MG Thermal Consulting

I have supplied this type product in VT and CT along with chillers (for summer use when temp of process fluid cannot be cooled enough) such that they operate from Nov to March without a chiller. Pix on my website. Cost is $2,700 and includes the circulating pump.

Much of the delta-T comes from the condenser design, such that for the same BTU/hr capacity you can have different GPM's but the the delta-T of the water will be in inverse proportion to the GPM. Generally I find Vendome flows to be higher, and the exiting cooling water to be not as wide a temperature difference.

Treatment of the water is needed for contact as well as non-contact cooling. Filtration is needed in both cases as well.

Your chiller should be 3 HP and be able to pump about 7 GPM to your still condenser, but your condenser may not need that much, so you bypass the overage back to the inlet of the chiller. I do have new units available in about 3 weeks and a refurbished one available as well. If you are cooling wort or mash, you will need a water reservoir as well. A "drycooler" is an option I use as well and performs well in winter months. Sample photos of system using both a 10 ton chiller and drycooler is on my website. website: www.mgthermalconsulting.com Regards, Mike Gronski

Joe, What temp do you hold the oil at? Mike

Congrats Ryan, I am working with a couple new MD and coastal VA distilleries right now on their cooling equipment, so if you have any questions, contact me if you have questions on that end. Regards, Mike Gronski 770-995-4066 www.mgthermalconsulting.com

I always suggest that chillers or motors without proper wiring not be placed anywhere near possible spirit fumes. Partitioning off usually is a method used. It's not just the distance of the equipment, it is where the fumes may possibly travel. I know of an instance at a chemical plant that fumes traveled from an open door to their substation that resulted in an explosion and a death. All of the above comments apply. Mike

Depends on how the Corn is stored for long term storage. Corn may be dried if too moist before storage to prevent mold and heat build up in silos. It may then dry out even more during storage. I guess you can get various samples and test them.

The glycol cooler will reject 6 tons at summer ambients, so about 10-15 GPM and 20 TD. It is meant to run as a wintercooler, below 30F ambient where it can get wider TD's and 10 tons or above capacity. If I were you, I would get a poly reservoir and bring it down to temp overnight with the glycol chiller- it's the cheapest way to extend cooling capacity, then if that doesn't work, look at the mechanical option. Mike

FYI, a picture of the glycol cooler in the field alongside the sister chiller at CT distillery.

James, Again, you will need a intermediate exchanger for the cooling tower in your scenario or the the tower film will scale up like crazy and the amount of make-up water would increase, %-wise. The closed circuit glycol cooler I most generally supply will perform at 10 tons rejection in winter and if you used it to pre-cool the warm water off the mash before getting back to the chiller and with some clever piping, you could use the closed cooler in the same way in the winter for most all needs. The picture attached shows the inside of the drycooler in mid-assembly with integral circulating pump and control box that includes the pump starter. if you are clsor to the coast, we can paint the copper coil surface to resist salt air. I charge $2,700 plus freight for the drycooler as an option to the chiller system but it will work fine in your scenario and only have operating cost of a fan motor and pump. The intermediate exchanger would add another $1,800 which you would need in either case.

I had one guy dig a hole, put in a poly/reinforced cistern. fill with glycol mix and draw it out with a couple pumps, one for process equipment and the other for a dry cooler- worked all winter and so far is able to keep up. He was anticipating adding a small chiller, but so far hasn't contacted me. He was hoping to work up some temperature profiles on paper, but he's been busy. Location- near St. Louis.

James, At best, an evaporative product, be it a cooling tower or a newer item like a closed loop "adiabatic" (think like spraying water from a hose onto a coil), will be able to cool water only to within about 8 degrees of wet bulb temperature during summer or any other time their is high humidity. during summer the wet bulb in NJ is probably 76 degrees, so the best you can get is 84F, impractical for much of anything at a distillery. the other thing you need to be careful of is that the cooling tower water will need to be treated vigorously and strained with a heavy duty strainer to get everything on the cold water loop or you will scale up inside jackets and still condensers, so it would be better to install a intermediate plate exchanger to isolate the process flow from the tower flow. You're right about winter operation, but even in the mountains up on CT/VT area, a distiller I supplied with a winter glycol cooler, got from Nov to March, like 6 to 6.5 months. You may get about the same, but will still need a chiller like a couple distilleries I supplied such a method to. Oh, and how close are you to the ocean? Salt air and towers don't mix without special materials used on the tower. Good luck and give me call if you have any questions. Mike G 770-995-4066

I can help you with chillers and other items on the cooling side as well as chil filtration columns and activated charcoal. You can see the items on my website, www.mgthermalconsulting.com. Mike Gronski 770-995-4066

MG Thermal Consulting -Chill Filtration Products 2015.pdf Information sheet (cut and pasted basics) for SRID absorbers. Mike

I can't send over Forum, so I will do so through email request at mike@mgthermalconsulting.com. I will load up the cut sheet on my website as time permits. For large custom columns, calculations are done based on spirit flow through the absorber column and cost reflects this, columns for 5 GPM flows costing $6,500 and you see these in larger distilleries where multiple absorbers are used as well. So, if you have have large cold spirit tanks, it will take a while to treat that amount of product with a small absorber, so some distillers dedicate a block of time to this procedure. Mike

I have a small absorber column that also can be fitted with bag filters for $10 per bag. The column cost is around $2,500 and AWS activated carbon is $110 per 55 Lb bag. The column output is .5 to 1.0 GPM of spirits. You can reactivate the carbon by hitting it with some steam but how many times this works depends on product result (taste). Mike G

Good Luck, Mike! Lots of good info for you here to use. Mike Gronski www.mgthermalconsulting.com

File is too large to download, so I just send both with email.

I will be supplying cooling system to one of your fellow distillers near Clarksville and chill filtering is on the back burner until he gets everything else up and running, but I can send you some info on chill filtration if you like- email me through my website. Regards, Mike Gronski www.mgthermalconsulting.com

Hey bud, a question for you ...what was his condenser flow (city water) or the size of the chiller on this. Mike G

If you cold chill, the effectiveness of the activated carbon is the length of contact time (spirit flow) through the carbon column. I can supply you the carbon, but there are many lower cost smaller GPM set ups that members here use. But the manufacturers of the carbon suggest cold chilling which "activates the carbon" enabling it to absorb oils in the spirit. Good luck.

Unless you have an agricultural distillery and can use a well, your water usage will be sizable. You also may have to store some water for mash cooling or you'll run the well dry. Even old milk houses can be useful;)

I have a new stock 4 HP, 230/3/60, chiller ready to go for a small still or chill filtering glycol. Shipped from near Nashville, TN. email me at my website for pricing. Mike Gronski

me too, a couple days.