Serious Distilling with Brewcraft, Still Spirits & Grainfather – Still Spirits Water Flow Regulator
Hi and welcome to episode 534 with Whats4Chow.com and the next in our series serious distilling with Brewcraft, Still Spirits and Grainfather.
In our previous distilling episode we ran a batch of sugar wash through the Still Spirits T500 reflux distiller. As promised, today we are going to have a good look at the Still Spirits flow controller, what it does, and why you need it.
The distilling setup is comprised of 2 parts, the muscle and the brain. The boiler and the condenser are the muscle, while the thermometer and the flow controller are the brain. Anyone who’s been on earth long enough knows that muscle does not work too well without brain.
In previous versions of the T500, the flow controller was a simple micro tap that fitted to your tap. This has evolved into the most ingenious piece of equipment that we’re looking at today.
Before we continue, why do you need a flow controller? Why couldn’t they just make a preset valve at the optimum flow rate?
The answer is quite straight forward. Tap water from different taps, and in different geographical locations is not at the same temperature. The guidline of 500ml per minute given in the instruction manual is just that…. a baseline starting point. Once the still has heated up and the thermometer approaches the target temperature, you need to make small adjustments to the flow rate to achieve the optimum temperature of 60c.
If the temperature fails to reach 60c, the flow rate is too high. If the temperature overshoots 60c, the flow rate is too low and must be increased.
So you ask, “what was wrong with the previous flow controller?”
Unfortunately, just like temperatures vary from tap to tap, so do water pressures…. and water pressure can vary on a single tap from one minute to the next. This makes the optimum range very difficult to achieve when there are so many variables.
Let’s have a look at what comes in the box. First out is the power supply unit with mains cable.
Then comes the unit. All the necessary pipes and tap connections are supplied, including good quality hose clamps.
On the main unit the power plugs into the black cable on the side.
Inside the unit is a variable submersible pump and a float valve which controls the inflow of water from the tap.
Water enters the chamber from the tap through the white connector on the side of the unit. Once the chamber is full the float valve closes and will not allow any more water though until the pump has depleted enough water to open the float valve again.
The water is pumper out at constant flow rate through the silver outlet to the inlet of the distilling column.
The flow rate is controlled by adjusting the silver dial on the lid of the unit.
In conclusion, even if you’re not using the Still Spirits T500, any reflux distilling setup will benefit immensely by adding this incredibly simple and reliable unit to the arsenal.
Please take some time to check out the Brewcraft website by clicking the link in the description below the video.
Thanks for joining us today, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel if you haven’t already done so, and share this with your friends and family, and we’ll see you again tomorrow.
In our previous distilling episode we ran a batch of sugar wash through the Still Spirits T500 reflux distiller. As promised, today we are going to have a good look at the Still Spirits flow controller, what it does, and why you need it.
The distilling setup is comprised of 2 parts, the muscle and the brain. The boiler and the condenser are the muscle, while the thermometer and the flow controller are the brain. Anyone who’s been on earth long enough knows that muscle does not work too well without brain.
In previous versions of the T500, the flow controller was a simple micro tap that fitted to your tap. This has evolved into the most ingenious piece of equipment that we’re looking at today.
Before we continue, why do you need a flow controller? Why couldn’t they just make a preset valve at the optimum flow rate?
The answer is quite straight forward. Tap water from different taps, and in different geographical locations is not at the same temperature. The guidline of 500ml per minute given in the instruction manual is just that…. a baseline starting point. Once the still has heated up and the thermometer approaches the target temperature, you need to make small adjustments to the flow rate to achieve the optimum temperature of 60c.
If the temperature fails to reach 60c, the flow rate is too high. If the temperature overshoots 60c, the flow rate is too low and must be increased.
So you ask, “what was wrong with the previous flow controller?”
Unfortunately, just like temperatures vary from tap to tap, so do water pressures…. and water pressure can vary on a single tap from one minute to the next. This makes the optimum range very difficult to achieve when there are so many variables.
Let’s have a look at what comes in the box. First out is the power supply unit with mains cable.
Then comes the unit. All the necessary pipes and tap connections are supplied, including good quality hose clamps.
On the main unit the power plugs into the black cable on the side.
Inside the unit is a variable submersible pump and a float valve which controls the inflow of water from the tap.
Water enters the chamber from the tap through the white connector on the side of the unit. Once the chamber is full the float valve closes and will not allow any more water though until the pump has depleted enough water to open the float valve again.
The water is pumper out at constant flow rate through the silver outlet to the inlet of the distilling column.
The flow rate is controlled by adjusting the silver dial on the lid of the unit.
In conclusion, even if you’re not using the Still Spirits T500, any reflux distilling setup will benefit immensely by adding this incredibly simple and reliable unit to the arsenal.
Please take some time to check out the Brewcraft website by clicking the link in the description below the video.
Thanks for joining us today, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel if you haven’t already done so, and share this with your friends and family, and we’ll see you again tomorrow.
