Rules for making a coil: tube diameter, material, location. Making a simple direct-flow refrigerator (coil) for a distiller Selecting material for the coil

A classic coil is a spiral made of a material with high thermal conductivity. Such devices have a large cooling area and are easy to manufacture.

Best materials

What to make a coil for a home moonshine still from? The material must be easy to process, not form harmful compounds during distillation, and be strong enough. The most popular materials among moonshiners: copper, stainless steel, aluminum, glass. Much less often, coils are made of silver, brass and metal-plastic.

Copper

Copper coils are the most common in moonshine stills. Copper lends itself well to processing, and the high thermal conductivity of copper allows for faster distillation. Copper is not completely chemically inert, meaning it can form new compounds when interacting with heated vapors.

Theoretically, they can turn into ready-made moonshine and then have a negative effect on the body, but the experience of French winemakers does not confirm these assumptions. They traditionally use copper stills to produce whiskey and cognac, recognized throughout the world for their high quality.

Stainless steel

Stainless steel has good thermal conductivity and does not interact with most active chemical compounds. A coil for a home moonshine still made of food-grade stainless steel will allow you to obtain a high-quality alcohol product.

Aluminum

When making an aluminum refrigerator, it is necessary to take into account that with age, such a device ages and becomes hazardous to health. During distillation, aluminum oxides interact with alcohol compounds, and the resulting complex substances accumulate in the body. The alcohol obtained using an aluminum apparatus has a slight specific taste.

Glass

Glass devices have excellent thermal conductivity and allow you to regulate the distillation process. The disadvantage of such a device is the difficulty of making it at home and its high fragility. If you decide to go with this option, then in most cases it is better to buy a sufficient number of ready-made glass refrigerators on the Internet.

Distillation without coil

If you are a novice moonshiner, you don’t always have to set up the perfect winemaking area right away. To get started, you can use available materials. An old saucepan or can with a sealed lid is perfect as a distillation cube. You can use available materials as a coil. Moonshine after distillation will not be of the highest quality, but the first exciting experience of moonshine brewing will be obtained at almost no cost.

Grandma's design

This is the simplest model of a moonshine still that can be made. The role of the refrigerator in the design is played by a large bowl of cold water, into which you can put snow in winter. Alcohol vapor condenses on the walls of the “refrigerator” and falls into a funnel, and then flows down a groove into the alcohol receiver.

Lazy coil

If your soul yearns for a homemade drink, but there is no time, then your imagination will help out. In the presented model, the role of a coil is played by a silicone tube of small diameter attached to the distillation cube. The free turns of the capacitor are immersed in a container, which is placed in the sink and cooled with water. Silicone tubes of different lengths are sold at the pharmacy. When purchasing, it is important to pay attention to the material - rubber products are not suitable.

Metal tube refrigerator

A do-it-yourself coil for a moonshine still will compete with store-bought counterparts. Before you start assembling the moonshine structure, you need to decide on its parameters:

Dimensions. To make the moonshine flow faster and taste better, you should find a longer copper or aluminum tube. Its length before twisting should be about 2 meters, and its cross-sectional diameter should be 8-12 mm. Such dimensions will provide a sufficiently large contact area with the cooling medium. The thickness of the tube wall should not be very thin, about 1 mm, so as not to complicate processing.
Spatial arrangement. The orientation of the refrigerator can be any, but it is better to prefer vertical, and supply steam from above. In this case, the condensed moonshine flows down under the influence of gravity, without creating barriers to the steam.
Cooling can be produced by air, snow or water. Water cooling systems are more efficient. The choice between a capacitive and flow-through (open) refrigerator depends on the availability of water supply and sewerage.

How to bend a tube?

You can get a beautifully curled coil spiral in different ways. The air conditioning store sells copper tubes of the required length, and there you can also find “pipe benders” that create smooth bends without creases. If you can’t find a special device, then the old-fashioned way of making neat turns with your own hands will help:

one end of the tube is closed;
the cavity is tightly packed with sand (salt, soda);
the second end closes;
the structure is wound onto a pipe of suitable diameter;
the spiral is removed, its ends are opened, the filler is carefully poured out.

