Electrical efficiency (Wh/gal) vs ABV out, of a continuous stripper

[pipes+hose]

I often see estimates and reports of how many watt hours are needed to process one gallon of beer (at 10abv) input, Wh/gal., And i got curious about how these figures related to the abv output. I couldn't find a topic applicable to this specifically and didn't want to off topic someone's thread so I've made s new topic .

408 Wh/gal is the most famous (based on a computer simulation) but i have no idea what abv out is for.

I've seen a number of people get around 400 wh/gal running 50 or so abv out. And I've seen that drmiller100 gets around 200 wh/gal on 95% out.

I'm interested in finding out what ABV outputs people are getting versus their electrical efficiency (and what they're beer abv in is). If anyone has numbers they are willing to share is be interested in seeing them.

Cool, thanks for the data.
So 190 watts per gallon, per hour.

We originally used 408 watts (and still do) as a baseline for heat input. This was based on ASPEN modeling.
But then we significantly increased the capacity of the (our) two heat exchangers used to preheat the beer. We then theorized that the heat used was somewhere in the area of 330 watts per gallon. Naturally we were pleased to have increased the efficiency.

Then we got some data back from a legal operator in Tampa using 240 watts per gallon per hour. However his beer preheat / heat recovery is not optimal. When the ambient temps in his building are low because of wind and / or rain (or the like) his still becomes far more unstable. So we reckon that he could use a bit more power input and / or do a better job of recovering heat. He will soon upgrade his ability to achieve more consistent behavior.

None the less we were super impressed at the 240 watt per gallon input. Therefore your 190 watts per gallon is very impressive indeed.

On a later thread i saw LWTCS say he had confirmation of 380 Wh/gal.

LWTCS: can you share what abv output those wh/gal figures were for?

[LWTCS]

On a 10% ( + or -) beer, ABV comes over from the stripper at 50% ( + or -).

[Bolverk]

I dont think you are going to find many examples on the hobby side of things, sadly it's just not that common.

I think that 50% we see so much is in an ideal situation based on the vapor condensation charts we use. If the goal is to run the stripper to max efficiency for beverage alcohol, then achieving 1 distillation is the goal and that 1 distillation gets you about 50% with a normal 10% beer.

Some real world observations I've seen (for just a stripping column with no rectification above the beer feed) show that if you're getting a higher % output it's because your column has more alcohol than it can produce and you will likely have a higher % of alcohol in your effluent. Conversely if your output abv is too low it is because you have steam vapor carrying over and diluting your low wines.

I've spoken with a pro in CA that makes grape brandy, he's running an 8" 4 plate column at approx 1 gpm and his low wines are coming over at about 75%. But is column is not really dialed in to run really efficiently, so he has to run at nearly 1000 wh/gal to keep is effluent at less 1% alcohol.

LWTCS knows a pro in FL that is so dialed in that he's able to strip rum at 290 wh/gal and still get the approx 50% low wines.

I can't speak the the fuel alcohol side other than to say if you're pulling that high of a proof you've got to be using a beer thats higher than 10% and running some sort of rectification above the beer feed (20% abv would come over at about 65-70%).

[drmiller100]

I often see estimates and reports of how many watt hours are needed to process one gallon of beer (at 10abv) input, Wh/gal., And i got curious about how these figures related to the abv output. I couldn't find a topic applicable to this specifically and didn't want to off topic someone's thread so I've made s new topic .

408 Wh/gal is the most famous (based on a computer simulation) but i have no idea what abv out is for.

I've seen a number of people get around 400 wh/gal running 50 or so abv out. And I've seen that drmiller100 gets around 200 wh/gal on 95% out.

I'm interested in finding out what ABV outputs people are getting versus their electrical efficiency (and what they're beer abv in is). If anyone has numbers they are willing to share is be interested in seeing them.

Cool, thanks for the data.
So 190 watts per gallon, per hour.

We originally used 408 watts (and still do) as a baseline for heat input. This was based on ASPEN modeling.
But then we significantly increased the capacity of the (our) two heat exchangers used to preheat the beer. We then theorized that the heat used was somewhere in the area of 330 watts per gallon. Naturally we were pleased to have increased the efficiency.

Then we got some data back from a legal operator in Tampa using 240 watts per gallon per hour. However his beer preheat / heat recovery is not optimal. When the ambient temps in his building are low because of wind and / or rain (or the like) his still becomes far more unstable. So we reckon that he could use a bit more power input and / or do a better job of recovering heat. He will soon upgrade his ability to achieve more consistent behavior.

None the less we were super impressed at the 240 watt per gallon input. Therefore your 190 watts per gallon is very impressive indeed.

On a later thread i saw LWTCS say he had confirmation of 380 Wh/gal.

LWTCS: can you share what abv output those wh/gal figures were for?

Like I said the energy is the same. The column does the work.

Have a poor column packing efficiency goes way down. It is as hard to go from 10 percent at the bottom to 96 at the top as it is to go from 10 percent beer to . 5 percent at the boiler.