What is ten in a moonshine still. What is “Electric moonshine still. What is important to pay attention to when buying

TEN is a device that converts electrical energy into heat. Elongated, the tubular electric heater is half built into the distillation cube. Communicating with the heating element, the device transfers its thermal energy to it. As a result, the mash heats up and boils.

Having a very high efficiency in reserve, the heating element can provide uniform heating of even 50-liter distillation stills. But a certain ratio must still be observed, it is approximately 1 kW of power per 10 liters of tank volume. It is not recommended to violate it, the quality of moonshine can ultimately suffer greatly, and for a moonshiner there is no greater disaster.

Pros and cons of electric moonshine still

Moonshine stills with heating elements have enough advantages. Perhaps the biggest is mobility and independence from the plate. This is especially useful if your unit is so tall that it will not fit fully under the hood. The heating element is so good that you can distill moonshine in any place where there is an outlet nearby. Not just on the stove. High power density is another of the important advantages of the device with heating elements. That is, the wash in a device with such an accessory will warm up much faster than when heated even on an induction cooker.

But there is also a downside to the coin. Like any mechanism, the heating element has its drawbacks. And here everything is not so rosy. I think, first of all, everyone is concerned about the issue of price. Yes, if you already have an excellent stove at home, then when you buy an electric distiller, you just throw a thousand or two (even more) down the drain. Why buy a device with a heater if you already have one? Only it stands in the kitchen and in one place.

The problem of operation and flushing is no less relevant. For unknown reasons, the remnants of the wash are very fond of sticking to the heating element of the heating element so much that it is not possible to completely wash it. Plus, the heating element itself is attached very close to the bottom, therefore, the space between the heating element and the bottom will be very problematic to wash. Imagine you have to do this through a 9-10 cm neckline.

But problems in price and service are not limited to. The design of the cube assumes a solid and enclosed space. And an extra hole in the tank, where the heating element is attached, will not positively affect the design and price of the device.

Another important feature of devices with heating elements is a decrease in the passive safety of the moonshine still. In other words, if you do not constantly look after the apparatus, then the wash will, of course, boil away, and the heating element may not be in the liquid. This threatens the failure of the latter. There is very little pleasant in this.

Should you buy an electric moonshine still?

It cannot be denied that the trend for the fashion of devices with heating elements in the last year or two has grown very much. People often take such devices without thinking about the consequences.

Electric distillers have a right to life, carrying one of the most important benefits. This device can be used even in the country, even in an open field, if you have a powerful generator. (Which really costs like 2 good moonshine stills.)

Weigh these arguments well and decide if it matters to you. If you still have an irresistible desire to buy an excellent device, but you can't use it on a regular stove, then take your time. Think well. After all, at the same price you can buy a regular distiller with a small induction cooker. For money, you will not lose anything, and not only a distiller can be heated on the stove.

If these arguments are weighty enough for you, then we invite you to our online store, where you can find a moonshine still for every taste and color. And all this at very affordable prices.

And if your wife's reproaches and objections to using a distiller on a kitchen stove are too strong, then we advise you to take a closer look at the small and compact tiles, which you can also find on our website.

Modern hobs are not always suitable for conventional moonshine stills. Their surface is not designed to place heavy structures on it: it can easily crack. In addition, you need to be in good health to put a moonshine on the stove. Alternatively, you can abandon the conventional distiller and use the heating element.

A distiller with an electric heater has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main plus: the design with heating element can be removed away from prying eyes. It can work anywhere, as long as the outlet is nearby. You don't need to look for helpers to put the distiller on the stove with them. In addition, the design with often does not fit on the plate due to the hood.

Many dwellings in our time are equipped not with gas, but with electric ones. Aluminum or copper dishes are not suitable for them. In addition, the bottom of the still must be perfectly smooth. The weight of the cookware on the stove must not exceed 10 kilograms.

Summarizing the above: glass ceramics and a distiller are not very compatible things. If the apartment has an electric stove, then it is better to have a moonshine with a heating element.

This mechanism for a moonshine still has additional advantages:

Speeding up the process of home brewing: the mash heats up and the alcohol begins to evaporate much faster.
If desired, such a device helps to fully automate the process.
An electric device can overtake a significant amount of mash, up to 50 liters.
Most good distillation units with heating elements are equipped with thermostats and sensors that will signal that the mash has been distilled.

