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When I ran it last, I did run with slower coolant rate. Just checked my notes and they say coolant was running at 80 seconds per litre (still a lot of water, given the distillate output). Coolant goes in bottom of product condenser and exits at the top, feeding to the bottom of the RC. Where it was ...

Being that cold and no insulation, you could have had so much passive reflux that there was no output. That’s really extreme case as most here don’t run anywhere near that cold. Still make sure it’s not plugged as you don’t want to be making a pressure vessel. We just seem to have had a lot of cold...

Not tall enough. If you want faster with high proof, taller and larger diameter are the way to get that. Taller alone should get you 50% faster. The taller the column, ie more plates, the less reflux you have to run to hold a given abv. This is true until you get to about 40 plates based on what I ...

A 2” should do 1l/hr easily. A 3” has double the area of a 2”, so it should do 2l/hr as the save velocity. Your 2.5” should probably run around 1.6l/hr vs the 1l/hr you are getting. If you can’t run that fast, it is probably a function of how many plates or the length of the packed section. Packed ...

Probably a daft Idea , but what about a bank of smaller stills . A 50 litre keg with a 3” column pumps out over 2l/h of high. Quality and can be easily run in a day . Get 4 of these and you’d be making 10 L/H easily . And they don’t need a 2 Story warehouse and a staircase to adjust . Not such a da...

A 6” x 3m column is huge for a home distiller. With a 25 gal still you will have a hard time even getting it to run right unless you only run low wines. I ran a 6” x 8’ over a 30 gallon still, but I fed it from a 120 gallon still that I used for stripping runs (Running commercial). For home use a 4...

It is packed with ss scrubbers . I initially tried scoria and of different sizes but found scrubbers gave me better results . Also assembling and dismantling a column full of rock was getting too heavy for me . Are they winding scrubbers and woven scrubbers? I see that there are two kinds, see http...

My 2.5" column currently sits on top of an alembic still with a 2.5" dia fitting on top of the pot. If I go larger (4" or 6" column) I am probably going to have to sit the column to one side of the pot as I am not sure that the copper would take the weight of a 6" packed col...

Yes, just dump the spp in. I tried some member made spp and was never able to get it to work as well as scrubbies. Gave up due to the cost and wasn’t able to get better performance. Also tried structured packing which came as pucks. It’s hetp was rated very good, but again could not get it to run a...

Thanks for the output numbers. Are you able to elaborate on "how you arrange the packing does matter" please? Cheers, Matt On a 2”, you can just stack scrubbies and fill the column. On the 6” I had to arrange each level, can’t just throw them in and expect good results. If I remember righ...

1l/hr is about right for a 2”. A 3” should do 2l/hr and a 4” 4l/hr, then jumping to 6” you can get 8l/hr. Also taller is better. For a neutral with scrubbies, I would aim for a minimum of 6ft of packed. 8ft will be better. Yes, you can go bigger than 4” with packed, but how you arrange the packing ...

I have a 4” 2metre tall VM . The takeoff port and valve is 1.25” and its never fully open . Is that a packed column or plated and does the 2m height deliver a clean pure product? Is the take-off pipe 1.25" down through the condenser? What wash volume are you running and how long in total does ...

"Research and Theory", Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:49am, "Measured product production in VM head" (DestructoMutt) https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11396 Thanks Bunny - reading through that thread and others seems inconclusive, as there are many views on both sides. I will...

I have pulled together all the data in this spreadsheet. Hope it makes sense if interested. Test Feb 1, 2023.xlsx Sadly, most of your collection rate numbers are heartbreaking for your purpose. The only way to improve these rates is by enlarging the take-off 1/2" tube to possibly 1" or mo...

kimbodious wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:09 am Matt it is not too late for you to read this great resource by kiwistiller viewtopic.php?t=15508

Very helpful for my next run - thanks for that

Thanks to everyone who has input and made suggestions! We go again. I removed the top half of the column, leaving the lower 1.5m section. This is filled with 125cm of SPP with a scrubber top and bottom of the SPP and a 10cm gap from the top of the packing to the 1/2" vapour take-off valve above...

Just measured the lower half of the column at 1.4 metres.

Packed with SPP, is that likely to be enough to achieve the smooth high purity vodka that I am looking for?

Thanks,
Matt

Thanks for all the input. The SPP sits around 4" below the vapour take-off valve at the moment. The day I ran the test was very cold at around 0 - 4°C ambient. The top of column temperature did reach 77.3°C when the power was increased but that much power was pushing the reflux liquid back up t...

Are you by chance running water only? Water vapor rises at 1 atmosphere while alcohol vapor will sink. If you are testing with water, I could see you getting little to no product output under 100% reflux with the VM valve slightly open. Cranking up the heat would create a little more pressure and w...

What sort of power are you running Matt ? 2kw is pretty much a ball park for most 2” Packed reflux stills . Much less won’t create enough reflux to be able to take off at a reasonable rate . Much more than 2kw will result in flooding . Typical takeoff rate should be around 1l/hr . If you can add a ...

OK, I finally got time to retest my column again. Now filled with stainless SPP instead of plates. Warmed up and with temperature by the take-off valve sitting around 75°C, left it for a time to balance but when the vapour take-off valve was opened, no output at all, so I gradually increased the hea...

Thanks for the info. On that basis of a 64mm ID column, the 10/3 mm is slightly too long and slightly too small on the the diameter. It is what I can obtain in the UK though, so I guess that I will have to try it to see.

I am looking to try stainless SPP in my 64mm internal diameter copper column. Column height is 2.8 metres. I found this supplier in the UK: https://do-it-at-home.co.uk/en/distillation/687-prismatic-steel-springs-1l-7427007922358.html Dimension of one spring is approx: 10/3 mm Any comments on the SPP...

That's great thanks - I will stick with the valve and give stainless SPP a go. This still will only produce vodka, as stripping is carried out in a separate alembic still.

Cheers,
Matt

Regarding the column height . Can't comment from experience on that but concencus is that anything over 20:1 height to diameter is no gain There is also a consensus that anything over 20:1 height to diameter can add to take off speed. However, I don't know how to figure this. What sort of take-off ...

Thanks for the comment. The column is 64mm ID and the ball valve is 3/4" connected to 15mm copper pipe. Are you saying that this will choke the vapour too much even with the valve fully open?

Since the column is 2.8m long, are there any issues that are possible to be caused when running it? I have worked on the principle that height = purity. My preference for stainless SPP is the ability to keep it clean and free from off-flavours by running a citric and rinse back flush after the run. ...

My goal is 96% ABV from a 35% ABV wash. Concerns are to achieve purity while achieving a decent output rate. My problems have centred around flooding due to poor plate design. The pot and 2.8 metre column is copper, heated by propane. i am going to remove the plates from the column, add a wagon whee...

I found this https://do-it-at-home.co.uk/en/distillation/688-prismatic-cooper-springs-025l-7427007921863.html I calculate the volume of our column at 9 litres, so it's quite an expensive test and I don't know what the life of the copper spiral prismatic packing is. Does anyone have any experience of...

The best holder in all the experiments made is a wagon wheel style of holder.. Picture below is what my holder looks like on my 3" packed with SSP.. it's made using a 10 gauge wire, sitting of the edge of the ferrule, and the packing, due to it's small size, is assisted with a small amount of ...