How to Maintain Consistent Quality in Distillation

How to Maintain Consistent Quality in Distillation

Distillation aims at isolating alcohol from liquid condensate, leaving a pure water residue behind. To achieve this goal, temperature differences between these two constituents at lower pressures must be reduced, and pressure fluctuations minimized between them. Once the concentration of alcohol reaches an inconvenient point for further distillation, any remaining slurry (stillage water and distillers grain) must be cooled before being transferred to a holding tank for use as process water or livestock feed. Reflux ratio controls both product purity and energy requirements.

If the reflux ratio is set too high, vapor may evaporate too rapidly and lose heat along its upward path, decreasing temperature and increasing condensation rates – making it harder for alcohol separation from liquid sources. As such, more energy will be necessary to support distillation process.

Evaporation of the slurry in a pot can result in valuable alcohol being lost through evaporation. To minimize beer loss and cost associated with producing additional alcohol, care must be taken in stirring the slurry to avoid excessive baking of solids on its surface, and making sure it has been fully mixed before being sent up into a column; this can be achieved by installing a continuous flow conveyor system sized appropriately to each pot size.