So taking my inspiration from Shadylane (original thread found here: viewtopic.php?t=56652 )
I went about building myself an air cooled condenser. There were two main reasons for this first is the fact that my liebig couldn't keep up during stripping runs, second messing with water in an unheated garage in a midwest winter is not my idea of fun.
I went with 3/4" fin tube in a parallel design.
My rig is a 13Gallon milk can boiler with a 3" riser. I come off the riser with a3/4" ferrule then I used a combination of t's and elbows to make a parallel condenser with four 3' long fin tubes. Works like a charm. Did a stripping run today with some SBB rum and my take off rate was 1.2 liters in 15 minutes.
Doug
It was about 60 F in the garage today. I was running my fan on medium and the distillate was about 75F as it hit the jars. The temp went up as I got deeper into the run but that was expected. When I was doing the sacrificial run this morning I shut off the fan and waited until vapor was pouring out, turned the fan on high and within 60 seconds I was back to a no vapor situation.
D.
Just_Doug wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 5:25 pm
messing with water in an unheated garage in a midwest winter is not my idea of fun.
Frozen water hoses are a pain.
Plus, now you get some extra garage heat.
How equal was the take-off rate on the 4 finned tubes?
Close enough that I couldn't tell a difference just by looking at the jars.
D.
Have you thought of adding a slanted manifold on the end so you can consolidate collection to one vessel?
Might be easier than trying to switch out 4 jars at a time. Not to mention it'll help keep labeling simple.
I plan on a "distillate gutter" of some fashion. I am leaning towards making it out of stainless roof flashing. I would like it to be easy to remove so I can collect into 4 jars for stripping runs.
Another thing I noticed was that during my vinegar run I was not able to get steam blasting out of the take off as so many do. It was more like fast drips with steam wafting out of the condenser. Just what I was hoping for to be honest.
cob wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 6:48 pm
Just_Doug is it possible to rotate that condenser 90* to see if they still condense equally oriented vertically?
I get in trouble all the time for thinking. nice build BTW
I could but that would put my output right next to the flame so I probably shouldn't. That said I feel pretty confident that they would output evenly. I say that because there is no manifold to change the vapor flow, at the T's the vapor effectively runs into a wall and has to go right or left. The flatter angle is by design to slow down the condensate and give it a chance to cool off a little more before it come out.
zach wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:15 am
What was the input power to the boiler?
I heat with propane, I believe the max for my burner is 30,000 BTU. I know for sure it's not one of the special high pressure burners. It uses a standard "grill" type pressure regulator. I had it running pretty much wide open.
Ben wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 9:54 am
I'd be interested to hear if you feel like smearing is worse or not, or if there is any difference in flavor between the 4 jars during spirit run.
Might be a while before I can answer that well for a few reasons. First I am still way new to this so I'm still learning cuts. Second I'm currently running all molasses rum and my reading indicates that rum is not known for making tight cuts, kind of smelly by nature (I consider that a good thing, I love rum!). I'm trying to get enough done to fill a 10 Gallon barrel before Christmas so I can open it up in two years
All that said I did make an observation when doing my cleaning run. I dropped a couple of pcs of cut off 3/4 pipe into the boiler they were about an inch long. I didn't notice it until I broke the still down but a couple of them were standing on end. I noticed during the cleaning run that I was getting some odd sounds and puffs of steam like something was flash boiling. I think what was happening was that the liquid would boil out of the copper piece and them liquid would rush into it and hit the hot bottom of the boiler and flash steam.
All of that to say that when this flash boil happened I would get a little extra puff of steam out of all 4 outlets. Not sure if that means anything as to the smearing but it makes me think that vapor is distributing fairly evenly to the 4 take off tubes.
Ben wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 9:54 am
I'd be interested to hear if you feel like smearing is worse or not, or if there is any difference in flavor between the 4 jars during spirit run.
