380L Baine Marie

Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co

just some pics of the delivery...

agitator

rebuild (again)

where we started and where we're going

FullySilenced

KDS i would send that one back .... I see 2 hand prints there on the side... can't have that at all.... :)) :D

Smaug

Looks like you guys are putting together a real production facility. ...cheers.

Lloyd

Looking good, Mr. Devil.
Perhaps a Tee instead of the 90 bend above the dephlegmator for flush-in-place?
A 380L with the baine marie jacket always looks like a 500L to me.
A very handsome setup!

Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co

@FullySilenced just marking my territory haha @smaug, yes. agitation is huge for what im doing. our orders just increased so expect yours to... too haha @Lloyd I was actually quite startled at how big this thing actually is. I'm literally using my non jacketed 380 as a super cool arm rest while this monster in front of me (tho being same capacity) is an inch short of my own height w agitator. Lesson of the week: A 700sqft warehouse is no place for anything over a 380L

SDeurope

@Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co, how is the setup going? Care to share some info about it? There are always more ways to run a bain-marie, be it with oil, glycol or just water. We are also interested to see the used attachments on the bain-marie connectors.

shindig

What transfer medium are you using?

Kid

And please let us know how much transfer medium the kettle takes.

grim

Why not go with something like a commercial food grade heat transfer fluid. MultiTherm PG-1, Purity PG, Paratherm NF, Therminol XP, etc etc. Most of these tend to be exceptionally pure mineral oils. Will last longer, sustain higher temperatures, and will not break down in the face of an aggressive heat up. These are the best options, but they are expensive, you'll pay well over $1000usd for a 55g drum.

Even a highly refined vegetable oil with a high smoke point (>400F) might be a good second option. A less refined, but still food grade, mineral oil would probably fall into this group. Probably a little less than half the price of the commercial HTFs.

Water and Glycol mixtures will both boil at significantly lower temperatures (50% glycol is only 107c/225f), I don't see what the benefit of running a glycol mix would be. I'd pick up a refined peanut oil from the restaurant supply before I'd bother with a glycol mix.

Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co

I believe it was Smuag who suggested peanut oil so thats what we went with. Jacket temp held nicely on the test. It apparently holds 35 gallons, though with head space you're using much less (cant remember how much the guys put in, need to ask) Haven't gotten to really use the set up yet due to some power related problems at the distillery :/

Smaug

We do also have a customer that has over a years worth of service life out of his peanut oil without changing. It is cheap and readily available,,,,,,,,though the mineral oil does have an indefinite service life.

grim

Need a deep fryer bolt-on, perhaps you could rig something that uses the carter head botanical basket?

Smaug

@grim said: Need a deep fryer bolt-on, perhaps you could rig something that uses the carter head botanical basket?

Ha..... was gonna say stillin and grillin. But that doesn't really work then does it?

CothermanDistilling

350 oil will cook a turkey nice, though.. maybe a little side pot on the Bain-Marie?

dwhuff

I use peanut oil and we typically run the the still 4 or 5 times a week. I don't run it hard or too hot and take time getting up to temp and the oil has lasted about a year.4, 5500 watt elements. I drained it recently to move some things around and its dark but doesn't look as if it needs to be changed yet. I will change it and put new in just to avoid any future potential problems. I get the jacket up to about 275 degrees F for initial heat up. Again, I don't run it too hot and the peanut oil has held up fine. Not much else to say about it other than I've had no problems. Would like to switch to mobiltherm but price is keeping me using peanut oil at this time.

Smaug

Thanks for chiming in Dave.

jbierling

I've been using water in the jacket.

Advantages: - doesn't make a mess out of everything it touches
- cheap - I can dump the jacket and circulate cold water to cool

Disadvantages: - not distilled water so mineral builds up on the elements

I fill the jacket up to the sight glass. I view the empty space as expansion for the steam and filling the jacket just means it takes longer to heat up. The jacket usually runs with < 5 PSI unless the boiler is almost empty at which point the heat has nowhere to go except produce steam.

I experimented with a few kinds of oils including peanut and just didn't like the way it handled.

FullySilenced

So you can add a descaling additive to the water and clean the elements without issue...

IF your running WATER you may want to make sure you have some kind of sacrificial anode in the water to give up metal in case of electrolysis... all water heaters have these in them and they are cheap..

here is an article about them...
Hot water heater anodes and rust protection - The Basics > Anodes

Just a thought...

punkin

Swede on Artisan does the same thing but he has the jacket plumbed back into the boiler as a stem injection wand. Any extra heat is recovered and absorbed by the wash instead of being vented to the still room environment.

shindig

Kill Devil- Can you post a pic with someone standing next to the 380L for scale?

Smaug

shindig

I have seen that facebook pic but its not the BM 380L. I can see the BM model in the back of that pic but was hoping for a few more shots closer up and with a person for scale.

FullySilenced

Please be aware that that guy is like 7 ft 8 inches tall B-)

shindig

Haha! Jeff's beard makes him look more like 5'5...very "grounding"

Smaug

Jeff is about 5'-8"

punkin

There's that sense of humour kicking in again Larry :))

Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co

@shindig manway is face level and I'm 5'10. I'll post a pic when I can, been MIA for a bit