Comparative analysis three selection schemes that are used in home brewing and distillation columns. The characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, as well as applicability in various options distillation. Each method has its own type of equipment.
To work successfully with a column, you need to adjust the reflux ratio. There are three methods for this:
Methods for controlling a distillation column Before we start talking about types of selection, let's define the terms.
Distillation– the process of evaporation of a liquid followed by condensation.
If the raw material was initially evaporated from the distillation cube, then condensed in a refrigerator (condenser), then no matter what happens in the middle of this process (the passage of steam through a steamer, bubbler or reflux condenser), ultimately a distillate will still be obtained.
Rectification- This is one of the distillation methods, which is distinguished by two technological methods:
Forced, strictly controlled return of reflux using special devices - reflux condensers or condensers.
Heat and mass transfer is organized between the phlegm and the steam rising towards it. To increase the efficiency of heat and mass transfer, packing or plate columns are used, where reflux re-evaporation occurs. In the first case, the process is film in nature, in the second - bubbling.
The purpose of rectification is to obtain alcohol of a given strength and purify it from impurities. To do this, the reflux ratio must always be higher than the minimum (more details on the graph).
The quality of the product depends on the reflux ratio, but the higher it is, the lower the productivity of the column.
Rectification does not allow one to isolate any mixture from a group, but only more or less completely removes all impurities grouped by similar volatility. Therefore, if you use rectification equipment to obtain, for example, fruit distillates, there is a risk of grouping the head fraction into difficult-to-separate azeotropes - removing useful esters responsible for the aroma along with unnecessary impurities.
If you try to remove noble distillate using rectification equipment, you need to ensure that the reflux ratio does not exceed 1.5-2 during the entire selection. Otherwise, the balance of impurities will be upset.
LM – adjustment of the amount of liquid withdrawal. The most convenient and easy-to-use scheme is in which all vapors are condensed, then one part of the condensate is returned to the column, the other goes to the selection.
Characteristics. The reflux ratio is adjusted using one needle tap for alcohol selection. If the tap is fully open, the reflux ratio is zero, and the output is a regular distillate. When the tap is closed, the reflux ratio is infinitely large - the column works for itself. Adjusting the liquid tap allows you to change the reflux ratio from 0 to 100% at any time. The heating and cooling power is set at the optimal level, ensuring maximum separation capacity of the column and minimal reflux cooling.
Column with liquid withdrawalAs a rule, the reflux ratio is set slightly higher than the minimum, which, when selecting a “body,” allows one to go without adjustments for a relatively long time, but closer to the end of the selection, one still has to actively regulate the process. Moreover, the less alcohol remains in the cube, the more often it is necessary to increase the reflux ratio.
Advantages:
Flaws:
VM – regulation by dividing steam flows to the dephlegmator. The column is controlled by changing the amount of extracted steam using a gate valve or a conventional ball valve.
Characteristics. Area ratio cross section column and steam outlet pipe determines the minimum reflux ratio, which can be increased by adjusting the position of the valve.
Column with steam extraction During distillation, the amount of reflux returned is adjusted from 80 to 100%. The minimum possible reflux ratio is 4.
Advantages:
Flaws:
CM – adjustment of the amount of water supplied to the reflux condenser. Allows you to control the amount of steam passing through the reflux condenser to the product selection refrigerator.
Characteristics. The reflux ratio is adjustable from 0 to 100%, but the system is very sensitive to the amount of water supplied and requires a precision needle valve. To regulate the selection speed, you have to turn the tap literally a fraction of a millimeter. The heating power must be constant throughout the entire process and ensure maximum separation capacity of the column. With an increase in the amount of supplied water, the amount of returned reflux also increases, and accordingly, the reflux ratio increases.
Column with adjustable water supply to the reflux condenser During rectification at constant cooling and heating power, there is a gradual decrease in the selection, but the reflux ratio remains unchanged.
Advantage:
Flaws:
In home columns, liquid selection is most widely used. The reason is simple - the process of rectification of 40 liters of moonshine takes 18-20 hours. You can reduce the bulk by half, but then the share of recycled (technical) alcohol, which will have to be processed during each rectification, increases sharply.
