Column still
Batch column (plated / reflux) still on the same vapour-liquid equilibrium engine. Each theoretical plate re-equilibrates the vapour, so strength climbs toward — and is capped by — the 95.6% azeotrope. Watch the pot and column-top temperatures separate as plates are added: that separation is the column working.
Charge
A low-wines or wash charge is typical for column runs; use your actual charge.
Column
Real plates are less than 100% efficient — bubble-cap and perforated plates on ethanol-water typically run ~50-70%, so 10 physical plates ≈ 5-7 theoretical. Calibrate against the plates table below: match your column's actual take-off ABV to a theoretical-plate count and use that number.
Cuts
Neutral runs usually stop on falling take-off ABV rather than pot temperature.
Power & cost
Reflux costs energy: everything the column sends back down was vaporised on your element. The model's energy is a lower bound at high reflux — calibrate loss % from logged runs.
Plates → take-off strength (this charge)
First-vapour figures at the start of the run. Use this to convert your column's observed take-off ABV into theoretical plates.
Take-off strength through the run
Pot & column-top temperature
Energy & cost
- Plates are modelled as ideal equilibrium stages at high reflux — the standard textbook approximation. It nails the strength ceiling and the shape of the run; it under-counts energy at high reflux ratios.
- Not yet modelled (planned): reflux ratio and take-off rate (product vs reflux split), per-plate temperatures, dephlegmator control, continuous-feed operation. Log real column runs under Runs — logged take-off ABV vs the plates table calibrates your column's effective plate count, and metered kWh calibrates the reflux energy premium.
- Azeotrope at 95.6% ABV is the hard ceiling for any number of plates at atmospheric pressure — that emerges from the model, it is not coded in.
- Neutral-grade tile counts litres collected while instantaneous take-off is at or above 95.0% ABV.