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Showing results for tags 'plates'.
Found 3 results
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Hi Everyone, We have a 1000L Kothe still we just hooked up. A local brewery gave us a wash and we ran our first ever batch through the still. We're still learning our equipment and I wanted to reach out to the forum to get some help with some of the issues we're having. 1) Dephlegmator - When the guys from Koval came to set up the still, they said we wanted to run our dephlegmator at around 77C. This has proven very difficult. The dephlegmator is cooled by the water that exits the condenser - the condenser temp is controlled by a thermostatic valve on the ingoing cooling water. As the distillation progresses, the temp of the dephlegmator will increase and the ABV in the parrot will drop significantly (seemingly way before it was supposed to). We had to then increase our cooling to compensate, long story short the temp and our ABV ended up being all over the place for most of the distillation. Has anyone else run into this? Since other factors play a role in the dephlegmator temp (vapor temp, volume of vapor) do you think it would be a good idea to get the dephlegmator on it's own, separate control system that can self regulate the temp of the dephlegmator itself? Also, is it a good thing that the dephlegmator temp increases as the distillation continues? Will this allow for compounds with a lower vapor pressure and higher BP which could add valuable flavor components to make it through into the tail end of the hearts? 2) The plates - What effect have you all found in terms of adjusting the liquid level in the plates? I have in my notes from when the Koval guys came here is that having the plates more closed (high liquid level) gives higher separation (cleaner distillate) that having them all the way down. Is this because it forces all of the steam to condense when it hits that plate? Wouldn't having the plates more open force more liquid to drain back into the previous plates and into the still and also have a purifying effect? What effect to do see in ABV off the parrot with the plates? Effect on the flavor? Difference in upper plates vs lower plates? Any recommended ways to run it? Thanks everyone, hopefully I can repay the favor with some needed info for you one day! ADKdistiller
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Hi Everyone, We have a 1000L Kothe still we just hooked up. A local brewery gave us a wash and we ran our first ever batch through the still. We're still learning our equipment and I wanted to reach out to the forum to get some help with some of the issues we're having. 1) Dephlegmator - When the guys from Koval came to set up the still, they said we wanted to run our dephlegmator at around 77C. This has proven very difficult. The dephlegmator is cooled by the water that exits the condenser - the condenser temp is controlled by a thermostatic valve on the ingoing cooling water. As the distillation progresses, the temp of the dephlegmator will increase and the ABV in the parrot will drop significantly (seemingly way before it was supposed to). We had to then increase our cooling to compensate, long story short the temp and our ABV ended up being all over the place for most of the distillation. Has anyone else run into this? Since other factors play a role in the dephlegmator temp (vapor temp, volume of vapor) do you think it would be a good idea to get the dephlegmator on it's own, separate control system that can self regulate the temp of the dephlegmator itself? Also, is it a good thing that the dephlegmator temp increases as the distillation continues? Will this allow for compounds with a lower vapor pressure and higher BP which could add valuable flavor components to make it through into the tail end of the hearts? 2) The plates - What effect have you all found in terms of adjusting the liquid level in the plates? I have in my notes from when the Koval guys came here is that having the plates more closed (high liquid level) gives higher separation (cleaner distillate) that having them all the way down. Is this because it forces all of the steam to condense when it hits that plate? Wouldn't having the plates more open force more liquid to drain back into the previous plates and into the still and also have a purifying effect? What effect to do see in ABV off the parrot with the plates? Effect on the flavor? Difference in upper plates vs lower plates? Any recommended ways to run it? Thanks everyone, hopefully I can repay the favor with some needed info for you one day! ADKdistiller
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Hey all -- Pricing out the gin stills for our production. Looking at 400L (105 gallon) with 8-10 plates and botanical basket inset. I know what the mercedes/BMW version of this mockup costs but wanted to go out to you guys for any sense of pros/cons on what you're using or plan to use. Gin is its own animal and while we're not planning on distilling anything else on this still --- I still want to retain some flexibility esp. for when we may need to sell on secondary market down the road (I'm assuming we outgrow it vs. fail!!). Any and all advice is very much appreciated. Your mileage is invaluable. Many thanks.
