Excellent video. I have been doing a bunch of research over the last month about distilling and am learning lots. This video definitely helps in understanding some of the little nuances you have to balance while distilling. Thank you for sharing this as it has helped me a lot. Looking forward to doing it someday and applying all that I have learned from others like yourself.
I'm late as always, but thank you for a very nice video. I love Mile Hi equipment !!! I find it to be a tad bit pricey, but the quality is top notch and you only have to buy it once. Great company, service and products. I never regret paying for quality and the results speak for themselves. I will be following you from here on in. Keep up the great work !! -- den
Jim, excellent video. Really like the way you describe the process and explain what is happening. You are right when you say there are no videos like this that lay out in simple terms running the bubble plates. Really impressive. I just subscribed. Send me an email and maybe we can do a phone or video link up sometime. Happy Distilling George👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
@@jphalan Jim, let me know if you'd like to d a video link up that we can place on your channel as well as mine. Would be good to share your successes and challenges with the community. Simple process, I send you a link via email and you are I are connected in a video chat.
Hi Jim , I have a still like your but half the size , I really found your video very informative and have scribed, and its good to see someone out there showing us novices how to do it , after I get the wash boiling I turn the power down and have just enough water to condense the alcohol and let it flow nice and slow but but in the next week I will try the way you do it , and ante it a bugger to pull it down and clean after finishing.
Beautiful setup! I am new to the hobby. I have noticed through my testing that using only elements to heat will produce uneven heat in the boiler. I was surprised during testing to find out that the temp at and above the elements was 180 degrees, and the temp below and at the Base was only 80! 100 degree difference. I now preheat with propane then remove the propane once it reaches 173. This will burn off more methanol and improve the flavor for people that chew their nails after using hand sanitizer. You can also accomplish this by agitating the Base of the boiler while it is heating by using a drill mounted paddle. Excellent video!
Thank you! I have a video showing that I use a pump to recirculate the wash while I’m distilling and it really evens out the temperature and I get more yield. This is what has worked for me.
So glad to find you ! I got a 6" column still and was afraid it would be problematic with only 53 gallon boiler as well you're giving me heads up on operating it well
Great video. I to was running through food grade tubing from my condenser to my collection jar. I had someone tell me that the high proof alcohol causes some of the food grade tubing to leach into your run. I've made runs using copper tube instead of food grade tubing and I lost the plastic or petroleum smell. It taste and burns cleaner as well.
Rules of chemistry (i.e. physics) doesn't allow more than 97.2% ABV (water/ethanol) without using molecular filtration, due to the azeotrope point of water and ethanol.
Jim I would change one thing and that is the water inlet to the reflux condenser by fitting a needle valve tap to regulate the flow of water going in , would be a bit easier to regulate it instead of a ball valve tap. Good video mate
I used to fill my column with copper and ceramic saddles and I would wind my rig down as slow as possible , and I would air my liquor out for 2 days and it was oodorless and tasteless , unless I steeped a flavoring like berry or put oak barrel staves in it for a mind blowing bourbon 😁
The echo is not a problem, when you're close to the camera. "Tech Ingredients" has a video called ‘Distilling ALCOHOL With Our New Reflux Still!’ , in which it shows how such stills work, and other useful things.
Thoroughly enjoyed watching the process. Thank you for the view into your production. If you have tanks of cooling water in another room and a run of 6 hours can heat 5000L, how long will it take to drop the temperature of that volume of water so it can be re-used for another run of wash?
Thank you very much. The water temperature just needs to be cooler than the vapor that comes off the column to condense. However, if the water is to warm, and you are using a parrot with a hydrometer, like I use, the higher temperature can skew your output alcohol reading depending on what your hydrometer is calibrated at. The tank cools down to around ambient temp (room temp) by the next day. Its not a big issue for me. I normally distill every other day.or twice a week.
Something you might try. Take the deflegmator and put it at the bottom rather than the top of the column. Block the lower cooling water port. Fill the cooling water cavity about 2/3 full with for shots or heads. Connect a reflux Leibig condenser to the upper cooling water port so vapour of the heads inside condenses and falls back in. My guess is you will get all 6 plates bubbling that way and higher proof.
Jim, excellent video. Have you tried to dial down from 11kw to give the bottom bubble plate a chance to get wet and bubble? I think the vapor pressure from the boiler is just too high. The collection rate would be slower, but the quality would be higher.
How does mile high charge for a set up like this?. I built my still using a keg I had around the house it is very similar to yours I just don't use the plates I use copper scrubbies with a couple sight glasses filled with glass beads and deflagg I built to reflux . Yes George Duncan is the RU-vid king been watching for years thanks for the video!..
You can lower the amount of heat going into the bottom near the end of the run. That will improve the reflux but ofcourse take longer. So putting the top liquids of the end of your run, in your next batch is a great option aswell!
Thanks for post. Audio kinda sucks though - just mentioning it. No issues with the high capacity in the kettle - doesn't seem like much head room in there......? Great set up - the column is a monster. Thanks
Yeah, I know..lol. I just purchased a new Mic setup to resolve that issue. Mile High states that you can fill the boiler all the way to the rim. After doing that several times, I am noticing that I get better runs if I only fill it up to about 85% 90% leaving some head space.
