In the recent past, when the artisanal production of moonshine was a forced measure, the vast majority of home distillation cubes were set on an open fire. Now that home-brewing has begun to gain popularity as a creative hobby, interest in distillers that use electricity for heating has sharply increased. Such a solution is moonshine stills with PETN. We will talk about them in this article.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like any equipment, a moonshine with an electric heating element has its pros and cons.
The advantages of such distillers include:
- No need to install the cube on a stove or other heat source. Firstly, modern devices equipped with additional systems for removing excess fractions, it is often simply impossible to put on the burner, due to their large dimensions. Secondly, you can remove the device to the far corner, where it will not interfere.
- Tena can be used in distillation cubes of large volume, since there is no need to move them to the stove and back.
- Using a moonshine with ten, you can more accurately control the temperature and even completely automate the process.
- Heating is much faster.
There are also disadvantages:
- The high cost of moonshine with ten.
- Energy intensity of the distillation process. Such a distiller is a fairly powerful consumer, creating a load on the network and increasing energy costs.
- Scale formation on the surface of the heater. Subsequently, this may affect the taste of the product.
Which heating element for moonshine to choose
When choosing ten, they are guided by the volume of the distillation cube. The higher it is, the more mash will have to be heated. There are special algorithms for calculating the determination of the heating power for a moonshine still. But they are usually used in industrial distillation, when the time and amount of energy expended is large, and the accuracy of the calculations is expensive.
At home, this rule is quite applicable: for every 10 liters of the volume of the distillation cube, 1 kW of PETN power is needed.
Temperature control
One of the main advantages of using a moonshine still with PETN is the ability to accurately control the temperature. The appearance of temperature regulators relieved the winemakers of the need to monitor the thermometer and turn on / off the heater manually.
Today on sale you can find a huge selection of such devices. Thermostats are supplied both built-in to the heating elements and separately. For home brewing, an apparatus designed for temperatures up to 95 ° C is quite enough.
Uniform heating of the liquid in cubes with a volume of more than 20 l is recommended using two heaters. There is also a variant of their combined use with a steam generator. This is necessary when distilling high-density mash to avoid burning. In such cases, it is advisable to connect all the heaters to one remote temperature regulator.
Installation of PETN
So, to use electricity for distillation, you need a moonshine with ten. Such equipment can be purchased ready-made or made independently.
Installing a heating heater in the distillation cube of the apparatus is not difficult. This can be done by anyone with an idea of the operation of electrical appliances, at least in general terms. It is necessary to use a heater designed for use in liquids. It must fully enter the cube so that during operation it always remains completely covered with liquid.
During installation, pay attention to maintaining the tightness of the cube. Do not pinch mounts and contacts.