I added a small car radiator with the electric fan between the lieberg return and water tank. By far best system addition with no more ice or high water bills. Depending on air temp in the shop, water is usually a couple degrees cooler at the end of a 3 hour run. This is on a pot still, haven't tried with a dephlag yet.
Hi Mr George, I'm what you will call a nuby at distilling. I'm extremely excited to start my new hobby. I cooked up my first whiskey mash today and can't wait to start to distill it. Thank you for all the videos you make it is very entertaining and help full. From South Africa
Christopher, I am also new to the hobby and this video was sent from above as I am busy designing my new still. I am also a South African and I must say this truly fun. Thanks, Mr. George your video helped a lot.
Hi, I must just say, your knowledge and ability to teach is simply amazing. I do have a question regarding the lab grade glass condensers, being attached to the pot still, instead of the copper tubing type condensers, what are your thought? Keep up the good work...
I copied your air conditioner idea and it works perfectly! Added a simple inkbird thermostat that kicks on and off to keep the water cool without me paying attention. Thanks! You rock!
I got a worm that's 24 feet long I got the copper pipe real cheap and I always heard more the better the flavor were the impureties stick to the copper but that's only reason why it's so long but I pull water from a stream to keep it cool even thow it's ina 50 gallon drum it gets the top foot and a half very hot so I do that to keep fresh cold mountain lime water that' stays cold year round but in August I was loosing proof and George just told me why without me asking
Subscriber! Great video, George. Another alternative to condensers is air! If you buy copper tubing with fins attached (like a baseboard radiator) the fins will dissipate the heat if you blow a fan across them. Meets your rule of thumb too. This method has no equipment except a fan and no water, coolers, ice etc.
I use my 5 gallon cooler jug and freeze about 6 plastic gallon jugs of water and use 2 at a time and change it twice during the distilling process, the melted jugs going back into the deep freeze and I never have a problem
This just helped me out a lot. I've been running my pump at full blast and my output is a lot lower than I'd like. It's too cool coming out the top so it's condensing higher up in the arm and not allowing enough to get in the condenser itself. Thanks George.
Yup here's that one George... 89' to 92' coming out of my cold faucet in Glendale Arizona from July thru August, water heater bills are low in the summer and you never need on the Hot when taking a shower either. Thanks for the great videos!
I have a 30 inch by 3 inch shotgun condenser an use 15 pounds of ice on a 20 gallon batch that takes 6 hours to run and still have ice left when I'm done. Right now I'm working on converting a water cooler to chill the water so i can skip the ice. Thank you for another great video to help us be better and safer at our thing and as always #HappyDistilling George
9:50, i use a 15gal storage container and i freeze water in gallon milk jugs and add them 1 at a time to my container and let the hot water run over the jug as it comes out. its worked quite well for me. then i just reuse the same jugs with the same water, virtually no waste except the 15 gal i toss at the end of the run.
George, I’m very jealous of your homemade and very efficient chiller. I remember when you first built it and I wanted to build one myself so badly. But alas, it wouldn’t work in my situation because having to vent out the hot air expelling from the AC unit; through one of my kitchen windows just wouldn’t work out too well. Perhaps one day I’ll try it. But for now, I start up with a half a bag of ice, then proceed to my frozen 1 L bottles of a salted water. This set up works pretty good, whether I’m running in pots Still mode or in a reflux mode. It keeps up pretty well, so I guess I’m happy. Another great video though, keep up the great work my friend.
Mr. Pig, I do the same, except I don't start up with a half a bag of ice. I have some jugs of frozen salt water in the freezer and use them in an ice chest filled with water, to chill the condenser cooling water. I would suggest using 1 gallon bottles instead of 1 liters because the surface area of the larger bottles is greater. As the ice melts from the outside, inward, the rate of heat transfer at the bottle's surface declines. The difference is not all that great but it reduces how often you need to replenish the ice. Having George's chiller would be nice but my limited space and AC power makes the reusable blocks of ice a better option for me.
Very very cool. I wished you would have show how you hooked the AC to the ice chest. thank you i know what i got to do now. Thank you for all your videos.
Hey George ! Yep, It went BING ,and I build me one of a broken de-humidifier. works like a charm in a 80l. foam insulated tank. Plan on putting a stc-1000 on to control it. Soon i have everything to run, just missing time :-( Looking forward to the reflux video. I'm putting a flow meter with a needle valve in after the pump, and a thermometer on the return line. Hope to get some data that I can use in all my reflux runs. Good day ad happy distilling/brewing to ya all :-)
@@johncummings9740 Hey, and sorry, I haven't had the time to run that setup yet. To much work, at work and home :-( but if you get some data, please post it .
Hi George, so just wondering if the "PID GUY" would think about doing a double build control unit in one box. By this I mean heat for the still, and cool for the AC controlled condencer. would make the cool points go up. Happy distill....👍👍
You don't really need a PID for the AC. A simple temperature controller would do just as well and be cheaper. STC-1000's are ubiquitous and would possibly be able to run the AC.
Wish I could be your 100k subscriber, but I subscribed years ago. My reward is being an original member from long ago, and enjoying your content all this time. Happy Distilling, George!
hi Mr. i use to work in a foundry years ago , my cooling water on a die caster was well water at 54 degree , i would tweet my input to where i had 85 to 90 degree on my outlet. if not it was not picking up heat and the metal would stick due to hi temp, or not set solid. that was 1600 degree aluminum. i rum my still same way , i cut my cooling water down so my outlet temp is about 80 or so, warm outlet .good heat exchange, and a great drip drip spurt. oh yea.
