Distiller Mike

On 2/17/2017 at 6:09 AM, meerkat said:

The volume will decrease, and part of it is due to the evaporation of the ethanol, but the main reason for the volume decrease is the loss of CO2.

If we take the hypothetical example of 1000 kg of water with 200 kg of sugar added we would have a volume of about 1120 litres, since 1 kg of sugar increases the volume by about 0.6 litre. Roughly 100 kg of the sugar is converted to CO2 and is evolved. The other 100 kg will be converted to alcohol with an SG of about 0.8 and ignoring shrinkage we would have a volume of 1080 litres, or a loss of 40 litres.

In large commercial distilleries the CO2 that is evolved is taken via a scrubber to recover the alcohol that is carried off. A very rough calculation indicates around 3 or 4% of the ethanol is carried off with the CO2 and in large distilleries this is worth recovering. If you lost 3% of your 80 litres that is another 2.4 litres. So the evaporation losses are real (2.4L) but small compared with the CO2 loss (40L).

I know this is an old post. Good info here. A healthy ferment will off gas 8Cf. per 1000L per 24 hours on average with a distillers yeast and good Brix. There will obviously be settlement as fermentation takes process. You should see condensation on the vessel walls during this process which leads to a loss in volume. One aspect that I have not seen in this thread is, do or are you controlling the temp during the first 72 hours (minimum) after inoculation? The fermentation process generates it own convection and can/will speed up evaporation. Lastly, 99% of distilleries open ferment. 

Fixed yet? The boiler size does not matter as long as you have the controller set points programmed properly. Mine is over-sized by design for expansion of equipment down the road. I have a few leading questions and knowledge if you are still struggling. Feel free to reach out. 

Fixed. Boiled down to shaft deflection. If anyone has the same issue, I'm here to help. It was never gear box oil/grease as others implied. I found (after a year and a half) that it is rather an easy fix. But it was not easy to come by. I will not disparage more than saying this manufacturer had a lack of design. I had my own parts machined. Don't follow the 9, 6 and 4 thousand dollar fixes. 

Hi and thanks for this @dhdunbar! This is great perspective and insight. Thank you.

Hi all, I am trying to find a form of sorts to document proofing for any would be audits and my own documentation. Unfortunately, I can't find one and am resorting to building my own. Does anyone have a general form and or ideas of documentation to track such as, methods used, how many samples taken, temp, etc..? Thanks all!

36 racks. Holds 2 each. 

Still available if anyone is interested.

Okay, I guess the floor is open.

aardvark gets first request as he was the first to respond. 

The racks are 44.1 pounds each. They do not need to be palletized per the carrier. That should save some cost. I have a confirmed total of 31 available now and will have another 8 coming up in the next several weeks. If you really wanted the other 8, I can make that happen. Thanks!

Hi all, I am sorry for the delay. I promise to have to weight and pallet info tomorrow. Extremely busy. Thank you for your patience. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. It is not great reducer oil. I have pulled the motor several times. And it is even a new motor. There is a teflon support to support the shaft deflection. What I have found is that the seal installed and being supplied is not ethanol resistant. Oh and how I have tried Kothe over the last year. Last I heard was that "he" was going to talk to the engineers in Germany and then back to no replies. Upon my own research, I am finding that A) the seal obviously needs to be ethanol as well as temperature resistant and B)) be able to support the radial shaft deflection at a roughly 20° offset that the shaft is sitting at. And yes, I can actually see vapor coming from the weep holes and it tastes somewhat like tails. In the stainless collar, there are 8 "weep" holes just before the gear reducer that is designed to vent distillate so that it does not ruin the reducer bearing. Eagleburgman seems to specialize in these seals and agitator specialty seals that can handle a 1.5mm deflection. What ever you do, don't use the seal shown below. 

Hi, somewhat confused. Are you running the glycol through the same double wall as the steam? We have a two way control switch that either says "heat" or "cold" and said action happens. Everything happens in the double wall. We did have issues with head hight and had to install a booster to push the glycol back up through the return lines as ours are at roughly 18-20' high. As of last week, we added another 3,000L fermenter (double walled 15psi) along side with the 3,000L(7psi) mash tun. Both are running of the same and similar size cooler you are running and we are no longer having issues (after the booster return pump was installed). Maybe pics?

Awesome! I will let you know either way and I will send both the weight and pallet count as well as some pics of the racks on Monday.w

Hi, thanks for responding. Yes I do. And sorry, I have been out for a few days. 

Hi, thank you for the response. I am not at the distillery until Sunday. Our 53 gallon racks are 47 pounds so I am guessing that the 30 gallon racks are roughly 35-40 pounds and could probably fit on three pallets safely but possibly two. 

Hi all,

I am running a Kothe Standard 400L still. The agitator shaft seal, just before the gear reducer is leaking distillate out of the "weep holes" just after the oil seal located in the stainless collar. I have replaced the seal several times as well as well as the motor and shaft. Leak remains. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

We have 26, 30 gallon racks for sale. All in good condition and good black paint. Located in Bend Oregon. $50 each.