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Howdy, all. I finally got my 5-gallon bucket of blackstrap molasses the other day. I am looking at making some rum. When running the mash should I use my thumper or not? Not sure why I would need it on a straight run. I have no dunder will be the first time. I have a 12 gal copper pot still with a 5-gallon thumper going into a 1/2" 25 ft worm. Suggestions? Thanks.

I’ d just double distill it Pot only for the first batch .

Normally , I’ve been finding that if I strip half and at that to the rest in tue Pot along with the tails and put only the heads in the Thumper, its making really nice Rum with hood heads separation .I know it sounds counter intuitive to add heads to the Thumper straight up , but when the headsish part of the boil from the pot comes over to the Thumper, they seem to concentrate and come off more defined from the following Hearts .IE , less smearing .

And just a niggly point , but we don’t call a Rum wash a Rum Mash . Its not a mash . Mash refers to a grain process where the grains are heated to a certain temperature and enzymes or malts are added to convert the starches to sugars.

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:32 pm
And just a niggly point , but we don’t call a Rum wash a Rum Mash . Its not a mash . Mash refers to a grain process where the grains are heated to a certain temperature and enzymes or malts are added to convert the starches to sugars.

Valid point, Yummy. Many newer folks incorrectly refer to non-grain washes and musts, ie: a rum mash, sugar mash, fruit mash. In a mash, starchy grains are actively heated to a target temperature to facilitate conversion to sugars. Without grain, there is no mashing required, hence no mash.

Further, once the mash (conversion) stage has been completed, the now sweet, converted grains become a wash that in the next stage is then referred to as a ferment resulting in a distiller's beer.

Using correct terminology helps in minimizing confusion for those looking to provide assistance and for others just starting out.

Twisted Brick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 11:32 am Using correct terminology helps in minimizing confusion for those looking to provide assistance and for others just starting out.

Glad its not just me, get it it right folks, learn the lingo , we all had to do it once.
Using the wrong words for the wrong things is like putting the whatchamacallit in to the thingamajig..............it doesn't help anyone understand anything properly.

Seeing as it's a first run and you have an empty drinks cabinet, I would ferment enough to fill the still and have enough to charge the thumper.

Beyond that, there are a lot of ways to skin this cat. After you have decided what you want to make and have put some effort into researching how to make that, you might have better questions and get good help.

Captn Jack

For what it's worth, I can put some details and numbers on a run plan that is very similar to what Yummyrum described.

I will use the Haggy Pot - Thumper Calculator in the HD Calculator Section and my Excel spreadsheet version of it. If anyone wants to add to, subtract from or correct this plan, please comment. I can update it if necessary. My info comes from knowing and using what other distillers have done.

I see you are making a Rum wash now. This plan says you will need 22 gal of 8% ABV Rum wash. This will get you about 2.2 gal of 72 % ABV Rum in the final spirit run with the thumper. If you make less than 22 gal wash, scale the numbers down proportionally. I can check your scale down numbers. You have a 12 gal pot and a 5 gal thumper. Your pot should have some passive reflux, I will include it.

First Strip Run - Pot only:
Charge 9 gal of the 8% Rum wash to the pot. Would be good to de-air it so it does not foam much. Could add some defoamer or vegetable oil. Make a pot only strip run. The pot will heat up to the boiling point in about 55 minutes at 3000 watts. Run at about 2000 watts starting just after the pot starts boiling at about 95 C. Get rid of the fores, start collecting. In about 2 hours, two gal of low wines at 34% ABV will be collected. ABV out the spout is about 10%. Stop. Run it faster ( higher watts ) if you desire.


Second 1.5 Strip Run - Pot only:
Charge 7 gal of the 8% Rum wash to the pot. Charge the 2 gal of 34% low wines to the pot. This will give a 9 gal pot charge at 13.8% ABV. De-air and defoamer. Make a pot only 1.5 strip run. The pot will heat up to the boiling point in about 45 minutes at 3000 watts. Run a t about 2000 watts starting just after the pot starts boiling at about 92 C. Get rid of the fores.

Now, as Yummyrun suggested, collect and separate the heads. About 0.25 gal maybe. Taste and smell to know when hearts start. They should have an ABV about 66% to 68%. Passive reflux early can bump this ABV up. It might be lower if less passive reflux.

Collect about 2.5 gal of the low wines for about 2 hours, down to 12-14% ABV out the spout.There should be about 2.5 gal at about 40% cumulative ABV collected. Stop. Run it faster ( higher watts ) if you desire.


Spirit Run with Pot + Thumper:
Charge 6 gal of the 8% Rum wash to the pot. Charge the 2.5 gal of 40% low wines also to the pot. This will give a 8.5 gal pot charge about 17.4% ABV. De-air and defoamer.

Then charge the thumper with the 0.25 gal of 68% heads plus 0.25 gal water, 50/50 mix, to get about 0.5 gal at 34% ABV. Be sure the charge covers the inlet thumper spear nozzle.
Make a pot - thumper spirit run.

The pot will heat up to the boiling point in about 40 minutes at 3000 watts. Run the spirit run slower at about 1500 watts starting just after the pot starts boiling at about 90 C. Get rid of the fores. Smell and taste if there are heads and collect them separately.
Later runs you might use dunder or something acidic that would esterify the heads alcohols and minimize the heads collected.