If you are not condensing all of the alcohol vapour, it does not really change your proof, it changes your waste percentage. If your water is too warm, your condenser to small, you loose alcohol vapour meaning you are just throwing away the alcohol you worked so hard to create. - looks like you got 100k subscribers.... congratulations.
I freeze 4 -2.5 gallon plastic water jugs and fill up a 150 quart cooler with about 15 gallons od water. I went with building a stand and putting the cooler up high then in the middle of the stand i have a shelf for catch jars and still parts. So its space efficient for me. I have a 30 in shotgun condesner and a dephlegmator. I just have to crack the valves to get enough water for my reflux and condensingA 10 gallon run takes me 9 hours and I have plenty of cool water to get threw.
George, did you ever in your wildest dreams, when you started this channel, think you would ever get 100,000 subscribers? I hope you are planning something real big and exciting for the day the old odometer turns to 100,000! Happy distilling!
Actually I did not. My initial intent was to help in what I thought was a small community and it turned into something very different. I am impressed daily with the number of people involved and appreciate the support.
So good to now have a clue for the water temperature... I ASSUMED I was trying to chill the water to 40F in order to have efficiency. Especially after the chiller video 😄
Mr. George, can you tell me the brand and series of the column/condenser that you showed in the video? I looked back in your videos and couldn’t find it. Love the channel!! I’ve learned a lot sir!! Thank you
George Just finished my shotgun condenser and put both the inlet and outlet for the cooling water on the same side. Does it matter ? Working on my dephlegmator now. great videos thanks
Hi, I am from Iran, your channel is my favorite, your channel taught me a lot, please help me to make a condenser like this device. What is the size of the pipes for the condenser? How can I have a plan size? Sorry, my English is not good. I used Google Translate Thanks
Really wish someone would sell an AC mod like you made. I can get an industrial chiller like that but they are hugely overpriced for what they are. $150 AC compared to $1000 chiller. Same thing with 600% markup. Biting the bullet and running poly tubing all the way to my kitchen. Tired of lugging buckets of water to cool the closed loop.
I've always wondered why most "store bought" stills use the inefficient liebig condenser instead of the Graham condenser which is more efficient and similar to a worm.
Hi George I was wondering on what your thoughts on using a glycol/water mixture instead of just a cold water system? Also another thing which I think would be good to put thermal insulation on the cold water outlet to keep it cold before it gets to the vapour condensor As always thanks for your video
Not sure glycol would be an economical adaptation. If we were trying to prevent freezing it would be appropriate. Its cooling properties would not be much of a benefit for a condenser although using it would not hurt anything.
@@BarleyandHopsBrewing What you say is correct and incorrect and wanted to provide some additional background. Unless you are concerned about freezing occurring in your liquid mixture, it is actually detrimental to use a glycol water mixture because the specific heat of the mixture is less then the specific heat of water, therefore you will transfer less heat per unit volume of the liquid. www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/specific-heat-glycol-water-gif.3097575/ As can be seen from the graph the specific heat is highest when the glycol concentration is 0%. Heat transferred (Q) = m-dot * Cp * Delta T where m-dot is the mass transferred per unit time, Cp is the specific heat (which is higher for pure water), and Delta T is the temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet. The higher the Cp, the more heat will be transferred. Sorry for geeking out but thought I would provide a scientific explaination based on my many years of thermodynamics :-)
I tried having a look but couldn't find anything. Do you have any videos for cooling condensers? I have a 50L unit that works great, but I use a water pump that pumps cold water through it and I keep filling a bucket with Ice... but it heats up enough that I'm plowing through 6-8 bags of ice every time I run the unit.
So George, taking it to the next step.....would you say there is a regulated or required flow rate? Even the little pump, if pushing 200 gallons a minute, does it matter only that the input is less than 1/2 of the vaporizing temperature?
Flow rate is something you'd find out in practice. If your cooling water is of an appropriate temperature and you're fully condensing the vapour, the flow rate is fine. If you're spewing vapour out the end of your condenser, you either need more flow or a cooler inlet temperature. An alternative way is to feel the condenser. It should gradually get warmer closer to the outlet, if it gets hot half way up and doesn't feel like it gets any hotter, your flow rate is too low and you're under-utilizing your condenser. Condenser outlet temperature will also tell you this. The lower it is the better your condenser will perform. However, as long as you're not spewing vapour out the end of your condenser, increasing flow or decreasing inlet temperature won't improve performance.
I was thinking about putting a bucket inside a spare countertop refrigerator.and running the water pipes and electrical cord for the pump through the walls. I just might have to take a look to see if it's condensing unit might be an easy as a conversion as this was. Probably not and I don't want to get into purging freon and soldering. I got to wonder how a 10 gallon aquarium chiller would do.
