Incorrect Advice

[vino-tinto]

I have yet again found posts from members giving newcomers bad and maybe costly advice.
I came across one the other day and had to give advice totally contrary to the previous reply.

I am not mentioning any names but could you please just stop before doing so and think, "have I got, or have I had this piece of equipment or am I experienced enough with this type of equipment to give advice".

If you don't have these attributes then please stop giving advice, point them in the right direction by all means, even copy & paste from somewhere else if you know that advice to be sound, but please stop the bad advice before someone makes that costly error.

[Icefever]

+ 1 on this VT, I'm with you the whole way.
I did bring this up, I think last year...about the "experts"...and what makes one. ??

[Curmudgeon]

If it was me, then I apologise without reservation.

I am inclined to type, especially after imbibing.

[spot]

If it was me - and I think it was - then I wish you'd say so directly so I can refute what you've claimed. I'm quite sure most members seeing this thread will assume it's me you're addressing.



Question posed by Biggles: For example if I am doing a stripping run with this Pure Turbo pack which I believe finishes fermenting at around 14%, do I just run it with the Grainfather on full 100degC boil and collect everything until it stops dripping? and if so will I boil the Grainfather dry as to me thats a bit of a worrying thought.

Answer given by me: The T500 is a reflux head. Whatever you put into it - 10,14,24 or 40%abv - the product will come off at 90-93%. Once there's no alcohol left to come over, the remaining water will just keep refluxing up part of the T500 head and get no higher, it will condense back into the boiler. That's why it can't boil dry, and why the product isn't going to be diluted if the still is left on longer than it need be.




Obviously the T500 can be boiled dry and the head damaged by running it dry with no condensing water. That's not the matter at hand, the question was what happens when stripping out alcohol. There will be a steady flow of condensing water keeping the water outlet at between 50-65°C. In that circumstance it is my experience that it's absolutely impossible to boil the T500 dry or to overheat the head in any practical timescale. The remaining alcohol-free solution in the boiler will continue to boil, the reflux will continue to condense all of the vapour back into the boiler, the system will be stable.

You ask "have I got, or have I had this piece of equipment or am I experienced enough with this type of equipment to give advice". The answer to all of that is yes, yes and yes.

You say you "had to give advice totally contrary to the previous reply". Your contrary advice related to an entirely different scenario - "a T500 column is quite capable of distilling water, but in doing so you can warp the plastic" - than that which was posed - "doing a stripping run" - which I correctly responded to.

I suggest you reconsider who was misleading whom in that thread.

[vino-tinto]

If it was me - and I think it was - then I wish you'd say so directly so I can refute what you've claimed.

Lets quote what you've advised a member with a Grainfather + T500 column:
Once there's no alcohol left to come over, the remaining water will just keep refluxing up part of the T500 head and get no higher, it will condense back into the boiler. That's why it can't boil dry

Now lets quote what you have since posted:
Obviously the T500 can be boiled dry and the head damaged by running it dry with no condensing water.

You ask "have I got, or have I had this piece of equipment or am I experienced enough with this type of equipment to give advice". The answer to all of that is yes, yes and yes.

So why O why did you give a newcomer incorrect information that could have damaged his equipment.

You quote:I suggest you reconsider who was misleading whom in that thread.

[spot]

If you insist on selective quoting then we'll just have to leave the thread as it is, the membership as a whole will no doubt form its own opinion. I think most will find what I said here earlier this afternoon to be coherent and reasonable.

My initial reaction to this thread, that it's damned impertinent, stands.

[Easydrinker]

Lawks!, do I hate squabbling.
And that is from someone that used to disagree with one particular user here all the time. Not for fun, but because his head was in the sand, and he did not see any way which was not his own.
My own motto, as you must have discovered by now, is that there are always more ways than one.

So How can I TRY and heal this seeming spat between two members?

Firstly, I will note that Spot has a type of still listed as owned in his profile,and now says he own's at least one other also. Disclosure may have helped here.

In fact having just read this thread again, that is as far as I will go.
If the the two of you cannot resolve your differences amicabily, then that is your problem.
I cannot prove points seemingly made by both protagonists here
Argue away.
If, and When, I feel this issue reflects negatively on this site, then I will delete this thread.
Simples.

Fair?

Robert.

[vino-tinto]

Thanks Robert

I for one will leave at that, I see no reason to continue the thread.