Might be a while before I can answer that well for a few reasons. First I am still way new to this so I'm still learning cuts. Second I'm currently running all molasses rum and my reading indicates that rum is not known for making tight cuts, kind of smelly by nature (I consider that a good thing, I love rum!). I'm trying to get enough done to fill a 10 Gallon barrel before Christmas so I can open it up in two years
All that said I did make an observation when doing my cleaning run. I dropped a couple of pcs of cut off 3/4 pipe into the boiler they were about an inch long. I didn't notice it until I broke the still down but a couple of them were standing on end. I noticed during the cleaning run that I was getting some odd sounds and puffs of steam like something was flash boiling. I think what was happening was that the liquid would boil out of the copper piece and them liquid would rush into it and hit the hot bottom of the boiler and flash steam.
All of that to say that when this flash boil happened I would get a little extra puff of steam out of all 4 outlets. Not sure if that means anything as to the smearing but it makes me think that vapor is distributing fairly evenly to the 4 take off tubes.
D.
I'd say you're probably right. You could solve that issue by notching the end of the pieces so they don't form a seal on the bottom of the boiler or you could try cutting longer pieces so they won't stand on end.
Im intrigued by your design. Have you thought about orienting them into a square pattern instead of linear to see if it's as effective with a smaller footprint?
Doug
I see in your other topic that you did a real strip with this
How did it run ?
I’m curious about how even equal were the flow rates between each of the four tubes .
What was the combines takeoff rate ? What temp was the distillate coming off ? Did you need to use a fan ?
Yummyrum wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 2:14 pm
Doug
I see in your other topic that you did a real strip with this
How did it run ? Ran great except for the wash coming through and discoloring the one jar.
I’m curious about how even equal were the flow rates between each of the four tubes . They come off at a very even rate, within 25ml of each other when 400ml is in the jars.
What was the combines takeoff rate ? The all grain I ran had a very poor conversion rate so low alcohol and I stopped it early because of the odd colored distillate coming out of tube 1. I will update when I rum my SSB rum wash tomorrow or next weekend. I do believe for my set up power input is now the limiting factor.
What temp was the distillate coming off ? It was 25F in the garage today and with my fan on low it was coming off at around 40F.
Did you need to use a fan ? I did have to use the fan or I got vapor after a couple of minutes. I think a fan is a must unless you go real long with the fin tube and have a cool/cold space to work in.
Just_Doug wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 3:27 pm
After reading about the troubles Shady had with the manifold I decided to just use the T's and it has worked out well for me.
D.
I feel proud to be held up as an example of how not to do something.
You made a good choice using tee's.
Just_Doug wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 3:27 pm
After reading about the troubles Shady had with the manifold I decided to just use the T's and it has worked out well for me.
D.
I feel proud to be held up as an example of how not to do something.
You made a good choice using tee's.
To be honest my skills aren't up to making a manifold so the decision was a rather easy one. Hell I'm happy that the damn thing didn't leak.
I also love the air cooled reflux condenser you made. I have a very high ceiling in my garage (open rafters) so I may have to steal that idea as well sometime.
Hey Doug, where did you find the finned tubes? I might look into making one since I usually do my stripping runs in cool temps also. I would probably still use water for spirit runs on my boka. Dealing with water in the stilling shed is a pain when temps plummet after a run.
Lord, give me patience, but give it to me NOW!
2" x 38" Bokakob column head, 15 gallon keg boiler
Yummyrum wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 2:14 pm
Doug
I see in your other topic that you did a real strip with this
How did it run ?
I’m curious about how even equal were the flow rates between each of the four tubes .
What was the combines takeoff rate ? What temp was the distillate coming off ? Did you need to use a fan ?
I finally got around to stripping the SBB rum that's been sitting around for a few weeks and I was able to verify a couple of things. Once again my take off temp was about 15-20 degrees (F) warmer that the air temp.
My take off rate was 800ml in 9 minutes during the front half of the run. It slowed considerably as the run went on. The limiting factor for my setup now is heat input with propane. I'm ok with this and am not looking to speed up the process. That said I may get set up with electric at some point as well.
5.3 L/hr mightn't be the fastest stripper in town , but its nothin to be sneezed at . Considering you are not having to use any cooling water , I’d say its a win too . Well done Doug
Just_Doug wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:09 am
The limiting factor for my setup now is heat input with propane. I'm ok with this and am not looking to speed up the process. That said I may get set up with electric at some point as well.
You'll like electric.
Until then a better heat shroud would cut down on fuel consumption.
nice build BTW 