OK I looked at that little countertop frig and it's even more perfect for this than George's window AC because the tube to the evaporator is nice and long so it should be easy to bend. The evaporator is a neat little plate serving as the freezer bottom with the tubes stamped into the top side and somehow bonded to the bottom layer. That looks very hardy and easy to unbolt along with the thermostat. . Only thing is I got to saw the inside of the box apart if I don't want to have to recharge it . . . and I don't . . . because that tube comes right up from the compressor in the condensing unit through the inside. But that's not a problem for me...Maybe even I got enough tube length between the high and low sides to to put the condenser on the counter and the evaporator will still reach inside the water source. Maybe mount everything on plywood together. . Thanks George ! Your videos are answering all my questions and informative about things I haven't yet thought to ask about, so as to keep me from bad choices otherwise.
I use a cooler and pump,with frozen reused bottled water,I probably go through 50 - 60 bottles. Tried two liter bottles to start with,but they didn't cool as well, I think when they were half thawed, they didn't exchange the heat as fast?
I am a nuby at distillation I have only been doing it since 1967, I am blown away at the baffling amount of science that is applied nowadays and think that it may put a lot of potential home distillers off, the way i see it is that any spirit given off in the first 10% is to be added to the wash next time through, I am not dead yet but I am trying hard.
Thanks George. Fantastic! This is the video I've been waiting for you to share. Looking forward to information about dephlegmator (column condenser) running temperatures. Q. Water temperature in or out, to which one do we pay attention? Happy Distilling from Australia.
I would control the temperature of condensate out of the condenser, that way you can choose what temperature the condensed vapour comes out at. You can change the temperature out of the condenser by manipulating the flow rate of the water through the condenser (or change the temperature of the water by adding ice, if you use the pump set up). Also note, most alcometers are calibrated at 20 c, therefore having a condensed vapour out at 20 c means you can test the concentration right away.
@@MicahWeb Aah I forgot about that. If you are using a parrot you should be getting the distillate temp close to the alcometers calibrated temp. I don't use a parrot yet but will be soon. Thanks Micah.
I was gifted a bunch of brewing & distilling equipment from a good friend. I am going to be distilling my first sugar wash in a couple days when it is done fermenting...One of the pieces of equipment is a glycol chiller..would that be an option to hook up to the condenser?? Thank you for all the videos :)
what do you think about using a car heater core and a fan for cooling? put ice in your cooler and use the heater core unit to drop the discharge water temp so the ice would last longer
Air-conditioners work best at higher temperatures. The lower you chill the water, the less cooling capacity it has. If you want to run multiple stills, take the condenser outlet water, run it through something like a car heater core or radiator with a fan. This will dump most of the heat to the air. Then through the chiller, however depending on your ambient temperature and the size of your radiator, you may not need the chiller at all.
Your water charges must be higher than your electric bill. Burry some copper tubing in the ground and control your heat more precisely using a PID to turn on your heating element, and controlling the volume of water you are pumping through your heat exchanger.
Quick question,why send the water in the bottom and out the top of the condenser? because heat rises is my first guess but I'm a beginner so really don't know.thanks bud,awesome info here...
@Daniel Pahoundis, I wrote this same thing elsewhere, but thought I would answer you directly also. The reason for this is based on a principle of temperature driving force. Heat transfers more efficiently in counter flow then it does in parallel flow. So which ever direction the hot liquid is flowing, the cold water should flow in the opposite direction for maximum heat transfer to occur. In the case of a still the hot liquid is flowing down through the final condenser therefore the cold water should flow upwards. This is based on science and if you want the geek version you can watch th-cam.com/video/3AJLNQJLZWA/w-d-xo.html but just know that it is always best to have counter current flow through a double pipe exchanger. I hope this helps and as always #happyDistilling
@@cryptoponics thanks again and as a beginner things are going well thanks to your videos george,I love the hobby and your a very knowledgeable person on distilling....Happy Holidays
You could in theory pump the water from the top to bottom, but you would first have to fill the condenser (prime it), and ensure NO water loss while hooking up your hoses (which would also have to be primed with water) . Air bubbles can form, and you lose most of your water/vapour contact area. I've seen videos where people have hooked up borosilicate (lab glass) condensers that way, and you can see the inefficiency with all the air bubbles churning around, preventing the water from contacting the vapour tube(s). Also, to a lesser degree, there's a counter flow principle of cooling that can effect efficiency...counter flow chillers run opposite to the flow of product.
Hi, George! I had the idea of using three or four 2 liter plastic bottles filled with salt water and frozen to keep the water cold. What most of us have a deep freeze that constantly runs, so there's no real loss of energy. What are your thoughts on this?
George, did I hear you say that the water output of the pump should be connected to the bottom of the condenser ? I always assumed it should be connected to the top of the condenser and let the water come out of the bottom.
@svanveer, the reason for this is based on a principle of temperature driving force. Heat transfers more efficiently in counter flow then it does in parallel flow. So which ever direction the hot liquid is flowing, the cold water should flow in the opposite direction for maximum heat transfer to occur. In the case of a still the hot liquid is flowing down through the final condenser therefore the cold water should flow upwards. This is based on science and if you want the geek version you can watch th-cam.com/video/3AJLNQJLZWA/w-d-xo.html but just know that it is always best to have counter current flow through a double pipe exchanger. I hope this helps and as always #happyDistilling
@Vesko Ruychev, yes they do. I will work with George to see if we can make a video on this. I use a PC liquid cooling radiator (120mmx240mm) with 2 each - 120 mm fans and a very small pump and circulate water through it and I can run a 2" still with no problems, and no refrigeration or ice is required and the power draw is very very low. I think this would be a great video idea for the future. I hope this helps and #happyDistilling
I have a question maybe someone can help me with. Can you have too much water flow through the lieburg condenser ? In other words can you cause a vapor lock?