Disadvantages of the heater

Electricity consumption with an electric distiller can hit your pocket.
Modern distillers with heating elements, stuffed with electronics and having a variety of operating modes, consume even more watts.
The cost of the distillation mechanism with heating elements and thermostats is higher than that of conventional moonshine stills.
Cloudy wash contains particles that stick to the heater and burn. From this, moonshine can have a specific taste.

The last flaw is easily corrected. Owners of devices with heating elements never lay mash with suspension. In addition, it should not contain remnants of fruits or berries. Braga is defended for two days so that the dregs settle. It can also be filtered through cotton wool or filter paper.

And also before laying the mash, it can be cleaned with fine-porous clay - bentonite. But with clay only after the yeast has stopped fermenting. After cleaning in such a wash, nothing burns.

Installation in a distillation cube

Choose a standard stainless steel heating element for the moonshine still, U-shaped or paper clip type. Copper heaters are also suitable. Usually, they come with all the necessary little things (nuts, washers and others).

The heating element must be inserted in such a place that the further operation of the distiller proceeds without problems. Before you put it into the tank, you need to make sure that it will be easy to clean during use. It is often located at the very bottom of the tank, so it is not easy to reach. It must be positioned at least five centimeters from the bottom.

A fluoroplastic thread is used for sealing. It is designed to withstand high temperatures and is chemically neutral. It happens that the washer is not installed, then it is better to tighten the nut first, which will release the threads.

To connect to the mains, use the wiring of the required section. For example, for a heating element with a capacity of one and a half kilowatts, wiring with a cross section of one and a half millimeters is suitable.

In conclusion, the connections are isolated, checked for breakdowns on the tank and connected to the outlet.

Design features

How to choose the right heating element? For distillation mechanisms, devices with a capacity of one and a half to five watts are chosen. There are special formulas with which you can calculate how much power of the heating element is suitable for the distillation cube. According to these formulas, it turns out that a device with a volume of 10 liters requires a heater with a capacity of one kilowatt. Other parameters for cubes of different sizes:

15 liters - from one and a half to two kilowatts;
20 liters - two kilowatts;
30 liters - two and a half - three kilowatts;
35-40 liters - from three and a half to five kilowatts.

Practice shows that the calculations are not always justified. It is advisable to install two heaters in cans or tanks of larger volume (more than 25 liters). When the temperature reaches 63 degrees (mash condensation), then one of them is turned off.

It is important during installation that the heater always remains covered with wash and the heating element is not exposed.

The shape of the tank, what material it is made of, also matters. If you have a metal tank, a soldering iron at hand, and there is also a great desire to make a moonshine still, this does not mean that everything will work out.

If there is no soldering skills, experience in how to seal the seams, the tank is not food, but of unknown origin, then you should think about whether it is easier to buy a ready-made moonshine still.

It will often be cheaper than purchasing a heating element, a dry boiler, a coil and related materials: a carbide drill, sealants, thermometers, temperature sensors and much more.

Often the desire to make a moonshine still is caused by the presence of a 40-liter can, unnecessary in the household, and a large amount of fermented jam. Whether to make a distiller with a heating element in the absence of other important components, everyone decides for himself.

Thermometer

The grandfather's method, when the boiling point of the mash was determined by eye, has long been a thing of the past. Installing a heater without a temperature sensor will sooner or later end in damage to the distiller. The heating element may burn out, and in this case the mash will have to be poured out.

In addition, if the temperature of the wash reaches certain degrees (heads and tails begin to evaporate), then fractions hazardous to health are released. Therefore, the purchase of a thermometer should be considered a vital necessity.

Heaters are often sold complete with temperature sensors and thermometers.

The price of thermometers that determine temperatures up to one hundred degrees is significantly lower than those that show temperatures above 100 degrees.

Since mash evaporates at 78.4, it makes sense to buy a thermometer that detects temperatures up to 90 degrees.

In general, a heating element of industrial production or made independently is not so important if there is a guarantee of its quality. Then the moonshine will be excellent and the accident will not happen.

Having suffered from the heating of the moonshine still running on gas, it was decided to transfer it to "electric traction". This is what will be discussed in this material.

A 1.5 kW stainless steel heating element clip was purchased on the market. It also came with nuts with washers and gaskets.

