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I'm in the beginning stages of starting a distillery in California and I'm pretty confused over the steam boiler component of the system. I'm going to be getting a 200 gal 4 plate column still. Heat recommendations I've seen range between 400k-600k BTUs (I'm not running a mash tun or anything, just the still). I've heard that certain sized boilers require separate enclosures built out of fireproof materials with a certain amount of ventilation and certain amount of space around the unit. Some have told me it needs to be outside some have told me it needs to be inside. Some have told me you don't need a boiler room at all. I'm finishing up tenant improvements negotiations with my landlord and I need to tell him what I will need him to build into the building. Can anyone offer me some advice on this? Or direct me to the correct agency to contact or website to review?

The owner of my company is looking to buy a "Figgins Reciprocator" still and I was wondering if anyone in here has used one before. Does the unique double pot design into a single column run well? I don't quite get the point of having two pots and am curious about any advantages/disadvantages anyone may be aware of. Attached is a link to some info on it. Thanks! https://www.stilldragon.org/discussion/673/the-figgins-reciprocator

Got one off of morewinemaking.com , it was about $150 instead of $400 and the guys on the bottling line love it. Especially if you have few people on the line and do large quantities step by step, it is super helpful. Thanks for your feedback everyone!

Assuming 75% efficiency you're looking at either 300 kbtu or 450 kbtu. His heating needs are: 200 gallons = 1668 lbs 200 gallons from 75F to 212F = (212-75)*1668 = 228,516 BTUs 200 gallons from 212 to vapor = 970 * 1668 = 1,617,960 BTUs In my experience he won't have enough load for the boiler to run efficiently -- it's going to be short cycling to beat the band, and although it's not hard on the boiler, it will kill efficiency ($$$$). He needs roughly 250kbtus to heat up the still to boiling and another 1.6mbtus to vaporize the entire contents of the still (clearly he won't be doing this). The question that's difficult to answer is how fast can the heat be transferred from the steam jacket to the contents of the kettle. Delta-T is a factor (operating the boiler at 9 psi rather than 2 psi has it's advantages) but so is the architecture of the kettles (a "tablet" shaped is better than a cylindrical shape). I'd bet he wont see appreciably faster heatup times with a 600k than a 275k boiler because of the heat transfer rate and the fact the boiler will have serious short-cycling problems -- a 600k boiler wont push heat in any quicker than a 400k boiler. That being said, when he upgrades to a larger still he'll be good to go.