Home Distiller

Since I completely retired at the end of 2020, I now have more time to get back to things.

Also since I live in the desert, and don't have ready access to a drain, I'm interested in air-cooling.

My last attempt was a pot-still/thumper/swamp-cooled version that worked pretty well.

This time I'm going to try a version of a system from Riku's book on automatic stills. It's supposed to allow heads collection in a more concentrated form. The top section uses a water-cooled coil to help condense the heads, which can be collected and drained.

The main takeoff goes to an air-cooled condenser similar to this one.

I'm in the process now of checking for leaks, etc, and will steam test it before trying it with some wash.

I went fully air cooled and it works ok but is certainly louder than a water cooled setup.

Nice looking VM build
That's the first time I've seen a boiler level sight gauge like that
Since it's a VM with a valve, is there a vent

shadylane wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:40 pm Nice looking VM build
That's the first time I've seen a boiler level sight gauge like that
Since it's a VM with a valve, is there a vent

Yeah, the cooling coil (horizontal dephleg??) has a vent built-in.
Running a test with just water today to check for leaks, and make sure the vent works.

Water Test Update: Everything was sealed tight, and the vent worked as expected, as well as the collection port for heads.

I've never rated an air cooler but I like the idea .. One question: you put a set of fans (per pc) inside the full length of the outlet tube, right? With a view to "energy saving and amperage" I would think of a single fan at the bottom and the hot air outlet at the top, the product tube wrapped in perforated (or spirally arranged) foils so that the air can circulate from bottom to top, all closed in a tube. It's just an idea, I don't know if it would work.
Something like that (sorry for the quick drawing)

Demy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 9:05 am I've never rated an air cooler but I like the idea .. One question: you put a set of fans (per pc) inside the full length of the outlet tube, right? With a view to "energy saving and amperage" I would think of a single fan at the bottom and the hot air outlet at the top, the product tube wrapped in perforated (or spirally arranged) foils so that the air can circulate from bottom to top, all closed in a tube. It's just an idea, I don't know if it would work.
Something like that (sorry for the quick drawing)Immagine.png

This is a setup I tested that uses forced air through a swamp-cooled fabric inside the coil with a fan on top. I recirculated about 2-3 gal of water through the membrane and was able to do a run in the middle of a Las Vegas 110+ degree day. It was just a little messy, as the fan would occaionally blow water out of the fabric.

I can't find it now, but I saw a thread where someone made an air cooled condenser using something like this hydronic baseboard element: He said he'd never go back to water cooling.

I thought about cutting this 4' element in half and removing a few fins near the cut, then making a 2' parallel element. Enclose in a 3 sided box with some PC fans to blow air across the fins. rather rough drawing - not to scale

homebrewer25 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:19 am I can't find it now, but I saw a thread where someone made an air cooled condenser using something like this hydronic baseboard element:
heater element.PNG
He said he'd never go back to water cooling.

I thought about cutting this 4' element in half and removing a few fins near the cut, then making a 2' parallel element. Enclose in a 3 sided box with some PC fans to blow air across the fins.
air condenser.png

rather rough drawing - not to scale

Here's the link you referred to.

I've made one using a 6-foot baseboard element, 18 P.C. fans, and a 12 VDC supply. it's on the right-hand side of my first picture.