ViolentBlue

I know what you are referring to, a diffuser plate will help a little with problem, and increase slightly the cooling capability of the condenser, slowing the water as I suggested in combination with a diffuser of some sort will reduce the symptoms, but not eliminate them completely. so its a good upgrade from current, but not a complete solution. drop me a line, I have a couple more suggestions that are inexpensive to implement that will make your condenser even more efficient.

Hi Adam the surging you are experiencing I think may be caused by the condenser. the style of condenser you have needs a fairly high flow rate to cool properly, so you are most likely having very cold water hitting very hot vapor, this will create a vacuum/pressure cycle that while similar to "chuffing" has a much longer cycle time as for solutions,turn down your water flow to the condenser till it stops, your distillate will probably come out hot if left like this, but turn the cooling water up slowly till you find a point of equilibrium between surging and warm distillate. On a larger system suffering from this same issue, a vacuum break can be added to the top of condenser. one other more costly option would be to swap out your condenser for a more efficient inverted flow multi tube condenser, if you are not recirculating your cooling water, this will save you a lot of water down the drain.

if you jacket is capable of pressurization, then its not a problem to run above 212 degrees. running 5psi in the jacket increases boiling point to appx 228 degrees running 10psi in the jacket increases boiling point to appx 240 degrees also keep in mind this is at a much higher heat density than oil is capable of, so you have a better heat transfer capability at a lower temperature than other heat transfer mediums. if your jacket is capable/rated/certified for these pressures then water under pressure is your best option, if it is not rated for pressure, oil is your only option as it does not require pressure. drop me a line, I'll talk you through setting up your controls for best result.

we do use Chinese manufacturers, however we are a Canadian Company that stands behind out products, and our engineering. Cage and Sons is a fully Canadian owned family business, that is capable of covering from initial consulting, through production all the way to final bottled product. process engineering, equipment production and training on your equipment. for US, Canada or further afield, we can do piece or turn Key.

drop me a line, I designed this column. it was several years ago but I will guarantee the column was designed correctly. I did the engineering on it, a claim very few can make.

i will agree my current designs look similar to German designs, that is as far as that goes. as will all my designs, they are engineered from the ground up as my own and unique designs. nothing is taken from anyone else, not even stock designs. as you know intellectual property is often stolen or traded in China without second though. I remember a conversation we had several years ago about one manufacturer in china that outright stole designs from me. you were quite bothered by this notion and swore you would never do business with this company. I had no intention of turning this thread into a pissing contest, it was only my intention to point out there are Innovators and there are thieves, and there are those who re-sell products from thieves and pass it off as their own. so customers have the option of buying from the innovator, thief or re-seller. its how capitalism works. there seems to be a 2 year cycle from the time I draw something up for production and someone else starts selling a bad copy of that design. so that means as long as i keep pushing forward with innovation, then I will always be 2 years ahead.

yes the idea of a tube in tube heat exchange has been around for a very long time, I'm talking about a specific design, that has been copied to exact dimension. Paul you seem to know far more about my design than I do yours. by law there must be a 20% change in overall dimensions and features for it to be considered a new design, instead of a copy. this is not the first design I have drawn up that has been copied, released to the public and sold by other vendors here. Oh well the only thing to do is push forward with new innovation, and stay ahead of the curve.

Lethbridge

I am the original designer of these wort coolers, been building them for years with many happy customers. not sure how my drawings got out into the public. https://www.cageandsons.com/type-aux-wort-cooler I have several of these units in stock ready to ship

you might be able to coax it to work but its always going to be an issue. what size piping do you use for mash transfer? up size it to match that at least, 1.5 or 2" are your minimum ideals with a grain in mash, I would even suggest going to 4" and using a conical reducer to your hose/pump size, to minimize blockage.

i can be reached at steven@cageandsons.com

its easier to get the same surface are for cooling in a smaller package

New company, and new line of equipment www.cageandsons.com

MGL is correct, flow in the bottom and out the top in order to automatically purge the air. how it is currently set up 75% of your cooling surface are will not be used

a p-trap is helpful, but there needs to be sufficient height separating the column bottoms, P-trap and fluid level of the boiler. otherwise you wont have enough head for gravity to do its thing and overcome the micro pressures in the kettle. 12" of height difference between kettle fluid levels and the bottom of your column only gives you a gravity/pressure difference of 0.375 PSI. this is well within the range of pressures you can build in the kettle, even with an open vapor path. Many of the newcomers to the equipment market are using 12" or less height difference, realistically 24" or more would be ideal, but then height becomes a concern. throw in Dual columns, and your troubles double. individual plate flooding is another issue, it can either be bad plate design, or a combination of running too much heat and too much reflux, in which case back off on the heat, back off on dephlegmater flow and you will have the same results out of your parrot with fewer column flooding problems.