2 boilers on 1 thumper

[VAHillbilly]

I've been using a old style10 copper boiler to a worm condenser with pretty good results. A friend of mine who also dabbles in the hobby picked up 4 15 gal kegs over the weekend and is letting me get 2 off them for what he bought them for $30 ea not bad. Anyhow, I mash 30 gals at a time. When it comes time to do the run, I have to tote buckets from the shed to the garage ( the shed has controlled temp the garage doesn't). This may look a little odd to the neighbors, me going back and forth with buckets.
My question is can 2 boilers run simultaneously on one thumper and worm or would they need to run separately? I'm thinking of using my 10 gal boiler as the thump keg which will give me plenty of copper contact and it would be easy to convert.
I know that 25 gal and under is what the fine folks on this sight deem hobby, but I know from reading that others run 30 gal mashes. Only they know wether or not they run it all in one load. I'm trying to cut back suspensions and keep my head down.
Thanks ahead for the input.
Be Blessed

[S-Cackalacky]

It might be OK for doing stripping runs. I'm thining that the fractions wouldn't be synchronized going into the thumper, so what you get out would be pretty well smeared which is probably OK if you're just doing strips.

[VAHillbilly]

I was thinking that if I ran each boiler into the thumper on individual lines all the way to the bottom like a regular setup instead of tying in before the thumper that there shouldn't be any bleed over of the two and would act separately, and the liquor would come out faster

[rad14701]

No mention of running more than 25 gallons unless you are legal, period...!!! If you want to run more than 25 gallons in a single run this is not the place to talk about it... Heck, why not just run 4 x 25 gallon boilers at once for a total of 100 gallons per run...??? NOT...!!! Total volume of boiler charge being heated to the point of distillation cannot exceed 25 gallons... What you do in private is all on you but once you bring it into the public realm, all bets are off...

If and, hopefully, when home distillation is decriminalized that limit will once again revert back to our old 15.5 gallons maximum, as that is how the current bill is worded... Not sure what the technicalities of charging your thumper with additional wash would present against any limits but I'm sure we have several members doing so - but you didn't hear that from me...

Some folks just can't resist pushing the limits set forth here...

[still_stirrin]

....if I ran each boiler into the thumper on individual lines...

+1 to Rad's admonition. The website's limit on hobby scale is (currently) 25 gallons.

Therfore, additional questions and/or comments are limited to build endeavors within that limitation.

Remember, this website is a public domain and as such may be (highly likely) monitored by administrative and regulatory oversight. Deviation from our (agreed to) "rules we live by" may result in detrimental effect on the progress of our hobby.

VAHillbilly, you should know this. Thanks for your concurrence.
ss

[VAHillbilly]

My apologies.

[S-Cackalacky]

I'm a little confused about this. I was under the impression that the size restriction was for the boiler size - not the amount of wash being processed. For instance, if I had two 15.5 gallon boilers with separate outputs and I ran them concurrently, would I be in violation of the 25 gallon rule? If I make 30 gallons of wash and do sequential stripping runs in a 15.5 gallon boiler, am I doing a 30 gallon run? Is VAHillbilly's infraction because he's running two boilers through a single thumper, or because he's running two boilers at the same time? If I had a 15.5 gallon boiler running URRV and a second 15.5 gallon boiler running UJSSM at the same time, would I be in violation of the 25 gallon rule, even though the total volume of wash might only be 20 gallons? If someone runs a 15.5 gallon boiler charged with wash with another 15.5 steam driven boiler charged with wash tied to it in the fashion of a thumper, is THAT a violation of the 25 gallon rule since they are both serving the purpose of boilers? Would I be in violation of the 25 gallon rule if I own two 15.5 boilers and talk about it on the forums?

I'm not trying to be a PITA. It just seems that this needs to be clarified.

[S-Cackalacky]

....if I ran each boiler into the thumper on individual lines...

+1 to Rad's admonition. The website's limit on hobby scale is (currently) 25 gallons.

Therfore, additional questions and/or comments are limited to build endeavors within that limitation.

Remember, this website is a public domain and as such may be (highly likely) monitored by administrative and regulatory oversight. Deviation from our (agreed to) "rules we live by" may result in detrimental effect on the progress of our hobby.

VAHillbilly, you should know this. Thanks for your concurrence.
ss

I don't think those are totally accurate statements. The website is proprietary - owned by Uncle Jesse. He is solely responsible for establishing and interpreting the rules. He has appointed administrators to enforce the rules that he established. The aim of the rules, as I understand them, are to promote open dialog with civility, establish a reliable knowledge base, establish sound safety standards, and promote legalization of the hobby. The 25 gallon rule goes to the legalization issue.

Access to this website is open to the public and anyone can browse it without registering as a member, but that doesn't make it public domain. Law enforcement and government authorities certainly have access, but they don't have any administrative authority over it - not yet anyway.

[Brutal]

> 25 gallon boilers are against the rules. Period. There are no rules about how much mash/wash you can have or the way you process it. There are no rules against adding a thumper to a 25 gallon boiler, except that the thumper cannot be larger than 25 gallons. The thumper is a steam powered boiler after all. This is an equipment rule and the op's equipment does not violate the rule.

To the OP, I wouldn't try running two boilers into one thumper. I'm sure it would work but it wouldn't be worth the complexity and trouble. Also you could easily overpower your condenser using two heat sources at the same time.

[Tater]

Rule is on boiler 25 gallons or less . Wash/mash size is up to member. Whatever wine /beers laws amounts in their area I think would cover that.If hobby is ever legalized here in US hobby sized will be dropped to whatever it is for US members only.

[VAHillbilly]

This thread has kinda went sideways. Say we take the sizes out, I won't mention that. What about the question? I've seen a couple suggestions and opinions. Does anyone know someone who has tried this? 2 boilers to 1 thumper. It's not that I'm actually going to do this, just real curious.
I didn't mean to raise a stink over sizes. My ignorance for mentioning any sizes or amounts.
Brutal, that makes sense about the condenser. I've been running 3/8" condenser line and would think that a 3/4" would be able to keep up.

[S-Cackalacky]

I'm sticking with what I said in my first post - would probably be OK for stripping as long as you don't overpower your condenser, but I think it would be a mistake to try it with a spirit run. The point being that you wouldn't necessarily have the same fractions coming off the two stills at the same time.

You didn't raise a stink. It was just something that needed a little clarification. It was discussed and now seems to be laid to rest. Sorry that it took your thread a little off-topic (sideways).

[VAHillbilly]

Funny thing, the new moonshiners show has 2 of them doing this exact thing. I know most people on this site don't like that show, but I like Jim Tom

[Plaincrazy]

Funny thing, the new moonshiners show has 2 of them doing this exact thing.

I saw this as well, no worries those professionals will revolutionized moonshinning and show us how its done
Looked like next week's preview was hinting that it didn't turn out as they are discarding the first jar

[VAHillbilly]

Still a funny show [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND COLD SWEAT]