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What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:03 pm
by Little Lukie
It's seems we are trying our best for a pure output of hooch. CLEAN!CLEAN!CLEAN!COPPERR!COPPER!COPPER!STAINLESS!STAINLESS! Why would anyone use wood barrel for thump keg?Nasty,old and hard to clean. Does this defeat our goal or am I missing something. Just about finished my rig with thump keg and I follow the plan of stainless or copper and clean to the bone. Thanks for the time Guys.

simple answer

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:05 pm
by schnell
that's the vessel they had handy.

almost all the gear people are using for this "hobby" is improvised.

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:59 pm
by TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY
LL, this is a guess and only a guess. The vapor that gets to the condensor, even thou the liquid has been in contact with the barrel, is still a vapor. Therefore it shouldnt have any of the solids from the barrel in it and should be plenty clean.

Just cause Popcorn did it, doesnt mean its gospel. I was in Maggie Valley last week and picked up his video (all his books were sold out). Man them folks treat that guy like the second coming of Christ himself, dont they. :lol:

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:42 pm
by goose eye
sometimes a wood doublein keg will leave it lookin a wee bit milky.

i dont think yall realize the isolation there was in the hills not all that long back.
it was called makein do
so im tole

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:31 pm
by CoopsOz
Is there a picture of the wooden doubler? What is this thread referencing?

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:07 pm
by hoochinoo
I am not sure either!?

Some of the old still pictures I saw from the good old days my grandpa left behind, hey used wooden thump kegs.

I strive for purity. It gets you higher :D

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:09 pm
by hoochinoo
Sorry. I forgot to say cheers.

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 9:36 pm
by Rotgut
Image
I believe that is what they are talking about
Cheers! :D

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:17 pm
by CoopsOz
Ahhh, now I see. Thanks Rotgut :D

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:56 pm
by hoochinoo
I'd say, that o'l timer can hold his liquor!

Good pic.

Happy fathers day to all you dads and hooch makers out there.

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:38 am
by Little Lukie
I collect alot of pictures of stills and have seen modern stills built with wood thump kegs. Maybe if it was charred it could help flavor. I don't know so I was asking you Guys opion. Popcorn is know for his smooth hooch and he always uses wood thump keg. I include picture of one of his big rigs he ran fired with gasoline.Image

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:39 am
by msrorysdad
I believe the answer would be, as previously stated, "Makin do". At one time the ability to make a closed ended cylinder (thumper, ect...) was quite the trick. It would be easier, and less costly to use a pre made source, barrel.

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:42 pm
by goose eye
little lukie i would say most the folks on hear that been runin for any time atall an is serious is makein at least as good a product as popcorn ever did. yall is workin in controled enviroment. yall got toys he never could dream about. now if yall was put in his enviroment without all the toys
most all yall wouldnt have a chance.
you see him again ask him if ever used any beadin oil. he will say no but watch his eyes
if he usein high test instead of keroseen i no why he burned his barn down

just my openun

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:17 pm
by CoopsOz
Goose, I'm thinking your not a fan of popcorn! :D

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:53 am
by goose eye
coopsoz he was in the business. yall aint got to worry bout your youngins
goin hungry land taxs bein paid sugar an jugs bein bought law always huntin you. look at uncle jesse close to last post. he was talkin bout findin plastic jugs for his product earlyer he was talkin bout how bad it was. the diference is he is in the business now.
i am a fan but he dont walk on water

as far as beadin oil. i reckon most all bootlegers have killed the bead at least once bein in a hurry. thats why you draw out bout a gallon before takein it down just in case you kill the bead you can add it back to get the bead home. no bead no sale - run it again
so im tole

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:58 am
by RumBull
Look up Pussers Rum on the web. They are using a wooden pot still from waaaaay back. They claim the wood is full of flavor from years of use and contributes to their rum.

So my thought would be that a wooden thumper would be doing the same thing. After many batches, the wood is saturated with all kinds of goodies and it would start giving back to the spirit. This may not have been the reason the old timers used a wooden barrel but I bet it works great for flavored spirits. It may be one of my future experiments.

Just my inexperienced thoughts.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:44 am
by Dnderhead
mite be ok (1) if you continually do the same thing all the time ( flavor
would be in the wood and if you switch form say rum to whisky you would have rum flavored whisky) (2) if you continually use it ( alcohol -heat will
kill bacteria -mold in wood but if you let it set it mite mold) and can not be easily
washed out

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:43 pm
by pintoshine
My first cent of advice. Noise suppression. My 15 gallon stainless steel thumper sounds like thunder when it is starting up. I bet wood would be much quieter.
Second cent. Heat retention. Since the thump keg is a secondary distillation, the heat input is limited to the incoming vapor. Retaining the heat would allow better efficiency.
Now you have my two cents worth.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:32 pm
by goose eye
rumbull im betin they aint fillin them ketle half full of coton like
some do them wood doublein kegs


so im tole

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:00 pm
by Little Lukie
Pintoshine what size boiler you running with that 15 gal thump keg? 35,45,55 gal?? Also small burner under thump keg (stainless) as preheater speeds up process and makes for more controled run.

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:30 pm
by pintoshine
It is a ss 55 gal similar in design to the copper pot. No I just fire it up with a 55k btu and let it go full tilt beginning to end. I usually only charge it with 130 to 140 L and it takes 2 hours to get going good. Most of the time it runs constantly at 12 L/h which is slightly smaller than a 5 mm stream. Off 135L of 10% It puts out 32L of 45%. Of course this is just stripping. This makes enough for a good charge to my 58L keg with a 3L thumper.

