StillSmart

Domestic freezers are designed to operate at -18°C.
If yours doesn't it needs fixing.

Robert.

I thought mine was -18 earlier in the post but wasn't 100% sure.

I ended up defrosting the whole lot of this wash and stripping it the normal way in the Airstill. Will be making another wash in the next day or so. Still going to give freeze distilling another go, will just leave it for two days and see how I get on.

Does need time to freeze enough.

OK I have done some more tests.

The sweetspot for freezing is 2-4 days (depending on temp) and the centre is hollow. This pours quite quickly. Leaving it inverted (stage 2) while thawing yields a little more in the next couple of hours.

If you miss this sweetspot it will freeze ALMOST solid. I did one for 2 weeks. There is little pour off. Inverting while thawing will still work with a significant amount in a few hours but overnight works well. Yield is the same.

I made an inner bucket to support the inverted fermenter with holes in the bottom.

At what point do you get the whole lot back and say O Buga.....

I have been thinking about freeze stripping recently.
Perforce it has to push more tails through the still, (unless you switch off early),
while making the wash smaller in size, and making the still run happen more quickly.
One day I may have freezer space to try it.

Robert.