www.nØew.org

Ethanol Experiment Number 3: Resume Beer Striping Run

TITLE: Experiment #3
OBJECTIVE(S): 1. Verify larger propane burner creates sufficient heat to boil contents of keg;
2. Verify increased keg insulation retains enough of the heat imparted to the keg to produce the desired results; and
3. Perform a successful "beer striping" and produce "low wines" from the original beer.
GO/NO-GO: GO
SUMMARY: ALL OBJECTIVES WHERE MET.
NEXT ATTEMPT: 1. Be able to control the rate of propane, allowing positive control over the heat imparted to the system;
2. To complete a second "successful" beer striping run, producing additional "low wines" to be used in a future "final distillation" attempt.

The first "beer striping" run did not seem to work properly. We believe we were unable to inject enough heat into the keg using only the small one-burner Coleman camp stove. This time we are using a "turkey frier" burner and a larger propane bottle. We have also added quite a bit of insulation to the keg. It is hoped that increasing both the fire and insulation will enable us to get a good "striping" run this time. We are using the left-over "beer" from the previous attempt.

Heat is supplied by a "turkey frier" propane-fired stove. BTU RATING IS UNKNOWN.

Outside temperature is approximately 53*F in the shade.

Start Time= 12:02 PM; End Time= 3:19 PM.

Total Time= 3-Hours, 17-Minutes

(Approx. 60% of the time used in the previous experiment.).

 

