Plates drying up

Perforated & bubble cap plated columns

Re: Plates drying up

Postby Lowie » Thu Feb 14, 2019 5:23 pm

I notice with mine if I keep the power up and the flow right, the plates all stay loaded. when I start turning the power down too low (4000w) with the controller the bottom plate starts to dry up. so, as the other guys have noted, it's getting your balanced right.
Lowie
 
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Location: Crow eater
equipment: 4", 4 plate "Frankenfurter" copper bubbler and blockhead on a 50L 3000W electric boiler, 10000W controller - don't even know why I need that much, all grain HERMS system through 18G HLT keg and 50L mash tun.

Re: Plates drying up

Postby scythe » Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:08 pm

100ml per 2mins is 3L/hr which is a bit fast if your junning just a straight wash.

Might be ok if you using low wines with more available alcohol.

Slow it down to 2L/hr and see if that helps.
scythe
 
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equipment: Dreaming of a 4" bubbler

Re: Plates drying up

Postby hillzabilly » Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:18 pm

One of the reasons I love sight glasses is the fact that you can watch goings on,your downcomers will give you critical feed back as to how much reflux is happening,with 4 or less plates for rum or whiskey the amount of take off would be equal to or a little less than what was flowing from your downcomers to the boiler,with a neutral run your take off would be less than a 20% of what was flowing from the downcomers .In short 4 or less plates 40-50% collection to 50-60% reflux,neutral 10-20% collected to 80-90%refluxed,as a rough guide.So watch those downcomers for blow thru as well wich will cause a plate to flood as the reflux cannot go down the downcomer with vapour running up it.cheers hillzabilly ;-)
hillzabilly
 
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equipment: 10 gallon OZARK pot still ,2inch and 3inch Nixon Stone coloum stills ,10 and 18 gal beer keg boilers,5gal thumper keg.And the one and only 4" Five Star Southern Cross .

Re: Plates drying up

Postby brisvalleymoonshiner » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:45 am

Finally got back to having another go. Replaced the 3 way valve outlet and repacked the packed section. Ran like a dream. Appreciate all the comments as it really helps when troubleshooting :handgestures-thumbupleft:
brisvalleymoonshiner
 
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equipment: Copper 4 plate 800mm packed section 50ltr keg boiler

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