Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Wondering if I can get away with a bathtub filled with cold water for cooling for small pot 20l runs? I was going to just grab a pond pump to cycle it through. Would ice be needed for reflux runs given they take longer? Not ideal, but neighbors are getting nosy at my house pump running attached to my big water tank for hours at a time... At least I can dump the water on the garden afterwards.

Cheers

B

I use to run a 300ltr water tank for the 4".
But it was way too much noise with the pump.

Now I just run a hose from the mains.
Waste water goes onto the garden.
Even running the 6" there isn't that much water being used.
The garden loves it too! :handgestures-thumbupleft: :D

The pump I have can hardly be heard when standing next to it there's no way that the neighbours could hear it.
It's a solar hot water recirculating pump 50 ish off fleabay

Submersible pump may be the go :handgestures-thumbupleft: a lot less noise.

If you suspend a submersible pump in the tank it'll be almost silent ;-)

Water is cheap if you have mains water and using tap pressure easy running into a tank and using on garden or direct onto garden its not wasted except if its raining and no need to water the garden .

got queried about water usage a while back by the landlord, and the neighbour notice "a lot" of water running down the gutter last run, the roof gutters and drains around the house drain out to the road gutter, previous house wasn't an issue as it went straight into underground stormwater drain. Now I run a hose from the outlet up some stairs and back into the kitchen sink via the window. Just finished a 3hr run and if it wasn't for the rain the gutter would have been dry, That's for my pot, my reflux is only 5ltrs and I just scrap by with a 60ltr barrel a pond pump and some ice bricks for around 2hrs.

I've got a 750w ozzito submersible pump in a 1000lt IBC out side and suspended and it's still noisy as fuck :angry-banghead:
The ibc works like a base drum and amplifies more sound and the pump also makes an electrical noise which in the still of the night has my neighbors complaining :handgestures-thumbdown:
I'm thinking of putting a transfer pump inside the house but hooked up to the outside IBC to keep the noise down so I can run late into the night :think:

Great responses, thanks! Got a bunnings pump for $50 that will run 750l per hour. I'll drop it in the water tank and see how it goes this week. Unfortunately one of the neighbours asked if my shed had a leak, as they heard dripping, so suspect I will be inside anyway, but some good tips. I seriously need to move to the friggin country. What I could do with space and 3 phase...

Is your pump sitting on the floor of the IBC bayshine?
Try suspending the pump so it is isolated from the plastic inner shell.

$60 from fleabay and you have no idea it's running the boiler makes more noise. Even with 8m run and through a 1/4inch double coil it's got plenty of flow.

Coffee Addict - Love that pump! Its my next pump (when one of the other 2 break) ... just having a bit of an issue when stripping - my 200L barrels of water gets 50+ degrees!! :scared-eek:
wondering if anyone has come up with a good way of recirculating water and cooling it (without the use of multiple bags of ice)...?

I disgused my old rain water tank of about 2000lt (with the top removed) I use for cooling as a fish pond with koi and a small fountain ,too cover any pump noise or curiosity from nosy peeps,never had to answer any stupid questions in over 10years,being metal and haveing no top I think it cools down quicker as well.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Darn if that's not the coolest thing! Here is me trying to keep things not noticeable and you've made a feature of it! ^:)^

Fish tank submersible and return line is under the surface - no noise at all.

Only give-away will be steam rising off water near the end on the run! :mrgreen:

Using an automotive oil cooler with fan can also help for small amounts of coolant;

EziTasting wrote:Coffee Addict - Love that pump! Its my next pump (when one of the other 2 break) ... just having a bit of an issue when stripping - my 200L barrels of water gets 50+ degrees!! :scared-eek:
wondering if anyone has come up with a good way of recirculating water and cooling it (without the use of multiple bags of ice)...?

Ezi, have a look here.
http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9231

I use an aircon radiator with a 50L reservoir. never gets warm even when stripping @6L/h or spirit run over 10h.

Sorry ezi I missed your question. Car radiators work well but will require coolant added to control corrosion long term. also as in the above post/link old aircons have copper radiators and a fan. Easily repurposed just remove the old compressor connect your coolant lines and rewire the fan.

******* NEVER USE COOLANT IN A STILL COOLING CIRCUIT *******
A tiny leak into your product is deadly.

Just use plain water and if it eventually develops a corrosion hole the worst outcome is that your distillate %ABV decreases a bit before you notice.

Read about any coolant/chemical in its SDS before you use it, if you CBF'd reading about it definitely don't use it.

You're absolutely right. You definitely don't want to consume it.

scythe wrote:Is your pump sitting on the floor of the IBC bayshine?
Try suspending the pump so it is isolated from the plastic inner shell.

Its suspended mate, it's just awfully quiet at night where I live an you can hear it a mile away