Cooling water question???

partsbill · Post by **partsbill** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 5:43 am

Mornin all! After reading this morning for several hours as I have for the past 2 weeks(this stuff is really fascinating!!!), I'm going out today to get materials for building a valved reflux still found at moonshine-still.org. After figuring the last question by myself this morning, I have an idea to help my cooling water supply and wondered what the experts thought. When I go out on my boat, I take drinks along. In addition to the 2 bags of ice that goes in the cooler, I always place several frozen 2-liter drink bottles i the to keep the cooler colder/longer. Also helps to have a little fresh water to drink also. When I get my still up and running, does it seem feasible to have a closed supply loop of water...say 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket with frozen bottles to keep the water cooled? I have at least a dozen of these in my freezer availiable for use. What'cha think?

stil_chillin · Post by **stil_chillin** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:03 am

sounds good to me

Stangas · Post by **Stangas** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:44 pm

that does sound good..

how would you do it.. us an aquarium pump or something?

I have an old style double concrete laundry sink.. would be perfect for that.

TEC · Post by **TEC** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:13 pm

Depends on what size and style of still you are using. If you are trying to run a standard 25 liter wash, you would be around the minimum for a pot still and very lacking for a reflux still.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:04 pm

a general rule of thumb for a potstill is the cooling water resevoir needs to be the same volume as the boiler. If your running a reflux then it gets a little more complicated, but not much... just think big. I've done a run with a 55 gallon drum of rainwater and it worked just fine. If its hot outside you need a pump that moves the water through pretty quick. Those little aquarium pumps aren't up to the job in my opinion. They have a hard time pumping water up to the condensor, much less pushing it through with enough velocity to knock down all the ethanol vapor when its hot out... I fooled around one day and hooked up a 1" transfer pump(cheap $39 chinese version... be sure to dry and oil it after every use) with a couple valves that I could use to direct some water to the condensor and some back to the tank. This rig didn't strain the pump and allowed me to really push the water through my condensor. High volume of water through the condensor is important when its hot and the cooling water is warm too. A big concrete laundry heat sink is sure to help too.