Take a look, which is easy to make and produces a quality product. Also, the article discusses in detail the process of manufacturing a coil from a copper tube.

In this article, everyone who wants to taste the fruits of their moonshine labor will learn what a cooler for a moonshine still is and how to make it with their own hands. I hope after reading the material, without wasting a minute, you will begin making a cooler for flow-through and non-flow-through apparatus.

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Types of cooling systems

Moonshine stills these days include air- or liquid-cooled coolers. The liquid-cooled alcohol vapor condensation system is divided into dimrot and alambic. The developers of this strong homemade drink especially highlight the condensation method alambic. The principle of its operation is to supply moonshine vapor in a spiral to the cooler, where it subsequently condenses into liquid. This method is widely used in stand-alone non-flowing moonshine stills. In more modernized cooling systems dimrotah The principle of condensate separation occurs in direct proportion to the previous method. Here, alcohol vapor rolls off the coil through thin-walled tubes into a container specially designated for this purpose. Brass columns imply exactly the same method for obtaining a high-quality, purified brew.

A computer cooler is considered an alternative to the following cooling method. Air masses are fed under pressure into a closed container, or a plastic container (as an option), condensing alcohol vapor. If you close the container well, there is no need to pour a lot of water. A small volume of liquid under pressure will evaporate and at the same time serve as a cooler for air vapor. To stably dispense two liters of moonshine per hour, three or four coolers in the cooler for an air-cooled moonshine still are sufficient. The convenience of such a device is confirmed by the ability to distill a drink without an autonomous water supply system; just regular household electricity is enough. The disadvantages include the cumbersome nature of the voltage converter.

To form condensate of alcohol vapor, you need to cool the coil using a low temperature mode. To create such conditions, it is enough to take the device outside or into a room that is not heated. For smooth operation of the system, it is important to keep the temperature close to zero. Since the coil is not in sufficient proximity to the distillation cube, these actions can only be performed in the winter. Again, there are nuances here that cannot be ignored, namely: the maintained low temperature must be stable, otherwise if it jumps below zero, an ice jam can form in the apparatus, which will undoubtedly lead to a malfunction of the moonshine still.

Making a refrigerator with your own hands

With his own hands, any craftsman can assemble a cooler for a moonshine still.

You will need a set of essential materials and tools:

threaded fittings;
tubes from one and a half to two meters long;
a container with a volume of at least ten to twelve liters;
sealant

To make a coil you will need copper tubes with a diameter of eight to twelve millimeters. Where can I get the tube for the coil? Personally, I saw a copper tube on sale in Megastroy, by the meter. Be sure to take into account that the thickness of the tubes will affect the operation of the cooler. A thin-walled spiral will pay off and the liquid will cool much better.

The coil is made of tubes twisted into a spiral. For proper twisting, it is enough to use an asbestos pipe. The diameter of the pipe should not exceed the diameter of the tank. When wrapping tubes around the pipe, you must be careful not to flatten the tubes. To prevent this from happening, sand should be filled into the tubes of the structure, which can subsequently be easily cleaned with strong air pressure.

The finished coil is installed in a sealed tank. To fasten the product, it is necessary to make holes in the tank: two at the top and two at the bottom. They are used to mount the tube and insert fittings for water supply, which after installation are well secured and sealed. If, the problem is greatly alleviated, and one hole will be required at the top and bottom of the vessel.

A special tank for distilling moonshine can be replaced with a galvanized bucket or a regular plastic container of the required volume. Moonshine still coolers of this type can be confidently used in non-flow and flow-through cooling systems.

Cooler manufacturing video:

The coil for the moonshine still is an integral part of it. Condensation of vapors of an alcohol-containing liquid occurs in the coil, and both the performance of the device and the quality depend on its normal operation.

Purpose of the device

The process of moonshine brewing is distillation. It consists of two main stages:

evaporation;
condensation.

The evaporator in the design of the apparatus is a distillation cube. It is poured inside, after which the cube is heated using heating elements or over a fire. The alcohol contained in the mash has a lower boiling point, so it begins to evaporate earlier than water. Alcohol vapor enters the coil, which is connected by a sealed tube to the distillation cube. In this scheme for distilling mash, the coil is a refrigerator, and it is in it that the alcohol vapors are cooled and condensed. The condensate, or distillate, is collected in a separate container.

