Combined column and condenser cooling

[Christofurry]

Gday guys,

I'm looking into a still that has a combined water jacket around both the condenser and column.

Has anyone used a similar system? And for the technical guys what would be any issues or pros with such a setup?

Pic attached.

It's all copper and about 1.2m in height with about 1.5m of coil inside the condenser.

Cheers
Chris

[Danespirit]

I've never seen such a construction.
To be honest, I don't know what the benefit should be by using a water jacket around the column...as shown on this still.
It seems the water inlet is at the bottom of the column, so the whole column will get cooled once the water is turned on.
That will cause the vapors to get cooled before they can ascend.
A traditional CM still, would have cooling at the top so the vapors can travel thru the packing/plates and get separated.
On this still, you would have to regulate the cooling water to the column, in order to get product to the product condenser.
From what I see the whole column acts like one big Liebig condenser, so where is the packing that performs the separation...?
I could surely find a better use for this fine copper pipe, than this inferior design.
There are much better designs out there than this..

[rad14701]

I've seen that design and there should be other pictures of it in another topic here in these forums... I would steer away from that flawed design and stick with a tried and true design instead, especially if this is your first still build...

[skow69]

One of the primary rules for column design is that reflux should always return to the top of the packing.

What in the world was anyone thinking when they built that?

[der wo]

But we have to admit, it looks beautiful.

[pfshine]

At least it's not a fat foa. But really with the current way it is designed the condensed alcohol can't stratify and give a better product.

[skow69]

It might even end up with the purest product at the bottom of the column because the alcohol all condensed out on the way up. So you could distill the water out of your wash. Maybe that was the plan. lol

What's a fat foa?

[Swedish Pride]

FOA is an still that was used in the Swedish army at some point, before my time there just know about it, didn't actually get any hands on.
a lad built his own version on it http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 7&start=20

[skow69]

That is a really cool looking still head. I'm still trying to sort out how it works.

[pfshine]

Check these out skow. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... hilit=Ponu

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... hilit=Ponu