How small of a run with these two boilers?

[Gordyd4]

How small of a run can one do in a 19” diameter, 26 Gallon boiler?
Same question for a 13 Gallon 16” diameter boiler?

Thanks!

[ShineRunner]

How long is a piece of string?

What are you heating with? You can theoretically run as little as you want in a propane fired still, as long as you’ve got some liquid in the bottom at the end. Electric needs to have enough to cover your element. That’s the long and short of it.

[Gordyd4]

String comment was dumb.

Obviously the internal heater has to be submerged but on a low volume run, I would use a heat plate or propane. So what I’m getting at is, on a 26 gallon boiler, is it possible to run, let’s say a 3 gallon batch. With the larger diameter that may not be possible. I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.

[ShineRunner]

String comment was dumb.

You’re welcome.

But when you don’t provide any information, you get dumb answers. You got your money's worth for that advice.

Sure, you can do a 3 gallon run in a 26 gallon still, but you may or may not be happy with the results. As I said before, as long as there is liquid covering the bottom, you’re theoretically fine.

What’s the minimum to cover the bottom of your still? I have no idea. I can’t see your still. You could have a short and fat still that takes 1 gallon to cover the bottom.

How much liquid will be left at the end of the run? Only you know. You can figure it out yourself by using some of the calculators on the parent page. There’s a pot still calculator that will tell you roughly what you might have left. There’s also a reflux calculator by rad that is handy.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Fire up your hot plate and you can run a pint in a 50 gallon boiler.
Have at it.

[pfshine]

For the 26 gallon I would say 5 gallons because at the end of the run you should still have about 2" of stillage left in it. This should help avoid scortching the pot if it's angled at all.
For the 13 gallon I would say 3.5 gallons for the exact same reason.
I got to this by calculating volume by the inch.
19×19×.7854÷231= 1.227 gallons per inch
You want at least 2" left in it so double that to 4" for alcohol and water loss. 1.227×4=4.9096 round that up to 5 for good measure.
Hope this helps for now and in the future.