MH (flute) plated unit

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bez
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MH (flute) plated unit

Post by bez »

Im looking at purchasing the 4" MH "flute" plated unit and have a couple of questions about it maybe someone can answer for me please.

1) In my research here I seen a post saying that a 4" "flute" is a tad too big to run on a 16 gallon keg, what are some thoughts on that?
2) if I was to go with the 26 gallon boiler what would it take to properly run it heat wise? Would a single 5500w work or would I need 2x 5500w elements?
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LWTCS
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Re: MH (flute) plated unit

Post by LWTCS »

1. That's malarkey.
2. Depends on how fast you want to heat up.

70 watts per liter for a 1 hour heat up time. Accordingly, 140 watts per liter for 2x faster.
You'll need to fill in the gaps with your own math if you are anywhere in between.
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bez
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Re: MH (flute) plated unit

Post by bez »

LWTCS wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:17 am 1. That's malarkey.
2. Depends on how fast you want to heat up.

70 watts per liter for a 1 hour heat up time. Accordingly, 140 watts per liter for 2x faster.
You'll need to fill in the gaps with your own math if you are anywhere in between.
Thank you here is where I got that info at, it's the 3rd post down.

https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77500
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Yummyrum
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Re: MH (flute) plated unit

Post by Yummyrum »

Sounds very theoretical .

I can tell you from practical experience that a 50litre (16gal) keg works just fine on a 4” plated still .

Lets look at liquid held up in plates .
Assuming a 20mm liquid level ( which is quite generous concidering it is predominantly bubbles) , with 4 plates on a 4” , thats 630mls of liquid .

When I look at how much product comes off the still ,it’s not that much of an issue .

You can however run into problems if you are trying ti run a really low ABV wash in a plated still , but having a bigger boiler charge isn't really going to help . The solution is to strip half of it and add it to the other half so you are running a higher ABV charge .

In fact that is how I prefer to run mine these days . Rerunning feints from last wash with fresh is another way yo do it as this increases the boiler ABV as well as increasing yield .
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: MH (flute) plated unit

Post by Saltbush Bill »

A single 5500 element will be more than enough......you will only need roughly 2500 -3000 of that to run the still from my experience.
5500 for heat up only.
bez
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Re: MH (flute) plated unit

Post by bez »

That's great news for both of my questions, IF the 26 gallon boiler would need 2 elements than that won't work for me because I don't have 2 220v circuits nor do I have a single 60 amp 220 circuit, on the other hand I already have a keg because I have the MH 2" dual purpose tower so I could save in having to bit a "complete" setup.
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Ben
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Re: MH (flute) plated unit

Post by Ben »

I run their plates on my 15.5 gallon boiler, seems to work fine. I think you could run the bigger boiler on 5500w, it would just take some time to get up to temp. I run my 2 plates at about 45% max power, my input is only 4800w x .45 so 2160w (not insulated). Unless the boiler has a much bigger surface volume it should run it.
:)
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