Making a coil for a moonshine still with your own hands is not particularly difficult. In its classic form, it is a copper tube twisted into a spiral and placed in a tank of cold water. Designs, materials and designs of coils can be different, the main thing is that they cope with their immediate task, i.e. cooled vapors of alcohol-containing liquid as efficiently as possible.

Best materials

Alcohol vapor heated to a high temperature is an aggressive environment, since alcohol is a strong solvent. Therefore, for the manufacture of the cooler it is necessary to use materials that are resistant to such harmful effects. Best suited for this purpose:

copper;
stainless steel;
glass.

The copper coil is the easiest to manufacture. It is made from a tube with a diameter of 8-10 mm, which is rolled into a spiral in 5-6 turns and placed vertically in a tank of water. This scheme will allow the condensate to drain by gravity.

It is more difficult to make a stainless steel coil cooler only because stainless steel is a harder material compared to copper. It bends poorly and there is a high risk of jamming or breaking the tube. In addition, soldering it is much more difficult. It is preferable to use stainless steel in the manufacture of direct-flow refrigerators.

It is impossible to make a glass coil with your own hands, unless the master has the capabilities of a glass blower. Therefore, if you use glass, then it is more advisable to use a laboratory ball or spiral refrigerator as a cooler. In addition to being absolutely inert to alcohol vapors, a glass distiller allows you to observe the process of vapor condensation.

Coil manufacturing technology

Before making a refrigerator for a moonshine still with a spiral coil, you need to determine what its design will be. It should be selected depending on the availability of water and the possibility of connecting it. If it is not possible to connect running water to the cooler, its size must be increased to ensure high-quality cooling and steam condensation.

In the absence of running water, the easiest way to make a cooler for a moonshine still is from a tank with a capacity of 25-30 liters and a copper tube. It is wound in a spiral slightly smaller in size than the inner diameter of the tank. The outlet of the coil tube is made at the bottom through the wall of the tank, the hole at the outlet is sealed.

While the device is operating, the tank is filled with cold water. During the distillation process, the temperature of the water in the tank will increase, which will reduce the cooling efficiency. Therefore, water from the tank will need to be periodically removed, adding cold water instead.

If it is possible to connect running water, it is better to make the refrigerator as compact as possible. In this case, the coil spiral can be wound with smaller diameter and denser turns, which will not affect the quality of cooling. For a cooling jacket, you can use, for example, a piece of polyethylene plumbing pipe.

Let's look at how to make a coil for a moonshine still with a flow-through refrigerator. To wind the coil, a copper tube with a diameter of 10-12 mm and a thickness of 1 mm is suitable; it will require approximately 1.5-2 m. The spiral must be wound on a mandrel with a diameter of 20 mm, leaving a gap between the turns of 3-5 mm. At both ends of the spiral you need to leave straight sections of tube 60-80 mm. Now you can take a piece of polyethylene plumbing pipe with a diameter of 55 mm. Its length is selected so that the coil is completely in the pipe, and the spiral tubes extend out.

The ends of the cooler pipe are closed with plugs. Holes are made in them according to the diameter of the coil. To supply running water from the ends of the cooling jacket, two fittings are cut in. It is possible to make a cooler for such a design from a stainless tube, but winding stainless steel, especially thin-walled steel, is much more difficult.

Which is better - coil or direct flow

There is no clear answer to the question which coil design is better, spiral or direct-flow. The good thing about a straight-through cooler is that its steam resistance is lower than that of a spiral cooler, especially with a small flow section diameter.

A spiral coil, especially a horizontal or inclined one, creates pressure fluctuations in the system due to steam-water plugs, which can lead to sudden foaming of the mash and throwing it into the refrigerator. The resistance of the spiral refrigerator increases the pressure inside the distillation cube, and this leads to an increase in temperature and increased evaporation of not only water, but also heavy fractions, which deteriorates the quality and strength of the final product.

A direct-flow cooler does not have these disadvantages. It creates virtually no back pressure and avoids sudden foaming of the mash. Despite all the advantages, a direct-flow refrigerator for a moonshine still has a significant drawback - its size.