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:31 am
by goose eye
dern pint you started out fine talkin galons then jumped to the dam liters. how much is a liter. cant be 2 to 1
so you run it til it quit burnin or you just goin by numbers. - what it aughta be by syferin -
sounds hi it you runin til it quit burnin - 90 proof
you adin anythang to that small outfit to fill it up some cause i rekcon you putin 1 and 1/2 in
your doublein keg that leavein that charge bout 1/2 a ketle full


ole boys i no pa would make em run another galon out if a dam moth cause flair up. - theyd run out some in a cup an throw on side of ketle to run down to flame an if it flaired up
theyd keep it goin. there was one ole boy that was alwas jokein an he would add alittle likker to the cup just so it would burn an theyd have to keep the coals to it. had there pa scratchin his head moren once.
burnt the botom out of a ketle that way one time to.
there pa didnt much think that was funy after he found out.

so im tole

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:57 am
by pintoshine
Well goose eye let me do the conversions I charge it with about 35 gallons, off which I get 8 to 8 and a half gallons of 45%. The thumpin keeps it up higher longer and it don't have a straight line drop. It starts off about 65% and stays up there for a while then all of a sudden drops to nothing. Believe me there is nothing left to burn in that last half gallon and it is usually badly colored white from all the tails. Then yes you are correct I only charge the doubling still with about half a load. the 8 and a half gallons at 45% makes just under 5 gallons of between 75 and 80%. Again it starts up there near 90% because of the thumpin and doublin and drops and sits there at 80 for the longest time. Then all of a sudden the fall starts and that is where the flavor usually starts in. This last run went through a sour spell, a sweet spell and then a very flowery stage right before the tails hit. So depending where I cut tails I end up with between 4.5 to 5 gallons of 75 to 80%.
Sometimes, I may even take one run and out it on oak. Two runs get rerun again and I get xxx rum which is very fine for white spirits. And some always get the column to make some neutral.

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:37 am
by goose eye
pint so you getin 4 1/2 to 5 out of 35 adin no suger. these boys never come close to that.
there outfit will hold steady then drop 1 or 2 then 3 then wont hold but drop steady then bout 65 an up to 16+ minutes a gal you shoot it an it back down to 14 minutes or so a gal then it drops an you gotta turn the wick up
an start flingin on the ketle next charge its to backins reguardles an that could be in the mid 50s with fruit an 40s with grain
you keep savein but you ainta mixin


so im tole

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:26 am
by pintoshine
Yes I am only using 26.5 gallons water/bushel and getting most of the time a 1.075 to 1.090 sg to start. The lactic fermentation in the steep water allows more starch to be available for conversion, separates the starch from the protein better like they do for wet milling and prevents the starch from solidifying when used in conjunction with a pre malt of about 1% by weight. I use pretty much the most efficient commercial process that can be implemented on a small scale.
I shoot for 10% abv in the mash, and 35G x .10 = 3.5 G at .45% abv gives 3.5G/0.45 so that is 7.7G. Depending on the efficiency of the conversion I can get sometimes 8.5G at .45%. You have to realize I have been at this for a long time and had College classes to teach me the necessary lab techniques.
Maker's Mark uses about the same recipe except for the fact they add wheat and I don't. It is all in the very careful temperature management when mashing. It is not a simple matter of mixing it up and letting it go. I use steam injection and a double boiler and a PID controller to help with the mashing temps to get the best conversion I can.

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 2:44 pm
by RumBull
Cotton in the thumper? What was the purposed of doing that. Was it loose cotton? Sounds like it would have been a mess to clean up.

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:45 am
by goose eye
rum now theses aint coton balls. keep it from getin milky. just warsh out with clean water.
if it gonna be sitin up for a while pull old coton out an stob holes good cause rats
like them to together.

pint best these boys can do is make do an aint nowheres
close to all that

so im tole

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:05 pm
by trthskr4
goose eye wrote:pint so you getin 4 1/2 to 5 out of 35 adin no suger. these boys never come close to that.
there outfit will hold steady then drop 1 or 2 then 3 then wont hold but drop steady then bout 65 an up to 16+ minutes a gal you shoot it an it back down to 14 minutes or so a gal then it drops an you gotta turn the wick up
an start flingin on the ketle next charge its to backins reguardles an that could be in the mid 50s with fruit an 40s with grain
you keep savein but you ainta mixin


so im tole

I've learned well enough to watch Goose eye's posts. The bad thing is that I know enough to know that I probably need to sit down and interpret this post, but it might take me a while. Goose eye, I mean absolutely no disrespect to you in saying this. :D It might be a good thing that some of us have a hard time interpreting Goose's posts. :lol:

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:15 pm
by Old_Blue
rum now theses aint coton balls. keep it from getin milky.

Not store bought cotton. This is field cotton, pull a hand full from a bale. Put in the thumper as a filter. Think wads of cheese cloth.
if it gonna be sitin up for a while pull old coton out an stob holes good cause rats
like them to together.
Take the cotton out between uses and plug up the holes in the thumper. Rats or mice will crawl in the holes and make a bed. They love cotton as bedding material.
pint best these boys can do is make do an aint nowheres
close to all that
Pintoshine is getting a very high yield.


Hope this helps to glean Gooses' wisdom. :wink:

Re: What's up with wood thump kegs??

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:03 pm
by trthskr4
goose eye wrote: there outfit will hold steady then drop 1 or 2 then 3 then wont hold but drop steady then bout 65 an up to 16+ minutes a gal you shoot it an it back down to 14 minutes or so a gal then it drops an you gotta turn the wick up
an start flingin on the ketle next charge its to backins reguardles an that could be in the mid 50s with fruit an 40s with grain
you keep savein but you ainta mixin


so im tole
Thanks Old Blue. I had that part pretty well understood. This is the quote that's a little more difficult, "the Redneck Dictionary" is pretty well useless as well on some of these. But I'll figure it out.