Distilling Operation Manual - 4 Alchemist with a 50 Gallon Boiler.

1. Safety first- Before you turn anything on, as in electricity, gas or propane, have a fire extinguisher ten feet away from the still. Make sure you have good ventilation in the building. Make sure there are no naked flames, smoking or ignition sources within 25 feet of the still. 2. Assembly- Make sure you have a partner with you. Have him hold the ladder when placing the tower and fittings together over the Boiler. Treat the Copper Still as laboratory equipment, meaning very carefully. 3. Filling the Boiler- Please, have no more than 40 gallons of wash. You must not exceed 45% Alcohol in the Boiler, at any time. Before turning on the Boiler, make sure all electrical leads leading to the boiler to the power box are in safe condition (NO bare wires). 4. 5. 6. Fittings for your Boiler- Check all the gaskets that have been placed, onto the boiler, are in good condition. Hose connections- Connect these to the cooling tower and the condenser. Then turn the water on to make sure it is running. Check for leaks. Heating up Time- Turn on breakers to the Electrical box. If you are running 13,000 watts, with 40 gallons of Material, the heat up time will be 45 minutes. This is to the temperature of the vapor of Ethanol 172.4F. Safety Tip: Have an audible alarm temperature gauge set at about 165F to let you know the boiler is coming up to temp. This will give you 10 min. to double check your water is on and you have your filling vessel in place. 7. 8. NEVER LEAVE YOUR STILL RUNNING UNATTENDED Liquid Management- The turn tap at the top of the Copper Still should be turned off. Leave this off for 30 minutes for the Copper Still to equalize. We call this reflux ratio. All the vapors will be going through the cooling tower re-condensing. There is no pressure built up in the tower. This distillation tower and pot is under no pressure. It is using a process just like heat rising. 9. Product- Now the still has been refluxing for 30 minutes. Slowly open the valve at the top of the Copper Still. Allow the product to come out into the Parrot. Check temperature of the Ethyl Alcohol coming out. This temperature should be no more than 65F. 10. End of the run- When all alcohol has been depleted from the wash, indication would be the temperature is around 208F. Turn the power off to the Still. Turn off the breakers and remove the plugs from the electrical box. Handle with gloves from here on. Connect hose fittings to the emptying spigot of the 50 gallon Stainless Steel Boiler. HANDLE WITH CARE, this is hot. Or wait until it is cooled down. Once the product has been removed and pot has been cleaned, you can fill up with 10 gallons of cold water and follow the procedures for a steam wash. This will clean still and get ready for next run. Good indication your still is clean, the distilled water leaving parrot will taste like distilled water void of any flavors.