vsaks

In full disclosure, finally got a call back from Tory today after over a month of emailing him and leaving him voicemail. He explained he's been really busy and we had been on his list to call back. I guess it's like Gold Rush times and the equipment manufacturers are overwhelmed by the demand.

Yes, I was puzzled too because he had good recommendations here. But I called him twice, left him messages saying we were looking for someone who can make us copper pot stills, even sent an email saying I saw his posts here, but no response.

Strange. I don't have a problem getting a hold of them and Tory has been very helpful.

Corson might be too busy. I left them a voicemail and sent them emails about the stills we are looking for a few weeks ago. But never heard back. Talk to Joseph at Dehner, and Paul at distillery-equipment.com. Both are very responsive.

Give Tory at Corson a call. He is really helpful and I know that he has done custom stills larger than 1000G. Corson is based out of Idaho.
http://www.corsondistilling.com/

Any fouling deposits built up on your steam coils/jacket ? They'll reduce the heat transfer, which becomes more critical in the later stage when the BP rises due to increased water percentage.

Thanks for the responses. I have tried hitting the still with full steam without much luck. Possibly my boiler is not running at full capacity... It is just odd that this started happening with the last couple batches, and I have never had this problem before.

Thanks Sonny. Why did you decide to go for two sides rather than one. Do you think just one side wouldn't have been sufficient. ?

We have 550 Gallon Metalcraft fermenters with cooling jackets on two sides adjacent to each other (really one big jacket). I had them also install a SS bushing for our RTD (about halfway up one side of the tank) which feeds back to our Chilled Water control system. Solenoid valves control the flow of cooling water to the jacket. Even without agitation during fermenting the cooling jacket surface area is sufficient to keep the ferment at the set temperature.

You can get single point calibration pH testers fairly cheap for under $20 on Amazon.

But if you want a (more accurate and) two point calibration with temperature compensation, take a look at Milwaukee MW101 PH Meter. It is about $80 on Amazon.

As Falling Rock mentioned, regular calibration is the key. You can pick up 4.0 and 7.0 calibration solutions at most homebrew stores. I pay $6.89 for both at the neighborhood Morebeer store.

Very nice, thanks for sharing. How much vapor are you condensing ?

Did you notice any difference in the product when using stainless tubes vs copper you were using earlier

When I originally built our 150 gallon / 4 plate still I also built a 6" x 5' tube in shell condenser to go with it. The original condenser was all copper and had the vapor going through 23 inside tubes and the cooling water in the shell. For a typical distillation run we where going though about 300+ gallons of cooling water. This water is recaptured and used for cleaning and as the mash water for the next run; but as we are only mashing 150 gallons this meant half the collected condenser water was just dumped down the drain.

New condenser is all stainless, 6" x 8.5' (makes the old one look tiny in comparison) has 16 inside tubes, has the cooling water going through the tubes and the vapor though the shell. We also added about 11 internal baffles to force the vapor on a longer path and prevent vapor/condensate from dropping straight down the tube. Big thanks to whoever it was about a year ago who shared pictures of their condenser build and pointed me in the direction or swapping the vapor and coolant and the trick of adding baffles!

We ran it yesterday for the first time and are pretty pleased with the results. Big improvement on water usage and a very noticeable impact on the clarity and oiliness of our distillate, particularity in the feints we are collecting. We now need to get a more sensitive valve to control the cooling water flow as we are using so little and and the current ball valve does not work well for making very small adjustments to the flow. We also need to replace our hoses to ones with a higher heat rating as the water leaving the condenser is now so hot.

I was going to add photos to the post, but the forum keeps telling me I am not allowed so here is a link to the gallery. Starts with a picture of our original condenser, then images of the build in progress and then a few of the new unit in place on the still. Total planning/design time was about 8 hrs, fab and welding was about 10 hrs. Internal plates where laser cut.

http://imgur.com/a/79Jat

Cheers!

Damata,

I love what I see. I am looking for a set of wash and spirit stills, steam jacketed, no column. Would love to talk to you if you are interested.

Regards,

Virag

James,

Thanks for a very informative response. Your read my mind. We've indeed been talking to Custom Metalcraft and will ask them for references. I was using 15 bbl x 15 brix = 225, and then multiplying it by 280 btu/brix, to get 63,000 BTU. So 1-2000 btu/hr for the first 48 hrs seems right on the money. The surface area seemed sufficient, but wasn't sure if agitation is needed.

Sorry for the late response, but just discovered that the lead time on stills is 6-9 months from most vendors so been chasing alternatives.

We run 530g in a 600g tank, and active cooling is absolutely essential. Without cooling the ferment will rocket to the mid 90s, even with a mid 70s pitch temperature ... and this is with a relatively cool "summer" temp - maybe 70-80f indoors.

The total heat load isn't tremendous, but the mash really wants to hold in that heat, especially when it is close to ambient. I would guess 2000btu/hr on your 15bbl for the first 48hr, dropping from there. On our system, the cooling doesn't run on once you pass the mid-point of the fermentation - but our ambient temperatures are generally lower than the fermentation temperature.

The geometry isn't ideal, which is probably giving you some heartburn, but the surface area is probably more than sufficient considering you are roughly 20% of the total surface area. A slight amount of agitation during fermentation (on a timer, sporadic) would minimize any temperature gradient.

Assuming you are talking about Custom Metalcraft. Give them a call and ask for references.

Another option to consider is a steam jacketed mash tun. Both steam jacketed as well as steam injection will need a boiler. But with steam injection you'd need to replenish your boiler water a lot more frequently. Direct fire can scorch your mash.

Temperature of your ferments are critical for good yield both potential and type. even a five gallon wash can over heat and yield bad alcohol. Cooling capabilities are a must in my book

I agree. The temp changes can change the ester profiles, leading to an inconsistent product at the least. But I am trying to understand if single sided jackets are working for people using square totes.

The size of your ferment is an important indicator if you need a jacket. Also your ambient climate in your production space. Is it climate controlled? That's more of an issue of ferments getting cold during the winter and being too slow. If you're in a hot climate you run the risk of overheating during summer.

We work in 300G batch ferments atm and I've heard through the grapevine that around 300G is when you need to seriously consider cooling. Any bigger and you definitely want jackets. We use square tanks with jackets that keep our ferments below 90 deg F. We also ferment in bulk tanks with no jackets. The jacketed ferments consistently yield more per batch by maybe 3-5%.

Thanks for your reply. We are planning 15 bbl batches (about 473 gals) in 550 gal tanks. Area won't be climate controlled, but my concern is more about the wash overheating, specially in summer.

Is your jacket on just one side or multiple sides of the tank ?

Hi,

My first post here, so if it is in the wrong forum, moderator please feel free to move it to correct forum.

I was wondering if folks here use jackets (like used in breweries) to control their fermenters' temperature. We are looking to set up a distillery to make single malt whisky and one of the options I am looking at is square stainless steel totes as fermenters. These come with a dimpled jacket on one side, and I am wondering if that'd be enough.

This will be located in Northern California, and the summer can get quite warm.

Cheers,

Virag