To provide effective cooling, the refrigerator must be either long or thick due to the fact that the steam passes through several parallel tubes. However, such a refrigerator is much more difficult to manufacture, since the design must be able to separate the steam flow through the cooler tubes, and then collect the condensate again in one pipe.

Stainless steel tubes for a moonshine still, from which the cooler is traditionally made, are difficult to solder; processing stainless steel causes many problems due to its rigidity. It is impossible to weld such a direct-flow pipe without special equipment and materials. It’s easier to make a moonshine still with your own hands with a coil made of a copper tube.

Distillation without refrigeration

Making coils is a complex process. When distilling, you can do without a cooler. The distillation process is a continuous heat and mass exchange, and the steam evaporated in the distillation cube carries with it a certain supply of thermal energy. It must give up this heat in order to condense and turn into liquid. In order for the steam to give off heat and condense, the distillation device must have a long direct-flow refrigerator that would have time to remove heat to the surrounding air. This scheme is feasible, for example, if you place the refrigerator outside the window and do the distillation in winter.

A coil is an essential part of a moonshine still, designed to condense alcohol vapor by removing heat with water or air through the walls. Despite the complex definition, anyone can make a coil at home. The homemade version will work no worse than store-bought counterparts. We will look at the theory and practice of manufacturing.

Coil parameters:

1. Material. The most important factor influencing the safety and taste of moonshine. The coil material must not react with alcohol or be toxic, but still have sufficient thermal conductivity to allow alcohol vapor to condense.

Taking into account the requirements, you can make a coil from copper, aluminum or stainless steel. Glass is also a suitable material, although it is easier to buy a ready-made glass coil at a chemical store than to make something similar yourself.

Copper has the best thermal conductivity, but many moonshiners consider it a toxic material; in fact, this is not the case. For example, for several centuries the French have been distilling all strong alcohol in alambiks - special copper distillers, and so far no one has been poisoned. Aluminum is in second place in terms of thermal conductivity (1.6 times worse than copper), but it is relatively cheap, accessible and easy to process. Stainless steel coils are 3-4 times inferior to copper ones; moreover, the exact brand of stainless steel is not always known, and only food-grade ones are suitable for home brewing, which can withstand high temperatures and do not react with alcohol.

Copper coils are the most efficient

2. Dimensions. The longer the tube, the larger the area of contact between vapor and water (better cooling), but at the same time the hydraulic resistance increases (the distillation speed decreases). The correct length of the coil in a moonshine still (the tube itself before curling) is 1.5-2 meters.
The larger the cross-section (inner diameter) of the tube, the larger the contact area and the lower the resistance. I recommend using a tube with an internal diameter of 8-12 mm.

The small thickness of the coil wall increases thermal conductivity, improving condensation, but tubes that are too thin are difficult to process and operate because they are very fragile. In addition, when two media come into contact, in our case condensed alcohol and steam, the thermal conductivity drops sharply, regardless of the size and material of the wall. The optimal thickness of the coil tube is 0.9-1.1 mm.

3. Orientation in space. The coil can be positioned vertically, horizontally or obliquely. In moonshine brewing, it is desirable to use a vertical connection scheme, in which the condensed distillate flows by gravity and does not create additional obstacles to the movement of steam.

Vertical coils can be ascending (steam goes from bottom to top) or descending (from top to bottom). For minimal resistance, steam should be supplied from above.

4. Cooling system. The coils are cooled with water, ice and air. The last two options are less effective and require complex structures, so we will not consider them further. Water cooling systems can be open - they work on running water, and closed - the tank is immediately filled with the required amount of water. The design of closed systems is simpler, but they cool worse; the moonshine often comes out warm, and after a couple of hours of distillation, even hot.

In open systems, water circulation cools the coil much better, and the moonshine turns out cold. In addition, flow-through designs use a smaller volume water tank, resulting in a more compact device.

It is correct to supply water from below and remove it from above. For normal cooling, the water must move towards the moonshine, otherwise the lower part of the coil will not cool well. This scheme is called "counterflow mode".