Hi, What if water is to cold in both condensor and reflux? feels like nothing is coming at all, if im turn water off it begins to drop for some seconds the stop drop and wipe comes. then turning on water again and it stop wipe and nothing hapends and nothing is coming. any idea_
My worm is 8in coil 10 ft of 5/8 refer soft tubeing sitting in a 7 gallon stainless steel liquid oxygen tank I re purposed. All it takes is a trickle and it stays cold. I'm also going geothermal for cooling
Perhaps a silly question but I’m gonna ask it anyway. Does the angle of the condenser make any difference to cooling? I see some have their condenser at 180’ to the column and others at 45’ or so. I guess the steeper the more the cooling?
@Markal, the angle of the condenser will make no discernible difference as long as the condenser is pointed slightly downwards to completely downwards so the liquid can drain out of the condenser. Also, you want to ensure that the hot vapors are coming in from one side and the cooling medium (water) is coming in from the other end (counter flow). This ensures maximum heat transfer. I hope this helps and #happyDistilling
It will depend on the particular AC unit you use. Cut out a portion of the cooler lid wherever the pipes will be best to fit it, and bend it down. The evaporator just sits in the cooler, however adding some manner of support would be an idea to stop vibrations cracking the pipes.
In the process of building a chiller out of a dehumidifier. One thing I don't understand is how you can have over 2000 views and only (at the time of this comment) 291 likes of the video. What the hell is wrong with people? Another thing is TH-cam is putting too many commercials in your videos. I counted 5 in this one. BAH!
Hello my name is Tim I would love to be able to send you some pictures of my 20 gallon still maybe pick your brain a little bit. My condenser is what you consider a shotgun style about 27 inches in length. I’ve got a lot of time and money wrapped up in it. I would love Feedback. Thank you for your time. Looking forward to hearing from you
About the flow reate in the condenser. A rule of thumb is to check the temperature of the water coming out from the condenser. If it is hot, your flow rate is too low (or your cooling water is too hot, but that is harder to control). You should be adjusting the flow rate with simply adjusting the pump (if it is adjustable and it is not at max). You also can build a control circuit on that if you are a control freak. You need a digital thermometer at the output water and you need an expensive pump which accepts digital signals to adjust flow rate. But as George said, it has no impact on the flavours so fooling around this is kinda overkill. The only reason I would make a controlled flow if something happens with the input water or there is a leakage and you can set an alarm if the temperature of the output water exceeds a limit. Otherwise, no need.
I added a small car radiator with the electric fan between the lieberg return and water tank. By far best system addition with no more ice or high water bills. Depending on air temp in the shop, water is usually a couple degrees cooler at the end of a 3 hour run. This is on a pot still, haven't tried with a dephlag yet.
Good idea!
Hi Mr George, I'm what you will call a nuby at distilling. I'm extremely excited to start my new hobby. I cooked up my first whiskey mash today and can't wait to start to distill it. Thank you for all the videos you make it is very entertaining and help full.
From South Africa
Christopher, I am also new to the hobby and this video was sent from above as I am busy designing my new still. I am also a South African and I must say this truly fun. Thanks, Mr. George your video helped a lot.
@@louwvanderwesthuizen756 Great we might meet-up sometime in the future! 😃
Hi, I must just say, your knowledge and ability to teach is simply amazing.
I do have a question regarding the lab grade glass condensers, being attached to the pot still, instead of the copper tubing type condensers, what are your thought?
Keep up the good work...
I copied your air conditioner idea and it works perfectly! Added a simple inkbird thermostat that kicks on and off to keep the water cool without me paying attention. Thanks! You rock!
HI Ron, Nice work, had a the same thought. I'm now inspired to give it a go. Thanks.
Q. Is this how its done at Lagavulin? "Ron" lol.
I got a worm that's 24 feet long I got the copper pipe real cheap and I always heard more the better the flavor were the impureties stick to the copper but that's only reason why it's so long but I pull water from a stream to keep it cool even thow it's ina 50 gallon drum it gets the top foot and a half very hot so I do that to keep fresh cold mountain lime water that' stays cold year round but in August I was loosing proof and George just told me why without me asking
Do u guys sale clover clamps and gaskets I built a column still to strip with and I need clamps bad
Subscriber! Great video, George. Another alternative to condensers is air! If you buy copper tubing with fins attached (like a baseboard radiator) the fins will dissipate the heat if you blow a fan across them. Meets your rule of thumb too. This method has no equipment except a fan and no water, coolers, ice etc.
Did it work?
I use my 5 gallon cooler jug and freeze about 6 plastic gallon jugs of water and use 2 at a time and change it twice during the distilling process, the melted jugs going back into the deep freeze and I never have a problem
This just helped me out a lot. I've been running my pump at full blast and my output is a lot lower than I'd like. It's too cool coming out the top so it's condensing higher up in the arm and not allowing enough to get in the condenser itself. Thanks George.
Yup here's that one George... 89' to 92' coming out of my cold faucet in Glendale Arizona from July thru August, water heater bills are low in the summer and you never need on the Hot when taking a shower either.
Thanks for the great videos!
