Do you have to use something to cool the vapor? I have a SS 4gal stock pot with 11' of 3/8 copper tubing coiling down. Will that work? Or does that coil have to be cooled other than air? Also the tubing comes directly out of the center of the lid at almost a 90 degree angle slightly sloping down to the coil, is that ok? It is about 1 foot between the pot and the coil. Thanks
*MoonShine*
Cooling Water Or Not
Moderator: Site Moderator
-
AllanD
- Bootlegger
- Posts: 138
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:34 pm
It's a choice, a compromise, that you have to make....
Like all engineering problems you trade off one characteristic for another.
No, you don't *need* to condense your alcohol vapor into liquid
by using cool or cold water, you can use air.
The difference is that water is a better heat exchange media by a factor
of ~75 Vs Air (It has ~670 times the mass volume for volume)
So necissarily your condenser will be MUCH larger in total surface area...
this "larger surface area" can be accomplished by using larger diameter condenser tube, a greater length of tube or of course some combination of both.
OR you can make the condenser more efficient by using natural convection, this can be done putting a spiral of tube inside a chimney
and letting the heat of the steam inside the tube generate airflow...(Like the cooling towers at both nuclear and conventional power generation plants) OR you can add a fan and "force" convection.
Alternatly you can use aluminum "fins" on the outside of the tube to increase the surface area of the tube...
But all of these methods will result in a condenser that is FAR larger than even the crudest water-cooled condenser of a similar capacity.
Frankly, it is easy to make an extreemly efficient water cooled condenser,
Infact Making an efficient water-cooled condenser is something that is
difficult to NOT accomplish... (Though some people seem able to "rise" to that challenge
ON ANOTHER NOTE:
And an air cooled coil of copper tube is just so OBVIOUSLY what it really is..... it is something you don't want your neighbors to see...
Due to the surreptious nature of "home distilling" a smaller physical
"footprint" of any equipment is desirable for the purpose of making the equipment have less "visual impact" as well as to be more compact to make concealment easier when not in use..... especially since a condenser
is typically the single component of any system that is hardest to claim
that it is "something else" other than what it so obviously is....
Just providing food for thought...
Now, as to 11feet of 3/8" copper? run it and see...
as there are several variables....
Water cooling is generally prefered because if even remotely close to the proper capacity (even by accident) the condensed distillate will come off the coil cool... this is especially important if your heat source is an open flame.... Can you say "Kaboom"? More importantly would you prefer
to miss the experience of hearing a "kaboom" at close quarters?
If you are using electric heat this obviously isn't as much of a concern, but....
AllanD
Like all engineering problems you trade off one characteristic for another.
No, you don't *need* to condense your alcohol vapor into liquid
by using cool or cold water, you can use air.
The difference is that water is a better heat exchange media by a factor
of ~75 Vs Air (It has ~670 times the mass volume for volume)
So necissarily your condenser will be MUCH larger in total surface area...
this "larger surface area" can be accomplished by using larger diameter condenser tube, a greater length of tube or of course some combination of both.
OR you can make the condenser more efficient by using natural convection, this can be done putting a spiral of tube inside a chimney
and letting the heat of the steam inside the tube generate airflow...(Like the cooling towers at both nuclear and conventional power generation plants) OR you can add a fan and "force" convection.
Alternatly you can use aluminum "fins" on the outside of the tube to increase the surface area of the tube...
But all of these methods will result in a condenser that is FAR larger than even the crudest water-cooled condenser of a similar capacity.
Frankly, it is easy to make an extreemly efficient water cooled condenser,
Infact Making an efficient water-cooled condenser is something that is
difficult to NOT accomplish... (Though some people seem able to "rise" to that challenge
ON ANOTHER NOTE:
And an air cooled coil of copper tube is just so OBVIOUSLY what it really is..... it is something you don't want your neighbors to see...
Due to the surreptious nature of "home distilling" a smaller physical
"footprint" of any equipment is desirable for the purpose of making the equipment have less "visual impact" as well as to be more compact to make concealment easier when not in use..... especially since a condenser
is typically the single component of any system that is hardest to claim
that it is "something else" other than what it so obviously is....
Just providing food for thought...
Now, as to 11feet of 3/8" copper? run it and see...
as there are several variables....
Water cooling is generally prefered because if even remotely close to the proper capacity (even by accident) the condensed distillate will come off the coil cool... this is especially important if your heat source is an open flame.... Can you say "Kaboom"? More importantly would you prefer
to miss the experience of hearing a "kaboom" at close quarters?
If you are using electric heat this obviously isn't as much of a concern, but....
AllanD
-
hornedrhodent
- Rumrunner
- Posts: 732
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:42 am
- Location: Nth coast NSW
="AllanD"] Can you say "Kaboom"? More importantly would you prefer
to miss the experience of hearing a "kaboom" at close quarters?
If you are using electric heat this obviously isn't as much of a concern, but....
AllanD
Awww - AllanD dont deprive him of the experience of flash burns to his legs - especially if he tries to cool down the burns with his cooling water which is considerably 'warm'.