How do you keep your water cool?

[jsanders]

I know this is stupid to most of you, but it is giving me fits. I have tried ice bags, frozen gallon jugs, swamp coolers... How do y'all keep your water cool. I would give my right whatever to have a cool stream running close to the house, or hell! even a swimming pool, but I don't. I use a large garbage can and recirc the water through it, then when it gets warm I let it pump out and refill. I have run it straight from the hose which works great but is expensive.

How critical is the water temp? How much should I let the temp vary, I know it effects the still output a lot.

Any ideas to get me started would be great.

Thanks

[rad14701]

A lot of folks fixate too much on the water temperature in the holding tank... If the tank is larger than the boiler there should be no need to change the water... And you only need to be concerned with the water temperature at the bottom where the water pick up is located... A natural temperature gradient in the tank can allow for steaming hot water at the top yet very cool water to remain on the bottom... You only need to have enough cooling to condense 100% of the distillate vapor... To do this only requires dropping the temperature a certain number of degrees, to the point of vapor collapse... When I run my still I see no real difference whether the return water is at 80F or 120F... I don't let it go lower because that would simply be wasting water and I don't go higher because I don't want to push my luck...

[maheel]

get a bigger or another tank is the easy way

i use the rainwater tank for my garden

[MuleKicker]

I run my cooling water right from the tap. I check the temp of discharge, it should be hot. if it is still cool, I slow it down more, so less water absorbs more heat. I put my discharge in a drum during a run once to see just how much water I used throughout. I only used about 30-40 gallons over a 5hr period if I remember right. Im not sure how much water costs ya where you are. I just run my discharge into the garden.

[TexasReflux]

I personally have a 45 gallon trashcan, and a 10 gallon pot. I run about 1 gallon of distillate through and then swap my water out, and I swap out most all of it.

Fortunately, I have a well. But break out your old water bill (not sewer) and see what water actually cost, it's very cheap.

You can cut this greatly with a couple frozen gallon jugs of water.

Or bigger reservoir...

Or not stress it, but I have found out the hard way about not cool enough water... Let's just say, bad idea...

[Coaster]

@ jsanders,

Do you have your cooling water routed correctly to your Pro Series II Liebig condenser? The correct routing is to have the cooling water enter the Liebig condenser at the bottom of the condenser and exit at the top of the condenser.

You mention that when you are using a garden hose you do not have a cooling problem. This leads me to ask about the circulating pump you are using. If you are using the small little water pump that Brewhaus sells with the Pro Series II Still could be causing your cooling problem. There are comments on the Brewhaus Web Page mentioning that their small little water pump is insufficient for the task. One customer states - “Go to Lowes and spend 60 bucks and get a pump that will move the water and get the job done.” On the Brewhaus Web Page they state that their small little water pump only has a maximum head height of 8 Feet 2 Inches. In my opinion that particular pump is just too small to provide sufficient water flow to your Pro Series II Liebig condenser.

Also Brewhaus offers a larger (longer) Liebig condenser for the Pro Series II still. A larger (longer) Liebig condenser for your Pro Series II Still might help you with your cooling problem.

Regards,
Coaster

[jsanders]

I think I will go back to running water from the tap and sending it to the garden. Maybe fill my 55 gal sprayer on my tractor and use it to spray something. I definitely think cold water makes a diference if for no more than consistant reflux.

To Coaster: I upgraded the pump and it pumps a lot of water. That little one was way too small. I've got the water running on the condensor from bottom to top. I will look into the larger liebig condensor, it sounds like just the thing to fix my hobby money jones.

Thanks again. When one thing is off in this pursuit, it starts an avalanche sometimes. It makes it hard to figure out when you only run a couple batches a month, that's why this forum is so important. Experience means everything and there just isn't much dependable, practical info out there.

[sammybear]

I'll be using a buried 275 gallon tote, it should be able to handle a couple runs without much temp change.

[USACelt]

I use a car radiator,box fan pulling air.

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[WalkingWolf]

I use a car radiator,box fan pulling air.

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Do you find this to be efficient? Have considered this just wanted to hear from someone that used it.

thanks

[USACelt]

^^^ Yes, WW. thirty gallons in the drum running the 2"boka for about seven hours, 1500 watts input. outside air in the 80's
mantained 88 degrees water temp with the fan pulling "thru" the radiator,box fan on the middle setting, pushing the air did not work as well.
the radiator is from a L-6 cylinder engine car.

[WalkingWolf]

Thanks -- preciate the feedback

[banter_king]

thats what i have been doing too. I never considered pulling instead of pushing. I will definitely be trying that in the near future

[WalkingWolf]

Banter_King and USACelt -- if I may -- will you guys give a brief rundown on what you did to prepare your radiator for service?

thanks

[TexasReflux]

USACelt ++

Never considered pulling either. I also like the size tubing you are running, restricting the water in the radiator, I was just sticking a hose in mine and also pushing the air.

I have the radiator still, me thinks I am going to revisit this issue.

Thanks again.

