First time post on here, be gentle if I'm being a Dingus. So I'm not new to distilling but I've always used a pot still and fire heat. I recently built a electrically heated reflux still and I'm having problem. I'll list out the details of my set up then my issues and process.
- 15gal Keg Pot
-single 5Kw heating element. 230v
- 2" reflux column roughly 4ft tall.
- feed and return lines for condenser feed horizontally through the main column to produce the reflux cooling
- cooling water comes in from the bottom and out the top - no packing (yet)
- analog Temp gauge in the boiler - Calibrated RTD at the very top of the column.
- Running 10-12gal of 8-9% sugar wash.
So the problem is that I cannot get any decent proof out of the dang thing. I mean 100proof or less! I see guys on here complaining when they can't get more than 180, so I should by no means be getting the junk output i'm getting. After I get my forshots to run off, I cannot get any output worth a damn until the top of my column hits almost 205F!!! I had it sitting at 170-180F for over an hour and couldn't get more than a few drips. tried 190s barely anything, only after it's over 200 will I start to get steady drip, drip drips. At this point my analog gauge in the boiler is reading 200-210ish. I would have thought that my RTD was out of wack. but the fact that my proof is coming out at 60-100 proof tells me that it's reading correct and that I'm just pulling a ton of water with my ethanol because my temp is too high.
As I mentioned above I'm testing this out with about 10-12gallons of a 8-9% sugar wash that I tested with a hydrometer (I'm not guessing) I would expect to pull at least a gallon of higher proof stuff out. Hell i'm honestly happy with 130-150, let alone what I read these other guys pull out of their reflux stills. I've done 3 runs now and each time I give up after pulling off a quart because after a quart of 70-100proof it drops way down to the floor at like 30 proof :( I've played around with turning my power and water ratios up and down all other the spectrum and I can't get any better results. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. i'm pulling my hair out.
Beginner problems with New reflux Column
in Beginners
Posted
First time post on here, be gentle if I'm being a Dingus. So I'm not new to distilling but I've always used a pot still and fire heat. I recently built a electrically heated reflux still and I'm having problem. I'll list out the details of my set up then my issues and process.
- 15gal Keg Pot
-single 5Kw heating element. 230v
- 2" reflux column roughly 4ft tall.
- feed and return lines for condenser feed horizontally through the main column to produce the reflux cooling
- cooling water comes in from the bottom and out the top - no packing (yet)
- analog Temp gauge in the boiler - Calibrated RTD at the very top of the column.
- Running 10-12gal of 8-9% sugar wash.
So the problem is that I cannot get any decent proof out of the dang thing. I mean 100proof or less! I see guys on here complaining when they can't get more than 180, so I should by no means be getting the junk output i'm getting. After I get my forshots to run off, I cannot get any output worth a damn until the top of my column hits almost 205F!!! I had it sitting at 170-180F for over an hour and couldn't get more than a few drips. tried 190s barely anything, only after it's over 200 will I start to get steady drip, drip drips. At this point my analog gauge in the boiler is reading 200-210ish. I would have thought that my RTD was out of wack. but the fact that my proof is coming out at 60-100 proof tells me that it's reading correct and that I'm just pulling a ton of water with my ethanol because my temp is too high.
As I mentioned above I'm testing this out with about 10-12gallons of a 8-9% sugar wash that I tested with a hydrometer (I'm not guessing) I would expect to pull at least a gallon of higher proof stuff out. Hell i'm honestly happy with 130-150, let alone what I read these other guys pull out of their reflux stills. I've done 3 runs now and each time I give up after pulling off a quart because after a quart of 70-100proof it drops way down to the floor at like 30 proof :( I've played around with turning my power and water ratios up and down all other the spectrum and I can't get any better results. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. i'm pulling my hair out.