I have a 30 inch by 3 inch shotgun condenser an use 15 pounds of ice on a 20 gallon batch that takes 6 hours to run and still have ice left when I'm done. Right now I'm working on converting a water cooler to chill the water so i can skip the ice. Thank you for another great video to help us be better and safer at our thing and as always #HappyDistilling George
Look for a beer cooler (from between the keg and the tap) from a pub/bar refit.
Genius! My buddy and I thought of a similar idea yesterday...this just confirmed the awesome idea it was 🙏
9:50, i use a 15gal storage container and i freeze water in gallon milk jugs and add them 1 at a time to my container and let the hot water run over the jug as it comes out. its worked quite well for me. then i just reuse the same jugs with the same water, virtually no waste except the 15 gal i toss at the end of the run.
Lol, I had the same idea with 2 liter soda bottles containing salt water. Glad to hear someone else is using it!
I use a tube and fin heat exchanger with a fan blowing through it. The nice thing about it is I don’t have to use water to keep it cool.
George, I’m very jealous of your homemade and very efficient chiller. I remember when you first built it and I wanted to build one myself so badly. But alas, it wouldn’t work in my situation because having to vent out the hot air expelling from the AC unit; through one of my kitchen windows just wouldn’t work out too well. Perhaps one day I’ll try it. But for now, I start up with a half a bag of ice, then proceed to my frozen 1 L bottles of a salted water. This set up works pretty good, whether I’m running in pots Still mode or in a reflux mode. It keeps up pretty well, so I guess I’m happy. Another great video though, keep up the great work my friend.
Mr. Pig, I do the same, except I don't start up with a half a bag of ice. I have some jugs of frozen salt water in the freezer and use them in an ice chest filled with water, to chill the condenser cooling water. I would suggest using 1 gallon bottles instead of 1 liters because the surface area of the larger bottles is greater. As the ice melts from the outside, inward, the rate of heat transfer at the bottle's surface declines. The difference is not all that great but it reduces how often you need to replenish the ice.
Having George's chiller would be nice but my limited space and AC power makes the reusable blocks of ice a better option for me.
Why do I have to use salt water blocks
I was just looking at pumps, lol. Perfect timing. Thanks George, have a great weekend 👍
head pressure 8:30
great job. learn so much from you
Thanks for that!
Watched many videos. Finally subscribed as per your instructions 👍😅 keep the knowledge coming good sir
Very very cool. I wished you would have show how you hooked the AC to the ice chest. thank you i know what i got to do now. Thank you for all your videos.
Hey George ! Yep, It went BING ,and I build me one of a broken de-humidifier. works like a charm in a 80l. foam insulated tank. Plan on putting a stc-1000 on to control it. Soon i have everything to run, just missing time :-( Looking forward to the reflux video. I'm putting a flow meter with a needle valve in after the pump, and a thermometer on the return line. Hope to get some data that I can use in all my reflux runs. Good day ad happy distilling/brewing to ya all :-)
I’m building a similar solution.What is your flow rate? And temperature?
@@johncummings9740 Hey, and sorry, I haven't had the time to run that setup yet. To much work, at work and home :-( but if you get some data, please post it .
Hi George, so just wondering if the "PID GUY" would think about doing a double build control unit in one box. By this I mean heat for the still, and cool for the AC controlled condencer. would make the cool points go up. Happy distill....👍👍
You don't really need a PID for the AC. A simple temperature controller would do just as well and be cheaper. STC-1000's are ubiquitous and would possibly be able to run the AC.
Sure miss your lessons, hope all is well. Patiently waiting....hoping for your return. Thank you for all the knowledge you have shared.
This is a great teaching thanks alot
Wish I could be your 100k subscriber, but I subscribed years ago. My reward is being an original member from long ago, and enjoying your content all this time.
Happy Distilling, George!
Thanks George, very informative as usual. Happy distilling
Love your videos.... So informative!
Learning so much, thanks for the great videos and your expertise/experience. Can't wait to do it someday.
hi Mr. i use to work in a foundry years ago , my cooling water on a die caster was well water at 54 degree , i would tweet my input to where i had 85 to 90 degree on my outlet. if not it was not picking up heat and the metal would stick due to hi temp, or not set solid. that was 1600 degree aluminum. i rum my still same way , i cut my cooling water down so my outlet temp is about 80 or so, warm outlet .good heat exchange, and a great drip drip spurt. oh yea.
Love making shine in AK set your BAC outside in the winter, water stays just above freezing!!!
Thanks for another great video George!.🍻
If you are not condensing all of the alcohol vapour, it does not really change your proof, it changes your waste percentage. If your water is too warm, your condenser to small, you loose alcohol vapour meaning you are just throwing away the alcohol you worked so hard to create. - looks like you got 100k subscribers.... congratulations.
happy to see that you are already at 150k. Your videos are great!
I freeze 4 -2.5 gallon plastic water jugs and fill up a 150 quart cooler with about 15 gallons od water. I went with building a stand and putting the cooler up high then in the middle of the stand i have a shelf for catch jars and still parts. So its space efficient for me. I have a 30 in shotgun condesner and a dephlegmator. I just have to crack the valves to get enough water for my reflux and condensingA 10 gallon run takes me 9 hours and I have plenty of cool water to get threw.
George, did you ever in your wildest dreams, when you started this channel, think you would ever get 100,000 subscribers? I hope you are planning something real big and exciting for the day the old odometer turns to 100,000! Happy distilling!
