Need advice on first build

[moosemilk]

Pic of template on copper. Heading out to shed soon to work on making the pan tonight. Will post my progress for copper porn lovers (admittedly one of those myself and not ashamed lol)

Sorry if I've missed it on here, is there a link for this pattern you used?
Many Thanks

Sent pm

[Danespirit]

That still is looking awesome Moosemilk..!
I also really like your worm for the flakestand..those two things just match together..great job, dude..!

[moosemilk]

Thanks Danespirit. It has served me well for almost a year now. The worm was the easiest part of the build. It was my first time working sheet copper. Few dings and imperfections, but that makes it even more unique. Have a 1/4 barrel stainless keg for a thumper now, but need to do cleaning run. I'm waiting for a nice day so I can get my cleaning and sac run on the new thumper all in the same day and maybe a run after.

[Radman]

Awesome build and really inspiring
Thanks!

[moosemilk]

Go bit heavier on the boiler pan. I used 16oz for my entire build, no problems, but if I were to do it again I would probably do the pan with at least 32oz.

[moosemilk]

Added a thumper to my copper pot. Was at scrap yard , couldn't pass up the scrap sheet they had. Enough to make a 4 1/2 gallon thumper..bit small but still above the 1/3 of boiler for minimum size. Just doing vinegar run now.

[bitter]

Nice! I wish I have copper skills would make a 1 Gallon setup for doing small gin batches.

B

[moosemilk]

Nice! I wish I have copper skills would make a 1 Gallon setup for doing small gin batches.

B

I had ZERO with sheet until I built my pot. It shows, but it works. Only one way to get those skills...just gotta do it. I read others threads, watched videos, and then just sweat and a few blisters lol.

[moosemilk]

Just steamed with vinegar for little over half hour. Now I added some to the thumper to see how she drives with a little in there.

[moosemilk]

And the entire set-up...

Sure glad I kept all my fores...they came in handy for sac run along with a gallon of second time around feints (all proofed down to 30% abv with water)

[moosemilk]

This copper thumper starts out sounding like a little man knocking in there, gets pretty loud until it heats up. Purring like a kitten now. May even post a vid later.

[moosemilk]

Here it is just starting out. Charge was about 25-30%abv for sac run











After it warmed up, quieted down a lot and purred nicely . . .





And didn't bother cleaning it up on the outside. Kinda like how my still is looking after a couple years use . . . the paste running down the sides a bit, patina, soot, dents . . . so the thumper should match!

[Swedish Pride]

nice work moose, wouldn't have knows it was your first time by looking at it.
Cheers for the vids, really helped me as I was wondering how loud a thumper thumped

[moosemilk]

nice work moose, wouldn't have knows it was your first time by looking at it.
Cheers for the vids, really helped me as I was wondering how loud a thumper thumped

Well when it first started out i was thinking i'd have some neighbours visiting lol. Now I understand why they used wooden barrels during prohibition . . . not just cost, but that pinging when it first starts out could wake the dead!. And thanks for the compliment. Hopefully future builds will all be brazed/welded though now that i'm actually skilled at that lol. Looking for a nice used tig welder in my area . . . may have found one. I started out making this thumper all nice and even and round. No dents. Pretty solder job. Then I looked over at my still. Gave the thumper a whack here and there (yes, purposely!), gobbed some ugly solder on . . . i didn't want it looking all shiny and pretty in contrast to my first build of my pot. It HAD to match! I should have taken some pics before i dinged it up a bit. Ah well.

[NZChris]

I love the look. You've done a fine job there.

[moosemilk]

Thanks NZ. Can't wait to do my first real run on it now that it's all ready. I have 7 gallons of low wines AG and a fresh wash to use to charge thumper (i'll probably strip most of it first, it takes 3 quarts to just barely cover the notch in the thumper).

[Sungy]

nice piece of work. Should make a fine spirit.

[moosemilk]

Thanks Sungy! Been two years since I built the pot. Figured it needed company so I revived this thread with a thumper. Supposed to have some nice weather starting tomorrow and I have 4 days off to play!

[HDNB]

awesome work! i'm so envious of the old school look, adding the distressed look to the thumper was a great choice. you have to report back on the spirit she produces.

[moosemilk]

awesome work! i'm so envious of the old school look, adding the distressed look to the thumper was a great choice. you have to report back on the spirit she produces.

Thanks. Probably going to sand (grind) down some of the bigger bits of solder. I wanted it to run more than glob. Now I need copper flake stand to match lol.

Gonna send you a pm when I'm off work

[NZChris]

I'm feeling guilty now. I've got a pre-heater that could easily double as a thumper and I've never gotten around to plumbing it for that. This might be the kick in the arse I need to get on with it.

Thanks

[Danespirit]

This copper thumper starts out sounding like a little man knocking in there, gets pretty loud until it heats up. Purring like a kitten now. May even post a vid later.

