Water Cooler for Condenser

ER70S-2 · Post by **ER70S-2** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:55 pm

I posted a couple weeks ago of the mini still I made. I haven't run it yet expect for water just to try it out and had a question. It's not so much about operating the set up, but I would like to hear some opinions. I have a water cooler from my tig welder that I have hooked up to it. I put a valve in it so I can contol the flow of coolant to the condenser and it seems to work well. The thing I'm worried about is that I live up north and I run antifreeze in my cooler to stop it from freezing up in the winter time (stays out im the garage). The condenser is a seperate unit and it is one continuos length of copper tube (no fittings) so I shouldn't have to worry about leaks. If it ever did leak though ( a pin hole or something) coolant could possibly get into my system.
If it were you would you run it this way or not? I was thinking I could pressure test the condenser before and after each run to ensure no leaks have developed to sllep better.
What do you experienced guys think?
Thanks
ER70S-2

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:06 pm

I think that as you are talking of leaks in the actual pipe itself and not any joins or connections that you made, the chances of a leak would be minimal and so long as you are aware of the possibilities and test periodically, all should be well.
As far as the sleeping goes, it should not be working while you sleep so once again, no problem, you only need to be concerned while you are awake.
Cheers

Post by **blanikdog** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:51 pm

Yairs, sleeping and distilling are not particularly compatible. I ran a vinegar/water run through mine once and dozed off. My wife woke me two hours later asking if the still is under control. I didn't think I could move so fast to turn of the gas.

Took a lot of work cleaning the very dry kettle.

Please don't do it.

blanik

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:38 am

I just finished running a wash through my mini-still and recorded a few details.
2" column
20" packing
Distillate came out at 95%ABV and I used 30 litres of water per hour (starting temp of water was 27C and I could just hold my hand under the water discharge) so you do not require large volumes of either water or cooling, particularly if your starting temp is low.

ER70S-2 · Post by **ER70S-2** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:15 am

Thabnks for the responses
How long does it take you to run the 30l wash in your mini still? I notice you used a 2" column while mine is the 1.5" but I'd still be interested to know?
How much water do you think you used for cooling during the process, would I be able to gather it all in a 5 gallon bucket?
Any other pointers you have for using the mini still would be appreciated.
Don't worry guys, I wasn't planning on sleeping while running my still, I would just sleep a bit better at night if I wasn't using antifreeze in the cooler.

Regards
ER70s-2

Johnny Reb · Post by **Johnny Reb** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:43 am

ER70S-2 wrote:Thabnks for the responses
How long does it take you to run the 30l wash in your mini still? I notice you used a 2" column while mine is the 1.5" but I'd still be interested to know?
How much water do you think you used for cooling during the process, would I be able to gather it all in a 5 gallon bucket?
Any other pointers you have for using the mini still would be appreciated.
Don't worry guys, I wasn't planning on sleeping while running my still, I would just sleep a bit better at night if I wasn't using antifreeze in the cooler.

Regards
ER70s-2

I run a 2" column with a 7.5 Gallon Boiler and put around 5 1/2 gallon of mash in it. I have a 25 gallon bucket and put around 18 gallon of water and use aquarium pump to cool and change the water about 3 to 5 times during my runs. I am going to start freezing 1 gallon milk jugs and use them in the water instead of changeing the water. I was told the colder the water the better the vapors are condensed back into liquid

Johnny Reb

ER70S-2 · Post by **ER70S-2** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:55 am

Hey Johny Reb
Thanks for the info, how long does it take you to run the 5 1/2 gallons throught the 2" column?
I thought colder would be better as well, but some are saying hot to the touch is better in the mini still. I guess trial and error will tell me eh!
Thanks for all the help guys.
Er70s-2
P.s. I would like to run some cheap wine through my still with the packing in to try things out, will some of the flavour still come through or am I going to strip it all out?

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:15 pm

ER70S-2 wrote:Thabnks for the responses
How long does it take you to run the 30l wash in your mini still? I notice you used a 2" column while mine is the 1.5" but I'd still be interested to know?
How much water do you think you used for cooling during the process, would I be able to gather it all in a 5 gallon bucket?
Any other pointers you have for using the mini still would be appreciated.
Don't worry guys, I wasn't planning on sleeping while running my still, I would just sleep a bit better at night if I wasn't using antifreeze in the cooler.

Regards
ER70s-2

I can only run 10-12 lts at a time and that takes me about 4 hours if I run it fairly slow, so that would use 120 lts or 30 US gallons with no cooling.
What I do though is to use a 30 ltr tank then I freeze 1.25 ltr coke bottles and add to the tank as the water warms up. It normally takes 6 bottles per 10ltr run to keep the water happy.
As far as hints go, you're best to give it a run and play with it, most things will become clear

Post by **Uncle Jesse** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:05 pm

I've seen radiators used for this purpose before. First though, radiators and beer or distillate DO NOT MIX. YOU WILL GET LEAD POISONING.

You have to keep them separate, but if you run a fan on a radiator and recirculate water to cool your worm it will work. I've also seen units set up which had a pump to push freon through to do the cooling.

I wouldn't try it personally because any leak becomes a disaster and any undetected leak means sickness or death.

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:06 pm

Johnny Reb wrote:
I run a 2" column with a 7.5 Gallon Boiler and put around 5 1/2 gallon of mash in it. I have a 25 gallon bucket and put around 18 gallon of water and use aquarium pump to cool and change the water about 3 to 5 times during my runs. I am going to start freezing 1 gallon milk jugs and use them in the water instead of changeing the water. I was told the colder the water the better the vapors are condensed back into liquid

Johnny Reb

With the mini-still, because the thermometer is down in the packing, if the vapour is excessively cooled, the overflow will penetrate deeper into the packing and give you irregular readings and output because the reflux is continually stopping and starting.
I have found that when doing slow runs and careful cuts, warm is best. If however you want to rip out most of the packing and do a stripping or pot still run then by all means run the coolant fast and cold.
Cheers