Is it a bubbler?

[copperhead road]

Hi guys, excuse my inexperience on knowing what's what. My still builder showed me a full custom build to the owners spec's. All the lads here seem to love bubblers so you fellas are the best personal to ask.
The still is called a vodka still (in Kentucky anyway lol) it's 8" round and goes straight up in a tower off the 80 gallon CAN, It has 7 plates inside but no sight glasses or windows in the tower. It looks to be one big whole section

Is that still a bubbler ????? (no pun intended) :think: :doh:

[Aussiedownunder01]

I would say yes

[Minpac]

Yep, still a bubbler. Most of the guys add sight windows so they can see what's happening on the plates. From my understanding, they fog up a little when tails are coming through, and give a better feel for management of the run. Plus, they're cool :-B

[copperhead road]

Yep, still a bubbler. Most of the guys add sight windows so they can see what's happening on the plates. From my understanding, they fog up a little when tails are coming through, and give a better feel for management of the run. Plus, they're cool :-B

Gee that is cool for a novice, once you fog up you know exactly were your hearts finished and shut her down. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I certainly will not have them luxuries with my old banger. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Zak Griffin]

You see more than just the onset of tails with sight glasses!

[andybear]

What we call a bubbler is actually a distillation column. And all the ones I've seen in an oil refinery, none of them have sight glasses. Most have many more plates but essentially are the same as our bubblers. You can look them up on you tube to see how they make petrol. There isn't that much difference really in the column design. Cheers.

[Sam.]

As this section of the forum is titled "plated column still" pretty much sums up what a bubbler is :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Minpac]

Zac, can you share what can be seen for those of us aspiring to bubbler ownership?

[Zak Griffin]

You can see if plates are loaded properly. Sometimes, for reasons I haven't deciphered yet, one of the middle plates won't load properly. You can see how much reflux you've got returning down the column.

Obviously you can run without windows but I highly recommend them!

[Sam.]

Yep, they can definitely aid to tell if your power input is correct during the run :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[rumsponge]

Obviously you can run without windows but I highly recommend them!

agree, wouldnt know how to run my neutralizer without them. Good for spotting tails, adjusting reflux/power and also great for spotting a developing puke and stopping it before it hits the PC.