Mike Rowe is right - No need to go to college, you can learn for free from the internet. The price of the education is you trying out what you learned... Thank you George for taking the time and teaching the next generations... {SALUTE}
I don’t even run the fore shots thru my parrot , I open the dump valve and just collect the throw away and then start running thru the parrot as to not smeer into the collection .
My friend does it similarly. He collects his 100ml first, then opens the parrot valve at the bottom and empties the whole lot as to not stink up his next collection.
George, I think one minor, but important element that many miss... and I don't think you have really talked about, it the time to remove the 0.25% or even lower methanol out of the 26 gals. Remember as you say methanol comes out first, but as it does, the "heat" put into "boil-up" our of the reboiler quickly "slows" the removal the methanol. Running "large" chemical operations in the 2-3,000 gals range, it take say 4-8 hours to remove the "light" (ie methanol) components from a batch distillation. The columns needs to "sit" on total reflux longer than your describing to pull out the methanol out of the reboiler. Technically it's about the partial pressures of the two compounds PV=nRT.. The over-head temp should come DOWN as the concentration of methanol increases and you "remove" it from the 25 gals in the reboiler. This should take say 1 hour, not 10-15 minutes. If you use simple math, and say you start at 0.25% methanol (I know it' lower), after 50% is removed, your at 0.125%, then 0.06%, etc......so to get the last 25% out take a LONG time.. Also with over-head temp tell you the accumulation or ability to remove the bad stuff. IT will start at 175C (water and ethanol), then drop the azeotrope temp quickly of 172F, but then as methanol start to be removed and accumulate in the temp will slowing come back DOWN as the reflux/boil-up does it "work" to pull out the bad stuff from the 25 gals. It will come down close to 155-160F pretty fast. At that point....you can get "Stuck"....and if you turn off reflux for 1 min, and let that bad stuff out.....the column is WAY more efficient removing the methanol. Then go back on reflux and wait 30 mins.. It will come down below 172F, but MUCH slower as likely first 50-75% of methanol is removed... I do this 1-2 times, and then start "heads". The head "flavors" can be concentrated with the SAME method. It might add a couple hours to a run, but the cuts are WAY WAY WAY more separated IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT.... But over-time, I'm with you and combine a lot in the end, but I think it is good for guys with columns to know their is a "time" and energy input needed to complete a higher level of the methanol separation. To ME, this is the TRICK to made better juice than Large scale continuous stills... "Some" of the more automated large guys take the methanol SLOWLY off the TOP of the column that accumulates, with the product ethanol stream coming off the column about 3-5 trays BELOW the over-head/reflux or TOP tray..... That way they take off both streams at the same time. Again this is COMMON in the chemical industry, but LESS common in ethanol production... Been a while sense I posted, but thought this point is important enough to write about. CHEERS!
An executive chef friend of mine told me to add Kosher non-iodized salt to my mash just before distilling. It changes the hardness of the water and reduces or eliminates foam/puking. But unlike adding oil or butter to reduce foaming, zero of the salt’s flavor will end up in the distillate. Works great!
Thank you George for your enthusiasm! There is something that I really doesn't understand. How come there is foreshots, heads and so on even if it is the second or third detillation? The acetone, methanol and so on was removed in the first run. Weren't they? The Swede.
Just a note to the family of artist out there. Save all your heads and add to your Hand Soap for the days and times to come. They also work well as an local disinfectant . Bio-Clinical Engineer. Anyone remember; "Methanolate" yea burn's like Hell on a stick but it worked too. Love out loud.. stay well all.
Acetobacter. Sorry isn't a (something)bacter a bacterium? Seems like you were correct. I've got a 5 gallon batch of hard cider, that has been infected with acetobacter. (A quart of Bragg's vinegar, and an airstone, for fun.) Should give me 5 gallons of vinegar. steve
Hey George, I’m running the same size unit. I have a ball valve on the bottom of my parrot. Would you ever pull the first 4 ounces of foreshots through the parrot then dump the parrot (holds ~4oz) out to clear the system of fourshots?
