Boiler head room requirements

[Johnny B Shiney]

Hey Fellas
After much reading of this forum, ive decided its time for some upgrading, not least of which is to make a 50 litre boiler.
I currently have a 25 litre boiler on my still which can be run as a pot or reflux.

The pot is 370mm diam by 270mm high giving me a volume of 29 litres. I need to retain the 370mm diam and go taller, say 560mm for a 60 litre volume ( 20% headroom), or 600mm for a 64 litre volume.

How much head room would be recommended on this diameter?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Andy]

really hard question to answer. it depends on the level of fermentation, how long the wash has been sitting, the type of wash, and more advance variables like superheating etc.
i think the most common answer you will get is the head room needs to be sufficient/enough.

[1 2many]

Why don't you go the keg method mate that's the easy way. :-B

[Sam.]

I would go for a third headroom to be on the safe side for the washes that want to :puke-huge:

Depends on what you want to make in it ;-)

[Johnny B Shiney]

Cheers fellas, I will be making nuetrals rarely and corn wash bourbons mostly i hope, providing I can get the hang of it.
Theres no point going the keg route as I have pretty much an unlimited supply of stainless and all the gear to make it with. It also helps that im a boilermaker/welder.
I will probably just go 600mm high.

[Brendan]

I stick with the 20% headroom rule mate, and I put anti-foam solution in with washes that may foam up. You can just use vegetable oil for the same thing...

[magic1]

make your boiler as large as you want. if the wash starts to puke add less next time you run it.

[Urrazeb]

Just be mindful that the bigger the charge in the keg the longer the run will be.. I have a 50L boiler and runs take me about 3hrs but with my old pot running 40L of low wines could take up to 10-12 hours depending on what was being ran..

I'd be making it to suit your time requirements :handgestures-thumbupleft: