I think I have stopped the still blowing its top.

by **HangOver** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:23 pm

ok i believe you

i might just hang on to it till i get a wash that doesnt clear well.
Tell you what I did notice, while decanting a wash into a few smaller containers the last one got the smallest amount of yeast in it(the muck left at the bottom of the fermenter).

I distilled the smaller containers all fine till i got to the last one and guess which one blew the top off?, no prizes !
Before you mention it the last contaminated container i let sit for a few days before distilling and left a bit in the bottom of the container, it still blew.

by **umpa** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:06 pm

yes it makes sence as I had never had a problem with boil overs until now. I tasted my wash and it was sweet, I have the rings I & copper mesh, but alas it happned every time & I had 5 gallons of the stuff (not good). So to stop this a guess it\'s either conditioner or let your wash finish and clear.
Now I thought I had done so. It was as clear as water almost. It must not have fermented down as much as it should have.

by **Jimmy** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:37 pm

Yeah, maybe whisk the hell out of it to rule out CO2 but you could be right.

by **Phantom** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:50 pm

yes it makes sence as I had never had a problem with boil overs until now. I tasted my wash and it was sweet, I have the rings I & copper mesh, but alas it happned every time & I had 5 gallons of the stuff (not good). So to stop this a guess it\'s either conditioner or let your wash finish and clear.
Now I thought I had done so. It was as clear as water almost. It must not have fermented down as much as it should have.

Don\'t forget at that stage, you\'ve made "sugar wine", so if you just drop a hydrometer into the bucket, it should show a gravity of 1.000 or less to make sure it\'s finished the ferment, and not "stuck" for some reason.

by **Notts19** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:46 pm

OMG burbs, blow ups etc.What am I letting myself in for Ok iam a newbie, but at this moment iam only distilling water, But reading all these post about Burbs Etc. it as put me off distilling a wash , I dont want to fall out with \"Her that must be obeyed\" LOL.

CHEERS

by **Phantom** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:10 pm

OMG burbs, blow ups etc.What am I letting myself in for Ok iam a newbie, but at this moment iam only distilling water, But reading all these post about Burbs Etc. it as put me off distilling a wash , I dont want to fall out with "Her that must be obeyed" LOL.

If your local water is quite "soft" then maybe you should try putting a glass bowl, half full, in the microwave and nuking it for 5 minutes, then carefully put it in an empty sink and drop a spoon or other piece of cutlery in it.
If the water is very "pure", like distilled water, you\'d probably get a nasty bubbling/overflow with it. it is possible to get some problems with it like that. It\'s the same effect as the burp/over boil with a still i.e. it\'s about how the gas molecules start to seperate and when the liquid it "super heated" and then something cool is dropped in, the gas molecules start to join together to start bubbling for a while, the main thing is, that with water, if this happens, it\'s quite a quick reaction (it can happen with milk as well - if it hasn\'t already boiled over inside the microwave......).
I haven\'t managed to work out, whether it\'s the chemical reaction of residual CO2 escaping more easily, or whether it\'s to do with residual sugar/nutrient/yeast/carbon etc that hasn\'t cleared out of the wash (I\'ve had over boils with both wash and cider - with no obvious reasons why.
Anything you can do to reduce the possibility will be beneficial i.e. rashig rings in the bottom of the boiler, or broken glass, or crockery, or a piece of copper mesh, or distillers conditioner (anti-foaming agent) or a mix of the above....
At the end of the day, you have to remember that it\'s not just a still, it\'s a boiler so it makes sense to run it away to where family/pets etc might come into contact with it accidentally......

by **Notts19** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:36 pm

Hi Phantom,

Thank You for your advice it is much appreciated, Our local water is a hard water area, when i start running the wash through the smart still i will put it in the outhouse just to be on the safe side and fingers crossed, I also have the rashig rings in the bottom of the smart still and i will buy some of the distillers conditioner when i have a trip down to wineworks, anyway thats all from me for now CHEERS.

