Mr P's Bubble Bumper experiment.

[Prairiepiss]

I would say most plated columns are not insulated. For pure looks. Kinda a artsy thing. Truthfully I have not seen any good comparisons with or without insulation. I don't think I've even seen anyone say they have used insulation on one. I've seen a few mentions of it on hybrid setups. But mainly just on the packed section. Not the plated section. And you may have a good point. And from the information available. I would say it would be better not to insulate a plated section or column. Because of the temps. And how they work out.

[Prairiepiss]

Didn't hear any mumbling Larry. Quite happy to listen to you and Mr Piss talking shop all day.

Larry is good about filling in the blanks I leave out. Usually about the temps.

[Saltbush Bill]

But mainly just on the packed section.

Exactly my point. This is where you do need insulation if you want to use a packed column on top of a plated column to produce a good neutral, Im a truck driver not a scientist I look at this in very simple terms , going on common sense and gut feeling a lot of the time

[emptyglass]

To further add to PP's response,
The first responsibility of the liquid on the plate is to condense incoming vapor. Therefore the liquid is a condenser,,,,,,a heat exchanger.
And the deeper the liquid bed is, the more capacitance the liquid bed has to absorb what will become unneeded heat. And by that I mean that the heat needed to render ethanol from a 10% boiler charge is not at all the same heat needed to render ethanol from a 40% charge on your first plate. You will have spare heat that has to be delt with some how for more optimal separation. So the deeper liquid bath can absorb more heat than the shallow bath.......Think big worm bucket vs small worm bucket.

Mike Nixon has explained that we only want to apply just enough heat to evaporate ethanol for optimal purity. The problem is that by only applying just enough heat,,,,,,One's "honey do" list will take that much longer to complete. We are impatient by nature and want optimal separation more quickly if we can..........I do any way.

By using a deeper liquid bed that happens to consist of alcohol, you get a better self regulating heat exchanger. As it it the abv on the plate that determines the vapor temps that pass to the next stage and the unneeded heat is better managed and automatically managed by the deeper liquid.

Lower vapor temps = Higher abv

I am not at all implying that this strategy is the be all to end all when it comes to very precise separation. The flavor notes can and do get trapped on the plates to the point where flavors can in fact become concentrated,,,,,,,both good and bad. And if you throw too much heat at your boiler just to see how hard you can run you will note that it is entirely possible to drag tails up into 90%+ likker.

I'll stop mumbling now.

Lovin da work mate!

[Prairiepiss]

But mainly just on the packed section.

Exactly my point. This is where you do need insulation if you want to use a packed column on top of a plated column to produce a good neutral, Im a truck driver not a scientist I look at this in very simple terms , going on common sense and gut feeling a lot of the time

I'm not sure I would say you have to have insulation. It may improve performance in some situations. But I don't think its a requirement. I run my still indoors. And have never needed it.

[WooTeck]

ive just stumbled on to this thread. WOW thats one looker

[Prairiepiss]

Thanks.