Worm frozen in ice?

[Lo_Kai]

For my pot still I was going to have about eight or so feet of 1/4" copper rolled to fit inside 4" PVC pipe with an endcap ontop with the input of the coil coming out of it and a screw off plug on the bottom since they are flat and easily removable for maitenance. My question is, rather than fitting from connectors to this little scarcely eighteen inch high thing and running recirculating water lines to it... why not fill it with water and freeze it solid?

The only ice that would start to melt first would be around the coils, leaving it surrounded by water thats surrounded by ice. It'd keep the coil very cold, last awhile if I insulated the pvc a little perhaps and would only require leaving in a freezer overnight to prep.

Or am I overthinking it?

[ScottishBoy]

One of the things you need to consider is how large your boiler is. If it is too large, you will have difficulty knocking down the steam and you may also create serious back pressure with 1/4 inch copper. If its a small unit, you might be able to get away it. Too big and you will see back pressure and your seals rupturing and your blow out valves coming off. You DO have a blowoff valve, right?
As for the ice, you dont want to do that. Water expands when it freezes. It will split that PVC like a bean.
Why not just fill it with ice cubes, then top off with water?

[Dnderhead]

good advice but to add one thing , ice is not a good conductor of heat, it will melt around the pipe and act as a insulator,
to use 1/4 pipe your boiler whould have to be less than 4 quarts/L. even then its small. most consider nothing less than 1/2"

[blanikdog]

Why not fabricate a proper condenser that cools the vapour slowly which is the best way to go?

blanik

[lacedspirits]

Even if the ice theory worked and the condensor was kept at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it wouldn't condense any more vapor than a condensor kept at 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Vodka_Master]

yea it wont work, unless you are doing 1-2 hours runs including heat up. It would get way too hot too fast, even if frozen. And the insulation won't help that much either, because most heat will come from the vapour rather than the outside air. Why not try a big bucket instead? Fill that up with ice and just keep on refilling as it melts? But for the least worries your better off just recirculating water in a bucket, cold in on the botom and hot out on top.

[newerbrewer]

I don't thing there is a need to use any ice at all. Just use a nice long length of 1/2" copper and coil it in a nice big bucket or keg.

[olddog]

Why not fabricate a proper condenser that cools the vapour slowly which is the best way to go?

+1 +1 +1 Some of us distill where the air temperature gets really hot, and there is still no reason to use ice.


OD

[ArcticTern]

i dont like the idea of an enclosed worm in a tube. water will expand when frozen and your apt to get leakage. particularly the 1/4" size i'd be hesitate to use.
fyi; i run off a 5 gal. pot with a 5 gal. bucket with worm. 3/8" copper tubing. I've run it more then once on a solid frozen tub of ice...(left it in the cold porch); and never did have problems. If i didnt run it as is; it would have taken 2 days, if not 3 to thaw out.

AT