ViolentBlue

you might be able to coax it to work but its always going to be an issue. what size piping do you use for mash transfer? up size it to match that at least, 1.5 or 2" are your minimum ideals with a grain in mash, I would even suggest going to 4" and using a conical reducer to your hose/pump size, to minimize blockage.

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its easier to get the same surface are for cooling in a smaller package

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MGL is correct, flow in the bottom and out the top in order to automatically purge the air. how it is currently set up 75% of your cooling surface are will not be used

a p-trap is helpful, but there needs to be sufficient height separating the column bottoms, P-trap and fluid level of the boiler. otherwise you wont have enough head for gravity to do its thing and overcome the micro pressures in the kettle. 12" of height difference between kettle fluid levels and the bottom of your column only gives you a gravity/pressure difference of 0.375 PSI. this is well within the range of pressures you can build in the kettle, even with an open vapor path. Many of the newcomers to the equipment market are using 12" or less height difference, realistically 24" or more would be ideal, but then height becomes a concern. throw in Dual columns, and your troubles double. individual plate flooding is another issue, it can either be bad plate design, or a combination of running too much heat and too much reflux, in which case back off on the heat, back off on dephlegmater flow and you will have the same results out of your parrot with fewer column flooding problems.

its not just a matter of column diameter, but also plate design. a poorly designed plate will need to be bigger in order to get the throughput, but then the vapor velocity suffers. a perforated plate column, should be slightly smaller in diameter in order to drive the velocity higher, or else you wont achieve balance in the column and the fluid will fall out. it is a balancing act to make one of these systems work, there are some rules of thumb, tricks and workarounds, but it all comes back to the math.

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you will have to follow instructions on the container, I believe they have a chart for rough PH correction.

the black build up would most likely be copper salts, nothing to be afraid of. not likely they are remnants of the manufacturing process, but if you are really concerned do a full cleaning regiment, start with a hot caustic (PBW) wash to remove any residual oils, rinse with clean water then a cold acid to break down the copper salts. if you have a CIP recirculate it, if not, glove up and get scrubbing by hand. if you heat the acid it becomes more effective, but even a mild a acid solution can do a lot of damage to the skin when hot, so be very careful.

once you do your first run, the hot acidic wash will clean that right off

if you have the cooling water in contact with stainless alt all, do not use bleach or any chlorine. Star Sans acid #5, just push the ph to 6 or a hair under and no algae will grow and it will keep your stainless rust free, as well it will be much less harsh on your copper than citric acid.

been working with Donald for years now, I was playing with whiskey systems in its alpha stages. I believe it carries some of its DNA over from Donalds time with Buffalo Trace (before the pappy was stolen) so there is a lot of tested professional development in its core. so I am a bit biased towards WS. in my experince , to the average user the two systems are about the same, I believe WS has some deeper levels you could delve into that offer more. where WS really shines, is access to people knowledgeable in the industry, turn around time for new features to be added when something new is requested and of course price.

Sussman Boilers work well, I've worked with them on several stills. cost of operation is a bit higher than gas boilers, piping is the same, but requirements for firewalls and such are much less stringent than with gas fired. you will find the law of diminishing returns applies the larger you go. but for smaller distilleries 0-150 gallons electric bain marie works welll and is cheaper, I would use an electric boiler for anything larger.

Just a brief notice to you all out there that know me. as of September 11 2017, I have left Artisan Still Design Please direct any questions or communication for ASD to neil@atrisanstilldesign.com Thanks