[banter_king]

Walkingwolf- mine isn't to fancy or anything. The top busted on my brothers miata and i figured i could use it. I just flushed it out as much as i could. Since nothing that i was going to be consuming was ever going to touch it i wasn't to worried about it. To run i just prop it up so that the output falls into my cooling water tank and put the fan on it, although now i will put pulling the air through not pushing Don't know if that was quite what you were asking but i hope it helps. I didn't seal it like the above picture just put the output from my condenser into the top with a bit of gaff tape to hold it there.

Edit to add Also the radiator was already relatively well flushed because it had been running off water with the hole in it for a little bit to get it to where it could be replaced.

[kenfyoozed]

I had the cooling problem also with my flute. I tried the radiator route but my cooling water still got to hot. 30 gallon barrel temps rose from 70f to 135f+. I couldn't keep it cool but this setup ran fine on my potstill, I would refresh the water once at max. But with the flute it was many times even with rad. So I now run from tap. Water is cheap for me as my bill might rise 10$ for 2 4 hour runs.

[banter_king]

agreed kenyfoozed. my water does still get nice and warm by the end of a run but this definitely lengthens the time it takes to heat up. I need to get me a flute so i can do runs in 4 hours instead of this 13 junk haha. Oh well. maybe one day

[USACelt]

WW.. I really did'nt prepare the radiator, just used some pvc couplings that fit the upper and lower hoses. So that the raditor is closed loop with the cap on.
Really did not have as much restriction as I thought,also use a gate valve to restrict teh water as needed, seems less flow increses the efficiency of the radiator.

[Dnderhead]

if you use two barrels large enough to make run.pump from one into other then the temperature wont be changing throughout the run.

[Prairiepiss]

I use my bath tub. So when I'm done I can just jump in for a bath. Nice and warm. For me anyway. Not hot enough for the wife.

[WalkingWolf]

if you use two barrels large enough to make run.pump from one into other then the temperature wont be changing throughout the run.

I have two 30 gallon barrels side-by-side and would like to put a radiator to circulate through

[Dnderhead]

what i was saying if you pumped from one full barrel into one empty ,next run pump it back.
also if some how you used mettle barrels they will give up heat better than plastic.posably
those lined for cemacols?
if you look in junk yards you mite fiend a radiator with fans attached.most are cross flow.

[TexasReflux]

Holy Sh*t!!!

I revisited my radiator with the idea of pulling the air, not pushing...

Been doing the spirit run of my 4th generation UJSSM (two runs, 5 gallons each, approx 30-35 abv), one run last night, and one right now. (wireless connection)

Set up: used radiator that leaks, hung over my 45 gallon trashcan, clamped to the fan, with outlet hose just stuck in (no mod). Fish pump runs the system. Both nights I have not had to replace the water half-way through. This is new. Very excited.

Self containment!!!

[kekedog13]

My water returns to the holding keg by first going through my wort chiller. It's all I need on a cold day. This summer I will try setting it on a box fan.If that doesn't keep it cool then I will resort to adding ice.

[bearriver]

Never use ice. It messes up the natural temp gradient and causes huffing among other unwanted results.

Texasreflux I am experiencing that same glee today. My (clean) old jacked up radiator works like it was made for stillin.
Pump and dumps on 50 gals was a pain.....

[rumbuff]

If you find that the radiator itself won't cool sufficiently, if you allow some of the return water to flow across the fins you'll get the benefit of evaporative cooling. Like the guys running the tower/swamp coolers. It will add some humidity. but it will cool the water better too

[Monty671]

I killed 2 birds with one stone. The wife wanted a fish pond.

I built her a 2500 pond, next to the still house (sounds impressive haha)
use a small pump from the pond to my toys. Fish like the warm water return.
Temp is very stable across the entire run. Pond only goes up about 1 degree.

She gets what she wants and I get what I want.
Keeps peace in the family.

Monty

[jward]

I killed 2 birds with one stone. The wife wanted a fish pond.

I built her a 2500 pond, next to the still house (sounds impressive haha)
use a small pump from the pond to my toys. Fish like the warm water return.
Temp is very stable across the entire run. Pond only goes up about 1 degree.

She gets what she wants and I get what I want.
Keeps peace in the family.

Monty

Yes, it's an old thread. I'm making my eyes bleed with searches, old threads, and dreaming the dream of a pond or a pool on property....

[WithOrWithoutU2]

I killed 2 birds with one stone. The wife wanted a fish pond.

I built her a 2500 pond, next to the still house (sounds impressive haha)
use a small pump from the pond to my toys. Fish like the warm water return.
Temp is very stable across the entire run. Pond only goes up about 1 degree.

She gets what she wants and I get what I want.
Keeps peace in the family.

Monty

Yes, it's an old thread. I'm making my eyes bleed with searches, old threads, and dreaming the dream of a pond or a pool on property....

If you want a pond/pool then go for it. ("pond would be good for you"...Anyone know this quote).

However, if you are just looking for a way to cheaply get cool water, I would encourage you to look at how your water billing works. For me, the city charges a bunch of fixed fees every month. And the incremental cost is less than a $0.01 per gallon. So it is cheapest for me to just use water from the tap. Plus it remains a very consistent temp. Plus I can use it to water lawn/flowerbed with the run off.