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Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:41 am
by 1RiverRunner
Edited: I was wondering the effect of some of these angles/elevations on flavor and abv?

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:25 pm
by still_stirrin
Why is this thread in this forum? It seems to be misplaced.

Can a moderator move it to the appropriate forum? Hopefully, it will get some responses then.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:16 pm
by acfixer69
Let's try it here :P

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:48 pm
by 1RiverRunner
Cool. Thanks for the move!

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 6:32 pm
by acfixer69
Don't believe you are going to get an answer as you don't ask a real question that has specific answer. Good news is read the basics and the answer will be seen.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:24 pm
by 1RiverRunner
Maybe not. I edited question.. t’ see how that does.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:47 pm
by NZChris
If there is a difference to be had, it will be by having the lyne arms rising or falling, but those lyne arms might be too small a diameter to make a noticeable difference.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:09 am
by Kareltje
I have seen an article once comparing the angle of the lyne arm and the taste of whiskey of several Scottish distilleries. There was no clear outcome, if my memory serves me well. But of course there were much more variables in comparing live distilleries.

I guess you have to try if you want to know. The effect on abv can easily been measured. On taste will be more difficult as you will need a standard beer or wine to start with.
Let us know what you find.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:18 am
by NZChris
I heard that a rising lyne arm made lighter flavored product than a falling lyne arm. My current still head build gives me the choice of both.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:57 am
by 1RiverRunner
Could you infer that if your lyne rose out of the still, but was angled down from the thumper, that your thumper flavors would stand the best chance of being most prevalent, given all other factors aside?

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:20 am
by NZChris
I'm inferring that if you want to notice a big difference, you will need larger lyne arm diameters than in your pics, or run very slowly.

What do you want to accomplish? Light flavors, or full flavors? Long aged, or instant gratification?

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:57 am
by 1RiverRunner
Probably all of those goals at one point or another.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:53 am
by Corsaire
My take on this: it doesn't matter. Not on a hobby scale anyway.

The theory is that in a rising lyne arm vapor condenses and falls back into the pot or thumper. Which would up the reflux and make a lighter product.

On a hobby scale the diameters and length of the lyne arms are small. So there's not a lot of metal to soak away heat and produce significant reflux.

However, maybe somebody with a modular setup could try this and measure temps along the way. I could be wrong in my assumption. It's happened before. I can't test this, I only have a simple potstill with fixed lyne arm.

Re: Thumper, condenser elevation conf. for flavor and abv

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 7:53 pm
by 1RiverRunner
Thank you for the feedback guys. Was away for awhile.