Shotgun Condenser
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A shotgun condenser is a highly efficient multi-barreled condenser which is a home distilling version of a tube in shell heat exchanger. It consists of two main parts: the tube bank, which is a number of tubes through which the vapor are routed and condenses, and the shell or jacket, through which water is routed to cool the vapors.
Shotgun condensers have a smaller footprint and is more efficient than the common liebig or worm condensers but are more intricate to manufacture.
Design
A common design for a shotgun condenser is using a 20"x2" pipe for the jacket and 4 or 5 1/2" pipes for the tube bank.
Optimizing the shotgun
- Make sure the pitch (distance between the tubes in the tube bank, center to center) is between 1.25-1.50 of the tube outer diameter.
- Add baffles to create turbulence in the water path.
- The distance between the baffles should be max the inner diameter of the outer shell.
- The baffles should be cut at about 20% of their height.
- Run the cooling water in a counter-flow configuration.