3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ long

Perforated & bubble cap plated columns

Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby GINKING » Thu Jan 30, 2020 8:21 pm

RC Al wrote:How much power are you planning on? A 4" would want at least 4kw, potentially much more


Haven't worked my power requirements out yet. Will do once a decided which column I'll build.

I have a 50L keg. Probably 1x or 2x 2400W elements.
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby bluc » Thu Jan 30, 2020 9:06 pm

My guess if you go below 4" you will regret it. Same amount work in 3" as 4". 4 is a fair bit faster and makes a big difference on a big run of neutral low wines .. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby musclewarrior » Fri Jan 31, 2020 10:41 am

I'm sure I read somewhere that bubble plates don't scale well as they get smaller and 4" is the smallest you ideally want to run. Any smaller and you'd look at other options. If your just after a neutral maybe look at DAD's CCVM design - a 3" version will give you plenty of speed I'd imagine
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby JayTee » Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:13 am

Hi - I've got a more general question along the same line please. I've read that I need serious reflux to make a decent white rum straight off the Still. If what I've read is correct, it looks like I need to pull off the distillate at up to 95% abv.

I don't have head room or budget to go from 10 tees to 25 ~ 30 tees in my column, so an additional packed section is my only option. I'm wondering if the result is entirely equivalent (packed section with tees I mean). I'm looking to distill at high reflux but *retain as much rum flavour as possible*. I know Wray and Nephew do it this way, but my attempts to this point (with 10 tees and 90% abv have stripped too much flavour.

Is it worth me buying a packed section to try this? Grateful for the benefit of any wisdom :-)
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby scythe » Tue Sep 01, 2020 5:35 pm

You should only need 5 or 6 tees to hit 95%abv.
How fast are you running?

Also why aim for a highly refluxed spirit?
Especially when talking rum.
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby RC Al » Tue Sep 01, 2020 11:16 pm

:text-+1:
Try 3 plates and 90-92 and work up from there, how you do your cuts will play in hard too

There is no need to hit 95 at all for rum

For the full flavour your seeking, some time on oak will be needed

Commercial white rum gets aged in oak and then filtered to remove colour and some flavours

Have you tried double potstilling for a comparison?
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby JayTee » Wed Sep 02, 2020 1:05 am

Hi - I'm making some lovely dark rum (with just a few tees), and going through the oaking process. I had read (on this forum too) that it's possible to make good white rum straight off the Still if high amounts of reflux is used. I've heard some people have used 20 or 30 tees to get a decent speed out and 95% abv for example. One example of a white rum made in this way, is Wray and Nephew's Overproof rum. It is not oaked at all.

I've tried making it using 10 tees, but this is only sufficient for 90% abv. I found that a large amount of flavour got stripped out. I think paradoxically, a higher abv will retain more flavour because I will get rid of the worst heads in a much smaller cut, therefore leaving more of a hearts cut and keeping flavour in what would normally be the late heads?

My question is whether using reflux generated by a packed column is any different to the same amount of reflux generated by bubble tees. I don't have the ceiling room (or the budget) for 20 or 30 tees, but I'm wondering about buying a packed section. I just wondered what the real "experience" difference is between an equivalent amount of reflux provided by bubble tees versus a packed section. If the result is the same, that would be great! ...
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby scythe » Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:25 am

Slow down your output rate and you will get higher %ABV.
what is your current rate?
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Re: 3” bubble plate with 5 plates vs 3” packed section 1m+ l

Postby JayTee » Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:49 pm

I think that's where I've been going wrong. I need to use less plates, run slower and ensure I've got more low wines in the boiler. People have been telling me if I do that I should hit 92% on the run with no issues on 4 plates ... Fingers crossed :-)
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