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Condensers

Hi all. I'm building a new still and need some help on the condensers. The Reflux condenser needs till knock down 14 kW in full reflux when running vodka and the product condenser needs till be able to cool 20kw in stripping mode. The condensers I'm going to order from SD so just point me in the right way and I'm grateful. Sorry for my bad spelling but I'm from Scandinavia.

Comments

  • Hello smygis,

    my StillDragon 4" long product condenser can keep up with 16.5kW but has trouble with 22kW. You can of course put a 2" PC with a reducer below the 4" PC and you should be fine. Can't help you with the dephlegmator.

  • edited September 2018

    Flow rate and coolant temperature are major factors in condenser sizing.

    If you have chillers and a big coolant tank, you can easily compensate with increased flow rate. If you are cooling with purchased water, that comes out of the tap warm, that's going to be another matter entirely.

    Realistically, you can't go too big with a product condenser, bigger is better. You could argue that oversizing is going to lead to smear.

    I run a fairly oversized reflux condenser, while it is INCREDIBLY efficient, it is very slow to respond to changes due to the thermal mass and water volume. That means RC temperature changes need to be made very slowly.

  • I LOVE my 8"x1.2m condenser on a tank stand I got from @smaug

  • @smygis said: Hi all. I'm building a new still and need some help on the condensers. The Reflux condenser needs till knock down 14 kW in full reflux when running vodka and the product condenser needs till be able to cool 20kw in stripping mode. The condensers I'm going to order from SD so just point me in the right way and I'm grateful. Sorry for my bad spelling but I'm from Scandinavia.

    No problem. The worst spellers are all from Scandinornio.

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • Hello guys, I'm starting a gin microdistillery. My boiler has 300L capacity and the power I can throw at it is a maximum of 9KW with 2 heating elements. I need to improve my product condenser and I had a look at SD product condenser shotgun (510mm height). Before buying it I would like to know if it can handle 9Kw. Any information about this condenser would be very helpful. Thanks in advance

  • Which diameter mate? The 2" shotguns will handle up to about 10l an hour with decent cooling water.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • My 3 inch long at about that power i only run about 2.5 l / min at it and most of that is overkill. Listen to punkin etc as they will know.

  • Sorry guys, I mean the 4" shotgun It's for a 4" pot still and looks like I'll be working at about 8Kw. Actually if the condenser it's more efficient than that It will be ok because I would reduce water flow.

  • edited October 2018

    Hello @Sergiolis, a few lines earlier I wrote that the 4" "long" product condenser can easily keep up with 16.5kW so it will have no problem at all with 9kW. You might have to measure the cooling water output temperature to make sure it doesn't get so hot as to damage the pipes or reservoir you dump it in... I always keep it below 60C, directly to the sewer.

  • Disregard my answer as i misread the original brief.

  • edited October 2018

    Thank you guys

    Sorry @squeakyclean, there is a 4" Product Shotgun (48") with Parrot Mount and I thougth you were reffering to that one.

  • edited October 2018

    @Sergiolis said: Sorry squeakyclean, there is a 4" Product Shotgun (48") with Parrot Mount and I thougth you were reffering to that one.

    No I meant the 20" / 50cm version which is called 4" long by StillDragon Europe and StillDragon Australia. That's the 4" Stainless Steel Product Shotgun in North America, what they call "long" is indeed a different beast. Confusing.

  • Sorry mate i have never had any feedback except 'What a beast'.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

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