Cooling water

[Wildcatdistiller]

Is your fan facing towards the ceiling or towards the ground?

Also, you said you used 3-4 buckets. Looks like only two where needed. Could you explain a little bit?

[BamaBill]

Is your fan facing towards the ceiling or towards the ground?

Also, you said you used 3-4 buckets. Looks like only two where needed. Could you explain a little bit?

When
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I face the fan up. I tried down as well, this worked better. 3-4 bucket confusion: I previously ran a worm styled condenser in a 5gallon bucket and it took me 3-4 times (bucket fulls) replacing the water (it got too hot).
I used two 5 gallon buckets to build this. I also have a better design (higher capacity) I haven't built yet.

[kimbodious]

looking foward to seeing the new design

[BamaBill]

It's been a while since I visited this topic, but here's a simple build for recirculation of cooling water. I built this out of things I had lying around. The only water loss is evaporation. I am using a home built shotgun liebig and run it as fast as it can condense. I typically run 15 gallons of mash thru a thumper with a yield 2 gallons of 115 proof. The cooling tower water does heat up, but also keeps up. I can reuse the same water for a few 15 gallon runs without adding any.

[BamaBill]

Second view

[BamaBill]

A little breakdown

[kimbodious]

Cool, I like the new developments! So the air is now being drawn in through the holes drilled around the lid of the reservoir? Are you using the colander to shape a dome of the AC filter material? Great work!

[jog666]

I really like this idea. If set up correctly, I can see how an undersized cooling setup could easily keep up. Or even keep up when running hard.



Ive been around these type of fans/coolers for years. They work wonders when its 90%+ humidity & 100*+ Chicken houses use the same thing as the fans, just scaled WAY up. Scaling it down or even using one in the cooling system could work since they have built in pumps.

[BamaBill]

Kimbodious,
The collander was a cheap plastic one, about a dollar. It was a cheap, easy way to hold the media and already had holes for the water drainage and airflow.
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This entire idea saves me from wasting alot of water. I wonder how much waste a liebig has if it just runs out on the ground over a 15 gallon mash run.

[FlintHills]

That is pretty impressive that 5 gallons is able to cool your 15 gallon still. I finally got a chance to do a cleaning run done on my unit and decided to try out the cooling system, only using a five gallon bucket and it didn’t stay cool for long. Ever since, I’ve been racking my brain trying to determine a cooling method that will work well enough to start my first run. I think this will help me out a lot! So thank you Being my unit is a bit bigger I think I’m going to try your concept with 20 gallon barrels

[BamaBill]

Flint,
You could use a cheap box fan and a 55 gal drum pretty easily.
I doubt this $15 harbor freight pump will meet your demand if you're alot larger.
My intentions are to get another keg and increase to a 30gal pot. I may or may not have to upgrade cooling. I'll try this first.

[FlintHills]

Flint,
You could use a cheap box fan and a 55 gal drum pretty easily.
I doubt this $15 harbor freight pump will meet your demand if you're alot larger.
My intentions are to get another keg and increase to a 30gal pot. I may or may not have to upgrade cooling. I'll try this first.

A 30 gal is what I currently have, I have a decent pump I believe, I’ve been struggling with the water capacity I may need or a way to help cool the heated water. A box fan and a drum may be a sound idea, I wonder if a box fan would pull enough cfm to make it efficient?

[BamaBill]

I would think so, this little fan I'm using will handle a 25 gal pot. If not you can always use the fan the next time to blow on you while you're out there. Lol
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What kind of condenser are you running?

[FlintHills]

I would think so, this little fan I'm using will handle a 25 gal pot. If not you can always use the fan the next time to blow on you while you're out there. Lol
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What kind of condenser are you running?

I use a 24” Liebig. As I tend to go up and beyond what is necessary, I picked up 2x 44 gallon brutes and a 14” floor fan; I’m working towards build a larger version of what you built

[Bushman]

Visited a distillery yesterday and he hasn't changed his tanks of water in years, every thing is cooled with radiators. Impressive set-up wish I would have taken pictures.

[FlintHills]

Visited a distillery yesterday and he hasn't changed his tanks of water in years, every thing is cooled with radiators. Impressive set-up wish I would have taken pictures.

