converted water still

[Neilini]

Hi all.this is my first post here I'm very pleased to see there is a forum dedicated to my new hobby.

Anyway I have a few questions resulting from my first run last night.

I bought a water distiller as they are practically identical to an air still and half the cost however I was aware that the element is too powerful and there was a pin hole in the coil. I blocked the pin hole in the coil and I designed and built a temp control system which enables me to keep the temperature between 80 and 90 Celsius.

Anyway did the first run last night with 4 litres of turbo yeast wash.threw the first 50p away and ended up with 500ml until no more condensate would come out.

I'm hoping this means that I have managed to take just the alcohol from the wash but I'm unsure on what yield size to expect.I'm also waiting on the delivery of my hydrometer to enable to to test what I've got.

Thoughts anyone?

[Almanac]

First, don't drink what you got from the still. What you have is stripped wash only.

Getting only 500ml from a 4lt charge on a stripping run begs a number of questions. Not least of which is what was the strength of the wash?

I'm guessing, from what you've posted, that you haven't read our Airstill Guide or other helpful information posted here by many members on how to get the best from an Airstill.

Go here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3436 and read the various booklets there and you'll get a handle on how to get the best from your kit and any questions can be posted for the many experienced distillers here to answer for you.

We like to help

AidanMac

[Mash]

I was interested by the pin hole????

Is photo possible please?

Bunging holes up in boiling vessels makes me nervous. Particularly as I am not aware of any on this kind of kit.

[Neilini]

Firstly thank you for the replies . Unfortunately I only stumbled across this site by chance today so have not had chance to do any reading.my logic of the low yield was that because the wash never went over 90 Celsius there was no water carryover. Hence I was hoping that because the condensate finished of its own accord at the 500ml mark all the ethanol had been removed . Unfortunately without a hydrometer I cannot test what has happened.but the condensate certainly tastes like very strong vodka.im not going to drink any quantity of it until I can do some readings.

The pinhole is manufactured into water distillers to allow volatiles like chlorine and fluoride to evaporate so I read so I blocked this up so no ethanol could escape.im sorry but it's all been put back together now so I can't take a photo.

[Neilini]

I've just read the air still guide and I'm impressed a very comprehensive guide.

I did read about doing multiple runs with an air still some time back but I thought this was due to the characteristics of the machine also the puking scenario sounded worrying so that's why i went about rethinking how it works.a standard model uses a 350watt element to heat the wash over a long period of time.thus giving a longer window in which ethanol is separated before the water carries over.therefore doing multiple runs increases the concentration of the ethanol.

i put a thermocouple in mine which tells the temperature control unit the temp of the wash.i set the temp to 85c and then this switches a relay to cycle the power to the element keeping the wash between 85 and 90 as long as i want.no chance of pukingand no chance of water carryover.the ffan unit is on a constant supply.

I was hoping this approach would mean multiple runs would be unnecessary.


Of course as a complete novice I may be totally wrong ☺:)

[Neilini]

Just done a few flame tests.in the conservatory I had a heart stopping moment as I couldn't see the flame so presumed I'd made methanol.second test in the dark kitchen I had a reassuring lovely blue flame.

I'm not going to do anymore until the hydrometer arrives though and will take the opportunity to do further reading.

[Almanac]

If only this were true The Airstill and stills of that type, such as the one you used, are genuine pot stills but they are very inefficient, even for a pot still because of design limitation.

In your case the reality is that the distillate you evaporated from the wash contains many elements that are undesirable, not just ethanol. Discarding the first 50ml is a simple mechanism to dispose of the worst of those, things like Acetone

When a still stops producing distillate it simply means that the boiler has not reached sufficient temperature to vapourise the remaining liquid. Conversely, this means that what you have collected contains everything with a lower vapour point - and that's not just the ethanol.

As I said earlier, this type of still is workable but very inefficient and, as with all stills, an amount of what you've collected invariably includes what we call Heads and Tails, both of which contain mostly undesirable elements, but given your methodology it's not possible to remotely define the cuts that could separate the different fractions.

BTW Turbo washes using sugar cannot make Methanol so you needn't worry about that. Also, distillation equipment, of any kind, cannot make anything it simply allows you to separate different parts of a given liquid.

I would recommend you toss it all back into the still and run it according to the Airstill Guide. the method in that guide has been poked,prodded, turned upside down and inside out and will produce a clean result for you.

With the experience using the tried and tested method contained in the Guide you will learn be able to make variations to the methodology to suit your personal requirements and the recipes you use for your wash.

Try the non-turbo route too - much cleaner end product.

My booklet "Spirit Cuts for Beginners" will also help you getting started.

Good luck and keep posting, we'll get you there

AidanMac

[Neilini]

Thanks aidan for taking the time to post such a comprehensive reply.i will indeed try the method on the pdf.my reason for trying an alternate route was that as i tried to save money by converting a water still i have a unit with a 750watt element as opposed to 350watt in a purpose built alcohol unit.i was worried this would get up to temperature too fast thus making too much water get carried over. However as you said the method has been tried and tested so it's obviously the way to go.i'll put the 500ml back in the wash and try again.

I am interested in your opinion on the higher wattage element I have.should I just let it go full bore or keep the temperature below 100?

Your thoughts greatly appreciated

[Almanac]

The higher wattage is actually an advantage in that it will enable you to shorten the heat up time and then reduce the power for the collection phase. The Airstill is a one trick pony, even so it works reasonably well.

One of it's biggest drawbacks is the long heat up time and you have the ability to minimise that and reduce the power once the temp gets to 75oC.

A big advantage of using a power controller on that type of still is that you can reduce the wattage well below the standard Airstill's power and run the distillate collection more slowly. This will improve the quality of the distillate but you'll still need to do stripping runs then a spirit run.

AidanMac

[chill]

I will mention one thing that I have not seen mentioned in this thread: you can't control the distillation by maintaining the temperature of the boiling wash at a single point or by the power input (more power means more steam produced, not a hotter temperature).

The solution will boil at a temperature that is determined by the combination of its components. As the more volatile components and then ethanol come off in larger quantities, the temperature of the boiling solution will naturally increase.

What you probably have achieved with the thermocouple is some approximation of automatic heads removal. Assuming you followed the instructions on amount of sugar with the turbo yeast, there was still a significant amount of alcohol etc left in the still.

Chuck

[Neilini]

Thank you all for all the fantastic advice. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to give me the benefit of your experience.

I'll give the tried and tested approach a go and report back.

Thanks again