trying to decide: Keg + thump or stick with spirit runs.

[planohog]

My eyes are bleeding,
now I can strip a keg full of beer pretty quick to about 3 gallons of low wines.
Then I tear everything down, switch to T500 and run in spirit mode.
( normally days apart ).
i feel that with a keg and 5500 watts, maybe a thumper is a more efficient way of using my
time.
I do ok with tried and true grain bills like HBB. with strip followed by spirit .
Turns out there is two big days of hauling all the equipment out and putting it all away.
I want to see if using a thumper might be a good idea with a few safety mods to my keg.
I want to lower my time and water cooling consumption. PC in strip is 48" liebig and 24" for spirit.
--thanks in advance.

[subbrew]

I can't seem to find it but recently someone did a comparison of boiler + thumper, strip and spirit, one plate and two plates. He then had fiends over to test. I can't remember all the details but I do remember that strip + spirit come out on top but not by much for what was second.

But even the boiler + thumper seems to be best if you use low wines rather than new wash in both.

I am thinking of a thumper to be able to put the spent grains in it rather than having to squeeze so much. But otherwise my reading suggests I will stick with the strip + spirit method.

[SW_Shiner]

A thumper would be a good way to increase your efficiency by increasing your max run volume, making it more worth while. But even with a thumper, strip and spirit runs are still preferred, and recommended, by many

[shadylane]

Maybe use a keg + thump to increase the efficiency of the stripping runs, because smearing doesn't matter as much at this point.
But there's no substitute for a proper spirit run and the well defined cuts it allows.

[planohog]

So maybe the answer is get a onion for the spirit run before the Liebig anc keep
Keg for stripping and T500 for spirit run and add onion

[SW_Shiner]

If efficiency is the goal, an onion won't do much to help with that. It may help you heat up faster with less worry of a puke. But your speed is still going to be dependant on your input power.

[Bolverk]

I think ultimately its going to depend on the product you want to make.

For a thumper setup I like ferment double my boiler charge, strip half of that and put those low wines in my thumper, then put new beer in the boiler and run that as a spirit run. You end up with a profile thats is closer to double pot but a little less refined. So say like 1.75 theoretical distillations.

[PalCabral]

I've never used a thumper, nor a plated column, but as you know I use an onion so I can share my thoughts there. As others have stated, if your issue is the time you need to invest n running double runs, the onion is obviously of no help. The onion should be seen as aid in the spirit run primarily. It wíll slow things down by creating a lot of reflux, increasing the ABV off the still (compared to not using an onion) and it will clean your spirit up efficiently. But it will not significantly make your liquor much better. That you most likely will achieve more efficiently by focusing on mashing and fermenting, and oak aging.

I think you a suffering a bit from upgrade fever, my friend. It's a problem I am quite familiar with, that's for sure. My current issue is that I really like the idea of having a bigger boiler, but the truth of the matter is that I am not making bigger batches because of my 50L boiler but because of of the limitations in my brewery and in the amount of time I have. I need to keep reminding myself this over and over.

[Tammuz]

A thumper will give you more flavor on a stripping run. It would help pull more oils from grain and help with esterification on rum washes. Not the best product if you're using it for a one and done.

[shadylane]

I can't seem to find it but recently someone did a comparison of boiler + thumper, strip and spirit, one plate and two plates. He then had fiends over to test.

Is this the post you were looking for?
viewtopic.php?t=90806&hilit=comparison

[subbrew]

I can't seem to find it but recently someone did a comparison of boiler + thumper, strip and spirit, one plate and two plates. He then had fiends over to test.

Is this the post you were looking for?
viewtopic.php?t=90806&hilit=comparison

That is the one. Planodog that link is a good read. Thank you Shady

[planohog]

that is a great link, I think for now, I will try and find a way to improve my 2X setup
I strip about 4ooo watts, keg with 48" liebig, and spirit about 960 watts in 8 gallon pot with 24" liebig.

any ideas,

[Corn Cracker]

I get good flavors from slow single pot runs on my keg, I guess it all depends on what your goals are. With a slow run you can still get get good cuts with small jars leading into transitions. Worth a shot, 2 runs is what is what your trying to avoid

[Corn Cracker]

Put that onion on your keg and slow it down

[Username]

If efficiency is your goal would it not make sense to do a few stripping runs and then stick with your bigger still, you'll end up with more product per hour in the end
Another suggestion is to use a plated column after several stripping runs, you can run a column faster than a pot still.
The end result will be different but if efficiency is the goal??

[planohog]

Thinking out loud here, normaly for me , I will create a gumball out of the grain left over from AG ferment. Maybe the thumper might be used on that gumball run, ( one and done with thumper ). Run the AG in normal strip / spirit mode. The more I read, the more I find that strip/spirit gives the best drop. When your trying to impress folks like corn-cracker you best be on your game.

[zach]

I like the efficiency of stripping with a thumper.

I always fermenting on the grain. I can get enough clear beer to charge my 15 gallon keg boiler and 23 gallon thumper with the slop. I have enough power with propane to strip 27 gallons in 3.5 hours. (12 gallons in the keg and 15 gallons in the thumper).

With 5500 watts it will be slower, but still more efficient from a time perspective.

[planohog]

that seems to be a good idea, all the trub goes into the thump device for the stripping run, its a better use than trub meets sink.

[MooseMan]

My eyes are bleeding,
now I can strip a keg full of beer pretty quick to about 3 gallons of low wines.
Then I tear everything down, switch to T500 and run in spirit mode.
( normally days apart ).
i feel that with a keg and 5500 watts, maybe a thumper is a more efficient way of using my
time.
I do ok with tried and true grain bills like HBB. with strip followed by spirit .
Turns out there is two big days of hauling all the equipment out and putting it all away.
I want to see if using a thumper might be a good idea with a few safety mods to my keg.
I want to lower my time and water cooling consumption. PC in strip is 48" liebig and 24" for spirit.
--thanks in advance.

My suggestion Plano, would be to ferment approx 2.5 times what will fill your boiler.

On strip day, fill the boiler with 1 charge to be stripped, then fill another vessel with the same volume.
Run the hot water from the PC (You have a nice long Liebig, so you should be able to tune it so it's hot) through the second vessel in a copper coil or whatever you can bodge up, while you are stripping, this will pre heat the second volume.
As soon as your strip is finished, dump the backset and immediately refill the boiler with the pre heated volume. You'll be stripping again in no time at all, and now you have 2x strips done in a not much longer day and ready to run.

Spirit run day, add the 2 strips to the big boiler, along with the .5 extra ferment, and you're in for a big spirit run yield but with only one strip day as before!
Bigger volume also equals easier cuts by the way.

[planohog]

thats is a great idea , I would need to ferment twice as much as I do now. it would take the same amount of time. I agree on the strips, I have combined several together and stripped once. I think I might just do that. I can store low wines for a long time. collect around ten gallons
run it in the keg. I am not in the ferment mode right now but , when I start up again, I can increase my mash by %50. Just think how much UJJSM you could churn that way, make a bunch of low wines they are realativle simple and very forgiving, you can almost do it bit site.