exp03_01
Added an analog thermometer to the stainless steel mixing bowl.
This will allow us to monitor the temperature of the vapors inside the top of the keg.
exp03_02
The other side of the mixing bowl..
exp03_03
Hooking up the larger bottle to the turkey frier.
exp03_04
...this is the turkey frier, with aluminum ring which will support the keg.
The aluminum ring is the larger of two similar aluminum rings.
Together these should keep the open flames from damaging the insulation.
Careful! It's hot!
exp03_05
Insulation wrapping the keg.
This is the same insulation blankets that wrap household water heaters.
exp03_06
Towels insulating the top of the keg.
exp03_07
Small "safety" ropes have been added.
These are loose. They are *not* here to restrain the reflux column, but rather only as a "safety belt" to catch the reflux column should it become unbalanced.
exp03_08
Location of bottles at foot of still.
Lower-left is the "waste/overflow" water bucket.
Rear-right is the propane bottle.
Front-right is the clear glass carboy, into which the distillate is collected.
exp03_09
Looking into the "overflow" bucket.
An indoor/outdoor thermometer has been added. The sensor for the "outdoor" temperature is submerged into the overflow water.
exp03_10
This is the assembled still.
The "Mystery State Worker" and his Pink Supervisor has come down from Jeff City to inspect our operation.
exp03_11
This is the distillate we collected.
It now measures about 4-1/8-inches high in the 5-gallon carboy.
It looks like only 4-inches, but that is due to the angle from which the photo was taken.
When we started we only had about 1/2-inch of distillate collected from the previous striping run.
exp03_12
We also collected a beer bottle's worth of distillate at the end of our run. We anticipate this is mostly water.
When given the "smell test" one can easily tell the 5-gallon carboy has a significant alcohol content, whereas the beer bottle does *not* have much of an alcohol smell.
exp03_insulation.jpg
This is the insulation blanket.
The dark lines are created by soot flowing upwards between the insulation and keg.
exp03_kegbottom.jpg
This is the bottom of the keg, blackened by the turkey frier's flame.
exp03_rings01.jpg
A view of the "rings" supporting the keg.
These also protect the insulation from direct exposure to the flames.
The smaller, inner ring sets on the grill and supports the entire weight of the keg.
exp03_rings02.jpg
The black tape is "Guarilla Tape."
The tape held up better than expected, but we'll add some sheet metal screws to hold the rings together.
exp03_sootygrill01.jpg
This is the grill upon which supported the keg over the flames.
Obviously, the flames were not centered on the grill.
exp03_sootygrill02.jpg
This is the bottom of the grill.
exp03_sootygrill03.jpg
This is a closer look at the soot built up on the grill.
To Convert Fahrenheit into Celsius = (F - 32) * 5/9 Freezing = 32*F Boiling = 212*F
To Convert Celsius into Fahrenheit = (C * 9/5) + 32 Freezing = 0*C Boiling = 100*C
Central
Time PM 		Time
Elapsed
(Per Step) 		Time
Elapsed
(Accumulated) 		Temp.
Keg
(Fahrenheit) 		Temp.
Waste
(Fahrenheit) 		Temp.
Reflux
(Fahrenheit) 		Temp.
Ambient
(Fahrenheit) 		Remarks
12:02 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Light fire, and start assembly of the PDA-1 still.
12:28 0:26 0:26 80*F n/a 53.2*F n/a Assembly complete.
12:31 0:03 0:29 90 n/a 52.5 n/a n/a
12:32 0:01 0:30 n/a n/a n/a n/a Cooling water turned on.
12:33 0:01 0:31 n/a n/a n/a n/a Cooling water adjusted to a steady, fast drip; but not quite a stream.
12:35 0:02 0:33 100 n/a 52.1 n/a n/a
12:38 0:03 0:36 110 n/a 52.5 n/a n/a
12:41 0:03 0:39 120 n/a 52.5 n/a The KEG temp. is rising MUCH FASTER than previously!
12:44 0:03 0:42 130 n/a 52.7 n/a Keg Temp. rising +10*F every 2-3 minutes!
12:54 0:10 0:52 160 n/a 52.8 n/a n/a
12:58 0:04 0:56 188 n/a 146.1 n/a FAST TEMP. RISE! In 4-minutes from 53*F up to 146*F (Reflux) It's taking off!
12:59 0:01 0:57 195 n/a 186.2 n/a First distillate! There was very little time between the temp's "taking off" and noticing our first distillate. Once it "takes off" temperatures & effects increase rapidly.
1:00 0:01 0:58 200*F n/a 203*F 55*F FLOWING distillate!
1:01 0:01 0:59 203 n/a 205 n/a STEAM VISIBLE at Keg/Column junction! We increased the rate of cooling water, and this greatly reduced the visible steam vapor.
1:03 0:02 1:01 200 n/a 205 n/a n/a
1:04 0:01 1:02 200 n/a 205 n/a Producing steady flow of distillate.
1:10 0:06 1:08 200 n/a 206 n/a n/a
1:17 0:07 1:15 203 n/a 206 n/a Dumped 3-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
1:20 0:03 1:18 203 n/a 207 n/a +/- 1*F variance in reflux column temp.
