Cooling water temperature

[Marduk]

What is the optimum cooling temperature for water running through the condenser? I use a Liebig condenser on a roughly 13 inch column, all copper, with five 100% copper scrubbers attached to a 15.5 gallon SS pot, heated by a 1300 watt induction plate. It’s hard to keep the cooling water temp steady and it seems to affect the equilibrium when I add ice to the pump bucket. The pump tends to heat up the cooling water, so I’m thinking of placing the pump bucket into another larger bucket filled with ice. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
P.S.
11.5 cups out of 10 gallons. 1st-1 half cup foreshots, 2nd-1 cup 75%, 3rd-1 cup 75%, 4th-1 cup 82%, 5th-1 cup 74%, 6th-1 cup 73%, 7th-1 cup 71%, 8th-1 cup 65%, 9th-1 cup 55%, 10th-1cup 50%, 11th-1cup 45%, 12th-1cup 40%. I should have kept going but it took a VERY long time to get this produced, almost 24 hours. Were these good results? The hearts tasted great on a single run of thin corn mash. Any suggestions or critique on speeding this up or otherwise any suggestions? Thanks again!

[Richard Coleman, Jr]

I use a condenser as well— I just hook mine up to the hose which is fed from city water—-Normally the water is in the 50’s for most of the year…I have never had any issues or noticed any difference when the water is a bit water during the summer months. How large is your current container for the cooling water?

I run 1500 watts on a 10 and it takes some time to heat up. I think you are running too slowly if it is taking 24 hours to run 15.5 gallons. I would suggest running a bit quicker.

When i run a 10 gallon run- It tends to take around 8-9 hours (after it is heated up- doing a spirit run)
I will get close to 2 gallon total product running my tails down to 10% 20 proof. You should get close to a gallon of good stuff from a 10 gallon run.

What is your mash process and starting gravity?

[Marduk]

Hey Richard! Thanks for responding!
I use a 5 gallon bucket with an 85 gph pond pump attached to hose going to and from the condenser back into the 5 gallon bucket. Seems to save on the water bill, lol. The temp of the faucet water to begin is around 50-60 F, but raises in temp as the pump runs, up to 100 F, I tried adding ice to the bucket, but that brings the temp way down to around 40 F and water condenses on the outside of the liebig condenser, which isn’t an issue< I just wrap the end with paper towels so the water doesn’t drip down. Thinking if I put the 5 gallon bucket on top of a 7.5 gallon bucket that’s filled with ice, it will control the temp a little better?
My 1300 watt nuwave induction plate takes about 90 minutes to heat up 10 gallons in the 15.5 gallon keg to boiling. The first bit that comes out evaporates almost immediately when it hits the jar. Then it starts to drip about 1 maybe 2 drips per second. With five copper scrubbers in the column, and the cooling water varying in temp every hour or so, would that affect the equilibrium of the faux reflux causing it to slow down? Should I use less scrubbers possibly?
My mash process is taken straight from Clawhammers website here: http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/3386482-how-to-make-moonshine-part-1-the-mash
I start with his thin corn mash recipe, but I use 100% stone ground corn meal. It takes time to strain it using a nylon mesh bag, but works well. I also use Briess carapils malt (no color or flavor contribution) 6 row-lovibond 1.3. I pulverize it in my nutribullet blender to make sure it can come in contact easily with the corn meal. I follow the procedures on the site to a “T” and it works out well. My starting gravity is roughly 1.055. I thought it should be a bit higher considering I added 8 pounds of sugar to make a 5 gallon wash to mix with the 5 gallon corn mash, but the FG was at nearly .98 after two weeks. I probably should have let it sit for another week, but I was a bit anxious to get started!
I hope this helps you with further suggestions and thanks so much for your time and knowledge!

[Richard Coleman, Jr]

With five copper scrubbers in the column, and the cooling water varying in temp every hour or so, would that affect the equilibrium of the faux reflux causing it to slow down? Should I use less scrubbers possibly?

I use around 8 scrubbers in my column- I think you just need to turn the heat up – just run a bit quicker.

Also, I would try using the bucket in ice method–or just using a larger container- or just hook up a soaker hose to the end and water the veggie garden as that is what I do.

I also use Briess carapils malt (no color or flavor contribution) 6 row-lovibond 1.3. I pulverize it in my nutribullet blender to make sure it can come in contact easily with the corn meal.

You should not use carapils for making mash as carapils does not add any fermentable sugars “Carapils has a clear, glassy endosperm and contributes unfermentable sugars that add foam stability, and palate fullness to beer.” I would use a standard 2 row as you will get the benefit of enzymes which you need for conversion as well as fermentable sugars-This is what I normally use for my mashes: http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/distillers-malt/4,12902.html

what was the starting gravity of the corn mash on it’s own?
8 pounds of sugar in a 5 gallon mash will give you around 1.074 without anything else.

[Marduk]

Thanks for the info on the carapils! I didn’t check the SG until I mixed in the sugar wash, sooo…I’ll get back with you in a few weeks after these corrections are made! Thanks!

[Richard Coleman, Jr]

Keep us posted!

[Marduk]

OK! Well, I installed a 1440 electric element and a temperature controller and found the induction plate was no longer necessary except for a quicker heat up time. From start to finish on a 10 gallon batch only took six hours! What a remarkable improvement time-wise! The only short coming was the decrease in proof. I went from 164 proof max in the middle of the run to around 120 proof in the middle of the run with the heating improvement. With the temp controller there was no way to tweak it down in temp without it cycling off completely. Small price to pay I suppose for the drastically decreased run time. Also, it is so much easier now to see when to make the cuts. As soon as the thermo coupler reads that the temp increases and then holds steady, I make the cut. Very nice! Still working on a cooling water improvement. May just make a makeshift worm out of the exiting condenser cooling line. Run it coiled up in a bucket of ice, then have it drain back into the reservoir to be pumped back up through the condenser. Either that or make a “swamp cooler” out of an old air conditioner radiator and fan, we’ll see.
So, after those nice improvements, I have one more question concerning purity…If I extend my column by another foot or two, will it improve the purity? I have learned that the slower you go, the higher the purity, so how can I slow it down just a bit? Thanks in advance!

[ElectricHomeDistillery]

Marduk- are you using one of our Electric Home Distillery controllers?

are you running 15 gallons of wash?

[Marduk]

Emmett,
I got the element and controller combo off of ebay. Not sure if it was from you or not? (posted pic)
I run 10 gallon max in a 15.5 gallon keg. Currently using a 12″ packed column (14″ including the head).
Hope that helps diagnose. Thanks!

[ElectricHomeDistillery]

Marduk- That is not ours– it looks like that is using an STC100 for the controller. I was going to say if you were using our controller you can just set a % of power— once you have it up you could set it to 60% or whatever to keep the correct amount of power going to the element. It sounds like you found a good work-a-round with the controller you have though.

In terms of the proof- in terms of a packed column still running at a decent speed your proofs look pretty spot on. If you are looking to increase the proof-
either setup a thumper or modify your column – use a sightglass and pack it full of Raschig Rings–or better yet use the sight glass with copper plates

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