If we talk about the performance of the system as the amount of commercial alcohol obtained per total time rectification (including heating), then when the bulk volume is reduced by 2 times, the efficiency decreases by approximately 1.5 times.
Another way to minimize the volume of industrial alcohol produced while maximizing productivity is to automate the process, which allows distillation to be carried out according to a predetermined algorithm without operator participation. The automation system must have not only executive circuit, but also a safety unit that will instantly turn off the equipment if there is a threat of an accident.
A rectification column with liquid extraction is automated more easily and cheaper than other systems, and in terms of the quality of the alcohol produced it is in no way inferior to other types of equipment.
Steam selection systems are common abroad, where alcohol and its derivatives are inferior in popularity to distillates (cognac, whiskey, etc.), but the high strength of the drink is valued. Foreign craftsmen are constructing distillation columns with steam extraction, which have a minimum reflux ratio - only 1, and not 4 as in Russia. With this scheme, at least 50% of the reflux goes back into the column.
In distillation mode, steam extraction practically does not require automation. The reflux ratio set at the start of the “body” selection remains unchanged until the end; only the operator can change it, but even when receiving alcohol, adjustment is needed literally a couple of times.
The rate of selection towards the end of the distillation sharply decreases until it stops. If you want to hunt for enanthic esters (they largely create the organoleptic properties of fruit distillates), change the jars and increase the heating power, followed by fractional selection and sorting.
If enanthic esters are not required, do the same, but additionally use pauses for the column to work on itself so that the alcohol residues are more concentrated and with fewer impurities.
Automation in columns with steam extraction is needed only at the level of the safety unit. In addition, obtaining a distillate does not involve grouping impurities into fractions and completely removing them, but a balanced reduction in the concentrations of substances to an acceptable level with the obligatory preservation of flavor and aromatic components. This is a matter for the master distiller who controls the process; adjustment by instruments is inappropriate here. Bulk is limited by the volume that can be distilled under human direction in the time available.
Despite all the shortcomings, this type of equipment is often used in Russia in the construction of mash columns. The reason is the possibility of obtaining distillates from any raw material, and if necessary, without changing the design (an additional drawer does not count), you can collect a highly purified distillate - almost like alcohol.
Columns with control of the water supply to the dephlegmator are expensive to automate and are sensitive to the pressure and temperature of the cooling water, which makes them poorly suitable for producing pure rectified alcohol, but with small bulk quantities of up to 20 liters and the constant attention of the operator, such columns are capable of much.
In addition, the cool managment scheme is the best for selecting “goals”. All other things being equal, it is impossible to obtain more concentrated “heads” using vapor and liquid extraction systems. True, this is only if you manage to stabilize the temperature and water pressure in the reflux condenser.
IN last years Attempts are being made to create hybrid distillation columns, in which the “heads” are selected by steam using the SM method, and the “body” by liquid (LM). This improves the already high quality of alcohol in the LM columns. There are no boundaries for perfection.
When constructing mash columns focused on aromatic distillates, VM equipment has an advantage over SM due to ease of control, as well as insensitivity to temperature and water flow in the dephlegmator - more predictability in “combing out” impurities. For sugar raw materials, mash columns according to the SM scheme are more promising due to better removal of the head fraction. But managing them creates many problems.
Distillers create a distillation column with their own hands. Such equipment has high efficiency. Columns allow you to separate liquids into fractions. RK is the highest class of household moonshine installations.
The distiller produces moonshine, and the distiller produces pure alcohol. The rectification process is based on the interaction of liquid and steam. In the presence of necessary equipment get pure alcohol. Columns can be plate-shaped or packed.
Moonshiners use packed columns, which lead to the separation of alcohol into fractions.
Distillation column "Thermosphere F43"
Distillation column design:
The mash is in a distillation cube, which is heated. As the temperature increases, evaporation occurs. Vapors (alcohols, ethers, etc.) rush upward along the drawer and reach the refrigerator with a selection unit. On initial stage the tap is closed.
