continuous boiler

[Dominator]

I think the idea of a continuous still for stripping could be used in a hobby setup. However, I think to build a continuous setup, to produce a finished product would be out of the scope of a hobbyist, DIY distiller.

There are plenty of people here who do 200L washes. It would be great to strip it all in one run. A 200L wash stripped in 40L batches will take 5 runs. It takes most people at least 45mins to fill their boiler and heat it to boiling point. Add to that another 30mins to drain, clean and pack up your still/boiler that is over 6 hours. With a continuous still your only doing that once. Saving you a whole lot of time.

I guess the question is, is it worth it? These days 4" plated columns are becoming very common and there is plenty of information on how to build one. A plated column negates the need to strip your wash, as you can produce a superior product in a single run.

[crow]

Yes but then some ppl prefer a given was through a pot ;-) (not me BTW, the pot is gone)

[bt1]

Howdy,

where's the value inherent in the design here? I don't see it?

A 6" diameter pot and equally sized shoty PC for stripping would eat 200lt in no time and be less hassle, cost and complexity.

Might have missed something here??? :think:

bt1

[MacStill]

200 litres is only 10 hours distilling with my rig :teasing-neener:

[Cane Toad]

Even less with mine :teasing-neener: :teasing-neener: :laughing-rolling:

[MacStill]

Even less with mine :teasing-neener: :teasing-neener: :laughing-rolling:

OK you want to play that game hey, I love a challenge :D

12" Mac 4 SSG with 6" sight glasses would look nice :laughing-rolling:

[crow]

aw hell no :roll: , don't tell me the beer keg column idea's about to come up again :laughing-rolling:
And if someone is making a 12 month supply of say tradition sliv it might be a fair bit more than 200 ltrs of wash ;-)

[Cane Toad]

:D :D I'm not buying a 12"er :snooty: :snooty: I could get accused of bootlegging if I had one of those :teasing-neener: :teasing-neener: Hang on,some half wit tossers have already accused me of that :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[Yummyrum]

Seems that a continuous stripper is quite feasible and several have made them. I like the idea of further rectifiers that remove heads .Sure it will be complicated ,but isn't that the challenge. Several have achieved this in a hobby still . It is after all a hobby .We all have our own preferences that interest us and often find what others prefer are to us unjustifiable.

Now I realize that continuous stills are probably no faster than batch distilling the same quantity ,there are arguments for and against that they are more efficient. I think the biggest issues people have with them is that they may be used to churn out booze 24/7. Obviously for sale .

Now a still that does that has to be completely automated when it comes to feed rates ,boiler levels etc ( not that I have any experience at all) so to me a hobby continuous still is one that has to be watched 100% of the time it is operated like we would while doing a batch distill.Being not fully automated ,it is up to the operator to watch and maintain all the variables.

It will be operated continuously for maybe 8-12 hours then turned off .Maybe only 2 hours what ever ,its just a different way of distilling.

Having briefly looked into various continuous stills,it seems that there are all manner of variations that remove varying degrees of heads and tales .There is so much area here for home distillers to play with ,I hope we can have some fun with this .

Meanwhile those that want to produce excessive amounts for more than hobbie consumpion will continue to do so whether its by large batch stills and washes or other means

[crow]

I like the idea of a continuous boiler rather than a continuous still, still really only feasible for stripping but that where time and energy could be really saved.Imagine you have all your fementers/feed tanks plumbed to together and the last feed tank is heated with in wash inlet controlled by say a ball and cock tap. you would have a continual influx of warm wash entering the still though out the run :handgestures-thumbupleft: . Its not strictly speaking "continuous" just a continual batch run I could go for the crayon award and draw it up but I'm sure ya'll get the picture

[Yummyrum]

We love Crayons Crow ...bring it ...Pics worth a thousand words an all that

So how do we differentiate a continuous boiler from a continous stripping still ?

[blond.chap]

So how do we differentiate a continuous boiler from a continous stripping still ?

A continuous still doesn't have a wash boiler at all. Wash is fed in at about the middle plate, then steam is fed into the bottom and stillage is removed from the bottom plate. So steam is the heat source.

The plates below the feed point are called the "Stripping" section, the plates above are called the "Rectifying" section. Most continuous stills separate these into different columns, so you have a stripping section where wash is fed into the top, then a rectifying column where the vapour from the top of the stripper is fed into the bottom.

To run a continuous column you need to be able to keep the following absolutely constant to keep it working, they take several hours of constant variable before reaching steady state and working properly:
- Steam flow rate and degree of superheat
- Wash flow rate, temperature and % alcohol
- Product take-off rate
- Coolant to the reflux column

The continuous boiler makes way more sense (stripping runs only) for a hobby scale, continuous stills take so long to start up, you really have to run them 24/7 to make it worthwhile.

[MacStill]

We love Crayons Crow ...bring it ...Pics worth a thousand words an all that

So how do we differentiate a continuous boiler from a continous stripping still ?

... and now that he said he could, he should..... :D

[Cane Toad]

:text-+1: :text-imwithstupid:

[Yummyrum]

Trying to get my head around this.

If we boil up a wash in a Batch run,the Temp slowly increases until the temp of the "mix" is reached determined by the proportions of various Fores,heads,ethanol,fussels (tails) etc .The fores will boil off first as they are the most volatile,the temp then increases as the mix now consists of heads,ethanol ,fussels .As each boils off the temp rises again :teasing-blah:

Do I have this right so far ?

OK so in a Continuous boiler ,the level will be constant so as vapour is leaving,more wash enters to maintain the same level.

So presumably the wash temp is at some arbitrary temp..What sets this temp ? surely its the proportion of fractions that make up the wash at that moment

Surely everything that enters the boiler can't be turning to vapour at the same time ..In a pot this does not happen ,only the parts of the mix that are at the wash temp are released.

So do the very small proportions of fores and heads that hit the boiling wash just spontaneously vaporize ?

So assuming that ( apart from water) ethanol is the highest proportion in the mix ,this would predominantly set the boil temp

Do the Fussels that aren't at the wash temp just build up because they are the highest boiling point components ?

Does the boiler temp just keep rising and rising as the fussels build up and finally when there is so much of them the mix boil temp rises to the point where they to finally vapourize ?

[crow]

@ YR :

the last feed tank is heated with in wash inlet controlled by say a ball and cock tap. you would have a continual influx of warm wash entering the still though out the run

Yes it would need to be thermostatically controlled and if using a "normal" still it would only be of use for stripping (smearing on a scale you would never normally get) ;-)

[Yummyrum]

Cheers crow but I was talking about a continuous boiler used for stripping rather than a continuous stripping still.

(Not sue what happened there..)

Ok so assuming its a Continuous boiler .I don't understand how putting a thermostat on it will help.My understanding is that a thermostat controls the amount of power to a boiler .
More power,more vapour but the temp remains the same .which is set by the composition of the various fractions in the wash.

[crow]

umm :? yeah mate so was I

[Yummyrum]

:laughing-rolling: Crow ,
Think we'll have to get out the crayons.

[crow]

yeah well we'll see. thing is the jets on my scanner seem to have dried up and I can't use cad. So this means drawing by hand taking a photo of it emailing it to myself downloading it to the PC then shade cropping and resizing it then posting it so not tonight Josephine :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: I ain't do it half pissed :handgestures-thumbupleft: