Plate Variables

[googe]

"I'm cursed with some of the same traits Jim mentioned. If I don't understand the principles behind something its like i'm flying blind and a great personal source of frustration."
you nailed how I think too bt1!!.

[bt1]

Why complicate things, there is lots of info on how to to build a bubbler & how to run it.
Those that have run perf plates & bubble cap plates have reported there findings, no noticeable difference
in the end product.
I built mine following the advice given & learnt the hard way to follow the advice on how to run it.
I don't have a degree in physics, but I make some good hooch.
I'm just your average Joe trying to have a go.

I guess if your not inspired or don't have those what if moments then all good that's your reality.... nothing wrong with it...it's just it's not mine.

My new bubbler is belting out the gear at a rate and abv I am most happy with...but that doesn't stop me asking well what if? In fact the conceptual what if's are to me the best part of this game.

If I'm making hooch the same way I am now in ten years...There's something seriously wrong...

bt1

[crow]

Now now bt that all depends on if ya get that Irish style down pat ;-)

[bt1]

No I can absolutely guarantee I won't be doing it the same way

New 6 - 8" will likely have some of the following:

Wave formed slotted plates( i.e. not drilled) not flat... or could go caps
Oversized col past deph condenser
variable rate vacuum pump assisted post product condenser
possibly a 2 skinned col with heat pump or passive heating
Most likely a mechanical cap to plate fluid depth levelling system
Cooling/heating to caps if used
Plate drains on all plates with in line sight glasses for flow monitoring
variable weir wall or downcomer tubes
LED back lighting / double sight glasses either side of col or triangulated
PLC driven cooling valves for precision and logging
Data logger with enviro and wash variables perhaps
Digital temp probes not thermos in boiler, pre product condenser, post condenser, product condenser output tip
I can discount the air forced condenser already it's a dud.. not enough grunt on a basic single tube steam test...that's with 2 x 120mm fans flat stick.

kk so there's my short wish list...don't know yet if a few are feasible or I have the build skills, sure I can find some build guru to assist.
The electronics are partly researched and have 2 x Electronics mates I used to work with here in SA if I get stuck.

But for sure you'll see some in action mid to late next year

bt1

[crow]

hmm , thought about valve plates the big boys use? never heard of one being built in Oz , Plated vacuum still would be pretty fucking cool too :D

[googe]

.Thats fuckin insane bt, I don't even know what half the stuff is not said lol, I like the sound of it though :handgestures-thumbupleft: . I like the sound of these wave plates, care to share more about it?. Is the aim of this still, to get high output with good abv and flavor?. That suction idea, could you have a tank of some kind at the product condenser and have a suction device attached to the tank to suck air out of the tank, causing a vacuum to pull the vapor through the still?. Did that make sense lol. Sounds like a awesome machine!!, cant wait to see it, good luck.

[emptyglass]

You can use the cooling power of the condenser to collapse the vapor and make your still run in vacuum, hovever you miss out on the benifits of low boiling point and the efficiency created with a vac pump.

Some reading for you Googe, http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 17&t=29206

[crow]

Reckon that that that manu fella and others have some stuff on AD about it , all seems a bit to much work just for a faster boil time and maybe slightly better fractioning. Seems to me most of the energy yad save will less heat and lower boiling temps yad use maintaining a vacuum , so more work to gain , what? :think: not for me and no googe ya can't just suck the atmosphere out as the atmosphere in a still is the vapour you would want to condense ;-)

[bt1]

Howdy,

That thread is a killer read.

EG's been on that thread for a while been keeping a eye on it. EG's comment about "putting heat in then throwing it way" was the nailer for me.

The wave plate is just an idea and untested at this stage. I have high hopes a builder of repute will adopt and test at least one soon.
Idea goes back to pt Jim raised re fluid levels on plate.
The wave form is hopefully able to fuck with the constant fluid bath on plates impacting on vapour speed/ plate gain.

The slots in a lattice pattern are a soln to drilling those pricks of holes and is purely a cost/effort practical soln. I ain't ever doing drilled plates again....I'd rather do caps. It also has the benefit of being able to play with surface area ratios on the plate which I'm yet to fully appreciate....still reading, reading, reading.

bt1

[crow]

I'm likely not following exactly what's being written here but it sounds a bit back to the future to me. Slots sounds a little like the split pates used yrs and yrs ago before they came up with much better methods

[jim]

2nd pic shows a riser that sits under the cap, it needs to be slightly higher than the top of your down comer to retain the liquid pool at the set height of the downcomer.

As long as you have a bit of positive pressure coming from the plate below, which is the assumption the still is operating under, I dont see why you would need your riser that high. From what I can see it should only need to be higher than the highest lip of your cap. Unless you had an unfixed cap like LWTCS has in his thumper, then the riser would need to be high so the cap cant get floated off.

[MacStill]

it needs to be slightly higher than the top of your downcomer to retain the liquid pool at the set height of the downcomer

[MacStill]

further more, this is how the engineers of Holstein style stills designed them.....

Untitled.jpg

[googe]

That pic did my head in for ages till I learnt more, now I understand more, the top bit above the top clamp still has me stuffed though :think:

[MacStill]

Those big pro rigs have catalytic converters and things in there, it also looks as though it has a 2 stage deflaggamathingimy

The important part in this case is the bubble cap, riser & downcomer configuration ;-)

[googe]

Yeah, was studying that, looks like the defag is split down the centre and one sides draining, makes sense

[emptyglass]

Reckon that that that manu fella and others have some stuff on AD about it , all seems a bit to much work just for a faster boil time and maybe slightly better fractioning. Seems to me most of the energy yad save will less heat and lower boiling temps yad use maintaining a vacuum , so more work to gain , what? :think: not for me and no googe ya can't just suck the atmosphere out as the atmosphere in a still is the vapour you would want to condense ;-)

Crow, my goal has always been to do runs quicker, without sacrificing quality.
We have the inputs of running a heat source and cooling the product for the time of the run.
If you could lower the boiling point, you use less heat and dont need as much cooling, but now you have the input of the pump. Without crunching numbers, I reckon that would come out about square, as far as inputs go.
Where the gain is (potentially) is the fact that the boil up time is reduced, the whole process happens quicker, and you are not running these inputs for as long.

However, there is the question of quality, the difficulty of making cuts, and the fact that you might collapse your still if you got a bit greedy. If one could achieve a reduction in run time of say, 40 to 60%, I think its worth a bit of investigating. Processing 40 litres of wash to a good standard, in less than 2 hours?,,,I'm in.

Sorry jim, a bit off topic.