Critique My Pot Still & Thumper Layout

[Skorenzy]

Greetings everyone,

At the behest of an individual in my welcome post, I have opted to build my own still. I have sourced from a brewer that went out of business a quarter barrel (7.5 Gal) that I'll be using as a Boiler; I have 6 Korney kegs left over from purchasing beer in bulk and will be converting one into a thumper.

I was planning on altering the boiler:

1. Add a 4.0" Charging port at the top for easy filling
2. Add a 2.0" Drain near the bottom for easy dumping

Ultimately aiming for a setup similar to this: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=54068

Thoughts on my layout?

[ShineRunner]

How will you be connecting to the thumper? The seal for the corny kegs are usually silicone or EPDM and not good for sealing alcohol vapors. PTFE is the only synthetic allowable here. Unless you’re just talking about a slim 1/4?

I wouldn’t reduce your 2” down to half into the thumper. 3/4 would be the smallest I’d recommend.

I also don’t think you need 2” over your product condenser. 3/4 over half works just fine, but would have to be longer. Now, a 2” shotgun with 4x 1/2” tubes inside would be nice.

I would also look at making it modular so you can take the thumper out of the equation if you want. Unions work well as do triclamps.

That’s my $0.02...

SR

[Skorenzy]

I was going to pull the lid off of the corny keg, remove the seal and weld it to the top of the keg. This lid will also be modified with a 2.0" Tri-Clamp Ferrule.

The Majority of joints on this setup will be Tri-Clamp Ferrules as I like modularity.

My Keg has Quick release valves on it which will be removed - the feeder line into the thumper will go through one of these holes, the other will be sealed.

I'll do a site search for a 2.0" Shotgun condenser.

Thanks for your input.

[ShineRunner]

I was going to pull the lid off of the corny keg, remove the seal and weld it to the top of the keg. This lid will also be modified with a 2.0" Tri-Clamp Ferrule.

The Majority of joints on this setup will be Tri-Clamp Ferrules as I like modularity.

My Keg has Quick release valves on it which will be removed - the feeder line into the thumper will go through one of these holes, the other will be sealed.

I'll do a site search for a 2.0" Shotgun condenser.

Thanks for your input.

Have you seen this? viewtopic.php?f=92&t=60248
Inspired by the same thumper as yours, but more modular. I have a clone of this that can be used in many ways and think it’s the bee’s knees. CCVM, steamer, thumper, stand-alone still, whatever. It will do it just with changing out a few parts.

There are 1.5” triclamps on eBay that just happen to fit over 3/4” pipe. It’s pretty sweet. If you can weld stainless, you surely have the skills to solder it to copper.

SR

[Appalachian spirits]

On a 5 gallon boiler a 3/4" would be all you need to the thumper.

[Skorenzy]

Okay, Let's try this one. Do you think a 36" Shotgun is long enough?

Thanks!

[ShineRunner]

Concept looks good. Hard to say if the details are good, but it looks like it’s on the right track to me. And yes, a 36” shotgun is overkill. I have a 5x1/2 inside 2” shotgun that’s about 18” long and it knocks everything down on a full powered stripping run without issue. I would think you’d be able to get away with 20”-24”.

Edit- if you’re trying to keep costs down, I don’t think you need the 2” over to the thumper.

[Skorenzy]

I have the Ferrules for 2" Mainlines in my possession, I figure instead of sourcing out 1.5" ferrules I'd just get the copper and run with it.

I'll knock the Shotgun down to 24".