Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi building a plated column. 6" for speed not volume. Have a few questions.

Would 4 plates be enough to make vapor management work? I would prefer vapor management but I see from reading most, or everyone, does CM. Is there a reason I'm not seeing that VM doesn't work?

I also see everyone use shotgun for reflux. On a CM would a coil work?

Would a 3" reflux shotgun be enough for 6" going full blast? Of coarse I mean with having control still, really long probably not good. Would 3" limit speed?

Or point me to threads or reading about these things.
I tried to search about these thing but couldn't find

The standard type build I get and that's no problem. It's my unorthodox ideas I have questions about.

Thanks

A 3in rc would need to be quite long and without doing the math my guess is around 1m in order to have a reasonable safety margin while maintaining a good speed.

Vm does work on a plated column but for what ever reason not many choose to go that way!
Again with a worm there's no reason it won't work but I suspect that it'd need to be unreasonably long and likely need the water constantly changed or large amounts of ice added in order to keep the temp low enough to be effective at condensing.

That's my 2c but as you've said your design is quite different and that makes alot of things just guess work.

Thanks for your 2c. I see 3" is no way. you have 5k on 4" so 6" will be like 12k or something.

Do you know what reflux ratio 4 plates run at full tilt, and what abv that is. I'm not sure if plates wide open run lower than 1:1 ratio of vm. Or if the abv is high enough for vm

My understanding is you won't get below 1:1 ratio on vm, you should be hitting low 90's abv the amount of power is kinda dependant on boiler size and heat loss but all the 6in still I know of have 10kW or more.

Ok just think about an RC to knock down vapour on a 6" still. If you have a decent tank of water for the cooling water say 5,000 gal and a 20 litre/min pump then a low RC say 150mm high would knock down a heap providing one had large input/output lines to handle the flow.

You have a ton of considerations, boiler size, available power, available cooling reservoir, space/height restrictions, fermenter sizes and more

Available power is the main consideration, a 4 plater 6" bubble cap column can run on low power - see woodducks mother duck http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic ... 36&t=11218, but a max speed sieve plate could ask for as much as 6-8kw, more power over that is good for reducing heat up times

Have a look through steampunk 2 viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4639

What product are you after? a vm is good at cutting the tails off, this might mean missing some interesting flavors in a rum or whiskey. The amount of reflux in a std vm is determined by the column to valve ratio, big valves are not cheap, so that is the main reason you havent seen such on them on larger hobby systems (or even industrial ones for that matter). CCVM is around, a few members have it on 4" platers with good results and there is no reason it wont on a 6", It can be safely made to go below the 1:! max ratio inherent to vm, here's a unproven design that also incorporates lm in addition http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic ... ns#p212819

Four plates is plenty for a vm to work, boiler size and power come into play here - over 100L is required, 2-300 being more optimal - this is to ensure there is enough product to fill the plates and have a smooth consistent run. then you need the power to get it to temp in a reasonable amount of time - the 12kw mentioned will take over an hour and a half to get 200l up to temp.

If you go a shotgun rc, more tubes is better, if you go the std vm with a valve you could build it all in 6" and be able to run it either way up, regular cm with the defleg down, flip it and add a valve, now its vm, this would still work with a reducer to 4" as per my plan above

coffe addict wrote:My understanding is you won't get below 1:1 ratio on vm, you should be hitting low 90's abv the amount of power is kinda dependant on boiler size and heat loss but all the 6in still I know of have 10kW or more.

I worded it bad. Yes I know VM lowest reflux 1:1. I was wondering with the normal way of running plates and cm, do you go less reflux than 1:1?

Ok I new it need power. And its expensive. But didn't know the volume needed. Sorry to waste your time, that's to big. will do 4" but still interested in vm

RC Al wrote: here's a unproven design that also incorporates lm in addition viewtopic.php?f=41&t=12242&p=212819&hilit=plans#p212819

that's super interesting

One of the biggest advantages of the CM still you will see so often ,is its versatility as a modular unit,stripping ,pot stilling and as a neutral still and then to possibly go to gin production with a few extra pieces,will a VM handle all of that.Part of the benefit of the forum is to access experience and advice,a lot more of both is there for the CM wich should tell you something.Generaly 6inch is at the top end of the hobby and would suggest you consider building a 4inch first and ifn your happy with your design and outcomes scale up to the 6inch.Also I have never seen a VM in a professional environment wich again should tell you something. cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Woody dose run his off a 50l, so it is doable, just not ideal, 80l keg would be better still, but definitely caps not sieve.

Charging with low wines is a way to get more alcohol without increased boiler capacity.
The overall time saving between 6in and 4in on a small boiler doesn't warrant the extra build costs.

Yep you definitely want a bigger boiler. The 6" holds a lot of alc and does make the run temperamental. The 50ltr boiler does work but I'm looking into a bigger boiler when I get the time to get back in the shed and build again. I can run it on the 6000w but recom a few more definitely wouldn't go astray.

Magnus made a fine RC and PC from coil copper tube viewtopic.php?f=36&t=8803&start=20 .cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Thanks for all the input. New plan is 4" plates. Reduce to 2" vm. If that doesn't work slap in 4in cm. Guess get plated section built for starters

OK so I have made lots of progress. Anybody have tips for bending 2" copper pipe. Like for a lyne arm type thing. Have access to pro pipe bending machine.

So got boiler, 4" copper onion/helmet, 4" glass bubbecap plated column, 4" to 2" copper cone 24" long, copper tee to reflux condenser and gate valve. from the gate valve will be lyne arm to shotgun