I chose the place for the tie-in so that the heating element and its conclusions did not create inconvenience during operation. After that, carefully mark the holes and drill. I did not find a drill of a suitable diameter and I drilled with a smaller one, and then expanded it with the side of the drill at high speeds of the drill to the desired size.

Having made and expanded both holes, you need to process their edges from burrs and scoring. I carefully cut off all the excess with a knife, and then cleaned it with fine sandpaper.

It was the turn of the heating element. We take a fluoroplastic plumbing reel and wind a decent layer on the thread. When tightening the nuts, this layer will be tightly squeezed between the wall of the moonshine tank and the stoppers on the heating element and will create an excellent seal.

We insert the heating element into the prepared holes and, if you cannot immediately put the washer under the nut, we tighten the nuts without washers in order to "stretch" enough thread. Then we unscrew the nut, wind a little more fluoroplastic between the tank wall and the washer and now tighten the nuts tightly with the washer.

This is how it looks now:

It remains to connect the heating element and you can test the moonshine still on electricity. To connect to the network, I took a copper stranded cable with a cross section of 1.5 mm2. We clean it, connect the plug at one end, and throw the other to the heating element. At the same time, to connect the heating element, the stripped ends of the cable are rolled up into rings, which are placed between two washers on the heating element.

It remains to reliably insulate the connections with blue electrical tape, check the absence of breakdowns on the case and you can connect the electric moonshine still to the network.

In conclusion, I would like to add that 1.5 kW is not enough, the output has dropped by 1/3 compared to working on three gas burners. In the future, I plan to supply 2 kW + 0.5 kW for.

You can get acquainted with the designs of moonshine still, and you will find recipes for alcoholic beverages based on good moonshine

There are many ways to heat the mash in a distillation still. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Many people use direct heating using a gas stove burner, but this method carries a risk of fire. Induction and electric furnaces are also popular, but the built-in electric heater still holds the lead. Which heating element is suitable for a moonshine still and how to install it?

Heating element for moonshine still

The name of the heating element stands for a tubular electric heater. It is a relatively simple device that is used to convert electrical energy into heat. It consists of a tube that is bent in a certain way and has a heating coil inside.

To increase the heat conduction properties, the space inside the tube is filled with some substance, for example, magnesium oxide. The spiral is made of nickel-chromium alloy wire, which ensures reliable operation of the heating element for a long time.

What are the main advantages of heating elements? Due to the fact that its structure is closed, the device provides a high level of safety, is not afraid of vibration, shock and contact with liquid. However, it is worth noting that heating elements are of two main types, air and water. Only the latter are suitable for a moonshine still, but for them there is one restrictive condition: during operation, they must always be in contact with liquid, otherwise they will burn out.

However, practicality, reliability and safety refer it to the devices that are most often used as a heater in a moonshine still. What is the main advantage of heating elements? In order to be able to use the moonshine still without attracting additional devices.

How to choose the right heating element?

Not every heating element is suitable for inserting it into the device. A large number of heaters quickly fail when in contact with the wash. This is due to oxidation and corrosion processes, which not only can ruin the device, but also negatively affect the mash and the moonshine itself. Therefore, a heater for a moonshine still works better with stainless steel.

How to choose the power of such a device? There is a generally accepted formula for this.

P \u003d 0.0011V (tk-tn) / T

In this formula, P means power, V - volume, T - time required to heat the mash (measured in hours), tn and tk - start and end temperatures.

In fact, the process of choosing a heater for a moonshine still is still a flower, the procedure for its implementation will look much more difficult. Therefore, you first need to assess your capabilities, and then make a decision on the integration and purchase of heating elements. However, if you still spend time and effort, you will end up with a versatile equipment with its own heater, which can be carried and used in any premises where there is an outlet, and be self-sufficient.

Another interesting point: if you are going to use the device, you also need to think about how it will connect. The fact is that the heating elements are sold in different connection voltages, for 220 volts and 380.

Of course, there is always an option to buy a ready-made moonshine still with a thermostat and heating element. Such a device will help not only not to use additional heating elements, but also to organize the process of making moonshine more correctly. Such a ready-made moonshine still is well suited for beginners and for those who doubt their ability to properly connect and embed heating elements.

What is important to pay attention to when buying?

When buying, you need to evaluate some parameters. The first thing we do is check the heating element for a short circuit. This is usually done with a device called a multimeter or tester. We apply the probes of the multimeter to the contact of the heating element and the mass. It should be noted right away that the multimeter must have a dial function. If at the same time it emits a characteristic signal, then a short circuit may occur, if it is not there, then everything is fine.

