500L still feedback: wash processing time

[TheLazyWombat]

G'day Folks,

First time poster... it's nice to be a part of the community! I was wondering if I could get some feedback on a proposed system that I have in mind. I'm in the very early planning stages of setting up a distillery in Victoria. I'm looking at purchasing a multipurpose pot still of 500L volume with two separate columns - a 4x plate and a 12x plate to give me flexibility in my product mix - the system will be steam heated. At the moment I'm trying to ascertain my production capacity and am wondering what sort of time frame it would take for a 500L still to process its wash? Some of my products will be gin like so will not go through the column/s, some products will go via the 4x plate, others will go via the 12x plate and others will go via the 12 & 4 combined (16 plate). Both columns will have a dephlegmator. I know it's impossible to put a definite figure on it so I'm looking purely for a guide i.e. 500L in an 8 hour time frame would be considered a good figure to work with. Appreciate your feedback.

[The Stig]

Welcome to our little hobby forum.
I moved your post here as its your first

[TheLazyWombat]

Thanks Mate, appreciate your shifting it

[bluc]

Diameter of still will determine run speed. 4" prob to small 3ish hours per 45l wash. 6" will almost double a 4" and 8" will almost double that. You would prob get it done with 8" but 12" would give you more leaway..will also depend what % your wash is ...

[TheLazyWombat]

Thanks @bluc for your feedback... diameter is kind of a crucial parameter isn't it :angry-banghead: apologies... specs read as 400mm

One of the products will be from an approx 30% neutral base and the other will come from an ~8% grain wash which will go through, potentially, twice

Diameter of still will determine run speed. 4" prob to small 3ish hours per 45l wash. 6" will almost double a 4" and 8" will almost double that. You would prob get it done with 8" but 12" would give you more leaway..will also depend what % your wash is ...

[RC Al]

16" should be on a -much- bigger boiler and will require an insane amount of power to run

I doubt you would run the 12 plates very successfully from a wash, it would have to be a pretty big charge of low wines to get all the plates loaded

With 400l of wash and 15kw of power you could achieve your 8h run time goal including heat up time with a 6", easily with an 8

Seems you maybe need to talk to Andrew on the phone for this level of gear, but you would be best off doing much more research before hand and know things like power availability and roof height

[TheLazyWombat]

Thanks for that feedback... research is why I'm here... and I'm a long way off buying a commercial setup but am starting the process of getting as much information and understanding together as I can at the moment

16" should be on a -much- bigger boiler and will require an insane amount of power to run

I doubt you would run the 12 plates very successfully from a wash, it would have to be a pretty big charge of low wines to get all the plates loaded

With 400l of wash and 15kw of power you could achieve your 8h run time goal including heat up time with a 6", easily with an 8

Seems you maybe need to talk to Andrew on the phone for this level of gear, but you would be best off doing much more research before hand and know things like power availability and roof height

[TheLazyWombat]

Just to clarify your feedback - is the issue with charging the 12 plate column, not the 4 plate? I'm proposing a 250kW steam boiler on the system. I've looked through various other system quotes I've received from European suppliers and some of their columns are 500mm

16" should be on a -much- bigger boiler and will require an insane amount of power to run

I doubt you would run the 12 plates very successfully from a wash, it would have to be a pretty big charge of low wines to get all the plates loaded

With 400l of wash and 15kw of power you could achieve your 8h run time goal including heat up time with a 6", easily with an 8

Seems you maybe need to talk to Andrew on the phone for this level of gear, but you would be best off doing much more research before hand and know things like power availability and roof height

[RC Al]

250kw... Think you need to add a zero to your boiler size...

Im out.. Way beyond my scale of thinking lols

[TheLazyWombat]

Uuummm you do know that 1kW is 1,000W yeah? So 250kW is 250,000W? Funny that even some of the larger commercial craft distilleries use the same sized boiler... maybe they got it wrong? :laughing-rolling:

Unless it’s my lack of knowledge and experience - I don’t know many distilleries running on 2,500,000W of power... but hey what do I know...

250kw... Think you need to add a zero to your boiler size...

Im out.. Way beyond my scale of thinking lols

[dans.brew]

Uuummm you do know that 1kW is 1,000W yeah? So 250kW is 250,000W? Funny that even some of the larger commercial craft distilleries use the same sized boiler... maybe they got it wrong? :laughing-rolling:

Unless it’s my lack of knowledge and experience - I don’t know many distilleries running on 2,500,000W of power... but hey what do I know...

250kw... Think you need to add a zero to your boiler size...

Im out.. Way beyond my scale of thinking lols

I might be misreading you both, but i think RC Al was trying to say 250kw is a shit load of power for only a 500l boiler. :think:

[Sam.]

Uuummm you do know that 1kW is 1,000W yeah? So 250kW is 250,000W? Funny that even some of the larger commercial craft distilleries use the same sized boiler... maybe they got it wrong? :laughing-rolling:

Unless it’s my lack of knowledge and experience - I don’t know many distilleries running on 2,500,000W of power... but hey what do I know...

250kw... Think you need to add a zero to your boiler size...

Im out.. Way beyond my scale of thinking lols

I might be misreading you both, but i think RC Al was trying to say 250kw is a shit load of power for only a 500l boiler. :think:

:text-+1: yeah I think that was the point, 250kw boiler would easily run a 5000L still. :-B

[wynnum1]

Do you have a place to start up a distillery as the red tape could get very expensive but may be able to get help from government.

[Professor Green]

In all honesty LazyWombat, I think you should seek some assistance from a professional consultant with this project rather than relying on the advice of hobby distillers. Getting a commercial distillery operation off the ground is not an easy (or cheap) task and there are many pitfalls to negotiate and legalities to deal with over and above obtaining the excise and still ownership licenses from the ATO.

I do wish you the best of luck with your endeavour but please don't jump in feet first.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.