Has Anyone Tested Shorter But Larger Diameter Packed Column?

[Salt Must Flow]

Shady,

Read the first few posts. I was quoting the premises of Salt Must Flow - to compare the two columns at the same power input.

Yes, it would be better for the 4" to run at higher power and get more reflux flow. But 2 X the 3" watts on a 4" might be too high a power and drag tails, as you and others have stated many times.

And if there are not enough theo plate, the 4" probably would not reach 95+% even with more reflux flow.

Haggy

I'll admit, I may have jumped the gun when I said, "same power input". Sure I'll try try it at the same power input, but I probably should have said that power may need to be increased. I was mainly trying to be as clear as I could regarding the height vs volume and use packing sized for a 3" column within a shorter 4" column.

[Salt Must Flow]

.. the rising vapor would be half the speed in comparison to a column that has half of the cross-sectional area. The test would use the same power input, the same size packing, same amount of (or more) packing and the same take-off rate of a 3" column.

So, with the same power input and the same take-off rate as a 3", the 4" would have about the same reflux ratio as the 3".

Why compare the 4" at the same power as the 3?
Wouldn't it be a better comparison to run the 4" at twice the power of the 3" so both have the same vapor speed?

I ran my 4" VM for the first time with a 6' column. I filled the lower half with 1/2" ceramic rings and the upper half with Lava Rock sized for a 3" column. I operated the column at 5500W (twice the power I ran my 3" VM) and the top portion of the column flooded. I had to back the power and the take-off rate 10% to keep it from flooding. The 3" sized packing was the bottleneck in this instance.

This is part of the reason I'm interested in testing this. I'm curious if a 4" column 3' tall filled with 3" sized packing could be operated as though it is a 3" column and not sacrifice quality. Sure the power may need to be increased.

[shadylane]

I ran my 4" VM for the first time with a 6' column. I filled the lower half with 1/2" ceramic rings and the upper half with Lava Rock sized for a 3" column. I operated the column at 5500W (twice the power I ran my 3" VM) and the top portion of the column flooded. I had to back the power and the take-off rate 10% to keep it from flooding. The 3" sized packing was the bottleneck in this instance.

This is part of the reason I'm interested in testing this. I'm curious if a 4" column 3' tall filled with 3" sized packing could be operated as though it is a 3" column and not sacrifice quality. Sure the power may need to be increased.

Short or tall, I'm thinking the best packing size is based on column diameter and power, not column height.
Using smaller size on the top I'm not sure about. I think it works best but I'm only guessing.
Quality is subjective, be it max ABV or getting the character from the boiler charge that you want.