@@jphalan it's a great video. Just the audio was a bit strained. When I wrote that I didn't realise you were kinda not a pro video guy - The video and content was great, but the audio was off a bit... just felt compelled to mention it. I probanly shouldn't have. I don't know how to increase viewers, (not real time on youtube) or I'd throw that out There, but your content is solid. I wasn't sure about the mash level - I hear various numbers . I really liken the milehigh set up. Looks and produces great. I guess the kettle diameter and column diameter are factors in whether or not it runs well. Lots of people overfill there keg and have issues. Cheers
I'm doing this as a hobby with a 2l still but I want to go bigger with 4 inch collum with 3 bubble plates. My keg schuld hold like 30l-40l but I'm not sure if this is operatable. Can you give me your opinion to this setup?
Hey. My first still was a pressure cooker with 1” copper pipe from Home Depot, and I was able to get 160 proof off of that. I think your setup will work just fine to cut your teeth on as a starter still. Are you going to be using a heating element or gas to heat your boiler (keg)?
@@jphalan dependent of the time the run takes I want to decide whether to use Propan or electric. But electric is expensive and Im not the best with electric stuff also I didn't find what I wanted for electric heating. I already have a propane burner so I guess I will use this
Greetings sir, I just ordered a 200L boiler with 4", 4 perforated copper plated column. How can I contact you personally to discuss some operating questions, if you have the time?
I enjoyed you interview with George, So I am here... maybe you can answer a question, why are thermometers used solely above the deflegmator, use of a PID at the point of no-return to control pot Temp , let a PID control the pot temp.. just asking
they arent used solely, at the top or above the deflegmator, I have two, one on the boiler and on at the top. The temperature you need to worry about is the head temperature at the TOP. Ethanol turns to gas around 174F, so if you want to maintain that temperature at the TOP (Deflegmator), you can use a PID to adjust the power output of your boiler, to maintain the head temperature at the top. The PID will apply and turn off power as needed to maintain the set temperature. Go to Barley and Hops RU-vid channel, George has a lot of good videos and information how to set this up and why he uses it.
@@jphalan are your plates all flat plates in the column? with flat sloted plates in the first 2 plate above the boiler then use Bubbler plates in the other four.. have your tried this configuration... OBTW: what type of power in Mexico? 120/240 60 cycles split phase?
Would you happen to have a link or the name of the company that sells that Reflux? Great video by the way! I'm just getting started so it's very educational even if your a beginner also. Great job
Excellent video mate, I heard that it will produce better produce if the condenser temperature (top thermometer)runs at about 130 Fahrenheit ? Does it make much difference? I noticed yours is running at about 172 Fahrenheit? Thanks for your time
Thanks for watching the video! I need to get my arse in gear and post some more..haha! Regarding the head teperature, in most stills, like this, you will have your boiler temp and your top head tempature. The boiler temperature should not be used to determine output, only as a temperature indicator, however the head temp, at least for me, is very important. Methanol turnes to gas at 168F and Ethanol at around 174F, so I use the top head temp to tell me where I am in the process and I try to use it to cut my foreshots and heads. As the alcholo in your wash (beer) is removed, the temperature will contiune to climb, because the water to alcholo ratio contiunes to change. Obviously there is more to it, like checking the quaility coming out of the condensor. As far as condesning, the water temp only needs to be colder then the vapor temperature to change the vapor back down to a liquid. That all being said, in my experiance, I have never been able to get any type of liquor out of my still, with a head tempeature below 168F. Hope that helps! Merry Christmas!
pls tell us about fermentation and how much sugar used for 200 litres and which yeast you are used and the temp of tank fermentation? thanks for your video
Im using a 50kilo bag of cane sugar for 200L of wash. That gives me a starting gravity of around 1.090 and depending on your yeasts attenuation, you should get anywhere from 10% to 13% abv. Im using Fermentis-SafeSpirit HG-1 500 gr package. It is highly recommended that you bring your water up to a nice hot temperature to dissolve the sugar, otherwise the wash won't ferment all the way out. I would say bring the water temp up 180F min (you can boil if you want to), stir in sugar until all of it is dissolved, then let it cool down to around 80F then pitch the yeast. I also add citric acid to my water before adding the sugar to get the PH level down to 5.2PH, that seems to be the yeasts happy place.
i'm wondering how U can do this when ethanol i highly explosive, and this leak is first step for huge explosion not mention the vapors. Somebody shoud shut it down with U
That’s actually not a bad idea. We have a large glycol system for our new brewery. I’m hoping to hook up the lines to the glycol system and not have to worry about it anymore.
Beautiful construction. You would get better results if the level did not exceed 75% of the Boiler Volume! ;) Remember that every drop of water that changes its physical state from liquid to gaseous increases its volume 1700 times!
I did notice this after many different batches since this video was taken. The manufacture states that the boiler can be filled all the way to the top, so obviously, being a newbie, I had to try what they suggested. I now get much better results with it filled around 75% to 80%. The other unpleasant part of this design is where the heating elements are placed. The bottom 15% or so never gets hot. I was able to hook up a pump and recirculate the wash while distilling and I was yielding so much more.
By the way……….. at first i would make sure, that the Still Drops in the Parrot only! ;) :) did you know, that you can make Alcohol out of toilet paper? :D
You will need to look into temp correcting your ABV readings, 98% abv is not possible by distilling, highest possible is 97%, make sure you always temp correct your readings to make sure you don't report impossible results, great video otherwise.
methanol isnt just what comes off first. There will be methanol through your ENTIRE run too. Its just so minute it doesn't matter, and the "cure" for methanol is .... ethanol! :) What is coming off at the start is the foreshots which taste like ass and are full of volatiles etc. That dripping/splashing around your still is begging to catch fire - can you raise your collection vessel up? on a stool or something
