cooling

[LONEEAGLE155]

Ok I have searched for topics on anti freeze and have come up empty and have found no reference on the parent site.
I want to distill this winter but I live in Montana, my shop is 100 yards from the house and is unheated. I was wondering if anyone has used antifreeze for cooling instead of just straight water this way I would not have to deal with hauling water or having a block of ice in my cooling bucket.
I have a pot still with a 15.5 gal keg for the boiler my cooling bucket is a 50gal water tank for livestock which I fill about 1/2 full.
Thanks JD

[OzarkWhiskey]

Anything you add to the cooling water will change the boiling point. Which will change the cooling of the distillate. When not in use I would use some type of heater to keep the water from freezing.

Heat Lamp, Fish Tank Heater, Heat Belt, Heating Pad

Get some electric to your barn

[mulekick]

Ok I have searched for topics on anti freeze and have come up empty and have found no reference on the parent site.
I want to distill this winter but I live in Montana, my shop is 100 yards from the house and is unheated. I was wondering if anyone has used antifreeze for cooling instead of just straight water this way I would not have to deal with hauling water or having a block of ice in my cooling bucket.
I have a pot still with a 15.5 gal keg for the boiler my cooling bucket is a 50gal water tank for livestock which I fill about 1/2 full.
Thanks JD

I use off the shelf antifreeze. It sure beats hoofing it back and forth to the barn.

[riff42]

Ok I have searched for topics on anti freeze and have come up empty and have found no reference on the parent site.
I want to distill this winter but I live in Montana, my shop is 100 yards from the house and is unheated. I was wondering if anyone has used antifreeze for cooling instead of just straight water this way I would not have to deal with hauling water or having a block of ice in my cooling bucket.
I have a pot still with a 15.5 gal keg for the boiler my cooling bucket is a 50gal water tank for livestock which I fill about 1/2 full.
Thanks JD

If your water tank doesn't freeze in the winter, you shouldn't have a problem of the running cooling water freezing. After all, you will be heating it up in the condensor section of the still.
You can also wrap insulation around the input lines if you want.
Also, they do sell wraparound pipe heaters. Just make sure it doesn't get too hot, else the condensor is pointless

[jmc91199]

You could always pop a small hole in the barn wall and run your condensor outside. Sounds like the air temp would do a fair job cooling the stuff. Look on the bright side you wouldn't need water.

[LONEEAGLE155]

Mulekick so you do use anti freeze for your cooling? That is great I was looking for something nice easy and cheap as heating an 2200 sq ft shop with electric or gas heat would not be wise. My wife would kill me when the utility bill came after a couple weeks of -30 weather

[goose eye]

when you talkin anti freeze are you talkin what you put in your truck.
if you are. hell no! that stuff will kill you an your livestock.
ice is a good thang if you set up early

[junkyard dawg]

I'm with goose eye. Whats wrong with having your coil in a block of ice? Unless it makes it impossible to set up the still...

[Hackers]

Go down to the gas station and buy a pack of party ice and make up a nice ice slurry. Much more effective than a block of ice and what's more you can put your beer in there to keep cool at the same time

[olcarguy]

I'm new here but if I understand the question. you could safely use antifreeze as a cooling liquid Provided there are no leaks into your final product. the cold weather will allow for less heat build up in your storage tank. Therefor needing a smaller storage tank.

[goose eye]

why you need anythang but air at 30 below.
some folks use branch worms round here 90 it off cap/doublein keg into the branch then 90 it back down the branch. all it is isa 20 ft streight piece of copper pipe underwater an they sandbag around the end. catch it in barell.
so im tole.

[pintoshine]

If I have done my research correctly, and I hope this is an answer, most of the anti-freese on the market today, is amde from propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is sold nearlt pure as marine and camper antifreeze. It is usually pink. Propylene is considered safe by the fda and is a common food additive.
Wiki it and see.
I could not see a thing wrong with using it in a common double walled condenser that has a solid and leak proof piece of tubing or pipe all the way through. As a matter of fact I have been trying to find it cheap enough to use with a radiator outside and making a closed loop system like on a hydronic wood heater. Except in reverse of course.

[masonjar]

I agree with goose eye. When it's cold out, just drain the water and use air cooling. You can blow a fan over the condensor coil if you have to.

In my neck of the woods, there are days when you can walk outside with a can of soda with only a little bit in there, and it will be frozen solid in a few seconds.

[speedfreaksteve]

If its really really cold that you might not need to use any coolant in a pot still. Once a few hours north of where I live I left a hot coffee in my truck and 90 mins later it was solid!

I would say to go with colored antifreeze.. 50% mixed with water should do the trick. The coloring will also let you know in the unlikely event that there's any leak into your distillate

I've distilled in below freezing temperatures outside, although my cooling was coming from a hose to a tap inside the house that was probably 10 degrees below room temperature, so no chance of freezing there.. although i ended up with a mini ice rink where i dump out the coolant from another hose off the still which created quite an annoyance until it melted.

[Hackers]

Boy I keep forgettin you fellas are in the opposite season and that you actually get to below freezin <Brrrrr>. At the moment it is 11pm and 22oC (74oF). Even in the middle of winter we may get one or two nights near 0oC (32oF) - I think I'll just have another rum before I head off to bed

[stoker]

whats wrong with water?

[goose eye]

stroker water dont stay water at 30 below

pintoshine there a nutreeint you put in wine called dap - diamonium phoshate- . an it sell for dollars a lb
there a fertilizer that farmers use called dap - diamonium phoshate- that sales for dollars a ton. they both fertilizers. they both 18 46 0.

[pintoshine]

I read back through the posts and looked at the conversation and have to admit I didn't see fertilizer anywhere. If you check the topic Recipes->Need Good Rum, it would be clear that I know what DAP is. Please easy my confusion.

But thanks for the clue for the chaep DAP though. I have used 10-10-10 quite a lot for HFCS 55(really cheap technically pure corn). But that is another topic