First likker run with PID-electikity still. Part 2

Firing up the still and running the last few jugs of the run as a stripping run.
After game analysis.

[@rogerleeson1256]

love your work brother. Im learning so much from your vidz...

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Hey you're welcome fella, glad you enjoyed it. Happy Distilling!

[@BeardedBored]

Really neat to watch the whole run. Really looking forward to seeing the reflux column. Such a cool build. Love the channel:-)>

[@StillIt]

Look an upside down troll! hehehe. Cant unsee that now dude! Its awesome!

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Thanks B&B I'm champing at the bit to get that thing running too! Have about 200L of a down and dirty vodka sugar wash finishing off at the moment so I've got something to test that with. :o)

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Still It ... you gotta stop drinking your own foreshots fella :o)

[@danssv8]

Nice one mate

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Cheers Dan, These are getting to be some older vids now lol. Happy Distilling!

[@silver-hy6mi]

Just wondering if I could ask a couple of questions please about your pot? How did you back purge your keg while tig welding your ferules in with out wasting gas? What size is your electric heating elements. Love you still builds as well!

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

G'day Silver, I don't back-purge tanks with argon, too expense for my setup, I use a paint-on paste called "Solarflux", its a powder you mix with methanol to form a paste and then paint on the back side of the weld to shield the hot metal from the atmosphere and stop any 'sugaring'. Requires a bit of cleanup and not as pretty internally but doesn't need vaccuum pumps, extra argon bottles, flow meters etc ... Normally tank welders put the tank under vaccuum internally to de-pressurize before introducing argon or an inert gas into the cavity, ... outa my price bracket. 😊 For home distillers here in NZ, I stick to 2x 240V 2kW elements, that way they aren't blowing past the 10 amp fuses/wiring limitations (as long as they're using seperate circuits for each element). Where ppl have access to 15amp sockets at home/workshop I can i stall 3kW elements for larger home distilling kettles. I try to use low density elements where I can lately - more expensive but better to run with direct immersion. Happy Distilling!

[@silver-hy6mi]

Thankyou for your reply, that is great information and actually found the pickling paste as well on a local site. Are you located in NZ or Australia? I’ve watched nearly all your videos and they are fantastic! And loved your finished still. I am making a 3” column bugs 2” shotgun condenser once I find a template for the cooling tubes. Once again thankyou for your quick reply!

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

@@silver-hy6mi If you flick me your email address (my contact details are on my Angry Parrot facebook page.) I'll send you pdf templates for condenser baffles. I'm in NZ. 😊 Oh, other way you can gas purge around fittings inside a tank/tube is with a hi-temp dam - a usually hi-temp rubber fitting that conforms to the surface profile around the weld area and allows you to purge just the local area you are working on.

[@silver-hy6mi]

Thanks so much, I thought you were in New Zealand, and lucky you! My email address is [e-mail]. The still pot I am making is a keg but with a 2.5 and a 1.5 kw element and planning to use my PID and all so a src to knock either elements back just to reduce the amps when needed plus to protect my circuits! Thanks for your help!

[@StillIt]

Interesting . . . . I like the idea of making international spirits!

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

It's what we Kiwi's do best tho' huh ? - rip off other cultural food and beverage and shamelessly blend it all together. :o) This was an unplanned mongrel bastard tho'.

[@StillIt]

LemmingHerda huh! True! I tried some soju (spelling???) The other day. It was rather tasty! Will need to try making that some time.

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Bijou is a crazy spirit - the Chinese distilleries have clay slough pits they ferment in - some of the older distilleries claim their pits to be hundreds of years old (and never fully cleaned out) - a bit like the "muck-pits" that some of the funkier dark rum distilleries run - except they aren't directly fermenting rum wash in their muck pits.

[@jamesbrittain1978]

would it not be a good thing to put a, say 1 1/2 try clamp outlet in the bottom of the tank to clean a lot better great video

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

G'day James - yes, it would drain more completely direct from the bottom, my idea tho' was to make a tank that could run on gas or electricity and the bottom drain may scorch material that would collect in it with a gas burner under it. The drain part way up the tank has a curved tube that runs all the way to the bottom of the tank anyway - it kickstarts a siphon effect so the tank auto-drains to within a few mm of the bottom anyways - not a deal breaker for me.

[@danssv8]

You got a angry parrot ha ha in part 1

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Oh yeah, theres an angry parrot lurking in the background of a lot of my vids. 😊

[@danssv8]

Have you found out why the scr controller leds went off???

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Whenever the PID kills power to the elements it also kills the power to the controller - and LEDs. Not such an issue nowdays as I don't rely on the PID that much and mainly use it to control the warm-up phase of a run so I don't overshoot.

[@Samandcocoa]

nice she's a champ

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Thanks Kev'! Happy with how it turned out - few tweaks here and there too make but does what it's s'pose to. Is all a prelim' experiement for running "Big Bertha" when I fit her out eventually. :o)

[@danssv8]

Hey check out my new design reflux condenser column i have built.

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

Ok, will have a look. 😊

[@prometheus4916]

Where do you have your thermal coupler in your pot at

[@AngryParrotDistillery]

G'day fella, I have a 2" triclamp outlet on my pot that I could use for the thermal probe but I have my sensor probe that drives the PID controller in the head of the still - so it's running off the vapour temp' in the head. The way I basically run it nowdays is I "set and forget" the PID (I don't actually go far from the still - but the warm up can take 2-3 hours) around 75deg C. Alarm goes off at 75deg once the foreshots have started collecting and lets me know the still is about to start potentially taking off product soon. I then run out the amount of foreshots and go into the heads a ways until I'm happy to start taking off product. Then I set the PID to my final temp or slightly over and knock the power right back (sometimes I kill one element too just to make the process nice and slow) and let the still crawl on thru' distillation (with me monitoring/tweaking it closely at this stage). Is that what you were asking? Happy Distilling!