Pulling product off a bubble cap plate?

[Steve Broady]

I’ve been trying to find any threads where people have tried this, but it doesn’t seem common. There’s probably a very good reason for that, I admit.

Imagine a still with three bubble plates and a reflux condenser at the top. As I understand it, assuming that the RC can knock down all the power you’re putting in, it could just sit there and circulate all day long without anything coming out. Basically, it’s just a crappy heat pump, transferring the heat from the boiler into the cooling water and down the drain. Useless, perhaps, but at least stable.

I’ve read some comments that suggest that, VERY broadly speaking, tails will collect on the bottom plate, hearts in the middle, and heads at the top. I’m certain that it’s not that simple, especially because even with a fairy deep liquid level on a plate, there’s likely far more alcohol in the boiler than can be held on the plates. But just for the sake of discussion, let’s say that it’s at least somewhat related to what’s actually happening inside the still.

Could you put a drain on the middle plate and pull good product off, LM style? And more importantly, would there be any benefit to doing so, compared to either a pot still or any of a number of other more common still designs? As I understand it, this would be a liquid management still, but one aimed at flavored spirits instead of high purity neutral. And done right, it would not need as much vertical space, though possibly more than a simple pot still.

My interest is primarily in flavored spirits, especially whiskey and rum. I have no illusion that such a design would make a particularly good neutral. But would it make a good whiskey? Would it do a better job of separating the heads, hearts, and tails?

I’m absolutely game to try the idea for myself, but some of you have been doing this for a long time and have seen more things than I can even imagine. If it’s been tried and deemed a failure, I haven’t found it yet, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised and would be glad to learn.