Actually I did not. My initial intent was to help in what I thought was a small community and it turned into something very different. I am impressed daily with the number of people involved and appreciate the support.
So good to now have a clue for the water temperature... I ASSUMED I was trying to chill the water to 40F in order to have efficiency. Especially after the chiller video 😄
Great videos thanks
Great Video George!
Thanks Much & Have Fun!!!
Thanks, you too!
Got it going on George great work, happy distilling!
Thanks 👍
Mr. George, can you tell me the brand and series of the column/condenser that you showed in the video? I looked back in your videos and couldn’t find it. Love the channel!! I’ve learned a lot sir!! Thank you
And is its reflux condenser a dephlagmator or just a water jacket on the outside of the column?
Hi George, Thanks for the reply.. Looking for a small ac unit for the Project.. Will be calling this week for a PID.. 👍
I've been using my mash and boil with pump. recirculate and keep ice in the pot.
I built a shotgun condenser and a ac unit in the water works great.
Thanks
George Just finished my shotgun condenser and put both the inlet and outlet for the cooling water on the same side. Does it matter ? Working on my dephlegmator now.
great videos thanks
Hi, I am from Iran, your channel is my favorite, your channel taught me a lot, please help me to make a condenser like this device. What is the size of the pipes for the condenser? How can I have a plan size? Sorry, my English is not good. I used Google Translate
Thanks
Really wish someone would sell an AC mod like you made. I can get an industrial chiller like that but they are hugely overpriced for what they are. $150 AC compared to $1000 chiller. Same thing with 600% markup. Biting the bullet and running poly tubing all the way to my kitchen. Tired of lugging buckets of water to cool the closed loop.
I've always wondered why most "store bought" stills use the inefficient liebig condenser instead of the Graham condenser which is more efficient and similar to a worm.
Hi George I was wondering on what your thoughts on using a glycol/water mixture instead of just a cold water system?
Also another thing which I think would be good to put thermal insulation on the cold water outlet to keep it cold before it gets to the vapour condensor
As always thanks for your video
Not sure glycol would be an economical adaptation. If we were trying to prevent freezing it would be appropriate. Its cooling properties would not be much of a benefit for a condenser although using it would not hurt anything.
@@BarleyandHopsBrewing What you say is correct and incorrect and wanted to provide some additional background. Unless you are concerned about freezing occurring in your liquid mixture, it is actually detrimental to use a glycol water mixture because the specific heat of the mixture is less then the specific heat of water, therefore you will transfer less heat per unit volume of the liquid. www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/specific-heat-glycol-water-gif.3097575/ As can be seen from the graph the specific heat is highest when the glycol concentration is 0%. Heat transferred (Q) = m-dot * Cp * Delta T where m-dot is the mass transferred per unit time, Cp is the specific heat (which is higher for pure water), and Delta T is the temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet. The higher the Cp, the more heat will be transferred. Sorry for geeking out but thought I would provide a scientific explaination based on my many years of thermodynamics :-)
@rickoms225, see my reply to George's answer for even more detail on this question.. I hope this answers your question and as always, #happyDistilling
I tried having a look but couldn't find anything. Do you have any videos for cooling condensers?
I have a 50L unit that works great, but I use a water pump that pumps cold water through it and I keep filling a bucket with Ice... but it heats up enough that I'm plowing through 6-8 bags of ice every time I run the unit.
So George, taking it to the next step.....would you say there is a regulated or required flow rate? Even the little pump, if pushing 200 gallons a minute, does it matter only that the input is less than 1/2 of the vaporizing temperature?
Flow rate is something you'd find out in practice. If your cooling water is of an appropriate temperature and you're fully condensing the vapour, the flow rate is fine. If you're spewing vapour out the end of your condenser, you either need more flow or a cooler inlet temperature.
An alternative way is to feel the condenser. It should gradually get warmer closer to the outlet, if it gets hot half way up and doesn't feel like it gets any hotter, your flow rate is too low and you're under-utilizing your condenser. Condenser outlet temperature will also tell you this. The lower it is the better your condenser will perform. However, as long as you're not spewing vapour out the end of your condenser, increasing flow or decreasing inlet temperature won't improve performance.
I was thinking about putting a bucket inside a spare countertop refrigerator.and running the water pipes and electrical cord for the pump through the walls. I just might have to take a look to see if it's condensing unit might be an easy as a conversion as this was. Probably not and I don't want to get into purging freon and soldering. I got to wonder how a 10 gallon aquarium chiller would do.
OK I looked at that little countertop frig and it's even more perfect for this than George's window AC because the tube to the evaporator is nice and long so it should be easy to bend. The evaporator is a neat little plate serving as the freezer bottom with the tubes stamped into the top side and somehow bonded to the bottom layer. That looks very hardy and easy to unbolt along with the thermostat.
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Only thing is I got to saw the inside of the box apart if I don't want to have to recharge it . . . and I don't . . . because that tube comes right up from the compressor in the condensing unit through the inside. But that's not a problem for me...Maybe even I got enough tube length between the high and low sides to to put the condenser on the counter and the evaporator will still reach inside the water source. Maybe mount everything on plywood together.
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Thanks George ! Your videos are answering all my questions and informative about things I haven't yet thought to ask about, so as to keep me from bad choices otherwise.
I use a cooler and pump,with frozen reused bottled water,I probably go through 50 - 60 bottles. Tried two liter bottles to start with,but they didn't cool as well, I think when they were half thawed, they didn't exchange the heat as fast?
