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I’m wondering how much cooling water y’all use when running your stills? I am working on a total rebuild so I figured I would give my external condenser an overhaul as well or possibly go to a internal column mounted condenser but I would like to keep my water usage as low as possible. I originally went with a worm style i.e. high volume/low velocity in the hopes I could keep my total usage low. However, when I really think about it either style (high volume/low velocity or low volume/high velocity) condenser has to remove the same amount of heat so they should use similar amounts of water IF the outlet temperatures are the same. I was seeing cooling water temperatures of 90°F to 110°F exiting my condenser and my total usage was about 25 – 30 gallons for a 2-3 hour run (20 L of wash). How does this compare to the cooling water rates y’all are seeing for similar sized stills? Any suggestions for a design that uses the least cooling water for a given boiler duty?

I recycle, mine through a garbage can with a pond pump. I add gallon milk cartons of ice to help keep it cool during the process. I probably go through 3 gallon jugs of ice (I re-use) and drain the garbage can about 1/2 way twice during an 11-12 hour run! Garbage can is medium size.

I also run about 25 gallons of cooling water on a 5 gal stripping run. Bit more on a spirit run. I run my cooling water into the washing machine and do laundry when run is complete. Not elegant, but does save some water which we pay dearly for and our sewage bill is based on water consumption so its a double whammy. I have thought about a small radiator, fan and reservoir, but I don't really have the extra space, I run in an already cramped laundry room.

stilly

I'm thinking along similar lines as I get ready to build a new still myself.

I think the way to go would be a quite long liebig, that you run the water through slowly - the reasoning being that with a liebig you can get near complete heat exchange, so the cooling water could come out very close to the vapour temperature at the still head. The idea would be to tweak the water flow so that the water temperature is as high as possible as it comes out the top, with the constraint that it be reasonably cool at the midpoint.

When I'm running the VM/Bok, I have about 2L per min going through the rig.
I have a recycling 200L plastic barrel with a pond pump and bypass fitted.
I place 4 1 Gal plastic ice blocks into the barrel. Water is about 25°C - 30°C after a 12 hour run...

Hope it helps...

Both my stills, SS column and Copper flute use 2300 watts of electric power to heat and 800-1000mls/minute to cool( I think that's about 12 gals/hour I think). I monitor the exit water temperature and manage the flow to keep it around 60 degC.
Regards

I started with just a trashcan and pump, 45 gallon, and find I have to empty it halfway (after taking about a gallon of product) then refill with the hose.

I am now using a radiator located above the trash can and a box fan. The results are good as the radiator acts as quite the heat sink, but I dont think my cheap box fan can keep up. Thinking I will upgrade to a better faster fan and then maybe build a box to ensure all the air is forced through the radiator. Square fan, rectangular radiator...

Added bonus, works as a nice swamp cooler in the shed...

Oh, also, cheers on the gallon sized ice blocks, great idea I will have to try.

I have a slightly different system. I have a 160 litre drum inside the still room that contains the pump. This is connected to a stonking big tank outside.

I use just a 50ltr can and a pond pump.

I am using a old airconditioner indoor part with inbuild fan as radiator. The results are very good as the radiator acts as quite the heat sink.

Begin temp is 20 deg C. and finish temp is 30 deg. C. after distiling 25 ltr of mash.