Is an air cooled column do-able?

[Easydrinker]

I didn't want to highjack Anavarin's thread,with his new bit of kit,but the bugger has got me back to thinking of changes to my set-up.
An air cooled column,with a bubbler? Preposterous!
I pot still,with an air cooled condenser,because I can,and other reasons.
I am mostly happy with my various products.
I do sometimes fancy something cleaner,at a higher ABV.
I do have the option of recycling cooling water to a large pond,(can't use mains water),so I could have water cooling,but I can also be one pig-headed son of a bitch.
I am doing this for fun.
As the nights here grow longer and darker,I will probably waste inordinate amounts of time messing with this idea.
I promise,you folk will be the first to know,win or expected fail.
You just gotta live for something.
Robert.

[YHB]

Air cooled systems have allways fascinated me, however I would think that Air Cooled and bubblers are somewhat incompatible.

The Air cooling sytems that I have read about that work, do so by limiting the amount of heat input to a minimum so the air cooling had the least amount of work to do. Whereas from what I have read about bubblers they seem to work better with the maximum amount of heat.

How about a system that works on evaporation? That could be a halfway house, put a cloth sleeve on the cooling line dribble small amounts of water on the cloth to keep it damp, blast the damp cloth with air to evaporate the water, cools the same reason you shiver when you get out of the shower.

I have seen systems that claim to only use a couple of liters of water for a complete run.

Just a thought, it has been on my list of things to look into for while.
Here is link that may be of interest to some
http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3 ... ad40669405

What ever happens do not let people stop you from doIng what you are doing by telling you that it can't be done.

[ant]

I saw a small Russian still design using a combo of peltiers, heat sink and cooling fan. Brian's suggestion is low tech which is perhaps better. You can always air cool something with a sufficiently large cooler. Making it more compact is usually desirable but it depends how large and what you want.

[ant]

Just read your sillystill thread. Impressive. If anyone can make an air cooled bubbler you should be able to.

For what it is worth I remember an air cooled reflux condenser that was old when I was young. It was basically a convoluted tower in a variation of an allihn bulb condenser without a jacket.

The bulbs were classic UFO shaped saucers and were large dia at the bottom and got smaller towards the top; a sort of cone like taper overall. Looked pretty cool but was made of ally.

Perhaps a copper variant could give you the surface area you are looking for in a relatively small space. I imagine a central internal baffle disk in each saucer, to force the vapour along the surfaces and around the edges would improve efficency. It would be like a plate tree in a flute but not reaching the edges. The ally one just had a small central core between saucers but was for a low powered table top boiler. The whole thing was quite small.

If you add a ducting jacket and blast air through like your silly still a big one might work.

No idea how you would fabricate it though.

[Fil]

how about an inverted conical spiral of copper tube?? as long as there is enough angle for whatever condenses to drain back and the tube is wide enough to acommodate the return flow without blocking the vapor. say 10m of 22mm tube reducing to 15m of 15mm tube reducing to 10-20m of 10mm tube intio 10mm of 8mm tube and if needed a further length of 6mm tube?

in fact it needent be a single cone as long as the angle of rise is maintained it could go out n in horizontally so inverted cone followed by cone followed by inverted cone, as to not take up too much width.. and then point a big fan at it..

just thinking aloud...

[Anavrin]

You could always add a thumper between your pot and coil, that has the same effect as adding a bubble plate.

[ant]

Depends if he is trying to boost his potstill output or make a full blown reflux column.

[Easydrinker]

Loving the suggestions,too busy to play at the moment,but the aim would be a reflux column,and probably an awful lot of copper.
Robert

[Myles]

I have tried a few variations in the air cooled, some worked, some didn't.

Pot still with a coiled copper riser in 1" tube. Sort of overgrown spiral still but on a keg boiler. With fan assisted cooling it could manage about 1 kW as a (very old fashioned) reflux column. Not brilliant, but workable in pot still mode for enhanced heads compression, just running on ambient loss with no fan.

Air cooled liebig product condenser. Force fed with sub zero deg C air one winter when my water lines had frozen. Yes that worked OK.

Fan assisted worm product condensers - yes they work.

Air cooled reflux column with plates or packing? Well you can run some plated columns with NO reflux condenser. Just using thermal loss through the column wall, so it should be doable for flavoured product. For vodka I imagine you would need an air cooled reflux condenser, but it should be doable. Whether you can manage it on ambient temperatures is debatable, but with a forced air it should be no problem.

[Easydrinker]

Thanks for that Myles.
It comes across as encouragement,even as I admit to being completely barmy,in seeking an air cooled solution.
I hope at the end of the month to have time to play.
Have been recently reading your contributions from a couple of years ago to a thread by PP on another forum,concerning bubblers.
It all made sense.
Classic,the people with the most to say, say the least.
I'm learning.
Robert.

[Easydrinker]

This has rapidly become a go ahead project,I had the pipes,a few fittings ordered,had an idea for the reflux condenser,needs another fan,and it looks like I'll have to build a second power controller for it(you never know,it might actually get too cold?!),but I have those electrical bits and pieces as back up anyway.
Looked hard at building something like the Torpedo that Anavarin bought,priced the materials,and then StillDragon had a sale day(or week,whatever),it was a no brainer.
If the air cooled turns out to be a failure,I'll bite the bullet and run on re-circulated water.
1 metre packed column sitting on a pretty thing like that ought to do the buisiness.
I'll get a second controller built this week,and when bits arrive build the column.
Meantime I'll get some lentils fermenting.
When it all happens I'll post something.
Good or bad.
Robert.

[googe]

I've run my plated column many times without the dephlegmmator on and it gets natural reflux, operates in the low 80's ABV, with a packed sectioning top it gets more reflux, this is a 4" column, I'm guessing your thinking 2" on top if your only using one plate?, I'd guess the natural reflux wouldn't be as good due to less surface area, but I reckon it would work with some air on it. Good luck.

[Anavrin]

So have you grabbed a Torpedo then?

[Easydrinker]

So have you grabbed a Torpedo then?

Yes indeed,shipped today,with an extra bunch of flanges and gaskets and a spare sight glass.
I suspect it will be two or three weeks before it is all built and I get to play.
I need something to help me through these dark winter nights,a project like this is as good as any.
A tentative thanks for steering me down this route!
Robert.

[Anavrin]

You might get the plate bug like me, I want more