Reflux - condensed steam - descends into the column through a tube. Heavy fractions accumulate at the bottom, light fractions at the top.
The column is filled with nozzles. The steam condenses repeatedly, and the liquid evaporates on the installation elements. As a result of this exchange between liquid and vapor, part of the low-boiling component is removed downward.
The reflux ratio is the ratio of the amount of condensate that is returned to the column to that which is taken out. The PF for alcohol is 8–9, for noble distillates it is 6–7. As soon as the tap is opened slightly, it is important to maintain the correct reflux ratio.
Column operating modes:
Distillation columns have pros and cons. RKs are:
Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of all types.
The refrigerator plays the role of a reflux condenser. Advantages:
Flaws:
Column for moonshine still must have:
A distillation column diagram for Alex’s Bokakob moonshine still with inclined planes is used. Having picked up the idea from Bokakob, they cut out two pieces of copper and make cuts. Today they use a selection unit with inclined plates, which was invented by the designer.
Advantages:
Flaws:
The filter frequency changes, so you need to constantly tighten the tap. It is not comfortable.
Operating principle: steam rises and separation occurs. Some go up, some go to the right. When determining the through holes, the reflux ratio is set.
Proportions are always maintained. In practice, this means that there is no need to constantly be nearby. Only when the “tails” begin to flow do they turn off the equipment.
Advantages:
The column cannot be used as a distiller. This is the only drawback. Braga cannot be distilled in this Republic of Kazakhstan.
Combined liquid and steam selection. The main point happens in pairs. The “heads” are selected based on the liquid.
The combined column has no disadvantages.
For the manufacture of RC it is better to use stainless steel. Materials must be inert to alcohol vapors. It is not practical to fill small columns with contact elements such as plates. Nozzles are installed in them:
The simplest attachment option is metal mesh for washing dishes. Make sure they are made from of stainless steel.
It is easier to assemble a rectification apparatus than to make it yourself. Without experience it will not be possible to solve this problem. To know what to buy for assembly, you need to calculate the profitability.
First, the capabilities of the Republic of Kazakhstan are determined. There are online calculators that can help you do this. The column is calculated based on its height:
The total is: 2550 + 300 + 400 + 50 = 1800 (column height).
Take into account that the tank is filled to 2/3 of its volume. This means that for a column with d = 50 mm, a cube of 40–80 liters is suitable. If the diameter of the drawer is 40 mm, the volume of the container is 30–50 liters. A distillation cube such as a pressure cooker is suitable for d = 28 mm.
There are coefficients that are oriented towards. The first option for refrigerators with good water circulation is 850 W/m2C. The coefficient in a conventional coil is 150 W/m2C.
The voltage on the regulator is 100 volts. They get: 100 * 100: 19.3 = 518 watts.
For a still of 50 liters you need 4 kW. A 3 kW heating element is enough to use for a 40 liter tank, and for a 30 liter tank you will need a 2 kW electric heater.
A Dimroth refrigerator is suitable for liquid withdrawal refrigeration systems. Utilization power - 4–5 W per 1 sq. cm.
The design power of the RC with steam extraction is 2/3 of the nominal. Utilization power - 2 W per 1 sq. cm.
If the column has a diameter of 50 mm, the further calculation is as follows: the rated power is divided by the utilization capacity. They get: 1950: 5 = 390 cm².
The reflux condenser is manufactured taking into account the following parameters:
First they make dimrot. They take 4 meters of copper, which they bend around and screw on with a dimrot. For this they use lathe. The pipe can be wound by holding it in a vice. This process is simple. The tube goes in easily and is wound required quantity turns.
The distance between them is 1 mm, so the coils are moved apart a little. total length- 28 cm, loop - 5–6 cm.
In order to assemble the column, you need to prepare the materials:
Columns are made from the following materials:
Basically, the installation body is made of stainless pipe. Equipment is assembled by welding or soldering. In some sources you can read that it is impossible to make RK from copper.
If the column is assembled correctly, it can be installed on a homemade moonshine still. The RK is made so that it fits any tank from 20 to 50 liters.
