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Stopping Reflux vs Taking Off below Reflux Condenser

Just thinking out loud... mainly for flavored spirit, say whiskey at 4 plates.. (this idea is for a 8" , but should work on all other sizes)

At first, I was thinking having a port below the RC just go sideways ant tie in above the PC, but it may be easier to have the port below the RC and then have it go vertical around the RC and tie into or above the reducer above the RC

I guess this would be a vapor management system... which I have never used, but my thought is that you can instantly shut off reflux once into hearts, versus shutting off the coolant to the RC, which takes a bit of time to stop refluxing.

thoughts? worth the effort?

Comments

  • On my 5" rig, since it is so efficient I stopped trying to lower the ABV to capture flavors. Now I just keep tails in small jars and add them back. Trying to lessen the ABV on rigs like ours ain't easy. Fuck around with too many knobs and controls and I pooched the run. I'm sure that there are some who can pull it off but I gave up. Smaug and I talked about this and concluded that careful blending back in of tails was the way to go. Kinda nice because you can pick what to add back instead of possibly getting some that you don't want.

  • The second option won't work.
    The heavy vapour will just fall back into the RC.
    Can you explain your end game a bit better?
    There might be benefit with tails management but there are better ways of dealing with response time if that's the problem you're trying to rectify.

  • @CothermanDistilling said: I guess this would be a vapor management system... which I have never used, but my thought is that you can instantly shut off reflux once into hearts, versus shutting off the coolant to the RC, which takes a bit of time to stop refluxing.

    Seems like you'd get too many tails with no reflux.

  • Only as many tails as on the top plate already, correct?

  • edited September 2015

    I don't think it is going to be worth the effort, I think the difference is going to be incredibly minor.

    It won't be a sharp cut either, since when you switch, you still have plates loaded with higher abv reflux. It's going to take a bit of time for the plate load liquid to equalize at a lower (no-reflux) abv.

    Plate bypass seems like a more realistic approach, since it hits both of these.

  • I've been thinking about doing similar with my setup for flavoured spirits, use the plates and reflux for heads compression, then turn off the reflux for the hearts, I think at the same time as turning off the reflux, you would need to turn off the boiler too, to allow all the plates to drain, then back on in pot mode.

    So far as tails go, your only going to get them early if you use too much power, so once the reflux is off, push the power a little but don't run it too hard.

  • edited September 2015

    Passive reflux will keep the plates somewhat loaded, keeping the plates dry without a bypass is a losing battle.

    I always wondered if it was worth draining the dephlegmator in this scenario, since air is a better insulator than water. Would imagine that a drained dephlegmator would generate less passive reflux than one filled with water. But who knows?

  • Draining was my first thought to get to low reflux sooner, then the idea to just bypass the RC popped into my head...

  • Any time.you cut reducing back in hearts, you'll mess with fraction compression?, you might get some.hearts but tails will come through faster?. I've tried many times to run with the dephlag turned off after plates load, every time it drops to around 82~85%, that's with there plates, I'd imagine 6 plates would be different, diameter ect.

  • the idea behind it was to get to the flavor quickly in a flavored spirit... if you were making whiskey, you would want it to drop quickly to 80%, right? but yes, I see the tails coming in sooner...

    I appreciate all your guys input, I am learning that a bigger still allows you to make bigger mistakes, LOL...

  • edited September 2015

    Getting heads compression but not tails compression is still a huge improvement as compared to running a pot still, where you get sloppy fractions. That's just how I see it.

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