After the heads, start collecting the hearts in separate jars. ( 400 ml jars is good ) After about 4 hours from the start of the pot boiling, there should be about 2.2 gal of hearts collected. The ABV out the spout should be about 40%, you could measure each jar. Taste and smell to be sure the hearts have ended and tails started. The total 2.2 gal of hearts will have a cumulative ABV of about 72% and hopefully you made a very good rum. Collect some tails and maybe you can use them later. You determine when to stop the run.


Variations
Certainly the charge amounts and numbers can vary some in your real time charges, but try to get close to these numbers. If you need to put more in the thumper, like 0.75 or 1 gal , OK. But it is best to have a high ABV charge here, 30% or higher. A lower starting thumper ABV will lead to lower product ABV, maybe ok. But some commercial rums are made at higher ( 86% ) ABV. This plan could have a starting ABV about 82%. Certainly the real ABV results can/will be different than these numbers, but not by a whole lot. Heat losses in the pot and thumper are estimated here after studying and comparing them with many real runs.


Show and Tell Time
I have calculated the pot - thumper spirit run in Excel and show you charts of how the run variables change during the run. Remember that hearts stop here at about 40% ABV out the spout ( really when taste and smell are tails - you determine this ). That is at about 240 minutes run time. Then tails would come after that.

Here is how the different vapor ABVs change with run time:
Here is how the pot and thumper fillage and flow rates change with run time:
Notice that the thumper does fill up some. At 240 minutes, it can be at about 1.5 gal fill but should not get over 2.5 gal.
Here is how the pot and thumper liquid ABV change with run time:
So,
if you decide to do something close to this run plan, good luck and be safe. Remember that when a pot - thumper run is finished and heat is turned off, to vent the pot to prevent a vacuum implosion. Also, make sure your thumper inlet tube is immersed under the liquid level at the start.

haggy

Curious. I have not seen a 1.5 strip before. Thanks for taking the time to write up that method haggy!

Here is another option for your Rum run, idea is from this post by NZChris:

Re: What are your thoughts on a 1.5 run?
Post by NZChris » Sun Oct 26, 2014 5:51 pm

I double distill my brandies unless I need extra volume to cover an element.

Rum, I do whatever I feel like experimenting with when I write up my method. Usually three strip runs to a spirit run, stripping until I don't have to dilute, but sometimes holding back some wash to add. The main thing to remember is keeping good records so that you can repeat a product that you particularly like.

But in this set of runs you will need 30 gal of 8% Rum wash. If that is too much, then scale back the gal of 8% wash for the three strip runs. I can modify this set of runs - results will just be less gal of product hearts at a little lower ABV. If you see foaming is a problem in the pot with the 9 gal wash charge out of 12 gal total, then yes, scale back to 7 or 8 gal wash charge.


Three Strip Runs - Pot only:
So, you make three (3) strips ( like in my previous post ) at 2000 watts. And get 2 gal of 34% low wines from each so you have a total of 6 gal of 34% ABV low wines to use in the Spirit run. Each strip uses 9 gal of 8% Rum wash. You could save 3 to 6 gal here by using 8 or 7 gal in each strip run.


Spirit Run with Pot + Thumper:
Charge 3 gal of the 8% Rum wash to the pot. Charge 5 gal of the 34% low wines also to the pot. This will give a 8.0 gal pot charge about 24.3% ABV. De-air and defoamer. An option here would be to cut back on the 8% rum wash to 2 gal and save 1 gal.

Then charge the thumper with 1 gal of the 34% low wines. Be sure the charge covers the inlet thumper spear nozzle.
Make a pot - thumper spirit run.

The pot will heat up to the boiling point in about 35 minutes at 3000 watts. Run the spirit run slower at about 1500 watts starting just after the pot starts boiling at about 88 C. Get rid of the fores. Smell and taste if there are heads and collect them separately.
Later runs you might use dunder or something acidic that would esterify the heads alcohols and minimize the heads collected.

After the heads, start collecting the hearts in separate jars. ( 400 ml jars is good ) After about 5 hours and 20 minutes ( 320 min ) from the start of the pot boiling, there should be about 3 gal of hearts collected. The ABV out the spout should be about 40%, you could measure each jar. Taste and smell to be sure the hearts have ended and tails started. The total 3 gal of hearts will have a cumulative ABV of about 73% and hopefully you made a very good rum. Collect some tails and maybe you can use them later. You determine when to stop the run.



Show and Tell Time
Below are the charts of how the run variables change during the run. Remember that hearts stop here at about 40% ABV out the spout ( really when taste and smell are tails - you determine this ). That is at about 320 minutes run time. Then tails would come after that.

Here is how the different vapor ABVs change with run time:
Here is how the pot and thumper fillage and flow rates change with run time:
Notice that the thumper does fill up some. At 320 minutes, it can be at about 2.4 gal fill but should not get over 2.7 gal.
Here is how the pot and thumper liquid ABV change with run time: So,
if you decide to do something close to this run plan, good luck and be safe. Remember that when a pot - thumper run is finished and heat is turned off, to vent the pot to prevent a vacuum implosion. Also, make sure your thumper inlet tube is immersed under the liquid level at the start.

haggy

Your first charge is you goin to school.
Don't care if you usein a doublein keg or not you fixin to make a mess if you don't keep your wits about you.
Yellow jackets will grade you.


So I'm tole