1:30 0:10 1:28 203*F 114*F 207*F 53*F Added "candy" thermometer to the cooling water's overflow bucket. It is just floating in the bucket as we haven't found a convenient means of supporting it that allows us to read it as the fluid level rises and falls.
1:35 0:05 1:33 203 116 208 n/a n/a
1:38 0:03 1:36 203 115 208 n/a Dumped 3-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
1:41 0:03 1:39 203 114 208 53 n/a
1:45 0:04 1:43 203*F 110*F 208*F 54*F Added "indoor/outdoor" thermometer and dropped "outdoor" sensor into the cooling water's overflow bucket.
1:50 0:05 1:48 203 111 208 54 n/a
1:54 0:04 1:52 203 112 208 54 n/a
2:00 0:06 1:58 203 115 208 n/a Dumped 3-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water. Reflux column temp. was observed briefly "touching" 209*F.
2:05 0:05 2:03 203 115 208 n/a n/a
2:10 0:05 2:08 203 11 209*F 53 n/a
2:16 0:06 2:14 206*F 116*F 209*F n/a Keg Temp. increased, and we increased rate of cooling water. NO STEAM YET SEEN at the top of the reflux column.
2:22 0:06 2:20 206 115 209 n/a Dumped 3-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
2:28 0:06 2:26 206 115 209 n/a Product distillate remains steady. Flame is as high as possible (MAX. FIRE) and HAS BEEN THE ENTIRE TIME.
2:35 0:07 2:33 206 116 209 52 n/a
2:41 0:06 2:39 206 114 209 n/a STILL HAS BEGUN RHYTHMICALLY ROCKING BACK-AND-FORTH. (It is actually the KEG that is producing the movement.
Roiling boil???
2:43 0:02 2:41 n/a n/a n/a n/a Dumped 3-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
2:49 0:06 2:47 n/a n/a n/a n/a STEAM COMING OUT OF THE TOP OF THE REFLUX COLUMN! Increased cooling water to FULL ON water flow.
2:51 0:02 2:49 n/a n/a n/a n/a Steam still coming out of the top of the Reflux Column.
2:53 0:02 2:51 n/a n/a n/a n/a Steam still coming out of the top of the Reflux Column.
2:55 0:02 2:53 n/a n/a n/a n/a Steam still coming out of the top of the Reflux Column. Reducing flame by turning knob at feed-point of the turkey frier.
2:56 0:01 2:54 206 n/a 209 53 Steam still coming out of the top of the Reflux Column.
2:59 0:03 2:57 205*F n/a 209*F 52*F Dumped 4-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
Distillate flow slowed to DRIPS ONLY. STILL getting steam out of the top of the Reflux Column.
Switched to BEER BOTTLE to collect distillate.
3:02 0:03 3:00 n/a n/a 208/209 n/a UNABLE to determine if turning down the flame on the turkey frier actually reduced the flame. We can't see the flame, but the SOUND of the propane NEVER CHANGED. Therefore, if we did effect the flow of propane, it was *not* by very much.
3:06 0:04 3:04 205*F 77*F 209*F 52*F "SNIFF TEST" & "TASTE TEST" from distillate in BEER BOTTLE indicates WATER, or mostly so. Alan did NOT smell or taste any alcohol flowing from the product cooling/distillate. We are confident we have stripped-off the alcohol from the original beer at this point, and anticipate very little, or no, alcohol remains in the "beer."
Note: "77*F" is correct for the overflow water temp. It dropped quite a bit after we attempted to reduce the flame. THIS MAY INDICATE THE FLAME WAS IN FACT REDUCED. But there was enough activity that we may have missed the primary reason for this temp. drop in the overflow water.
3:09 0:03 3:07 205 77 209 n/a Still getting "puffs" of steam out of the very top of the Reflux Column.
3:10 0:01 3:08 n/a n/a n/a n/a Dumped 4-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
Distillate "drip rate" has increased to a fast series of drips.
3:19 0:09 3:17 205 n/a 207 n/a SHUTTING DOWN.
Dumped 3-gallons of waste/overflow cooling water.
NOTE: Reflux Temp.= "207*F" is AFTER the fire has been turned off! Temp's fall quickly.
Beer bottle is full of distillate.

Waste/Overflow Water Used:


      TOTAL= 26 gallons of overflow water in 3-hours, 17-minutes;
      (26)/(3.283) gallons/hour;
      =~ 7.92 gallons/hour of "overflow" water used.
 
         8 gallons/hour of water used!
TIME: TIME
Interval: 		GALLONS
Interval: 		GALLONS
Rate of Use:
1:17 1-hr, 15-min 3 2.4 gals/hour
1:38 21 mins 3 8.6 gals/hour
2:00 22 mins 2 8.2 gals/hour
2:22 22 mins 3 8.2 gals/hour
2:43 21 mins 3 8.6 gals/hour
2:59 16 mins 4 15.0 gals/hour
3:10 11 mins 4 21.8 gals/hour
3:19 9 mins 3 20.0 gals/hour
Outdoor temperature: Approximately 53*F.
Overall use of cooling water was 8-gallons/hour. Largely due to too much heat.
We were unable to eliminate the steam from the top of the reflux column using only cooling water.
We feel confident we successfully "stripped" the beer of all it's alcohol.
We collected over a gallon of distillate.
We believe we *did* bring the keg contents to a rolling boil.
# # #

 

  © 2002 - 2009 Erik E. Weaver, All Rights Reserved