by **Notts19** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:08 pm

Hello All,

After I painted the inside of the \"Outhouse\" and put the electrics in, lights, plug points etc. and put the water supply in and then laid some vinyl covering on the floor I have totally moved out of the kitchen and into my Micro Brewery LOL. \"Her that must be obeyed\" is over the moon LOL.Apart from the Lager, Wine, Cider & Beer that is fermenting away In my Micro Brewery, I also started My first wash Last Saturday (Alcotec Triple Still Turbo Yeast) and that is also fermenting away I have just taken a S.G reading and its down to a 1.000 so a few more days(hopefully)and it should be ready for racking off for the clearing stage, And I will be using (Alocotec Turbo Klar)And then on to the fun part of distilling, And before I forget when I got the SS it came with those rashig rings/ceramic rings but ive bought 2 more packets of them so 3 packets of rashig rings in the bottom of the still so fingers crossed it might stop those \"burbs\" from happening.Anyway I will keep you posted on whats happening with the wash distilling etc.

CHEERS ALL

Notts19

by **goinbroke2** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:54 am

Hmmm, very interesting. I never thought of the c02 in the wash having any effect. I use pieces of copper tube an inch or two long as \"boiling chips\" and they worked very well. Then I pinched one end of each one so there is even less smooth or round area and it works awesome. It originaly would come up to temp and suddenly pour out the coil. After adding the tube it slowly warms the lyne arm, then the coil going into the bucket, then it slowly starts to drip out the coil nice and even.
My thought was/is that the wash comes up to temp and then when large enough bubbles form, create the steam. Where with boiling chips there are lots of tiny bubbles coming off the many surfaces which in turn the steam starts slower and less violent.

Yes I have a different set up than you guys but the theory is the same. Very interesting about the not-finished ferments possibly being part of the problem.
Oh, yes, I degas my washes normally too. I rack off from one carboy to the next and then clean the original. Then I pour it back in the original bucket fast to create turbulence. (well, I was, now I have a 121L fermenter)

by **Phantom** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:31 pm

Ha! I\'ve been thinking about the practicality of using my enolmatic vacuum bottler to degas my wash. I\'ve been doing like many up to now, but if I used my enolmatic (with the filter attached) it should stop any sediment that might get picked up and the vacuum should strip out any residual CO2 as well.
Got to be worth a try........
regards
p

by **optic** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:10 pm

I have noticed as i warm up my wash in a electric kettle before i put it in the still,that as it is warmed up once it reaches about 45c it forms a froth on top a bit like the head on a pint of beer so should imagine the same thig happens in the still,perhaps i have been lucky as ive not had a boil over yet,but some times i can hear the ceramic rings rattling about,i still wonder if part of the problem is the wash is never crystal clear,was thinking of running the next wash through the Z filter to see if that makes a difference?,suppose its worth a try as it will only cost a bit of carbon and time.

cheers optic

by **Notts19** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:05 pm

Hello All,

Ive just had my first trip down to Wineworks in Chesterfield and All I can say is \"WOW ITS BRILLIANT\" All the staff are well informed and very very helpfull if you live nearby like i do its well worth the trip, I didnt take the car Me and the wife got on a bus and its a 45 min trip. After the visit to wineworks we had a stroll around chesterfield market and its a Fabulous market bargains galore,Thats all from me Folks.

CHEERS

Notts19

by **umpa** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:41 pm

Yes I like wineworks too. I don\'t pre-heat my was at all I don\'t see the point.

by **optic** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:57 am

Its just that it saves waitng an hour to warm up where as by pre heating the wash it takes about 20 minutes and the run is done start to finish in about 1 1/2 hours and it dont seem to affect the alcohol yield as long as you dont go over 60 celcius

by **umpa** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:17 pm

Yes but the energy to heat the stuff up in 20 mins will be more than what the still will use.

I run my smart still on a timer so I dont need to be there. I can set it so that its about to finish when I get home from work. There is so little volume I dont bother taking out the heads anymore. I have been doing it this way for months and never had a problem.