How much water flow through the jacket?

[XD40]

I have an 8 gallon pot still with the milehi head. My Q is how much water should I run to chill my jacket? Do you guys just turn the hose on and run it @ full blast or is there a method? Does anyone use ice water to chill? Will this affect the ABV of finished product? Thanks!

[vetting]

Are you recycling the water with a pump or taking it straight from the faucet?

When I run, I have it hardly cracked open since I have mine coming directly from a cold water line. The lines are somewhat small, so turning it up any more is just going to blow your hoses off.
Just feel the output of the water - it should be some what warmer than the water going in. If its the same temp, your just pushing too much water and wasting it.

If you are recycling the water with a pump, keep plent of ice on hand because the water does heat. If you are on local city water, its a ton easier and cheaper to just hook it up to the faucet and let the warm stuff go down the drain.

[Prairiepiss]

The lybeg product condenser can be ran at full blast if you want? But the column jacket condenser will need to be adjusted down to get your output. How much will be determined by how much heat you are putting in. The ABV if the wash. And the temp of your cooling water. Ice water is not recommended nor needed.

Basically when you get it up to temp with the coolant flowing through the column jacket. After you let it reflux the amount of time you want. 30 min to an hour. Start turning the coolant flow down a little at a time until you get the output you want. Slower drip product output higher ABV. Faster drip or stream product output less ABV.

Posted while vetting did.

[XD40]

Im recycling the water. I have a small pump in the bottom of a 5gal bucket i use to recycle. I use a line off of a faucet that comes into my basement (cold city water) and i also have a large pump in the bottom of the 5gal bucket to pump out the water into my drain when it gets warm. Then fill it right back up. The pump is on low but it still makes a steady stream out of a 1/2 i.d. Vinyl tube. Dont worry i have hose clamps on all so it wont blow off. But does the temp of the water/ammount of water im pushing affect my abv?

[Prairiepiss]

Yes. You are controlling the ABV with how much you condense with that jacketed condenser.

So if you are running it and get it set to the ABV output you want with cool water. And the water temp goes up. The ABV will drop and output will increase. That condenser will work better with a constant temp water flow. Or as constant as you can get it. A 5 gallon bucket is kinda small for that purpose. A larger holding tank would work much better. If you intend to recycle the water. And ice isn't the answer either. If its to cold it can cause problems also.

[rad14701]

Most hobby scale stills will require ~1 liter or less of water per minute to keep them running at proper operational temperatures... And to add to that, an output water temperature of 80F - 120F will insure that all vapor is being recondensed into liquid form... If your water is coming out colder than 80F you are just wasting it, especially if you aren't recycling...

[Prairiepiss]

Rad are you talking about a product condenser. Or a CM reflux condenser. Because if my reflux condenser water outlet temp was that low on my cm still. I wouldn't get any output. It would be in 100% reflux. The water coming out of mine when I have it set right. I can't touch. It's to hot for my fingers. Now the product condenser water outlet temp is around that temp. And it runs best like that.

[rad14701]

Rad are you talking about a product condenser. Or a CM reflux condenser. Because if my reflux condenser water outlet temp was that low on my cm still. I wouldn't get any output. It would be in 100% reflux. The water coming out of mine when I have it set right. I can't touch. It's to hot for my fingers. Now the product condenser water outlet temp is around that temp. And it runs best like that.

Well, on a CM rig there are more variables... For a CM rig two separate water circuits are almost a must... One for the reflux and one to knock down 100% of the vapor making it to the product condenser... I can very well see where the output temperature would need to be warmer/hotter for a single cooling circuit CM reflux column rig... The comment I made was generic with the exception of CM...

[XD40]

Okay so on my 8gal Pot & POTSTILL HEAD. Ive got 50 degree water going in @ 1L per min. What would be the optimal temp to be feeding into the inlet side of my condenser jacket? Im hooked to a hot and cold faucet so I can adjust the temp to anything.