George what size of that needle valve do I need to get for the Turbo 500 for better water control ? 3/8,1/2,6mm?
I am a nuby at distillation I have only been doing it since 1967, I am blown away at the baffling amount of science that is applied nowadays and think that it may put a lot of potential home distillers off, the way i see it is that any spirit given off in the first 10% is to be added to the wash next time through, I am not dead yet but I am trying hard.
Thanks George. Fantastic! This is the video I've been waiting for you to share.
Looking forward to information about dephlegmator (column condenser) running temperatures.
Q. Water temperature in or out, to which one do we pay attention?
Happy Distilling from Australia.
I would control the temperature of condensate out of the condenser, that way you can choose what temperature the condensed vapour comes out at. You can change the temperature out of the condenser by manipulating the flow rate of the water through the condenser (or change the temperature of the water by adding ice, if you use the pump set up). Also note, most alcometers are calibrated at 20 c, therefore having a condensed vapour out at 20 c means you can test the concentration right away.
@@MicahWeb Thanks so much Micah. Great answer and explanation. thanks for your help.
@@MicahWeb Aah I forgot about that. If you are using a parrot you should be getting the distillate temp close to the alcometers calibrated temp. I don't use a parrot yet but will be soon. Thanks Micah.
TY George!
I was gifted a bunch of brewing & distilling equipment from a good friend. I am going to be distilling my first sugar wash in a couple days when it is done fermenting...One of the pieces of equipment is a glycol chiller..would that be an option to hook up to the condenser??
Thank you for all the videos :)
Impressive.
127K while watching this so well done.
I use my swimming pool as a water source,
Turning your pool into a jacuzzi lol
That’s a great idea heats your pool too hahaha
Brilliant
You don't know what I do in your pool?
Place plastic jugs in freezer full of water to freeze and place in cooler to help with cost
what do you think about using a car heater core and a fan for cooling? put ice in your cooler and use the heater core unit to drop the discharge water temp so the ice would last longer
Would work just fine! There are many ways to skin this cat and that is one of them 🙂
George, how many stills do you think this cooler setup could handle? maybe a glycol additive and run it to max cold? thoughts?
Air-conditioners work best at higher temperatures. The lower you chill the water, the less cooling capacity it has. If you want to run multiple stills, take the condenser outlet water, run it through something like a car heater core or radiator with a fan. This will dump most of the heat to the air. Then through the chiller, however depending on your ambient temperature and the size of your radiator, you may not need the chiller at all.
Your water charges must be higher than your electric bill. Burry some copper tubing in the ground and control your heat more precisely using a PID to turn on your heating element, and controlling the volume of water you are pumping through your heat exchanger.
Have you ever shown how to convert the ac unit
Quick question,why send the water in the bottom and out the top of the condenser? because heat rises is my first guess but I'm a beginner so really don't know.thanks bud,awesome info here...
@Daniel Pahoundis, I wrote this same thing elsewhere, but thought I would answer you directly also. The reason for this is based on a principle of temperature driving force. Heat transfers more efficiently in counter flow then it does in parallel flow. So which ever direction the hot liquid is flowing, the cold water should flow in the opposite direction for maximum heat transfer to occur. In the case of a still the hot liquid is flowing down through the final condenser therefore the cold water should flow upwards. This is based on science and if you want the geek version you can watch th-cam.com/video/3AJLNQJLZWA/w-d-xo.html but just know that it is always best to have counter current flow through a double pipe exchanger. I hope this helps and as always #happyDistilling
@@cryptoponics thanks again and as a beginner things are going well thanks to your videos george,I love the hobby and your a very knowledgeable person on distilling....Happy Holidays
You could in theory pump the water from the top to bottom, but you would first have to fill the condenser (prime it), and ensure NO water loss while hooking up your hoses (which would also have to be primed with water) . Air bubbles can form, and you lose most of your water/vapour contact area. I've seen videos where people have hooked up borosilicate (lab glass) condensers that way, and you can see the inefficiency with all the air bubbles churning around, preventing the water from contacting the vapour tube(s). Also, to a lesser degree, there's a counter flow principle of cooling that can effect efficiency...counter flow chillers run opposite to the flow of product.
"Don't violate the principle"
.... George, ... that sounds a lot like "you've got to respect the chemistry!"
George been 'breaking bad' ?
🤣😂🤣😂
Hi, George! I had the idea of using three or four 2 liter plastic bottles filled with salt water and frozen to keep the water cold. What most of us have a deep freeze that constantly runs, so there's no real loss of energy. What are your thoughts on this?
I have many gallon and 1/2 gallon jugs of water in my freezer that I use when running. You’ll need more than 3 or 4 if your running 5 gallons or more.
A kindergartner could understand this. Thank you.
wow .u are my man
George, did I hear you say that the water output of the pump should be connected to the bottom of the condenser ? I always assumed it should be connected to the top of the condenser and let the water come out of the bottom.
Yes he always says cold water in at the bottom and warm out at the top.