Just tell the neighbours it's your scooter running in idle...
No, serious..you made a good job there...once again.
It will produce a fine drop.

[moosemilk]

This copper thumper starts out sounding like a little man knocking in there, gets pretty loud until it heats up. Purring like a kitten now. May even post a vid later.

Just tell the neighbours it's your scooter running in idle...
No, serious..you made a good job there...once again.
It will produce a fine drop.

My neighbours are the last people I would ever worry about. Close-knit part of town, most of us grew up here and then bought houses, staying in the area. Summer is almost a scene from "trailer park boys" . . . everybody walking up and down the street with a drink in their hand. Nights are always a fire pit and drinks at least at one house. Few neighbours even brought over some of their stuff to run because they no longer have a still (Few Italians who miss their grappa, and rest of street is pretty much Europeans . . . many of the families here have continued on for about a hundred years now from when area was first developed). Nope, no worries about what to tell the neighbours. Looking like a good day to do a first spirit run once the wind dies a bit (storms came through last night). Have an AG that just finished fermenting, so i'll use some to prime thumper, and rest to proof down my strips.

[rgreen2002]

MM - a rustic beauty! I enjoyed your enthusiasm about the build probably as much as the build itself! Good luck with the spirit run.

[moosemilk]

Thanks rgreen. Just doing my first spirit run with the new thumper now. Coming off cold 160 proof. I'll check later at room temperature. No complaints here!

[moosemilk]

Well, ran the thumper for it's first real run. The boiler was charged with a mix of 6 gallons low wines and 5 gallons of fresh ferment (12 gallon boiler, leaving 2 gallons head space). The low wines were all around 25-30%. The thumper was charged from some higher abv strip run (it was around 50%, so cut it with a bit of fresh wash down to about 30%) and took about 3 quarts to just prime it so it was slightly submerged. One thing I noticed, I need a bigger burner. It worked, but it was SLOW. Some could be attributed to the fact that my burner needs cleaning (think i spilled a bit of fresh mash and some holes weren't firing during run). It was pretty much a constant broken stream the entire run, even with some reflectix around the thump and top of boiler to help with heat. But I didn't mind, it was a nice evening and several hours outside was wonderful.

Started pulling off over 160 proof. Sorry, don't have exact volumes for how long blah blah blah . . . I rarely worry about that now and go by taste and smell, my proof and tralle only comes out during blending and proofing, but I did take a few readings being first thump run. Things I noticed with this versus pot with no thump on spirit run:

1. Initial proof was 10-15% abv higher
2. The abv held higher for longer, nice and steady and consistent around 160 proof (80%abv) rather than a steady linear drop I have noticed on runs without thumper.
3. When the proof did start to drop, it was very gradual with the thumper, as opposed to without a thump where it tends to drop faster
4. Most of my hearts were in a range of 60-80% abv with thumper, below was starting to cloud and get the cardboard/wet dog. Without a thumper, there seems to be more smearing of the tails into the hearts. I'm letting it air for a bit before deciding on cuts for heads/hearts. The tails were very pronounced and easy to detect though off the spout
5. It started to cloud at about the 55% abv mark with the thumper. Typically on pot only, it doesn't cloud off the spout until about 40% abv with this recipe.
6. All of the cuts seem to be more compressed with slightly less smearing than pot only.
7. The overall volume collected before hitting tails using a thumper was much lower than straight pot, but this is attributed to it holding a higher abv steadily rather than a linear drop.

I ended up shutting down when i was pulling 50%abv simply because i was tired, it was already 3am, and it was only tails. I left it all ready to go tonight to pull the last of the tails off without the thumper to toss in the feints collection (thinking i can pull maybe a gallon of tails so it's definitely worth it).

I probably could have put this in thump design or whatever, but seems to confirm what's already there written, and no point starting a new thread. Since this is my original build thread, figured I'd keep everything in one place of how i built, how it runs, and the difference a thumper makes (even if it's a few years down the road from the original build).

Conclusion: Definitely love the thumper. What i did sample off the still was a nice rounded spirit. The grain bill was around 85% corn, 10% barley malt (malted myself from feed store barley), and 5% rye malt. I used sebstar and sebamyl for conversion as i just cooked all grains together, not wanting to chance infection since i malted myself. I've done this exact recipe before with no thumper, and one thing that really stood out with this one is the rye. Even just that little bit, and the spice already pops out. I didn't have this before the thumper.

Now that I have a few gallons to age, it's time to enjoy summer a bit and be lazy with making some UJ and Rum for the pot and thump. And get a bigger burner . . . takes a little more heat to drive that thumper for sure! Maybe i'll even try a pot stilled vodka from Rads all bran . . . double distilled with thumper, charging thump with water to help clean up a bit too . . . depends on time. I have my CCVM, but something i just love about my pot, on a warm summer night, listening to the radio quietly and sitting out there switching jars and adjusting flow.