There is an industrial filler:
Most available material- metal mesh for washing dishes.
Suitable thermal insulation material:
Rubber gaskets should not be used as they affect the quality of the alcohol.
RK - universal equipment. The installation has good performance and small dimensions.
Distillation column "Spirtmash"
A rectification column from fittings and a drawer is assembled independently at home.
For work you will need materials:
First, take a pipe (d 30–50 mm) of the required length. If necessary, cut. The lower part is closed metal mesh. Sponges or springs are used as filler. Dishwashing nets (30–40 pieces) are cut into small pieces. The pipe is filled with the resulting fragments, covered with a mesh and secured with a washer.
Installed on the distillation cube and insulated. Upper part The drawers are covered with a lid. A hole is made in the plug and a tube is installed there. At the bottom there is a hole for distillate. Below it is a plate for collecting phlegm.
A silicone hose connects the column and the refrigerator. A medical dropper is attached to the hose.
A hole is drilled in the upper part where a 15 mm tube is mounted. It is inserted at an angle and soldered. This is the place for the thermometer. The drawer is connected with a fitting to the cube pipe.
A simple column can be made from the following materials:
For the column you need to buy 18 metal scourers. The reflux condenser body can be made from a thermos, which is soldered to the drawer.
Then the tubes for draining and supplying water are installed. There is also a tube through which cooled water circulates. It connects the refrigerator to the reflux condenser. The installation uses a clamp from a medical dropper. This design uses a laboratory refrigerator.
More complex installations are assembled. A steam selection unit is added to the Nixon-Stone column. A nut (3/4 inch) is welded to the tee. Next, insert a tap with a 20 mm through hole. The outlet diameter is 18 mm. The narrowest diameter of the steam extraction tube is 16 mm. The RK refrigerator is 38–40 cm.
Distillers create their own designs based on the Nixon system. The device of a moonshine still with a resonator contains:
DIY distillation column for producing 40 liters of alcohol. The reflux ratio is adjustable. The structure consists of the following parts:
The structure is assembled by welding or soldering. All connections are checked for leaks.
Distillation column "Antonych 2.1" (2 inches) costs 15,856.14 rubles. The structure is assembled independently using a home distiller “Antonych 1.5-V”, purchasing an additional drawer. The distiller costs 9542.77 rubles.
The “Medium” SS-2 PRO installation with a 70 cm drawer costs 13,400 rubles. The bubble column is mounted with an additional stainless steel pipe. You can purchase a 1.5-inch kit with a 50 cm drawer for 15,000 rubles. Installation price for 2 inches - 16,000 rubles. This column produces drinks up to 96.5⁰ alcohol.
When purchasing a distiller, pay attention to the size of the reflux condenser. It must cope with rectification. The Stillman-Cosmo distiller is equipment that produces pure alcohol. The set costs RUR 18,450. For getting ethyl alcohol additionally buy a drawer.
The distillation column "Doctor Guber" is completely dismountable. The design can be improved and made universal. Installation without a cube costs 15,539 rubles.
In general, there is a choice, and in any case you will get moonshine good quality. Preference depends on consumer convenience and price.
– an accessory that uses the principle of liquid selection in its operation. What is it and what are its features? Let's look at it below.
First, let's look at the differences between liquid and steam extraction in standard mash column on specific examples. In our case, this will be the Wayne 4 device.
What is the essence of selection in a standard mash column? For example, let's take the Wayne 4 device.
When we heat the cube, alcohol vapors evaporate in it, which enter the drawer with the nozzle. The vapors pass through it and enter the cold reflux condenser. Some of the vapor cools and falls down in the form of reflux. Then they are heated again due to the heating steam and go up again. This cyclic process, or heat and mass transfer, leads to the fact that the fractions in the chamber are lined up one after another: on top - the lightest boiling fractions, on the bottom - the heaviest boiling impurities. Then we start selection. Fractions (heads, body, tails) pass through a reflux condenser, and we collect them at the exit of the column.
