Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I am looking at incorporating a flow meter or 2 into my setup, does anyone have any recommendations?, I'm thinking digital with temp sensors. :think:

They sound cool let us know what you end up with :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I use a cheep eBay pump for my cooling water. It recirculates water through my still and back into my beer kettle which is a 50l keg. I then run mains water through my immersion chiller to keep recirc water at about 25 degrees. Cooling my cooling water with other water. Sounds stupid I know but it gives me consistent flow and consistent temperature. It's nothing flash, just utilising my beer brewing gear :handgestures-thumbupleft:

maddogpearse wrote:I use a cheep eBay pump for my cooling water. It recirculates water through my still and back into my beer kettle which is a 50l keg. I then run mains water through my immersion chiller to keep recirc water at about 25 degrees. Cooling my cooling water with other water. Sounds stupid I know but it gives me consistent flow and consistent temperature. It's nothing flash, just utilising my beer brewing gear :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Im using a pond pump and IBC, last nights run was all over the shop, water is getting too cold, after a 4hr run the water was 5'. Trying to get the water right to the RC was a PITA, figure a flow meter will give me a better idea of where it needs to be at different times of year, plus I get to add some more bits to the still. :think:

Have a look at this Gardena Product. Flow meter and flow count. http://www.gardena.com/au/water-management/hose-connectors/water-smart-flow-meter/
About $50 off ebay.

I been thinking of doing an adruino or Raspberry Pi one similar to this:
https://www.freetronics.com.au/pages/jaycar-water-flow-gauge

The jaycar one looks good, I'm going to go for something I can mount on the column, maybe battery powered, I just want flow rate and temp if its not to hard to wire up. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Tas, pardon my genuine ignorance. Isnt it better to have (very) cold water running as it will assist the condensation/capture of vapour more efficiently. I dont understand your problem.

Within reason i dont think it matters what temp cooling water is. But changing water temps (different months/seasons) means different adjustments on rc. Flow meters and thermometers mean can easily take notes and dial things in quickly, no matter temp or season..

Kenster wrote:Tas, pardon my genuine ignorance. Isnt it better to have (very) cold water running as it will assist the condensation/capture of vapour more efficiently. I dont understand your problem.

I seem to be getting full reflux with a tiny dribble, then struggling to adjust without losing reflux, I used to use a 200L drum in the shed and that worked fine all year. The IBC is outside and plumbed through the shed wall, I swapped out my gate valve for needle valve anticipating this problem, that has not been sufficient. time to get a bit more tech and make things a bit easier. By the way my ambient temp is 7' now and my cooling water is sitting at 3' it doesn't get any sun during winter, also is encased in thin steel.:handgestures-thumbupleft:

thanks guys, guess i just havent had that prob myself and now get what u r trying to achieve...better control. Good luck.