I run a bubble plate. 26 gallon boiler 4 inch 4 plate column. Your bubble plates are upside down all your plates are flooded. You should be seeing azeotrope coming off or a little higher with a %10 abv wash I can pull 190 the whole run. If I use strips I can %99 coming off but within a few minutes it drops as it absorbed moisture out of the air. Also you can compress foreshots and heads by starting out in full reflux to stack the column. I get a pint of fores and a quart of heads on my 26 gal the testis hearts well and about a quart of tails
May I suggest to try this technique... run at full reflux for for 20-30min (No output and balance the power) to stack the fractions in the column .... slightly back off the reflux flow a little to take off the fores and heads... the cuts will be much tighter. I use this technique for a pot still run too: full reflux for 30min, back off to take heads and fores .... kill the reflux for the hearts part ... when tails appear back to full reflux for 20min ... back off slowly and take the rest until the nasty tails show up ... get a better yield and tighter cuts.
Flip the column other way round and slow it down and the take off proof will increase. Start full reflux and let the column stack for about 15-30min then ease into fore shots and heads take off. Keep in mind, 2oz per 5gal wash are fore shots and 4oz are heads. so you should have taken the first 12oz and tossed them to get cleaner product. Keep it down till you start to get the first hint of change in flavor and then shut it all down. with stripping run, the 4 palates you should be taking off at 94% +- 2% and holding this % through the run until it drops about 1%, that's when you may taste a flavor change = Shut it down!!
Randy, the copper downcommers are supposed to be on the bottom when you have perforated plates. Idea is the vapor comes up thru the perforations loads up to the downcomer level then drains down thru it. Flip it over on your next run and you'll see what I mean. It's a blast to use.
Agree ... a sieve plate (it is not a bubble plate) should have the downcomers facing downwards. Hard to tell in the video whether there are bubble or sieve plates. Judging from what I am seeing on the run it is working as a sieve plate as most of the vapour is bubbling via the holes not the cap ... Agree with Kevin, flip it the other way.
Great video. I could be wrong but I believe the bubble plates are upside down. I think the idea is that the steam comes up the perforated part and the liquid goes into the overflow tube with cap.
Raphael, I cannot see the design of his plates, but it may be "pro style" bubble cap type with an integrated cap and down comer in one. Will have to check fleabay because the designs are all over the place in china. I believe Still Dragon is the inventor of a "Pro Cap" which has larger Caps with equal amounts of vapor volume up and liquid volume down. They are a beautiful design but have been stolen/copied and sold cheaper overseas.
Raphael you may be correct (as have others in the comments) it is a perf plate. I believe this is it (or similar) column. Not 100% sure... But it's a 2 inch perforated plate and the seller shows it upside down in the photos with down comer facing up. www.ebay.com/itm/274738151969?hash=item3ff7ab8221:g:oHMAAOSwiGNgYeza Curious as to how much power (watts/amps) Randy was using. Since the refluxing liquid was not entirely trapped due to the holes in the perf plate. Plus the down comer on top did act like a single large bubble cap. Cheers!
Hey Bigedsguns after doing some checking i had the plates in the correct position their are two main models crystal dragon style the cap goes down and oak still ( that what i got) cap goes up I am going to do a video this week end to show the differences Cheers my Friend
Randy, @13:14 You look like a kid on Christmas morning standing at the Christmas Tree! When you see the bottom plate start to "fog" - Tails are starting. Tails option: You can increase reflux when you see it fog to compress the last amount of alcohol. Then back reflux off after 10 minutes and make small cuts. The ABV will go High again and then Drop very quickly when collecting. But taste those small cuts. There is good flavor deep in the tails. Anything you don't like, toss in the next stripping run or feints jar. The learning curve is just that. You are learning YOUR equipment. It will take several runs to dial in. Another factor is wash volume and ABV. It also effects the performance and output. But experiment: Run the heat/power WIDE OPEN and see how well your reflux condenser can knock down the vapor. (High heat data point) Then Run it with little power and a DRIP of reflux. (With only a few DRIPS a minute) This helps figure out where your equipment sweet spot is. (Low power data point) Run it too hot and you can smear the run together. You will find the happy medium. Cheers Randy!
Hi Randy and other distillers,,,, I have built a 50 liter keg boiler and 2 inch colum with 2 x 3500 watt 240v elements ( I'm in Aust hence 240v) , 1 PID controllers and 2 PWM controllers, to get it up to temp then switch to PID , yes this has been a 12 month build and a LOT of money..... My Question to others is,,,,,, do i have to use bubble plates for reflux or can i just use packing in the colum and a deflag,,, how results may vary accordingly, and in your opinion which is better,,, cheers guys,,,,
Okay so I'm new to distilling. I would like to make some good gluten free Vodka. Not to yo on RU-vid either... Looking for a good gluten free Vodka recipe and proper techniques. I have a 9.6 gallon pot still to try my hand at it! Any help would be greatly appreciated. I prefer Whiskey but my Lady and I like our vodka as well.
