Still Automation

[TheDoktor]

Hi Hampk,

No problem, everyone is free to air an opinion.
I don't mind people stating a view :-)

I really do get it that most people on here want to keep a hand on approach. But as a forum you will occasionally get people like me that want to try something a bit different.

I'm leaning a lot about the process, will it make me a better distiller, possibly - I hope...
But, it's all very new to me, so I read a lot and ask questions...

Thanks for you comments

[chill]

Ran across this in my bookmarks, it might be of interest.
http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3 ... cao#p74265

[TheDoktor]

Hi Chill,

Thank you for that...

I think that's real close to what I had imagined to start with...
I didn't think that I could have been the first, or the last, to want to tinker with a still!

The Weblinks have been changed since the initial posts on the Artisan Distiller website, but can still be found here: http://www.embeddedcc.com

Thanks again...

[YHB]

Doctor,

Rereading my first response, perhaps I owe you an apology for my hasty, negative response, but I was only thinking about your safety. You would not believe the number of Engineers that we see here thinking it is all down to numbers without knowing the consequences. I should know I was one of the first.

If you want something to cut your teeth on and where your expertise may be beneficial try this link.

http://visionstills.org/index.php/topic ... tml#msg626

Here a group are developing an electric parrot that converts the temperature of the vapour into the %ABV, corrected for altitude, with an alarm that will alert you when a specific %ABV is reached, and utilise data logging for future analysis and repeatability. You will see there is no control or automation.

The code is freely available and is based on Arduino architecture,I am currently building one using a Nano.

[hampk]

It's an interesting thread this..

If you look at the way automation has affected production processes, then modern life is driven by it. Everything from beans to milk and cars to bread is produced by industrial automation. I know, I spent ten years working for a company that did it.

Why, I find myself wondering, is it that spirit-making has not succumbed to the automation genie?

AFAIK there isn't a whisky/why distillery using huge amounts of automation. Why's that then?

Enquiring minds..!

Cheers

Hampk

[TheDoktor]

Hi YHB / Hampk,

YHB, no apology nessesary - I get that you need to protect the inexperienced individuals for harming themselves... Stills and alcohol make for a very interesting time in the wrong hands!

Thanks for the link - I have registered and will look through the thread in detail once I have a little more time. From what I have seen though, this is great - I have many many hours of Arduino development time and more kit than most colleges...!

Hampk, there are a number of factors in the reasons why whisky is not driven by a super controlled process... It really could be (at the front end - up to the barreling of the spirit) and the blending could be too...

However, whisky production has history, and each distillery has artisans that carefully craft the look and feel of the finished product... That's why branding is so very important - apart from the different flavours - they are all very much the same!

To simply replace an artisan that lovingly crafts the finished product with a cold process controller that always get is spot on within the allowed limits of process variation destroys the branding, and besides these artisans want to keep a job - and are paid a serious salary... If it can be done with a process, why are they needed...

I can replicate any distillery whisky with an sample of the final product they want, by using a good Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry machine and a variety of raw whisky... That's effectively what the blending stage is (not counting the single cask stuff)... But with most distilleries they do it the old fashioned way, passed down through the generations - it's a life style choice!

Look at the car industry - Rolls Royce are hand built - but they would not be the same car if robots did it...! Yes, robots may be part of some of the process, but not in the coachwork... It's all crafted by hand, all the leather is hand stitched.

Whisky is a luxury item and is made to those iconic ideals - they are selling the vision not the alcoholic brown liquid, just look at the advertising. In contrast look at the cheaper end of the spirit market - good old supermarket vodka (not the good vodka) this is all process driven, volume rules! No lifestyle here, price is king... Make it cheap, make it fast, make it repeatable...

At the cheap end it's a chemical process engineering challenge...

Thoughts and comments welcome.
Thanks for the comments.

[Spirits4BB]

My mate runs a T500 with water from an outside water butt that's in the shade and uses a small aquarium pump for the condenser water supply.
If it's summer he uses a bucket with collected rainwater from the butt with a few ice cubes in.
Gets around 95% out on the spirit run he tells me.

S4BB

[Mash]

Hmm. This is a idea I quite fancied.
I was thinking a small solar pump or a submersible caravan whale pump.

I would like to do air cooling but I do think that's probably a step too far too soon. Simple often gets you 80% of the way there.

... And i do have "still-cam" now fully operational now.

[Spirits4BB]

It might have been a small solar pump?? He's on a meter so he was reluctant to waste it..

[Easydrinker]

[quote="Mash"]Hmm. This is a idea I quite fancied.
I was thinking a small solar pump or a submersible caravan whale pump.

I would like to do air cooling but I do think that's probably a step too far too soon. Simple often gets you 80% of the way there.

... And i do have "still-cam" now fully operational now.[/quote

The only thing with air condensing, which is what I still do, is the need for a fairly hefty condenser, get yourself one of those and be water free.

Robert.

[RumJohn]

@ Dok: Making good drinking alcohol is easy. Making bad alcohol is even easier.

I would suggest, before you redesign the wheel, that you learn how to produce a wash, ferment it, convert it to alcohol, etc. Once you have an understanding of the process you will be in a far better position to decide if you want to automate or not. If you decide to go that route, you will have a better idea of what you will need.

Craft distilling, or home distilling, is not just done to produce alcohol. It can be a rewarding experience. Some people are so enthusiastic, I wonder what they did with themselves before getting into distilling.

Anyway, whatever path you take, there are a heap of people here more than ready to help.

[Spirits4BB]

Some people are so enthusiastic, I wonder what they did with themselves before getting into distilling..

Brewing gallons of beer like I did..lol

[Spirits4BB]

Some people are so enthusiastic, I wonder what they did with themselves before getting into distilling..

Brewing gallons of beer like I did..lol

[Mash]

Yup. Beer and wine before that.

[Easydrinker]

Some people are so enthusiastic, I wonder what they did with themselves before getting into distilling..

Brewing gallons of beer like I did..lol

So busy earning squidillions of cash,that they didn't realise they could work less and make better booze than they were buying....?

Robert.