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I was just wondering if there are any ultra low watt elements on the market that allow on grain distilling using immersions elements rather than having to upgrade to a bain-marie boiler?
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Check with Romar Elements in Vic. good guys.
Steam injection would be a good alternative
Thanks @crozdog I will give Romar a call and see if they can help. I had also thought of using steam injection but was a bit concerned about pressure build up.
I had thought about setting up something like a reverse thumper using my 50L boiler to feed steam into the bottom of the 200L boiler through the drainage port in the bottom but like I said I was concerned about pressure. I also thought about a pressure cooker but couldn’t find one I thought would be big enough and not cost an arm and a leg.
How do you think the 50L would go with with a pressure value in that situation? Has anyone else done this?
No
You mean ultra low watt-density? The best way to gain control of resistance heating systems is by use of SCR control.
Ultra low watt density heaters will not prevent scorching, the sheath temperature and watt density is still astronomical compared indirect heating methods (bain marie, oil jacket, steam jacket, etc).
However, running multiple ULWD heaters at fractional power will make a difference.
Typical watt densities for these I see referenced is about 30-50w/sq.in.
Doubling the needed elements and running at 50% max brings this down to 15-25.
Low watt density would really be considered about 5-10w/ sq.in. However, this doesn't change the issue of high sheath temperature.
Thanks @grim I had a suspicion that would be the case. I'm just trying to see what options there are for on grain distilling for the hobbyist without a bain-marie boiler.
Use 6 ulwd 5500w elements at 5500w max across all 6 for a 50l.
Setup a pump with tangential injection and get that tank moving very quickly.
No guarantees it won’t scorch after all that.
@grim thanks mate
My sixpence worth is ..... ULWD is <10W/cm2 (1.55 W/sq.in).
In all seriousness, do not try to use 6 ulwd elements, it will still scorch and you'll have wasted a lot of money.
@grim TBH I don't want to put that many ports in the still so was probably leaning more towards trying the steam option.
Very fast agitation won't work either. Immersion elements should never be used with solids of any sort. Save yourself the trouble trying.
One idea I came up with years back was to put a temperature probe on the element sheath in an attempt to control for maximum sheath temperature. Never got around to even trying to attach a temp probe to an element to see what kind of temps were being seeing at the element/liquid interface. Given that during heat up of cold liquid, I can watch and hear localized boiling directly on the element, I suspect its at least a few hundred degrees (300-400f if I were to guess).
Keep in mind with a steam still - the surface temperature of the jacket seldom exceeds 250f on the steam side - and sustaining a boil or holding high temps rarely needs to be over 220f (1-2psi).
Ultimate Steam Injected Mash Pot/Fermenter/Stripping Still @ AD
Here's a how to for you.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
That's a good build thread @punkin. Still stands up well too.
StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America
I still have it. Converted to gas fired with a 4 burner underneath it.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
One of the epic threads in the annals of home distilling.
Well it was back when i was a feisty young man.
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agree.
Here's another of my favourites: Butch's Centrifuge @ AD
I still crack up reading it.
Gotta feeling Butch's thread's in the members equivalent section back there @crozdog.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
Butch's corn/shitstorm is my all-time favorite. I tell it every time somebody asks me about getting the liquid out of fermented-on-grain corn. I hope he's healed up by now.
Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller
my book, Making Fine Spirits
Still got all the bits for that steam rig @Sam and i don't use it anymore if you were interested in it. Can now run either on LPG or steam injection. Doesn't seal real well with the oring, but perfect for a mash pot. I'm near Coffs, it wouldn't ship very well.
Could sweeten the temptation and make a road trip worthwhile with a couple of 50l barrells too.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
@crozdog, thanks for the link to Burch's centrifuge thread. I had to go back and re-read most of it. I laughed my ass off, again.
Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller
my book, Making Fine Spirits
@punkin thank you for the offer, do you mind if I have a think and get back to you? Ordinarily I would jump at the offer but I just got made redundant and am about to relocate to Melbourne.
Sitting on a pallet up on a rack, not going anywhere mate.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
it's under equipment > accessories
So I not long back within the single direct heated still, mashed a barley malt, fermented it on the grain and finally distilled it on the grain. This was done all without scorching.
The still has 3 x 6KW elements. However of note, are the elements which have an extremely low watt density of 3.4 W/cm2.
Today I finally emptied the still and rinsed with water so as to inspect the elements. No signs of scorching and stainless steel elements were all clean. .................. My open impeller pump was prior tripping so I had get a new motor which I installed today. Hereafter I caustic CIP'd the still.
Of note during the above mashing, fermenting and distilling process, I ensured that I never raised the power above 80% on each element.
To me, the takeaway point is, you don't need a bain-marie vessel and direct heating is quite acceptable.
I have done about 250 distillations with elements and about the same now with BM. I will actually agree with you @richard that your right you can make a good product using immersion elements. But its a lot slower than using bain marie and going full speed. If you have to do two strips in a day and using immersion elements and going slow will take 8 hours but going bain marie will take 6 hours. Then its obvious which is the best. I am of the opinion that BM makes a better product more consistently. You only need a couple of grains to get stuck and it effects the whole product.
Although I probably am of the rare breed that have a still with an immersion element and I had it converted to Bain Marie and kept the immersion ports. So I can operate my still as either direct immersion or Bain Marie. After many runs I chose to operate it in Bain Marie most of the time.