Calculating still out put

[Pacific Distillers]

Merry Christmas everybody!

We are looking at moving our 2000 L pot still onto our 12 inch 30 plate reflux column to produce ethanol and are just looking at some guidance as to output.

Our low wines , molasses base)  will be around 45% and we have plenty of cooling and steam available. The column is approximately 440 Litres internal volume and will be run as a traditional reflux setup.

We currently produce around 36 to 40 litres per hour at around 95.5% on our 600 litre pot that pushes into 24 plates , a 6 and 18 plate side by side,

any thoughts would be much appreciated

[PeteB]

I can't answer your question, but why do you do a stripping run to get the 45%?

Isn't low ABV wash usually boiled and fed straight into the column?

[Kindred Spirits]

Couple questions for you.

Is your column a continuous setup or off of a pot? Or did you mean you are combining two different pieces of equipment? Its a little bit unclear by the way you worded things.
If its just an upsized piece of equipment its difficult to say what the output rate will be without knowing exactly what amount of steam and cooling you have.

One thing I would say, is that if your low wines are 45% you most likely could optimize your processes. 
45% tells me you are running your strip either through a column/other accessory (which takes more time/heat) or stopping short of full collection of low wines (Extraction efficiency down)

Without knowing they exact still you are upgrading to, I will mention what I do when training clients.
Typically during training trips with them is push their equipment to the limit of their current capabilities, while maintaining a good balance in the system. This allows them to know exactly what output they can expect at maximum operating capacity. 
Then as they are learning I  have them operate at anywhere from 75%-90% of this capacity as they get more familiar with the system.
Once they are very comfortable with the system I usually recommend running at about 95%.
 

 

[Pacific Distillers]

We are running a continuous stripper that puts the wines out at about 57% - we proof them down- yes the entire setup was for neutral but it doesnt work at a rate that is feasible the calculations and engineering were way off and we have wasted enough time trying to make it work as a complete unit. The only solution I have is to use the continuous stripper, mate the 2000L pot to the 30 plate column but the calcs on out put are beyond me.

The stripper would run separately and we would run the 2000 in batches