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iStill NextGen 500 ... on Gas!

20 May 2016

Introduction One of our customers from the Netherlands, Stokerij Texel, makes gin and vodka. The vodka is made from potatoes. They already have the iStill 250 Base Series for the gin and vodka making processes, but how about stripping that thick potatoe vodka wash? Considerations Their prime concerns were the thickness of the potatoe wash and its ability to "store" CO2. The thickness made CO2 release difficult. And when you put a thick CO2 rich wash in a still, and bring it to a boil, it tends to puke. Puking thick potatoe wash into the iStill 250's column, wasn't ideal, since it meant they needed to clean out the column and its packing too often. Stokerij Texel turned to iStill for a solution, and since we were close to releasing the new NextGen line-up, we proposed them to tailor a NextGen unit to their needs. Like this:

NextGen 500 liter flush square boiler design;
Jet Propulsion Agitator System;
Direct Gas Fired Heating System;
Stripper column.

The functionality offered Because they want to use this iStill NextGen 500 as a stripper that has to deal with a thick, CO2-rich wash, they wanted to option for the new and patented Jet Propulsion Agitator System. Contrary to existing stirrers, JPAS does not create a vortex. And due to its design, it is increadibly good at degassing any wash. The new and patented flush square design helps them as well (as it will help any Craft Distiller): the four corners act as chimneys, sucking up particles from the bottom and depositing them at the top of the wash. They want to run the iStill NextGen as a stripper and have access to cheap natural gas, so they chose to go for the Direct Gas Fired Heating System. Any customer now has that choice: both the 500 and 2000 liter boiler can be ordered with electric or with gas heating. The gas heated NextGens have a horizontal bottom plate that is made of a special alloy Stainless Steel that's 5 (!) mm thick. The iStill NextGen 500 comes with a 25 kW gas burner, where the iStill NextGen 2000 can be ordered with a 75 kW heating system. And if you want to go electric, the choice is 18 kW for the 500 liter boiler and 36 kW for the 2000 liter boiler. Last but not least, Stokerij Texel decided to go for the stripping column. This column is much cheaper and less versatile than the fully robotized and automated column, but for a stripper it is very adequate. And the stripper column is very easy to clean! Pictures Underneath you find some pictures of us building the gasfired iStill NextGen 500 for Stokerij Texel:

Welding the gas fired 500 liter boiler ...