[rad14701]

Okay so on my 8gal Pot & POTSTILL HEAD. Ive got 50 degree water going in @ 1L per min. What would be the optimal temp to be feeding into the inlet side of my condenser jacket? Im hooked to a hot and cold faucet so I can adjust the temp to anything.

Cold...

[Prairiepiss]

+1 cold.

A valve that will have a fine control over the flow to the jacketed column condenser.
Makes it a lot easier. I use a needle valve for mine. And a ball valve for the product condenser. It is hard to adjust the flow with a ball valve on the jacketed column condenser. And you will find yourself going back and forth with it.

[XD40]

Thanks guys. I ran the 5gallons of mash lastnight and got 3/4 gallon of 83% from a cracked corn/sugar wash. Ran it loooong and slow. Turned out to be the best Ive made yet (4months into distilling) thanks for all your help!

[smokindave]

I am new to all this, as well, but I have been studying designs. My ideas was to pump recycled water from a 5 gal bucket through a Liebig (product output only). I would use gallon ice jugs in the bucket and circulate 3 to 4 gallons of water with a pump. When the return water melts the ice jug beyond its useful cooling factor, just swap it with a freshly frozen jug from the deep freeze. No wasted water or bags of ice. Where I live water is not pricey, but it still has a cost, so why not save as much as possible.

I think there would be enough surface area and circulation to make this work pretty well.

[XD40]

I actually just used a 5gallon bucket with two pumps. (1) is a small pump to recirculate water into the condenser from the 5gal bucket constantly. (2) a large pump to empty the bucket when the water becomes to warm (usually around 65deg.) i have the "cold" hose from my washer going into the bucket to access cold water anytime. The large pump emptys the bucket into my drain in the basement. Works awesome. The water I used to cool my jacket was around 40-50deg. And it worked the best! I have used Ice water in the past and my ABV% is much higer with 50-60deg!

[Prairiepiss]

The problem I see with using a pump to pump the warm water out of your bucket. The pump is at the bottom of the bucket. When you pump it out you are pumping the coolest water out and leaving the hottest water in it. It would ne better if you could pump from the top.

Or just get a bigger container and not worry about pumping it out.

As far as ice. I would shy away from its use. It can lead to the opposite effect of what you are trying for. It can also shock cool the vapors causing off flavors. The water just needs to be cool enough to recondense the vapors. Again a bigger container would eliminate this problem.

[smokindave]

As far as ice. I would shy away from its use. It can lead to the opposite effect of what you are trying for. It can also shock cool the vapors causing off flavors. The water just needs to be cool enough to recondense the vapors. Again a bigger container would eliminate this problem.

Really? Is there such a thing.....shock cooling vapors? Wouldn't the alcohol vapor have to cool from vapor gradually until it condenses. I would have to see some science behind this in order to understand it.

Also, how does the colder water (ice water) cause a lower ABV.......once the vapor is on the product side of the still arm, doesn't it all just condense into liquid. How would the concentration change based on the temp of the cooling water?

Just curious, as I am just a newbie.

[rad14701]

Also, how does the colder water (ice water) cause a lower ABV......

What happens during shock cooling is that, due to the rapid vapor collapse, outside air is actually sucked up into the worm and any moisture it contains binds to the spirits being condensed... This is just part of how the %ABV gets lowered by shock cooling... Another aspect of it has to do with how the cold top of the worm sucks vapor out of the boiler, potentially drawing extra water with it that may not have made it into the worm otherwise due to parasitic reflux... So shock cooling is bad form both ends of the worm...

Your worm bucket (flake stand) should form and maintain a temperature gradient from top to bottom... If you research flake stands you will find that when replacing water in them it is either pumped into the bottom or poured down a tube which extends to the bottom of the vessel so that hot water comes off the top... Floating ice in the water disrupts this temperature gradient, reducing its efficiency...