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I am entertaining the idea for a new condenser tube. I am thinking of using 1/4" od tube coiled in side of a 2" water jacket (1/2" reduced to 1/4" od where it goes into the 2" jacket), kinda replicating the old school "worm in the barrel" idea. My question is, do you think the 1/4" od tube will be big enough to handle the spirit output of a 8 gallon boiler? I am new to this and wanted to build my own still and this idea seems like it will work but wanted to ask someone with experience before I went this route.

Thanks in advance, buzz

It's going to increase your run time. 1/4" is pretty small. How about going with 1/2".

I run a liebig 1" over 1/2" wrapped in #10 cooper wire 40" long
attaches to the still arm with a union. 1/2 " water lines to a 138 gallon / hr pond pump
water supply is a 55 gallon barrel of water. Starting water temp 55 degrees

Made a strip run yesterday of UJSM 11 gallons
Ran full bore 220volt - 4500 watts plus a 120volt - 1500 watt
Run time start to finish 2 hours 15 minutes stopped at 204 degrees
final output was at 105 degrees

Knocked down every thing I could throw at it

1/4" definitely too small, 1/2" is the minimum and that works very well. My Liebig is 1/2 inside 3/4, and it easily handles 2400 w, with plenty of capacity left over.

HookLine wrote:My Liebig is 1/2 inside 3/4,

Mine too, knocks down everything

Thanks for the help fellas, some things look good in your mind but just don't pan out in reality. I'm one of those people that like to think out side the box just so I can be different I guess. I'm gonna keep reading but I'll never stop thinking. Thanks again for the help!!!

buzz_333 wrote:Thanks for the help fellas, some things look good in your mind but just don't pan out in reality. I'm one of those people that like to think out side the box just so I can be different I guess. I'm gonna keep reading but I'll never stop thinking. Thanks again for the help!!!

New ideas are good. We like new ideas. But they need to be practical and safe.

Forgot to say the length of the coolant jacket of my Liebig, it is 500 mm / 20". It also has spiral coolant flow, and a coil of wire inside the vapour tube, both to help generate some turbulence and increase efficiency.