Automate a Reflux or Pot Still with Temp Controller - The easy way!

This video will show you how to use a temp controller to automate the distillation process.
The temp controller can be purchased here:
www.kegland.co...
The reflux still can be purchased here:
www.kegland.co...
The pot still can be purchased here:
www.kegland.co...
Or alternatively you can get this gear from a KegLand Distributor:
www.kegland.co...
This video will show you how to distil your own water, alcohol or other products the easy way. The temp controller can control the heat source automating the distillation process.

[@scubamat]

Use a power controller (plugged into this temp controller) to balance your still at your desired temp (based on flow). Then set your temp controller at a higher temp as per the instructions in the video. The higher the temp the further into the tails you will go.

[@luke0b708]

It'd be really helpful to see a video of the process in action. Talking about it academically creates confusion and uncertainty. I can't commit to a purchase without fully understanding how to set and hold the temp at my altitude (practically sea level).

[@KegLand]

Thanks for your comment.

[@user-ue7mw7hg7n]

The "wavy effect" is from the refresh rate of the red LED light being slightly off to the frame rates your camera shoots video.

[@BILLCRAWFORD-kc9zc]

TOOK A VIDEO YESTERDAY AND HAD THIS HAPPEN. I ONLY CAME TO THE COMMENTS FOR THIS ANSWER AS TO WHY.

[@KegLand]

Thanks for the comment!

[@jjatmetube]

Agree if you change your frames per second on your camera it should probably should go away 60-->59hz

[@Dystopian63]

Its called rolling shutter, its generally a digital SLR thing. It is exacerbated by various lighting technologies, such as led's. Depending of cam, one could adjust the frame rate until it stops rolling, this requires adjusting light levels and aperture to maintain proper exposure and focus. The series of tubes has lots tutes on ways to deal with such things 🤘🏽

[@grahamkimber9599]

In the old days you would sync the camera to the frequency of the scan rate. LED readouts aren't permanently switch on , they are switched on and off at a high frequency the eye can't detect (this reduces the high current draw of the LED ( from memory about 8 amps... memory maybe rusty) . So when it is reviewed on a video and it isn't synced then it will appear to flash. It is a major exercise and expense to do this. cheers

[@flatbedtrucker]

Will you please make a distilling video with the digiboil and this reflux column thanks

[@marccampbell312]

yes, would be awesome to see that

[@michaelpatullo4876]

Correct me if i'm wrong but! the point of this product for a spirit distillation is to maintain a constant temp to maximise output but minimise over temps. If i understand what your saying about distillation mode, it will cut the power and not re-apply until intervention (which is sort of pointless). On the flip side if it was put in normal mode and it was able to cut/apply power to the boiler to maintain a temperature... as most know it takes a minute or more for the reflux to begin again after power has been cut even for a few seconds (and i'm guessing it would taker longer than that for the temp probes to change temps to back within thresholds. Without testing one i'm basing these assumptions on past experience but it could actually take longer to do a run than doing it manually? Hopefully i'm wrong, and its the solution to a lot of wasted time temp watching....

[@gruglet]

With the Alchoengine still that's shown. the still reaches a balance of around 79-80C on its own and just stays there until it starts to run into tails and then starts to go up a few degrees. Hence this unit is really good at cutting off the tails before they run into the hearts. I just wait until the still balances out ( with the thermometer the give you)and plug in the temp control, set it to cut off a degree higher and commit the sin of leaving it to do its thing. I have my water pump hooked up like he said and when the still shuts down so does the water pump. This still requires a heck of a lot of water to keep cool, far more than a t500. That's why I run the water with a pump rather than the mains water supply. You can use it on another type of still to help balance it out, with it stopping and starting the boiler when its not in distillation mode by using a water flow adjuster. But this controller really does make this still amazingly easy to use. About all you have to do is remember to change the collection jar :) It has really solved the constant worry about the temperature and getting tails into the good stuff :)

[@michaelpatullo4876]

I just bought the "Alcoengine Copper reflux" tower and i think i need to fix up how wrong i was above! It has made distilling so much easier! even without the shut off timer it took half as long as the turbo 500 tower to complete the run. Even hooked up to bore water with fluctuations it never deviated for the first 2 hours. - Looking forward to getting the timer and setting it up as a pretty much automated (except the boil up phase & throwing out of the first 100ml) it will save hours of time temp watching!

