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Plate and Frame Filter and cooling


Blooztune

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Hi,

I'm trying to size and source a system to cold filter rum (vodka, gin, etc.) before bottling. How are folks getting their product to < 32F for filtering? What kind/size of plate filter systems are you using? Any advice or anecdotal info would be greatly appreciated.

I'll be working with about 200 Gallons at a time.

Thanks,

Steve

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The simplest is to do a heat calculation and design a tube chiller to to run your spirits thru so it enters the filter at the desired temp. Simple refrigeration theory and some out of the box thinking you can be good to go. Depending on the speed you want it can be a gravity feed,

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The simplest is to do a heat calculation and design a tube chiller to to run your spirits thru so it enters the filter at the desired temp. Simple refrigeration theory and some out of the box thinking you can be good to go. Depending on the speed you want it can be a gravity feed,

Anyone have a suggestion for a source for having a tube chiller built at reasonable cost?

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You can use a dephleg, or a reg tube condenser from a still, if it pressure checks, run some 134A, txv, and a compressor with a condensing coil. Any copper, heat exchanger will work. It is no different from cooling alcohol vapors.

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Anyone have a suggestion for a source for having a tube chiller built at reasonable cost?

I've found that custom built and reasonable cost rarely go hand in hand...

As far as off the shelf and reasonable price, I like these guys: http://www.standard-xchange.com/

I did get a quote from a local guy in Albuquerque for a custom built unit that was quite competitive. I haven't used him (but I may depending on how the other quotes come in) so I can't speak to his workmanship or reliability or anything like that, but his quote was quite competitive. http://www.precfab.com/

Good luck,

Nick

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Thanks for replies folks. What a fruitful first post! I'm not afraid to DIY, which seems like that's mostly the answer for now. I just didn't want to re-invent a wheel.

As far as a source, I'm having a wash tube chiller (as well as a still) made by Jesse at Trident Welding (http://tridentwelding.com). He's an awesome guy and, in my opinion, very reasonable. I haven't taken delivery yet, but I visited his shop before we had the still built and I've seen his work in person. Its top-notch. If you contact him, please tell him Steve from Massachusetts sent you.

We use a tank built with a cooling jacket. The tank is then plumbed to a small portable chiller.

JohninWV, so do you run the distillate from the tank to the chiller and back to bring the whole thing down to temp or do you run from the tank through the chiller to the filter and out? And are you getting below 30F?

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The tank has a jacket. I put the distillate in the tank and allow the glycol running through the jacket to cool the spirits inside the tank. The spirits don't move. Then I run the spirit from that tank through a plate and frame filter to another empty tank. Works very well...and I can cool the spirit overnight while I'm not here.

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  • 1 month later...

I supply small and large glycol chillers similar to what was pointed out for jacket cooling. The small portables include a circulating pump and a glycol reservoir. Where you have multiple tanks, the chiller is moved from tank to tank doing the cooling required.

Size of the chiller depends on how quickly you want the tank cooled to temp.

Generally for a 1000 L tank, a 3.5 to 5 HP chiller is required supplying a 20 to 25F glycol mix.

The colder the temp glycol, the quicker the tank cools but the greater the HP for the chiller.

Good Luck.

Mike

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  • 2 months later...

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