Glad you’re back George. What happens if you start to get a lot of liquid accumulating on the plates? What is acceptable and what is not? How would you then fix the problem? I had The plates filled to over half. The dephleg turned all the way down and could not get product to pass through into the condenser and out of the parrot
Thank you for the explanation to use bubble plates still. If I want to have more flavors with lower proof. Can I let the defragmentor temperature over 85 degree C?
hi George you told every tips and discussed about every angel but you didn't mention the must important thing and it it was the low wine alcohol percentage I've seen all 4 episode and u didn't mention that if you see this comment plz answer this question ???21 gallons at what percentage ??
Q question about the bubble plate's? Can you run one copper and 3 stainless steel for a 4 plate setup? As you've stated the system has to have copper in line in the reflux. Would that be enough copper?
How much shine should I get out of 5 gallons of mash. About to run my second mash run. I’m totally new to everything and need to ask question. Thanks Tom
First off. You are awesome sir! Secondly... talking with your hands while holding fragile glass tubes in each....it's like watching a horror movie where the monster is creeping up.. Ahhhh !
On the methanol argument is if you mix it with all the rest of the ethanol you should be ok.. but on the argument of methanol in wine and beer.. is that its diluted with water as well. Its all about concentration per say
Hi George... I sent you an email just a few minutes ago and wanted to follow up with a comment... Such great videos!!!... Thank you so much for the expertise you share... Hope you and yours are well... and looking forward to hearing back from you.
I really like your videos, and I appreciate you sharing your wisdom, but for the love of God man stay on topic lol 😆 thanx for all your wisdom and insight.
This is my first time running mine and it's the same as this video. I'm distilling water to clean all the stuff. Is it normal to not be able to see through the sight glasses? This is just WATER to clean the still. Maybe that's why
i did a plum vodka run a while ago in T500 pot still mode and im finding something interesting. i keep finding semi transparent floaties in em... but after sitting for a while, they kinda precipitated to the bottom. is there a good home friendly way to get rid of em? fact that they sank down i figure it isnt oil based... must be carry over from the boiler.
Hi George I love the bubbler , I would like to see the top on your still on my still, With your help I built a 50 gallon stainless Steel tank with two 35 amp heaters , thank you for all the help.
Just learning. Thank you for the guided instruction and honest straight forward learning. Can't wait for the next couple of weeks to see what the first run looks like
Great Content, matey! hey george. I would say in the future for those who are unwilling to take advice and who are ignorant, if you do not purify your wine or beer by distillation, you will also drink the methanol! ;)
At the 25 min mark you describe this process as refluxing .... this technically is not refluxing as removing the condenser for and allowing the solution to heat up the column and fall back would be a reflux ... however when you are trying to strip or distill a certain compound over past the condenser while using fractions of your distillate to push back the high boilers, this is called fractional distillation as each plate counts as a separate fractional distillation layer. I know it may seem a little silly to correct you on since it still is technically a reflux, the only reason I bring this up is because I know a lot of people have trouble understanding why and how this works and if they want to understand it the only way they will be able to explore this aspect of chemical distillation they will have to study it under the term fractional distillation since heating at reflux is just a means to bring certain reactions to their activation energy or enthalpy energy change.
Of course, George cuts to hearts when it hits 93%, but on this system. That cut point will be different depending on the type of still and the geometries of that still. I believe the cut-off from heads to hearts on a strait pot still, no plates, is around 80%. Generally best to rely more on taste till you really get to know your still and find out where that cut-off point will consistently be. At least on your heads cut as that's much more important than the tails cut, in my view anyhow. Going just a little too far into the tails can probably be fixed by the aging process, but cutting too early in the heads, nothing can fix that. Still, the overwhelming distinctiveness of heads makes the "heads cut" pretty easy if you're tasting.