How do we manage selection in the mash column? Using cooling supplied to the reflux condenser. We give the maximum - all vapors reaching the reflux condenser condense in it and return to the tank. In this case, the column works for itself. If we reduce the cooling slightly, then selection begins. The lightest-boiling fractions (heads) pass through a reflux condenser and are selected for selection. We reduce the cooling even more - we begin body selection.
How could such a selection be inconvenient? To control the apparatus, you need to very finely and accurately adjust the cooling on the dephlegmator and the power supplied to the cube, especially when selecting heads. Why is this inconvenient? The power in the network is constantly changing (often for unknown reasons), the water pressure and its temperature can also fluctuate during distillation. As a result, heads may be selected too quickly or, conversely, the process will stall completely.
As a result, we are forced to constantly monitor the few hours while the heads are being selected to turn up the power or cooling in time.
What is the way out of the situation? Use the liquid extraction unit! This is a small device consisting of a special 1.5 or 2 inch glass with two protruding tubes inside and a cooler extending from it. Selects fractions based on liquid.
How does the liquid sampling unit work? It's quite simple. Let us use the example of the Wayne 4 apparatus. The selection unit is installed between the drawer and the reflux condenser. A refrigerator is installed vertically on top of the reflux condenser.
The vapors are also heated in the cube, pass through the drawer with nozzles, tubes in the glass and end up in the refrigerator. There they condense and flow down in the form of phlegm, which lingers in the glass. The tubes have different lengths, so the phlegm begins to flow over the edges of the lower one and flow down, irrigating the nozzle. The process cycles, heat and mass transfer begins. The column works for itself, and the fractions, just as with steam extraction, are arranged according to their boiling point.
After the column reaches the mode, it is time for selection. To do this, we have a side outlet with a tap that comes out of the cup.
Open the needle tap. Some of the reflux flows through the outlet tube from the cup and enters the aftercooler, where it cools and turns into alcohol.
Accordingly, at the first stage, when selecting heads, we slightly open the tap, achieving a selection speed of 1-2 drops per second. Then we open the tap a little wider and remove the body.
Our main task at the stage of body selection– make sure that the selection rate is not too high. Otherwise, the required volume of phlegm will no longer return to the drawer, heat and mass transfer will be disrupted, and separation into fractions will not occur.
How can we control this? Using a thermometer. If we take too much, heat and mass transfer is disrupted, heavier fractions creep upward and the temperature begins to rise. Our task is to ensure that the temperature in the column does not rise while we are removing the body. If you notice that the thermometer readings are creeping up, reduce the selection.
What are the advantages of liquid selection? The selection process through the node, unlike the mash column, is almost independent of fluctuations in pressure, water temperature or network voltage.
All we need to control is how far the needle valve is open. It is he who determines the selection rate. Plus, connecting the cooling is much easier.
To summarize:
You can see how the selection unit works in practice in the video below.
Say “halva” even a hundred times, and your mouth won’t get any sweeter. This old eastern wisdom gave me the idea that it is better to back up words with deeds, and I did t.s. pilot industrial model of MBRK (modular mash distillation column).
Actually, nothing new, just everything was made in metal, tested in a combat situation, a little analysis was carried out and conclusions were drawn.
So, in order.
1. The first hypostasis is the Brazhnaya column.
The illustration shows what it looks like in real life. A short and completely empty drawer made of stainless pipe with an outer diameter of 38 mm is installed on the cube. It is made in such a way that there is a 1-inch thread on the bottom, and a flange on top for a 1.5-inch clamp. This way it was more convenient for me to place it on the “fruit-grain” cube for working with steam. Of course, the connecting parts can be any other. A “stick” type dephlegmator with a water utilization capacity of 3 kW is installed on the frame through a clamp connection (after assembly, I drove it on water to wash it and find out the main characteristics). The raw material used was a “bourbon” mash made from corn (hence the steam).
During the first stage, the goal was not to drive at maximum power (I always work with steam at a power of about 2 kW, sometimes less), the speed of primary processing is already acceptable. But, in in this case I adjusted the power characteristics to a copper boiler with steam extraction on a 22 pipe. The whole process, including acceleration of the steam generator and the cube itself, took about 3 hours. After three hours, the output was approximately 5 liters of 45% CC. Distilled without crushing until complete zero in the stream. The solution, of course, is not so great - what can you do, it’s not sugar for you.
