watertrade Posted January 5, 2015 Also I'm not just interested in producing 95% 'alcohol'. I will be producing (as i have done so previously with manual stills) 95% ethanol. No (negligible amounts) other alcohols. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted January 5, 2015 http://homedistiller.org/intro/methanol/fusel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted January 5, 2015 This first portion is often called the "foreshots". They are different from the "heads". Ian Smiley (http://www.home-distilling.com/) describes foreshots as "the low boiling point compounds that come out of the still first. They contain acetone, methanol, various esters and aldehydes, and other volitiles. Foreshots are to be considered poisonous and should be discarded." Whereas heads "come out after the foreshots, and are almost pure alcohol, except that they are contaminated with trace amounts of unwanted cogeners ..." To get a really clean distinction between the foreshots and the heads, first ensure that you've let your column equilbriate under total reflux, then hold the reflux ratio high, such that you remove the foreshots only very slowly (eg 1 drip per second), thus allowing an equilbirium to be maintained at the top of the column, encouraging the methanol to collect there. If you're after making pure neutral spirit for vodkas or gin you may choose to keep the heads (eg the next 250 mL-1L of spirits) separate from the following couple of litres (middle run) on the basis of their taste. These heads can still be used to make liqueurs, whisky, rums, etc, or redistilled later if desired totally neutral. The only problem with heads is their non-neutral taste. http://homedistiller.org/distill/dtw/toss Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) "Arduino's" are handy yes, i have rather a few differing ones myself. I think it would remove coding and related headaches to use a ready made unit. They dont cost much more and contain everything you need to make a simple set-up your after. you could "play" for months with little code error's etc. not for me.. place the thermocouple at top of still-head and program it to hold at certain temp for so long etc. (edit- then ramp up to your target temp) also has ports for relay to open close (to dump heads etc) and continue. from the stuff I've made with them, i would use them without further thought. why make your simple task a nightmare to save around $30.00? anyhow, whatever road you choose to take, all the best and be safe =) Edited January 5, 2015 by ghosty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) "Arduino's" are handy yes, i have rather a few differing ones myself. I think it would remove coding and related headaches to use a ready made unit. They dont cost much more and contain everything you need to make a simple set-up your after. you could "play" for months with little code error's etc. not for me.. place the thermocouple at top of still-head and program it to hold at certain temp for so long etc. (edit- then ramp up to your target temp) also has ports for relay to open close (to dump heads etc) and continue. from the stuff I've made with them, i would use them without further thought. why make your simple task a nightmare to save around $30.00? anyhow, whatever road you choose to take, all the best and be safe =) do you know of any good examples on ones that you think may work? I liked the idea of having raw data from the sensors so I could do with it whatever i wanted but having something off the shelf that just worked would be good too. thanks Edited January 5, 2015 by watertrade Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted January 6, 2015 this is one that i use- There is also a "set64rs" unit that plugs into a computer and will need softwear. i gave up on that unit. cant think what this one is it has "alarm relay" x2 that can be used to open close ports by solenoid's etc. and this unit is made to run SSR. they also come with old-skool relay too, so make sure you get the one with SSR if thats what you wish to use. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks ghosty, the 2 x relay control would be good. I will keep this in mind. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) these can also be set-up to output 1-100% power to the coil (wattage of your choice) untill a desired temp is reached. kinda handy. they have ramp controll etc. though they are a bit ova sh*t to set up to start with. once done, hassle free. make sure you have a main switch for the SSR/ heater line, as im sure you'd know, SSR's do allow about a 2% trickle through them. you dont want to make contact with the heater coil if the SSR is "off" trust me on this =P found out the hard way.... or should i say "the hot way". I dont think these are the best they could be, but there the best we got thus far for SSR systems. (edit- the units i use have like 50 or 60 programable units (command options). Edited January 6, 2015 by ghosty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
