Noob needing help with a still design!!

[Farmer_John]

I have a small problem in that I like to do everything in a epic way and after seeing pugirums recipe for rum and seeing I have a cane mill and evaporator to process my own cane I feel rum is a natural fit to try to make. That said I came across a picture of a still in looking at different designs from the appleton distillery in jamaca that was interesting and was wanting yalls input on the practicality of building something like this and if a stainless drum for a boiler would work. has two thump kegs but looks a little complex but I think could be an interesting set up and is this over kill or should I go with a simple pot still?



I am probbably over thinking things seeing I am new to distilling and want to make a still that is large enough I can grow with and not have to build multiples but to where I can make most things I want with, thank you for your time

[Durace11]

IMO you need to learn to run a simple pot still before you try to run a double thumper rig. Not that you can't do it but you will have better success if you start simple and add to the complexity slowly. Small mistakes cost small amounts. If you start with a 50 gal wash and you screw it up you are going to have a 50 gal dumper.

I would go simple pot still, add a thumper, add another thumper, upgrade to a larger boiler with a single or double thumper. You could probably pre-plan to use your original "training" boiler as one of your thumpers for your larger setup and save some cost on materials. For instance, start with a half keg boiler, add a 1/6 keg thumper, add another 1/6 keg thumper. When you upgrade, use a 55 gal drum boiler and use the half keg boiler as the first thumper and one of the 1/6 kegs as a second thumper or get another half keg thumper for the second thumper.

Personally I don't see the need for such a large operation on a hobby scale but if you are set on going grandiose scale have at it. That would be my advice.

[vinper]

How awesome is that ,,, how does it work separating the cuts?

[Prairiepiss]

+1 start out with a smaller simple pot still. Make it so it can be the thumper later. WK all you have to do is get a bigger pot later and just hook it up. So now the bigger pot is the boiler and the first is the thumper. Can add a third if so desired.

[rad14701]

My take on this is that if you need two thumpers or more you should be rethinking your logic and picking a different still type... A flute or reflux column would be a better choice, give finer grained control, be cheaper to build, and have more predictable results... Perhaps back when that still was designed and built that was the only way they knew to reach the purity they desired in that region... That's a lot of hullabaloo for the relatively small boiler charge that still can hold... Remember, the bottom half of that boiler is a fire box...

[HolyBear]

Take a look at these... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 46&t=26460

[myles]

This is a not so simple process that Harry Jackson explained some years ago on annother forum. For clarification I am reproducing his diagram here:

In this situation the thumpers are being used for both flavour enhancement and to increase the ABV of the product.

EDIT: The terminology is slightly different'
Low wines = Tails
High wines = Heads
Seconds = Hearts

[Farmer_John]

My take on this is that if you need two thumpers or more you should be rethinking your logic and picking a different still type... A flute or reflux column would be a better choice, give finer grained control, be cheaper to build, and have more predictable results... Perhaps back when that still was designed and built that was the only way they knew to reach the purity they desired in that region... That's a lot of hullabaloo for the relatively small boiler charge that still can hold... Remember, the bottom half of that boiler is a fire box...

My understanding of it is that the thumpers are not used to purify like a column would but to tweak the flavors for example making a apple brandy putting apple pulp or the wash itself or in the case of rum the fusil oils in the thumber is a way to add some extra flavoring.

as to the still set up I think as others have recomended making a smaller boiler to start with so I was thinking about maybe using a keg as my first still but later if I choose can turn it into a thumper for a more complicated set up. now just need to think of a design for the pot head also what kind of kegs work best for a still

[Prairiepiss]

The kind of kegs you can get your hands on. And are made of stainless.

Find Samohon's pot still plans in the plans and diagrams thread.

[Farmer_John]

So I managed to get my hands on a keg for 35 and so far gotten some 2 inch connectors for cheap I've decided to follow the pot still design referenced above and when I get a mastery of the basics I will convert it into a thumped with a larger boiler

[Prairiepiss]

Sounds like a good plan.