Question on water meter

[Jack C]

I was wondering if others monitor the water flow through their reflux condensers. I have a couple meters that I will post a pic of that I was thinking of using. I was thinking that with the power input data from my controller, water flow into my and out going water temp I could start to understand my column better. Maybe that info would help me connect the dots to what I am smelling, seeing, and feeling while running. Have any of you found any value in doing this?

.05 to .5 gallon per minute meter

[OtisT]

Cooling meter and manifold

Hi. Yes, I use the same style of water flow meter. A water meter is absolutely unnecessary for proper operation of your still, but I find the information interesting to know. I run 1/4” OD soft copper tubing coils for both RC and Product condensers. The max flow I get through one is 3.5 to 4 liters/minute (about 1 gallon per minute) and that is enough to knock down 5500W.

Otis

[Jack C]

Thanks for your reply. I checked with a beaker when doing my sac run and it looked like I was using about 1 gallon every 4 minutes for full reflux. I hope the gauge will give me more accurate info while taking product during a normal run.

[Desvio]

It would be fun to add some other numbers into a run, and it might help you reduce waste or over usage if you are on city water. I used to go by the exit temp of the cooling water, but don't watch that as close anymore since I built my cooling reservoir.

[OtisT]

It would be fun to add some other numbers into a run, and it might help you reduce waste or over usage if you are on city water. I used to go by the exit temp of the cooling water, but don't watch that as close anymore since I built my cooling reservoir.

I also use condenser exit temp to determine proper flow rate. The meter just lets me know what the flow is once I tune it. I got the meter because I had folks asking me how much water was used for various operations so I added it to my manifold.

Otis

[Jack C]

Thanks for the input. I was hoping to use all the gathered data points ,input kw,water flow,and condenser exit water temp along with product output to try to get my runs of the same beer stock more consistent.

[Jack C]

As a quick update I did get a chance to use the water meter/valves I posted a pic of. Two runs same feed stock in boiler and the repeatability was great. Just wanted to let others know they worked well. Should work well for anyone as long as there condensers don’t use more water than be metered.

[StillerBoy]

to use all the gathered data points ,input kw,water flow,and condenser exit water temp along with product output to try to get my runs of the same beer stock more consistent.

Your on the right track about gathering data.. unfortunately, metering the water flow, as you will come to see down the road, is not important..

What is important is the water outlet temperature.. on pot still operation, not very important, but on a reflux system, it is very important.. a change of two to three tenth of a degree in water outlet temp will change the refluxing behavior in the column.. so monitoring the water outlet temp in order the maintain a stable temp, become a viable piece of information.. (if you really are interested in see the reaction effect to the refluxing, put a slight glass at top.. it become an interesting learn)

Also very important, in order to develop and assist one to be more consistent, is to load the boiler with the same amount of diluted low wine and abv each and every run.. otherwise you will be getting inconsistent number, and then confusion will enters.. stablizes the boiler load to get consistent behavior..

If you stablize the boiler load and water outlet temp, then one can get a handle on the power management needed to provide the amount of refluxing, and always maintaining the same water outlet temp..

Mars

[Jack C]

Mars
I agree with everything you stated. I have started getting the right equipment to get the data points that are helpful as I see it. Temp of vapor between RC and PC.
Temp of RC water output.For this Auberins has a nice dual temp control module that I will be using.
I use the Auberins boil controller for power input control, this is back checked with a amp meter.
The tower is glass so I can see what is happening.
Thanks for your insights!

[StillerBoy]

Thanks for your insights!

A little more insight.. on the link below, about a third down the the thread, there are pictures of how I'm setup, and the reason behind the use of temp probes and their meaning..

viewtopic.php?f=85&t=77252&p=7592584#p7592584

Mars