Preheater/Thumper

[SaltyStaves]

Built a preheater to save me time and energy in the distillery.

Preheater.jpg

The vapour pipe was brazed together and assembled in two halves inside the keg, with the last join being soft soldered in situ (which was a challenge to do through a 4" hole!)

Preheater vapour pipe.jpg

I added a 4" ferrule to the top and a 1" ferrule which can be used for the condenser and a drain port on the bottom so I can get every last drip out and into the main boiler as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I have a mini gin still that uses 1" ferrule accessories, so I had the expansion chamber already and I built a smaller condenser for that still too.
The plumbing had to be overhauled to accommodate the two condensers.

Had my first proper run with it yesterday (an Apple Brandy wash). Three charges to strip, so two charges went through the preheater.
It is going to take me a while to work out how to run this setup. The bottom of the charge remains cool for most of the run, but by the end, its too hot to touch. Insulation for the boiler and drain pipe will need to be added before winter gets here. With the expansion chamber in place, the preheater did not produce a foreshot. Without it, it produced more than a foreshot... So I'm going to have to learn by experience as to how much to expect based on the charge.

If the preheater is charged from the start of the run, the vapour collapses and pools in the vapour pipe. This creates surging that makes foreshot collection very difficult and erratic. Once the charge in the preheater is up to temperature, the collection becomes much smoother. I will have to experiment with it.

Doing three strips in a day would usually result in my cooling water being too hot for a fourth strip. I'm happy to say that yesterday, the water was not even tepid.

The thumper setup is still to come.