Temperature control was carried out based on the temperature in the cube. The outlet for the thermometer on the defa was plugged.
2. Second hypostasis - Distillation column.
A meter drawer with a 3.5 mm SPN nozzle was added to the system used in the first experiment. The drawer is insulated and placed between the empty drawer and the reflux condenser. It’s not shown in the illustration, but in practice I also “insulated” the lower empty drawer by wrapping it in a towel. Actually, it is completely unnecessary for rectification, but I didn’t want to make a special adapter for the cube and I used this drawer as an adapter. A temperature sensor is installed in the def. Heating was carried out by a heating element through a regulator. The selection of exact modes for the column in this experiment was not the goal, so I settled on almost the first acceptable indicators. When the column was operating on its own, the power supply mode was selected at a level of approximately 1200 W (when higher power was supplied, the column began to vibrate slightly), then the column was stopped and a selection dispenser in head mode was also experimentally selected for it. To do this, a fine needle from a regular syringe. You can try an insulin syringe, but I didn’t have one on hand and I used the thinnest one from a simple 2 ml syringe. It allowed sampling at a level of 100 ml/hour (later it was replaced by a thicker one with a sampling rate of 130 ml/hour).
When the heads were completely selected (according to organoleptics - “by smell”), the column was stopped again to select the dispenser for the “body selection” mode. Due to the lack of a wide selection of needles, a plug was made from fluoroplastic (a material that is absolutely inert to our products), in which a hole was made with a thin drill. After trying several diameters (the choice was also not very wide), I settled on a jet that provided about 700 ml/hour. After this, he resumed the selection and, controlling the temperature in the reflux condenser and the cube and periodically checking the strength of the selection, he selected the body (and the tails also in this mode - after the end of the body selection, the entire selection of the tails took about an hour, although you can switch to a tube without a plug and select fast).
Head-tails from various experiments were used as raw materials in an amount of approximately 8 liters of 70% strength. Received 4.5 liters of product with a strength of 97, approximately 450 ml of heads and about 300 ml of tails. There were so many heads due to the fact that the source was originally with increased content harmfulness.
3. Hypostasis first (part two) - Brass column. During experiments with rectification, a “jet” was tested, which gave a selection value of around 2.1 l/hour with a selection strength of 94.5%. I did not run the system in this mode for a long time to find out the stability of the indicators, but as you can see, NDRF comes out of such a column quite easily and in acceptable (comparable to BC) quantities.
Observations. Firstly, working with a column is quite simple. I specifically gave more or less detailed description actions with it so that you can at least approximately imagine how approximately this should happen when you first start it. In the future, you will select the appropriate modes and intermediate adjustments will become unnecessary. Secondly, the power of a small aftercooler is quite sufficient for operation in the RK mode and absolutely not enough for the BC mode. More precisely, it cannot cope with reliable cooling when drawing more than 1.5 l/hour. Thirdly, when examining the empty drawer after distilling the grain mash, there were no remains of spent grain or other contaminants in it and the resulting SS was completely transparent, i.e. Such a drawer reliably performs its function of protection against splashing.
Conclusions.
Such a design is, of course, more functional than just a copper cylinder with steam extraction. By completely blocking it in the distillation stages, it can also rectify.
And, of course, it is much more difficult to manufacture. If you have TIG welding, metalworking skills and the proper set of materials and auxiliary tools, you can make an MBRK from stainless steel. However, a similar structure can also be made from copper.
As for the cost part. If we exclude from the calculations the need to have equipment and the skills to work with it, then after the latest increase in the price of copper, the cost of such a stainless steel structure is close to that of a copper one ( copper pipes diameters 35 and more bite hard, as do fittings for them) or lower.
I’ll experiment a little more with this design and switch to inverters; I don’t like the situation with the aftercooler during direct distillation. If anyone wants to purchase this kit (can be modified to suit your needs) for a very reasonable price, please contact us by email [email protected]