[@clintAdventures]

@@gruglet hey mate. just hoping to find out what pump you use?

[@chrisgeo1642]

PID controllers are not expensive just make sure you are using a “K” probe to measure heat. Also the reason they are placed near the top of the column is because that is where you want to be sure the temp is correct for the alcohol to remain vaporized but the water to condense and drop back. The temp in the pot isn’t something you need to care much about unless you are using an abnormally long column or are losing a lot of heat in the column for sone reason simply setting your controller to measure near the column and adjust the heating element accordingly is all you need. You don’t need to really know how hot it is inside the pot, if your equipment is working you will not scald or burn inside the pot. Assuming of course you aren’t using your grains inside the still and only the fermented and clarified liquid. I use the digiboil to cook my mash but I built my still with a 2000 watt element and a PID controller to control the heat combined I think they cost something like 40 bucks on Amazon.

[@KegLand]

Really good inputs. Thanks for sharing.

[@canamard]

looking at the two sockets for heating and cooling, I don't see one that looks like the brewzilla 65L plug. Will I be able to use this with said brewery or am I SOL there?

[@cabji]

Hi Kegland, i used my MKII controller to shutdown my still run. Followed the instructions on this video. When the temp hit the target (80C) the power for the heat shut off, but then when the temp dropped < 80C, the heat power came back on, and so on repeat until I intervened and shut it all off. Is this what it's meant to do or should it shut off the heat power permanently when it hits the target temp? Use the MKII and the voltage regulator box after converting my still to electric. Absolutely amazingly simple to control the run and hold the temp at 78-79C. Best home brewing investment ever ($140 well spent)

[@doublecee3385]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I very likely could be, but I really don't see exactly what problem this is solving. I'm running one of those high-end 'pure distilling' kits, my kit, as with most kits I'm aware of came with an alarm thermometer, you set the temperature on the thermometer, when that temperature is reached, an alarm sounds. - I turn my boiler on and set my alarm for 50 degrees. - When that alarm goes off I get my test tube in place to capture my head's, while I'm doing this I set my alarm for 80 degrees. - After I've captured my heads, the time it's going to take for that alarm to go off again is going to be largely dependent on the quality of my wash etc, but it's going to be there about 4 and a bit hours. - When the alarm goes off the second time, I simply reset the alarm back to 80 degrees, turn my tower tap to the slow position, and then wait until the alarm goes off again, typically it's about another hour. - When the alarm goes off the third time, the distillation process is complete, I turn off the power to the boiler but I keep the water running for 5 or so minutes to cool the tower down, and that's that. There's no need to constantly managed or control the temperature because it's being monitored by my thermometer, I have my water set to a constant flow via a flow control pump, so I know I'm not going to get temperature fluctuations. So once again, I'm sorry but I have to ask, exactly what problem is this solving?

[@KegLand]

Best to get in touch with us via email. We will definitely try and help you out.

[@klatlap]

Only useful in pot still mode, if you are refuxing you need to do cuts so you would need to be changing jars every 30 minutes any ways.

[@PeredyIzhere]

Will this work with the T500 still? I run water through it from the sink faucet to cool

[@safirjamal4057]

did u find out i haeve the same issu

[@sylviam6535]

I have the same problem. I need this to increase my water flow if the temperature gets too hot.

[@amberhesamisogynistheard2653]

So first the explanation was a bit too long, The fact that someone physically has to come turn down or unplug the unit when it senses the temperature in the still is too hot essentially makes the unit useless.

[@eazyrider6122]

If your temp goes to high you don't want to shut your condenser cooling system down or you will lose alcohol vapors out the top of the column. Better of not pluging that in to this controller. Yes its handy for the boiler.

[@andygeorge6065]

Does the device DUAL control? I see you controlling a heater if the probe gets too cold, can it run a fan if it gets too hot? AS WELL? Example: Device runs a motorised ball valve for condenser water to a reflux still Opens the ball wider if the condenser gets too hot... Closes the valve down if the condenser gets too cold... Holds the condenser at 50-65ºC

[@sylviam6535]

Can this lower the temperature in my reflux column by increasing the water flow?

[@mediaaccount6218]

What's the Max amp rating for the relay, is it enough to run a 2kw element?

