Thumpers, misunderstood and/or misused...

[AllanD]

as a seperate discussion on thumpers...
"Thumper" is a hillbilly term for a secondary "passive" boiler

Any liquid placed in a thumper will be "boiled" by action of the steam passed through it passing lighter components on downstream
and trapping any higher boiling components.

The idea of a "thumper" is a simple one, but operation is a different matter.

the idea of bubbling live steam through a container of liquid
is a simple one to drive product forward and cause the selective condensation of the heavier undesirable components (water and tails)

the common "hillbilly" mistake is to precharge the thumper with too
much liquid.

for a 15gallon boiler and a 5gallon thumper downstream you should initially charge the thumper with no more than 3 liters of liquid, preferably pure water... (makes cleaning easier)

Used this way the thumper is more akin to a "cold trap" like those used in petroleum refining.

the other issue with a "thumper" is using a water bath around it or not...

There is usually sufficient "surplus heat" to drive steam out of a 15gal boiler through atleast two 5gal "thumpers" and possibly as many as
three (if the first one is stabilized by a static water bath.)

will a thumper increase the proof level of your final product? No.
but it will greatly reduce the throughput of "Tails" and even on
a first run will tend to sharpen the tails cut point.

a thumper can be useful if operated differently than in "hillbilly" mode.

If only charged with a limited ammount of liquid.
If more than one is used in series...

The idea behind distilling is to perform a controlled phase change from liquid to vapor and back.
And each thumper can give you an additional condensation/vaporization
phase change and at each change you will drop heavier components (tails)out of the product stream and that is never a bad thing...

The other thing is that a thumper operates passively, it does what it does
and once the operator is past the familirazation/learning curve they are quite predictable... and that learning curve means mainly determining through trial and error how much "precharge" should be used
(generally 1-3 liters)

a thumper, or "cold trap" isn't something that should be automatically overlooked, and stacking several in series can actually perform like a much larger column.

If you think of several thumpers as a "folded column" you might take a different view of them.


AllanD

[Tater]

If ya make your thumper {called that cause sound they made when they heated up} as big as your still as this hillbilly has seen then ya can use thumperas still and still as steam boiler when doing on grain distillin.However they only put a small amount of wash in thumper instead of water.Thumpers were handy in old days of wood fired stills as well as puke barrels. Witch are differnt things but both will keep mash from getting into worm if still was overheated and pukes on ya.

[copperhead]

just ask tater he is a hillbilly wait i guess we both are by the way whats wrong with a hillbilly. lol

[Tater]

NOTICE:


Due to the climate of political correctness now prevailing in America, Kentuckians, Tennesseans, North Carolinians, Virginians and West Virginians will no longer be referred to as "HILLBILLIES."


You must now refer to us as APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS.

Thank you!

Now if you'll excuse me, I got possums to fry