I always wish I would take more pictures when I go to them. I went out to bluefish dillery in Colorado, he’s a member in here, he keeps 2 ibc totes for cooling water and only has to top them off maybe once a yr. I wish I had enough space for that lol

[Bushman]

The radiator is not a working radiator he just ran a fan at it while the water past through the radiator, I see an experiment in my future.

[FlintHills]

The radiator is not a working radiator he just ran a fan at it while the water past through the radiator, I see an experiment in my future.

I gotcha! I actually found a few cooling (maybe heating) coils that came out of a small fridge from a different project, I thought I’d do the same if for some reason my current cooling build doesn’t sufficiently cool the water

[bluefish_dist]

Visited a distillery yesterday and he hasn't changed his tanks of water in years, every thing is cooled with radiators. Impressive set-up wish I would have taken pictures.

I always wish I would take more pictures when I go to them. I went out to bluefish dillery in Colorado, he’s a member in here, he keeps 2 ibc totes for cooling water and only has to top them off maybe once a yr. I wish I had enough space for that lol

Yep, use two ibc's for cooling. They work great in the winter, but struggle a little in the summer as it takes longer to cool down and they don't get as cold. 60 deg winter, 80 summer for the base temp. I have considered adding a radiator to the return line to help shed some heat.

[Oldvine Zin]

Something like this?

OVZ

[FlintHills]

Visited a distillery yesterday and he hasn't changed his tanks of water in years, every thing is cooled with radiators. Impressive set-up wish I would have taken pictures.

I always wish I would take more pictures when I go to them. I went out to bluefish dillery in Colorado, he’s a member in here, he keeps 2 ibc totes for cooling water and only has to top them off maybe once a yr. I wish I had enough space for that lol

Yep, use two ibc's for cooling. They work great in the winter, but struggle a little in the summer as it takes longer to cool down and they don't get as cold. 60 deg winter, 80 summer for the base temp. I have considered adding a radiator to the return line to help shed some heat.

I was pretty impressed with your solution to retain the water. It wasn’t something I had thought about yet when putting my setup together. But I’d imagine it’s pretty cost saving over the long term.

Something like this?

newcool2.JPG

OVZ

That’s pretty snazzy! How’d you go about finding a radiator that was almost the same size as your box fan?

[still_stirrin]

That’s pretty snazzy! How’d you go about finding a radiator that was almost the same size as your box fan?

I bet a transmission cooler HEX would work great. Check out your local automotive parts shop. They'll have them. Maybe even the Walmarts.
ss

[RedwoodHillBilly]

That’s pretty snazzy! How’d you go about finding a radiator that was almost the same size as your box fan?

I bet a transmission cooler HEX would work great. Check out your local automotive parts shop. They'll have them. Maybe even the Walmarts.
ss

Do you mean something like this? They're transmission coolers and are available from Amazon. They heat the basement pretty well.

[Bushman]

RedwoodHillBilly are you doing a full run with only a sink of water? That's impressive!

[RedwoodHillBilly]

RedwoodHillBilly are you doing a full run with only a sink of water? That's impressive!

Normally, yes it will. If I run it in extended reflux, I might need another sink full. In pot still mode, it has plenty of cooling capacity with just one sink full.

[flyweed]

I love the transmission cooler, fan idea. my still is small at only 8 gallons....think I could get by with a single cooler unit, or small radiator with fan blowing through it?

[Oldvine Zin]

That’s pretty snazzy! How’d you go about finding a radiator that was almost the same size as your box fan?

Was working on a BMW 320i and bingo saw the radiator was about the right size. A friend had an almost new one that wouldn't pass a pressure test, traded for a bottle of wine

OVZ

[Yummyrum]

Bloody hell Redwood HB . How did you get away with screwing that sexy cooler to the Kitchen wall
I see my nuts kicked hard Iff'n I even thought about it

[kimbodious]

Hijack much! BamaBill's compact efficient design cools the water directly by making it fall down a column of chilled air and through a chilled permeable layer.

[RedwoodHillBilly]

Bloody hell Redwood HB . How did you get away with screwing that sexy cooler to the Kitchen wall
I see my nuts kicked hard Iff'n I even thought about it

The "kitchen" is in the basement. It's my lab/man cave.