Introduction
We are currently testing the iStill 100 NextGen. Our new little baby. It's the unit that replaces the old iStills 50 and 100. And we want to share the results, and compare performances. Our NextGen innovations are a means to an end. Not goals on themselves. Here's what we want::
- To improve build quality to the extend that our units give you 30 years reliability;
- To improve performance and help you create better drinks at a faster rate.
For a post on build quality, please see:
https://istillblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/any-new-factory-benefits-odin/
This post will be a testimony as to how the NextGen innovations bring tremendous performance advantages to your distillery.
Our goals
Our goals? Better product, faster and more stable production rates, in a more efficient way. Concise enough for you? Here's an explain anyhow:
A more stable column needs less tinkering with (manually or via the robot). Less tinkering means less production downtime. While "better" refers to both more output per hour and more distillation cycles (for purer vodka, and smaller Heads and Tails cuts on for instance whisky and rum). Apart from better, faster, and more stable, we also wanted the unit to bring a boost in overall efficiency.
Faster
The iStill 100 NextGen produces over six liters of pure 96.5% per hour. That's an increase, when compared to the old iStills 50 and 100, that do 4 liters per hour, of 2 liters. A gain of 50%.
The output of taste rich (pot distilled) product is nine liters per hour. The older iStills 50 and 100 could produce around six liters of pot distilled product.
More efficient
The power input to the iStill 100 NextGen is 3.5 kW. The performance figures of the old iStill 50 and iStill 100 from the paragraph above are realized at a power input of 2.8 kW. Now, 3.5 kW is only 25% more than 2.8 kW, so ... the 50% performance increase, how is that possible?
It is possible because the NextGen boiler and column have upgraded designs. How the new design translates to improved efficency? Easy: the overall and total system efficiency of the NextGen units is whopping 25% higher than our old models.
Now, 25% may not sound like dramatic ... but it is! It means there's a 25% cost cut on energy savings. Nice if you run a 100 liter unit, important if you run a 500 liter NextGen, a total competitive advantage when running an iStill 2000 NextGen.
More distillation cycles
The new column packing adds around 20% more distillation cycles, further compacting Heads and Tails when making taste rich rum, brandy or whiskey, while also making sure your vodka is as pure as possible. In fact, the NextGen column packing is such an improvement, that there is no longer any need to stabilize before Heads or Hearts are taken. This saves you - again in comparison to the older units - 15 to 45 minutes total run time!
Stable
The older manual columns were quite jittery. Open the needle-valve a bit and you get vodka, open it a little bit further and you get pot distilled product. The new needle-valve allows for three full turns. At the same time, again due to the NextGen column packing, with it's beefed-up heat retention capacity, the run is much more stable. If you dial in a setting, it will stay there rock solid, allowing (again) for higher output figures and less hassle.
Summary
The performance of the new iStill 100 NextGen shows that our latest innovations pack a huge punch. Our new unit blows the old iStills 50 and 100 out of the water. And that was of course the real goal. We made distilling easier once more!
Here's the summary. The new iStill 100 NextGen:
- Produces six liters of 96.5% per hour, while the old unit yielded four;
- Produces nine liters of taste rich product per hour, instead of just six.
What's next?
What's next? A movie on a run with the iStill 100 NextGen. And after that ... movies of the iStills 500 and 2000 NextGen. Keep on following this Blog. You'll be amazed by how much we push the boundaries ...
96.5% is easy and so is taking Heads (without having to stabilize) ...
[gallery ids="6108,6107,6110,6111" type="rectangular"]
www.iStill.eu