Coil manufacturing technology

You will need a copper, aluminum, brass or stainless steel tube 1.5-2 meters long, with a cross-section of 8-12 mm and a wall thickness of 0.9-1.1 mm. I advise you to find a housing (reservoir) in advance to install the coil. The coiling diameter of the pipe depends on the size of the housing. For example, a plastic sewer pipe with a diameter of 75-80 mm is suitable. For effective cooling, the coil must occupy at least 15-20% of the tank volume.

The coil installed in the housing is called the refrigerator of the moonshine still, the drawing is shown in the photo.

Subsequence:

1. Fill the tube tightly with dry bulk material, for example, river sand or soda, so that the metal does not flatten when curling. As a last resort, you can fill the tube with water and freeze it.

2. Place wooden choppers (pegs) on the ends of the tube. An alternative is to solder or clamp tightly. It is advisable to weld a nut on one end.

3. Wind the tube onto any smooth object with an even circular cross-section of the required diameter (in the example, 35 mm) with a pitch between turns of 12 mm.

4. Release the ends of the coil, pour out sand, and rinse with running water.

5. Install pipes for water supply and drainage on the cooler body.

6. Place the coil in the housing, install plugs at the top and bottom, and seal all connections with superglue or another method.

Finished metal refrigerator

To make a direct-flow refrigerator for a moonshine still with your own hands, you do not need any specific tools, and the procedure itself will take a little time. This is a necessary element for even the simplest moonshine brewing system. Since it is compact, it takes up little space and is easier to store. Making such a capacitor is very simple.

The most economical option is a cooler, which is made of polypropylene pipes and fittings. Such materials can be easily purchased at any hardware store. To do this you will need:

copper tube;
polypropylene pipe;
tee turning onto thread;
coupling, plug and fitting;
FUM tape.

You need to cut a small piece from the pipe - this will be the casing. At the end of the pipe, tees will need to be installed on one side and the other. Then you will need to place the tee in boiling water and hold it for a couple of minutes. Place the part on the pipe, without allowing it to cool. You can put on a muff in a similar way.

After this, in the middle of the plugs you need to make a hole for the copper tube. Heat the couplings and install plugs there. Screw the fittings into the tees, and make the thread tighter with tape. Cut the copper tube so that it can protrude a few centimeters from all sides of the casing. The tube will need to be inserted between the holes in the plugs, and the cracks will need to be sealed with sealant. The refrigerator is ready for use. It can be connected to the distillation cube with a silicone hose.

How to choose the right size for your refrigerator

A suitable size is when the length of the casing is 500-600mm, and the distance between the tubes is from 2 mm. When purchasing materials, you need to pay attention to the thickness of the pipe walls: the internal diameter must match the diameter of the pipe. Wall thickness also plays an important role. And the smaller it is, the better. It is not recommended to purchase a tube whose walls are thicker than 1 mm.

Water should flow towards the steam. It must be connected on the other side of the steam connection.

The most ideal position for the refrigerator is vertical, because in this case the moonshine condensate can flow down freely. In addition, being in this position, the direct-flow cooler will have maximum efficiency and there will be no condensate plugs.

After distillation is completed, it is imperative to clean the pipe. This can be done using a brush, or you can simply wash it under hot water. If this is not done, copper sulfate, which is a toxic substance for the body, may appear in the tube.

Advantages of a direct-flow refrigerator

Most people who have tried high-quality and natural alcohol, be it moonshine, cognac or tinctures based on them, sooner or later wonder how they can prepare something similar on their own. If you think about your needs or preferences, there are not many options. If we talk about the process of brewing moonshine, then everything is simple - it is heating the liquid until the alcohols evaporate and cooling the vapors until they condense into a liquid.

A DIY moonshine still with a direct-type refrigerator has a number of advantages. Visible advantages include the ease of making a refrigerator yourself. No additional materials are required for work. This device is also easy to use at home.

The following advantages of the refrigerator can be highlighted:

no formation of condensate plugs;
temperature can be easily adjusted;
low water consumption and, accordingly, its costs.

It is also easy to transport. In addition, this device is not afraid of shocks and is not susceptible to the action of chemicals in moonshine.

Conclusion

Having studied all the information about making a once-through cooler yourself, we can conclude that this product is not particularly complex. However, the entire process must be approached with special responsibility, having become thoroughly familiar with all the nuances and details. After all, a poorly prepared product can significantly harm human health.