Next, you need to check the heating element for external damage and corrosion, make sure, if possible, that it is really made of stainless steel. Alternatively, you can use a copper heating element. It is also necessary to check the resistance. For example, for a 3 kW heating element, the resistance should be about 16-19 ohms. The resistance of a heating element with a capacity of 2 kilowatts should be about 25 ohms and so on. In order to determine what it should be, just divide the square of the voltage by the power value in watts.

Another parameter that can be checked is ground leakage. However, this should not be done, it can be life-threatening. For this, a megohmmeter is needed, but if it is not there, then buying only to check one heating element is impractical.

Therefore, there is another way. This requires a container that does not have grounding, for example, a 20 liter bottle. We fill it with water and insert the heating element there, connecting it directly to the outlet. We just bring a screwdriver indicator to it: here you can see that the voltage is present at the mass, which means that the heating element is broken, and it is unsafe to operate it.

Installation of heating elements in a distillation cube

Usually, when buying a heating element, washers, gaskets and nuts are included in the package. If not, then you need to purchase. The heating element must be selected depending on the volume of the tank. Usually about 1.5-2 kW is preferred.

Next, you should choose a suitable place for installation so that installation and operation are not associated with additional, unnecessary difficulties. We first make markings on the tank wall and drill holes of the appropriate diameter. We process the edges of the hole, eliminating burrs and defects. For this, it is convenient to use a file, sandpaper, or other similar tools.

In order for the connections to be airtight, we use fluoroplastic plumbing thread. It is designed to withstand high temperatures and is chemically neutral. If you have difficulty installing the washer, you must first tighten the nut, which will release the necessary threads. To connect to the mains, use a copper wire of the appropriate cross section. For example, for 1.5 kW heating element, a wire with a cross section of 1.5 square millimeters is suitable. We isolate all connections, for power supply we insert automatic devices that are triggered by power surges in the network.

It should be noted that in order to embed the heating element into the tank, it must have a large neck through which it could be inserted so that later it would be possible to do without additional procedures for sealing the still. If there is no desire to engage in plunging and connecting a device, which, in fact, is dangerous if it is incorrectly connected and malfunctions (the consequence may be a fire), buy a ready-made device. It will be manufactured in the factory and will be absolutely safe for some time, although it will cost significantly more.

The very name "ten" stands for a tubular electric heater. Hidden in this phrase is the design of a fairly simple device used to convert electrical energy into heat. Teng consists of a tube bent in a certain way, in which a spiral is hidden. To increase the thermal conductivity, the space inside the tube is filled with magnesium oxide or some other substance. The spiral is made of nickel-chromium wire, which ensures a long trouble-free service life of the moonshine still with heating element.

What are the features of this type of heater? The closed design provides a high level of fire safety. Teng is not afraid of mechanical shock, contact with liquids and vibrations. It is practical, reliable and completely safe. That is why teng very often acts as a heater for a moonshine still. Why does a distiller need this device? In order to be able to use the equipment without the involvement of additional gas or electrical equipment

How to choose a heater for a moonshine still?

It is worth clarifying right away that not every ten should be built into a distillation cube. A conventional heater in contact with the wash will quickly fail. Moreover, the processes of oxidation and corrosion that occur during the operation of a moonshine still with PETN can spoil both alcohol-containing raw materials and the final product. It is best to choose a stainless steel element as a heater for a moonshine still. How to choose the power? This parameter can be easily calculated by the formula, where P is the power, V is the volume in liters, T is the time required to heat the mash (hours), t n and t to are the initial and final temperatures. (insert formula)

It is quite simple to choose a heater for a moonshine still, which cannot be said about the procedure for introducing it into a still. Not everyone can do this. Therefore, before you decide to upgrade your distiller, really assess your strengths and capabilities. In return for your efforts, you will receive a universal equipment with a moonshine still heater. Such a distiller can be easily taken to the dacha, to the garage, to any place where there is a standard outlet. By the way, you should also think about tension in advance. On sale you can find both 220V and 380V devices.

For those who doubt their abilities, it is best to purchase a ready-made moonshine still with a heating element and a thermostat. Such a device will not only make it possible to do without fire, but also to organize the temperature regime more competently. A moonshine still with a heating element and a thermostat is an excellent option for beginners.