Distillate temperature

[st425]

Hi all. I'm in the UK and looking into making gin in a 30 or 50 litre still.

I'm wondering what temperature the distillate should be cooled to in the condenser? If the temperature has any affect?

I realise circulating water around the condenser can be used to cool it, but what about industrial chillers that would offer better temperature control?

If I was using a closed system of water to cool the condenser, how big a reservoir would I need for a run of a 30 litre still?

Thanks in advance

[acfixer69]

All of the questions you are asking are answered to the mandatory reading. They do not have simple answers. Time to do your part and study, start with crankys spoonfeeding. also use the forum search at the top of the page.

AC

[st425]

Hi Ac

Thanks for your reply. I’ve been trying to search the forum but keep getting this error message: The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: distillate temperature
This is the same for any combination of words I use trying to find topics on condenser, water, cooling, distillate, temperature

[cranky]

Use the HD Google search at the top of the page. click it, leave the text that comes up there and type your search after it. The second link in my signature might be helpful in some ways as well.

[fizzix]

Hey st425 maybe I can help: Starting Tips

[st425]

Thanks fizzix, that's perfect!

[Danespirit]

Yup..! Crankys thread is great reading.
The temperature depends on a lot of factors, but to give you something to compare with:
My still is 25 L...I use my sink in the bathroom as a reservoir + a 15 L bucket with a copper coil as a "heat exchanger".
A tiny 8W submersible pump throws the water around in the system. An extra one is needed if I want to run my reflux setup (cooling the RC).
During the winter months, it takes surprisingly little water flow ...more during the summer when the incoming water is hot.
One thing the temperature does to the distillate is to throw off your reading on the alcoholmeter. Please have a look at the link in my signature.

[Antler24]

I use a liebig condenser and garden hose faucet for cooling. I run the cooling water fast enough to keep the distillate "cool". As long as it's not really warm/hot to the touch is fine with me. Later on when I'm making cuts & diluting (the only time I take abv readings of the spirit) I keep a bottle of distilled water at room temp, same as the cut jars, to calibrate the alcometer.

[Twisted Brick]

If I was using a closed system of water to cool the condenser, how big a reservoir would I need for a run of a 30 litre still?

Welcome St425!

I recently had the same questions as you. Just as a point of reference:

4 x 7gal UJSSM strips in a 58l keg boiler through a 2" shotgun with a 30gal reservoir. 170 GPH pump.

You will also need to use your observed distillate temp to correct your observed ABV. This will allow you to determine how far down to collect on a strip run. A handy conversion table can be found here: http://homedistiller.org/calcs/husker_temp_convert.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[zapata]

St425 make sure you understand what temperature you are talking about, and what affects it. Its not clear if you do or not, but most beginners who say things like "offer better temperature control" don't really understand how distillation works. There is actually very little "temperature control" in distilling, and what little there is even more rarely requires precise control. I'm sure you'll understand what I'm saying in your introductory reading. If not, I bet "temperature control" on the hd google search will give food for thought.
As always though, feel free to ask specific questions while you're learning.

[NZChris]

Depending on how fussy you are about the quality of your gin, you may need two different types of still, both having different cooling requirements.

[Mikey-moo]

You've been given some great advice already. As long as the output of your still is liquid then you're fine. The temperature only matters if you want to want to measure the abv in situ and even then if you know the temperature you can calculate the abv close enough. If in doubt, collect it and wait till it's room temp before measuring abv.

Good luck with the gin

[thecroweater]

The reservoir size depends entirely on how efficiently its cooled, no cooling or say a worm and flake then bigger if you have say a fan and car or air on radiator not very big at all. From memory I think for a 50 litre keg I saw a Polly tub that would be lucky to be 300mm x 6mm by 200mm deep with that setup and that could run a plated column.