[@KegLand]

Provided that you are talking about a 240v DC that should be fine. ( I am assuming you ar in Australia)

[@Soldier957]

How does it know when to shut off?

[@Clickeral]

From a safety aspect can you please remind people to not leave a still unattended :s

[@karlbanks2653]

A very useful video, thank you! But PLEASE consider turning off the distracting and annoying music

[@KegLand]

Yes sorry about that. We have got rid of this in our new videos.

[@dennisolden542]

Is this like a PID CONTROLLER? I don’t understand how it works. Please show everything hooked up.

[@KegLand]

Please DO NOT use pid controller. With this type of still you just want the still to turn off completely when the temperature is reached. You are not trying to increase or reduce wattage to control the temp at the still heat which is what the PID would end up doing.

[@B95v]

Can you please tell me where to find, a datasheet of the thermistor?

[@KegLand]

You can get in touch with us by dropping us an email [e-mail]

[@mattjohnson9226]

Will this help keep the digiboil from going into standby? Any help will be nice!!

[@KegLand]

It will help turn off your boiler at the end of the distillation run.

[@mattjohnson9226]

@@KegLand got it to balance. Thanks

[@deant6627]

Hi KegLand, will a Alco Engine pot still complete a stripping run much faster than a Alco Engine reflux still?

[@KegLand]

If you are looking to do a stripping run, we definitely would recommend getting a reflux still.

[@briancover826]

I only plan to use it in distill mode d1. One I have it set this way do I have to reprogram it every time it's unplugged?

[@KegLand]

Hey Brian. Yes when you power cycle this device you will have to put it back into d1 model. We are also working on some cool new firmware for the new RAPT Temp Control box so you might be inerested in looking at this device too: www.kegland.com.au/rapt-temperature-controller.html#:~:text=This%20RAPT%20wifi%20connected%20temperature,will%20automatically%20change%20over%20time.

[@endysdoodoo]

I'm kind of confused would you set the temp on the robo brew room like 230 f turn on both elements then wouldnt this shut down the robo brew cutting energy to it

[@KegLand]

Yes that is what you want to do. Once you reach a certain point in the distillation process you really just want the whole process to shut down.

[@stevealexander8010]

The point SEEMS to be to shut down the run once the vapor temp gets too high (= pot ABV gets too low) and is NOT to control run power. One trick pony.

[@stevealexander8010]

@@KegLand OK - in a batch operation where you can afford to throw away a lot of ethanol. But closer to reality, you'd want to collect tails for re-distillation OR reduce the heat (which increases the INTERNAL reflux in the column) OR increase the EXTERNAL reflux. So yes you want constant vapor temp, but ... many ways to get there.

[@stevealexander8010]

@@KegLand OK - in a batch operation where you can afford to throw away a lot of ethanol. But closer to reality, you'd want to collect tails for re-distillation OR reduce the heat (which increases the INTERNAL reflux in the column) OR increase the EXTERNAL reflux. So yes you want constant vapor temp, but ... many ways to get there.

[@keglandau]

@@stevealexander8010 If you find the tales are worth collecting you can do this but I have found it easier just to throw the tails away and ferment more fresh wash. The wash is really quite cheap and collecting tails is not really worth doing in my opinion. With that said some people are more thrifty than I am so I totally understand if you wanted to keep them.

[@bruceprosser8332]

Are any of these available in the States?

[@KegLand]

I would check with More Beer or Williams Brewing. They should stock most of our gear.

[@smokNmiras]

Yeah this will be very handy! Can u set set the cut off time to 1/10 of a degree? I usually cut off once the temp rises 0.3* from where it has stabilised..... could I set the cut off for say... 78.2* for example or only to 78 or 79*? Hope that makes sense..😂 thanks!

[@KegLand]

Yes you can. You can set the temperature to 0.1degree resolution. So you could set the cut off point to 78.1 if you wanted to.

[@cgberry2772]

I have watched this a few times and I still fail to see how to actually set the controller up to hold a constant head temperature (control the element), and when I approached Keg King, they said to look on You Tube for videos, but have no actual instructions. This unit seems the same, but the video fails to show me how to automate more than a shutdown at a target temperature. Frustrating.

