Shall I not even bother with the saddles at all and go straight for the copper scrubbers, or should I just run it as is first of all and see what she does before jumping into mods before we have a baseline

c

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Thu Nov 29, 2012 4:51 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-29T16:48:00+00:00

billmcc wrote:
Hi Cocwg if i were you i would remove a handfull of the saddles because i read that an over packed column can cause flooding issues
Cheers

Oh.

OK, willdo.

Thanks for the tip.

C

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Thu Nov 29, 2012 4:48 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-29T15:58:34+00:00

Hi Cocwg if i were you i would remove a handfull of the saddles because i read that an over packed column can cause flooding issues
Cheers

Statistics: Posted by billmcc — Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:58 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-29T14:27:51+00:00

Well its arrived - had a brief fiddle with setting it up at lunch today.

First impressions - looks good, can't wait to get started.

Couldn't shake all the ceramic saddles into the housing, I have four left over... like screws in an IKEA flat pack!

Housing the thermometers looks fiddly, I think I'm missing a piece of something, can't see how that connects to the condenser at all.

Anyone got a close up of the thermometer/condenser attachment?

Ta

C

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:27 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-27T20:10:38+00:00

i think I've seen somewhere that the t 500 uses
about an average bath full so not a lot really

Statistics: Posted by Magnu420 — Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:10 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-27T17:19:51+00:00

With Cooling Management systems, of which the T500 is one, the temperature of the coolant should be as constant as possible.

Using a recirculation pump the reservoir will gradually warm up requiring adjustments to the cooling flow control valves, to overcome this people add some form of cooling to the recirculation system.

The T500 does not use that much water, and I would suggest that you first try it using the main supply, it will take one variable away from the process while you are learning to drive your new toy.

In the fullness of time when you are used to the still and you still feel that you are using a large amount of water, perhaps then would be a good time to think about this.

Normally at this point someone would advise you to get some alcohol ready for the still arriving, with you having a vineyard I think that in your case this advice is not required.

Statistics: Posted by YHB — Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:19 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-27T17:13:54+00:00

cocwg wrote:
How do I control waterflow and therefore column temp?

C

Please ignore.

I've found the answer on this site already

The aggregated 'stillers search by cc found it when my usual search terms failed me.

C

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:13 pm

Re: Soon to be t500 owner

2012-11-27T16:05:49+00:00

Thanks Brian

Still ordered.

Now a quick question for the forum.

Water : I am thinking I don't want to run water to waste down the drain so I'd rather recycle it, or use an existing external reservoir. I have an IBC container filled with rainwater x 1000l. If I use a recirc pump @2800 lph that should be more than enough, won't it?

How do I control waterflow and therefore column temp?

Is this idea a non-starter?

Cheers

C

Statistics: Posted by cocwg — Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:05 pm