Stopping and restarting a run with thumper cause overflow? Updated

[Chauncey]

Ran out of gas on a spirit run last night after collecting about two gallons of distillate. I wont be able to get a cylinder exchange until later.

My concern is the possible overflow of the thumper when being brought back to heat. What do yall think?

15.5gal keg charged with 11.5gallons of 27.5% low wines was the original primary charge, and 1 gallon of 12.5% wash in a 5.17gal 1/6bbl keg was the thumper charge.

It will be sitting, insulated, in the 95 degree heat all day so itll probably still be pretty damn hot so shouldnt take on that much fluid to come back online imo but i dont have alot of experience in this regard. Ive stopped and started runs with cm reflux and on a pot still but never with a thumper.

And i did break the vaccum so the thumper contents didnt get sucked up nor the keg implode.

I think it should be fine but i wanted to see what everyone here has to say.

Edit: everythings fine see below for details.

[jonnys_spirit]

Maybe just top up the boiler with some from the thumper to be safe and sure and run it like you stole it hard and fast?

Cheers,
jonny

[Chauncey]

Yea i was considering transferring the entire content of the thump back into the main and putting some fresh wash in the thumper or even just water

[jonnys_spirit]

I'd vote for fresh wash if you're going to be running it anyway but maybe slightly higher ABV in the thumper to 1/2 volume or whatever you normally do and top up the boiler with the lower ABV fresh wash.

Cheers!
-jonny

[StillerBoy]

Never experience stopping in the middle of run setup on a thumper..

But it should be OK.. a vaccum break was done.. the thumper had an original load of 1 gal, probably has an addition gal or less, but there is extra space left.. will take longer to start the thumper up..

The only thing that would concern me is the cuts.. they will be thrown off with the stop.. so you will have two set of cuts..

Mars

[Chauncey]

Mars,

Yea i always take a small fores/heads cut on a pot restart then continue once the hearts start again. I think that should get me in the right place.

Your info about volume definitely gives me some comfort.

Jonny: think ima just continue from where I was and take a small fores/head cut. Im going to consult my buddy who is pretty green but a smart guy and ill let you know if we take a different course.

Hipefully someone who has been in a similar situation can give us some more info here though

Regardless i will leave the details of what happens in the thread for future distillers who may run into a similar situation.

[StillerBoy]

Regardless i will leave the details of what happens in the thread for future distillers who may run into a similar situation.

Very good thought Chauncey..

So many threads here, after having been provided with guidance, that were never followed up with by the poster..

Mars

[Chauncey]

Bout to get back on ghe horse in a min after a quick late night walgreens cylinder exchange

[Chauncey]

And yeah guys still keeping my nightshift bartender hours with no bars open. A real moon shiner haha

[Chauncey]

Thumper is now making its whirr and tap and coming online. Main still had a good bit of heat in it though the thump had cooled over the day. Both were still over 90F with the main over 110F. First time ive been grateful for new orleans summer maybe?


Update: first 250ml had a slight off taste but not fores, the rest ran straight back into hearts. Everything is going along fine and dandy thus far. No overflow etc. Will report back with the total collection pre and post stop, and the remainder from each keg in volume and abv if possible. Suns coming up so we might not collect much tails when its time, 95f without head index today.

[Truckinbutch]

Best first thing you did was breaking the vacuum before it reversed . That can create a problem . Beyond that it looks like you got the situation well in hand .
This is a dance you learn as you go .
Results may differ for others .

[Chauncey]

Everything came out really really good. Clean as get out, was a second gen ujssm style mash. We combined all our selected jars for blending to check the cumulative abv which was a whopping 83abv. The heads were 86 in combo. Will recycle those into the next strip.

The thump was trapping tails real well but once the sun was up we just blasted a gallon or so of tails out at high heat bout as soon as we got a little hint of that tailsy taste. Really coulda dropped the heat input and bled out some more good hearts but that sun had us beat.

We went and got some nice prime ny strips and smoked them with reverse sear after getting drunk all day waiting for that sun to drop down.

Big ups to everyone here for the advise all along the way and once i sober up ill go ahead and report any more data i have like remaining volume and abv.