[@KegLand]

The shutting down once you hit the target temp is how to automate it. I think some people seem to think that you use the temp controller to set the distillation temperature so it cycles the elements on and off but this is not how to use it. The temp of the still head will find it's own temp and it will stay constant due to the the fact that the boiling point of alcohol is a specific temperature at your specific altitude. So do not use the temp controller to control this temp. Simply write this temp down on a piece of paper then when the temp increases by about 1-2C then set this temp into the controller and once you hit this temp the whole process is complete and will therefor turn everything off.

[@cgberry2772]

I saw in one of the other responses to use the power station voltage regulator, and it should arrive tomorrow. Yes, I was under the impression from the languaging that it could regulate the keg temp once hysteresis was set, etc. A video giving a tour of the features would be greatly appreciated.

[@KegLand]

@@cgberry2772 Yes that's fair enough. We should really make a distillation video. I will speak to the others about this.

[@mscappa]

KegLand I understand you’re saying to kill power at your specific mash boil temp, but why wouldn’t a pid work? A pid would quickly learn and maintain the set temp.

[@monogramadikt5971]

@@KegLand im interested in the 65lr digiboil setup but would love to see an operational video before jumping in the deep end yeah

[@erniestory7223]

How do you seal the prob

[@erniestory7223]

Probe

[@KegLand]

You do not need to as it is a thermowell.

[@stewartmanders2291]

I'm confused, Once it shuts down, how does it stay at temp without dropping to low???

[@KegLand]

You can use this at the end of a distillation run to shut off the boiler.

[@michaelsmith920]

@@KegLand Well that's completely pointless. You want the temperature maintained at a set level not shut the system down!

[@KegLand]

​@@michaelsmith920 Hello Michael. I am not sure what still design you are using but as we sell flow management reflux still designs. You should not be adjusting the wattage to maintain temperature at the still head. You should give the still constante wattage on the stills that we sell then turn off the still when the temperature starts to climb. This will enable you to simply take off the heads then leave the still and the whole process will turn itselve after the run is complete. Many customers find this quite useful as it means they do not have to sit watching the still for several hours especially toward the end of the run. What still design are you trying to use with this controller?

[@wesleyduncan9939]

@@KegLand hes saying once your temp is hit, if it cuts power off then distilation will stop, no energy being put in means no product will be rising, it should go into half power or something not turn completely off. this is super missleading and i almost fell for it. be more specific, do it the right way rather then tricking people saying its a set and leave kind of thing. technically it is because it wont be running!

[@KegLand]

@@wesleyduncan9939 Once you have collected the ethanol that you are trying to collect there is no reason to continue to run the still. Even at half power it would be pointless to do this as you have already collected all the hearts of the distilation run.

[@philiptaylor2879]

I'm not playing with a toy I'm currently prosing about 20ltrs a day at 96% and In need to run the system automatically as I have over year of beer to go through, could some one please help.

[@KegLand]

You need to put the unit into distillation mode. We do have some instructions on this in the PDF insutruction manual so best to have a look at this

[@MartinMio]

Why do you need to stop at a temp range? Why not just keep going till you get down to 20% ish in cuts?

[@KegLand]

You can do this as well if you like but generally temperature will give you adequate control and it's much easier to measure temperature digitally than alcohol concentration.

[@MartinMio]

@@KegLand what would be super useful is a way to keep the kettle temp in the sweet spot between hot enough to vaporise alcohol but not hot enough to cause boil over. It would really speed up the whole process.

[@KegLand]

@@MartinMio this particular device would not be good for that application. For reducing the wattage you really want to use this device instead: www.kegland.com.au/4000w-power-station-240v-power-controller.html

[@danielplain4904]

@@KegLand If you are using the 65L digiboil, with all 3 elements to warm up the wash, to use the voltage controller when I want precise control, would I then have to switch to 2000W element only, unplug, and then use 15A to 10A adaptor and then control the 2000w element on its own? Obviously I can plug the boiler directly into the voltage controller as it is 15A socket.

[@eddtheduck]

The led nots bright but boy is flashing like a disco, lol

[@KegLand]

Yes that is the LED lights they do not like being recorded on the video. Sorry about. There is probably a camera setting that can fix this but I could not work it out.

[@vincecallagher7636]

Stop the stupid music in background

[@deultima]

I think I just had a seizure.

[@KegLand]

Oh that does not sound good.