T 500 STILL

[simon2cat]

Hi all, just got my new T500 and it works a treat, and was just wondering if it can be used as a pot still, so i asked Richard form Wineworks and he said to put the copper saddles in first then just a few ceramic ones to hold them in place and off you go,but i have not tried this, has anybody tried this or any more advice how it can be done? many thanks.

[billmcc]

If you try run it as a pot still you will break it the higher temps involved in pot stilling will damage the plastic components on the T500 column.however you can buy or build a pot still head to fit the T500 boiler
Cheers

see here
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 3#p7005933

[simon2cat]

Many thanks billmcc, might be safer with a copper still head, think i'll go for that.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Bilmcc, I've now seen posted a few times that the T500 can't operate as a pot still due to the plastic cap not handling the higher temperatures.
Thinking about it, it doesn't quite ring true. When distilling and taking off at 93% the vapour temp is going to be about 79oC.

When pot stilling for the sake of argument you'll start at 80% and take off down to 20%. This means the vapour will go from 80oC to 93oC over the course of the run.
My experience of pot stilling you hold a fairly high ABV for 2/3rds of the run, so say from 80% to 40%, this means the temp has gone from 80oCish up to 87oC. then it will climb to the 93oC for the remainder.

So for most of the run its within 8oC of the normal operating temperatures. Also the time taken for pot stilling is much shorter than doing a reflux run, so the exposure time would be shorter.

I find it hard to believe that a material is being used that is so close to its maximum operating temperature, and that something that "could" be used to boil water is not using materials rated at 100oC.

I did use my T500 as a pot still several times without issue, I'm just wondering if someone with an agenda against synthetics could be muddying the waters. Or not.

Has anyone else tried using the T500 as a pot still by changing the cooling lines, and did you have any issues? Just wondering if we have someone other than RAD14701 (who doesn't own a T500 as far as I know) who has had issues on this front?
Not trying to be dismissive of his claims, I'd just like to see a source of an owner having issues before making my mind up.

[billmcc]

captain only posted what i had read and thought it better to be safe than sorry i also read the liebeg isn't good enough for pot stilling due to its small size. but i can also appreciate what you are saying
Cheers

[Capt-Cudellez]

Bill, please don't think I was having a go. Just saying to keep an open mind and take things with a pinch of salt. I've seen knowlagable people banned from that site for trying to discuss synthetics, just to have their posts removed.

Your point with the condenser is right though. You can just about strip on the t500 if you throw an ungodly amount of water at it (you wouldn't want to be on metered water )
But if your using power control to pot still nice and slow then it's doable.
It is clearly not the ideal tool for the job, but its not impossible.

[billmcc]

Captain not at all mate i enjoy every one of your posts and i am learning from your knowledge plus making my own finds like the 5ltr puke of lme wash ive just caused from not having enough head room luckily caught it in the demijon and a bottle
Cheers