@svanveer, the reason for this is based on a principle of temperature driving force. Heat transfers more efficiently in counter flow then it does in parallel flow. So which ever direction the hot liquid is flowing, the cold water should flow in the opposite direction for maximum heat transfer to occur. In the case of a still the hot liquid is flowing down through the final condenser therefore the cold water should flow upwards. This is based on science and if you want the geek version you can watch th-cam.com/video/3AJLNQJLZWA/w-d-xo.html but just know that it is always best to have counter current flow through a double pipe exchanger. I hope this helps and as always #happyDistilling
If I could subscribe twice I would. Where can I find that recording of "Kentucky Bootleggers".
I wonder if aquarium chiller, air thermal sink for PC (with fans) or any other options are available out there and if they work.
@Vesko Ruychev, yes they do. I will work with George to see if we can make a video on this. I use a PC liquid cooling radiator (120mmx240mm) with 2 each - 120 mm fans and a very small pump and circulate water through it and I can run a 2" still with no problems, and no refrigeration or ice is required and the power draw is very very low. I think this would be a great video idea for the future. I hope this helps and #happyDistilling
Hello George, I Love You.
I have a question maybe someone can help me with. Can you have too much water flow through the lieburg condenser ? In other words can you cause a vapor lock?
Hi, What if water is to cold in both condensor and reflux? feels like nothing is coming at all, if im turn water off it begins to drop for some seconds the stop drop and wipe comes. then turning on water again and it stop wipe and nothing hapends and nothing is coming. any idea_
Wish i could see how you have it wired up.
George has a video on how to build his chiller
My worm is 8in coil 10 ft of 5/8 refer soft tubeing sitting in a 7 gallon stainless steel liquid oxygen tank I re purposed. All it takes is a trickle and it stays cold. I'm also going geothermal for cooling
So, can the water be to cold? If i have cold water coming out of my condenser is that good or bad?
You put wtaer pump at 10:58.... 😝 just giving u a hard time. Great videos!!
Perhaps a silly question but I’m gonna ask it anyway. Does the angle of the condenser make any difference to cooling? I see some have their condenser at 180’ to the column and others at 45’ or so. I guess the steeper the more the cooling?
@Markal, the angle of the condenser will make no discernible difference as long as the condenser is pointed slightly downwards to completely downwards so the liquid can drain out of the condenser. Also, you want to ensure that the hot vapors are coming in from one side and the cooling medium (water) is coming in from the other end (counter flow). This ensures maximum heat transfer. I hope this helps and #happyDistilling
I'm using the swimming pool water. Drop a pump in the pool and back into the pool at a different place.
My concern is about knowing how to control heat on my burner as to avoid explosion
Which stainless steel still is that one sir?
old refrigerators work too not the frost free type
Can you please show image of interior of cooling system..how do you bend and route the AC Coils ?
Thx
It will depend on the particular AC unit you use. Cut out a portion of the cooler lid wherever the pipes will be best to fit it, and bend it down. The evaporator just sits in the cooler, however adding some manner of support would be an idea to stop vibrations cracking the pipes.
instead of an ac unit just run the water thru a heat exchaanger with a fan attached they sell them to chill computers around 20.00 bucks
I miss you George. Rip.
I am sorry to hear that, i was waiting for more videos from him when I saw your message
Can you please tell me what happened? Thanks
Hi George, can I pump water from a chlorine salt water pool through a copper condenser without causing issue to the copper?
That would rust/corrode the copper really really fast.
Should work fine. Pool salt water is has low salt content. Be sure to rince with fresh water afterwards.
Try using a stainless steel condenser.
thank you
Frozen milk containers full of water works well
You took my idea
My solution to the ice problem is to freeze 6 plastic coffee cans and use them
I have a 10 gallon still and the ice will last for the full run. I freeze a couple extra just to be safe!
I use bottled watered that I freeze in my chest freezer when they thaw I just throw back into the freezer and replace with new frozen one
In the process of building a chiller out of a dehumidifier. One thing I don't understand is how you can have over 2000 views and only (at the time of this comment) 291 likes of the video. What the hell is wrong with people? Another thing is TH-cam is putting too many commercials in your videos. I counted 5 in this one. BAH!
I am considering banning youtube from commercials.
George
Cool video 😄 question.. is there a way to keep the cooling water clean, without damaging the copper? We have 1500 gal that looks like bacteria soup..
You can get inhibitors for that. Bleach, iodine tablets etc.
4:19 What on Earth is "half the temperature"?? That could only make any sense if you were measuring in Kelvins.
Are you serious? lol
@@theghostofsw6276 yes
Hello my name is Tim
I would love to be able to send you some pictures of my 20 gallon still maybe pick your brain a little bit. My condenser is what you consider a shotgun style about 27 inches in length. I’ve got a lot of time and money wrapped up in it. I would love Feedback. Thank you for your time. Looking forward to hearing from you
About the flow reate in the condenser. A rule of thumb is to check the temperature of the water coming out from the condenser. If it is hot, your flow rate is too low (or your cooling water is too hot, but that is harder to control).
You should be adjusting the flow rate with simply adjusting the pump (if it is adjustable and it is not at max).
You also can build a control circuit on that if you are a control freak. You need a digital thermometer at the output water and you need an expensive pump which accepts digital signals to adjust flow rate. But as George said, it has no impact on the flavours so fooling around this is kinda overkill.
The only reason I would make a controlled flow if something happens with the input water or there is a leakage and you can set an alarm if the temperature of the output water exceeds a limit. Otherwise, no need.
Lol Phoenix AZ tap water temp
i used a chest freezer
None of em beats a good ole worm
im the conservative one 😅