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The Miass Household Equipment Plant (MZBO) produces the CoolSteel device in 2 sizes of 1,5 and 2 inches. In general, the scheme is no different from the usual BC with the selection of steam after the dephlegmator. The column is completed with cubes based on the popular Chinese pan Luxstahl.
If we discard standard parts that can be bought at a lower price on any site selling components, then only a dephlegmator, a refrigerator and a selection spout will remain of the unique components. Well, the equipment of the cube is the very “little things” that distinguish such columns from one another. Space for competent or not so decisions of designers of each manufacturer. Let’s consider them in more detail.
Stills
The saucepan is made of stainless steel with a ferromagnetic bottom, works on all types of heating and is suitable as a base for making a cube. The rest depends on the specific hardware manufacturer.
In our case, the lid of the pan was replaced with a reinforced one 3 mm thick. A clamp connection is mounted on the lid – a completely modern sleeve for an electronic thermometer and a completely useless safety valve from a pressure cooker.
The lid is fastened with an adjustable clamp through a silicone gasket, which is quite good. This allows you to adjust the clamping force of the lid in a certain range, achieving tightness. But the thickness of the clamp is questionable. In combination with a decorative safety valve, it can be said with a high degree of probability that in an emergency the clamp will fail first. This is a serious drawback, but primarily it concerns the selected valve.
The cube can be equipped with a faucet fitting and a 2” clamp connection with a plug for installing a heating element or a steam generator bubbler. These solutions are modern and versatile. At the same time, it must be remembered that 20-liter cubes are not equipped with the indicated options at all, but a fitting is installed on a 25-liter cube on order, a 37-liter one has a fitting in the basic configuration, and a clamp connection for a heating element is installed on order. Only the 50-liter cube has both options in the base.
Pot handles are fastened with rivets. Alas, the manufacturer did not bother to scald them from the inside. So over time they loosen up and get a dangerous leak.
Dephlegmator
The main disadvantage of CoolSteel 38 is the dephlegmator. 5 tubes of 8 mm each with a wall thickness of 1 mm. Inner diameter – 6 mm. The working length of the reflux condenser is 20 cm.
The operating power of a 38 mm column with a SPN packing is 950 W, with an on-load tap-changer is approximately 1200 W. The utilization power of the reflux condenser is more than sufficient, even at 1200 W it could handle it, having a length of only 15 cm. But the steam speed is 4,7 m / s. At this speed, the steam will not only slow down the droplets of phlegm, but will drive them up the reflux tubes, organizing choke. Running at a lower power is not an option, because we need pre-choke power to get the maximum separation power of the bait. The dephlegmator must at the same time ensure stable operation of the column.
Reduced power, combined with a short 50 cm drawer side, will make you forget about a good cleaning. We get just fortified moonshine.
It is doubly strange that the accessories have a quite decent 4 * 12 reflux condenser. Four 12 mm cooling tubes with the same working length and the same price. But the manufacturer flatly refuses to change anything in the configuration – apparently, an operation is underway to sell illiquid assets. But this dephlegmator with a heating power of 1200 W is able to utilize it with an even greater safety factor and a steam speed of only 2,4 m/s.
Refrigerator
The length of the CoolSteel refrigerator, in accordance with the description on the official website, is 40 cm, 5 partitions and all the same 5 tubes with a diameter of 8 mm. Accordingly, we expect a utilization capacity of up to 2,5 kW from it. But it was not there.
If you look at the photo on the site in the “Accessories” section, it is striking that the clamp is welded on top of the tube sheet. Arising doubts about the reality of the working length are immediately confirmed in the description of the dephlegmator. The length is not 40, but 35 cm. Accordingly, the rated utilization power is about 2,2 kW.
The small inner diameter of the tubes – 6 mm, does not cause enthusiasm for the distillation of mash. If the foam, as it sometimes happens, goes from the cube to the selection, the tubes will clog. But cleaning them will not be so easy.
The manufacturer is well aware of this, in the “Accessories” section a new version of the refrigerator is presented with 4 tubes of 12 mm each and a working length of 40 cm. The price is the same as for the base model. Guess if you can ask to complete the CoolSteel 38 with a decent refrigerator? The answer is rejection!
selection spout
The selection spout is exemplarily made. All tubes are in place for trouble-free potstill use. Oddly enough, but the correct design of this simple detail is extremely rare.
Loads
All devices of the CoolSteel line are equipped with 50 cm drawers. If we talk about obtaining a distillate with good purification from impurities, then the side is clearly a bit short. It will be possible to keep the fuselage during fractional distillation of 40% raw alcohol with a bulk of no more than 10 liters for a 1,5-inch column and 18-20 liters for a 2-inch column. When using 37 or 50 liter cubes, this is clearly not enough.
The accessories offer tsargs 50 and 100 cm long made of stainless steel or copper. Drawers can be equipped with thermometer sleeves. Prices and workmanship are acceptable.
Other disadvantages of CoolSteel 38
It is impossible not to mention one more oddity in the configuration of the CoolSteel 38 device. This is the presence of a right turning corner with an upper selection node. There are no questions about the assembly itself – a standard part, but only the turning angle is needed to organize liquid extraction and should be included with the aftercooler. There is no aftercooler as standard. Only for extra money.
Without an aftercooler, the extraction unit in the CoolSteel 38 is simply a useless part and the extraction tube must be plugged during operation. A natural question arises: what does the tube do in this set, why is there not a simple turning angle in its place? Again selling illiquid assets?
It’s strange, because if you complete the device with a completely inexpensive aftercooler and throw away the unusable reflux condenser, then you get an apparatus according to the “Changeling” scheme. And quite worthy. And clearly competitive. “No changes in equipment” is the unshakable position of the manufacturer.
Features CoolSteel 51
Modification “CoolSteel 51” has all the same disadvantages as the younger brother. Dephlegmator and refrigerator with 7 tubes with a diameter of 10 mm. When using an on-load tap-changer, the operating power of the column is about 2200 W. The power of the reflux condenser allows you to cope with this, but the steam speed will be about 3,7 m / s. This is too much for stable operation.
A forty-centimeter refrigerator allows you to utilize up to 4,5 kW of input power at a nominal water flow. The declared 6 kW is clearly an overestimated figure.
Feature CoolSteel 500
Modification “CoolSteel 500” is equipped with a dephlegmator 25 cm long and a refrigerator 50 cm long with 7 tubes with a diameter of 12 mm.
There are no questions here. And the speed of steam in the dephlegmator is about 2,5 m/s, and the power of the refrigerator is up to 6 kW. Everything is real. Naturally, this modification is more expensive than the basic set and is rightly called a beer column. But the question of an understaffed (or superfluous) fluid selection unit remains in this model.
conclusions
Summing up, we can say that the line of CoolSteel devices is very promising. And if it weren’t for the manufacturer’s desire to sell outdated reflux condensers and refrigerators along with unnecessary parts, then the review would be positive.
Apparatus with liquid extraction should be singled out in a separate category, and not forced to buy columns with steam extraction and half of the liquid one.
Today (beginning of December 2018) it is premature to buy CoolSteel devices. We advise you to wait until the manufacturer puts things in order with the basic configuration or meets the buyers halfway to replace unusable or unnecessary components with modern parts of their own production, which are sold in additional components.
Reviewed by IgorGor.
Characteristics of new products CoolSteel 2019.