DISTILLERY NEWS
We are well into silent season with planned maintenance on schedule. The boiler passed its 5-year NDT Test and is good for another five years. We also had to strip down our large heat exchanger, part of the cooling tower. This helps send cool water into the condensers so that it can turn the ethanol vapour back into condensate – essential to the distillation process.
We had noticed that the fan which cools the water was having to run a little bit faster and harder to keep up. For efficiency, we adjusted the fan to follow the temp of the cooling water going to and from the condenser. Previously the fan would run at 100% but we realised that for most of the year it only needed to run at about 80% and in the winter as low as 50%, so the investment in some extra control was well worth it. Of course this also helps lower energy usage, an ever-present need.
The increase in the fan speed was caused by the drop of efficiency in the heat exchanger, which works by either heating or cooling down a liquid. In this case we are cooling down the water coming back from the condensers. To achieve this thermal transfer you need lots of stainless steel plates, which are separated by a rubber gasket. On one side of the plate runs the water from the condensers and on the other side the cooling water from the cooling tower. It’s a clever concept and used all over industry.
Due to the drop in efficiency, we decided to split the heat exchanger – not an easy job, but well managed by Charles who is into all things mechanical. It didn’t take us long to realise that the plate sides that had the cooling tower water running through them were fouled up, which reduced the efficiency of the thermal transfer. So we tried hot water power-washing them, but it just wasn’t getting them back to original spec. We admitted defeat and send them all away for a caustic bath.
Bottling is going very well, and we approach an extremely busy time. August to November is just full on, with Distillery Exclusives, Market Exclusives, 1494 release, Cask of Lindores and our ever-popular core MCDXCIV. We are already thinking about 2023 limited releases, the fast pace never relents!
Slàinte
Gary Haggart
Distillery Manager
