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I done a 15gal spirit run saturday and all went pretty good. Started with 11 gal of 40% of WPOSW in the pot and 4 gals in the thumper and ended up with about 5.8 gals from 86% down to 75% @ 92 c. A run that lasted 5 1/2 hrs That was all good I think
So, when i was doing my clean up and got to emptying the thumper the hot fumes coming off the pail almost took by breath away. So I put my alcometer
in the pail I had about 4gals of 40%in the backset and backset from the still was almost nil.
I kept that pail and transferred it to my stainless 9gal container.
Can i add it to my next spirit run?
Why did it happen? Did i run to fast or quit to soon?
The last two sp runs where not like this.
And please if there is a link in the thumper thread i would like to know about it.
I have a 25gal still and a 8gal thumper and 5gal condenser

It was hot as hell that day about 85f

I tried to make a balance, but I am not sure if I understood your story correctly.
You started with (11 + 4 ) @ 40 % = 6 aa (absolute alcohol)
You ended with 5.8 @ 75 % = 4.35 aa product and 4 @ 40 % = 1.6 aa backset. This is 5.95 aa in total, which means a loss of 0.05 aa. Not bad.

A boiler transports alcohol, heat and a bit of water to the thumper. So when your thumper started to produce, its contents were much higher than 40 %. Judging by your data it would have been about 70 % Edit: rather 50 %. Give or take.

I am surprised about your remark that the last two spirit runs were not like this. That is very strange, assuming that these were also runs with 11 + 4 @ 40 %. Because I can not think of a reason why runs with the same starting configurations would not behave in the same manner. Even on a very hot day.

Edit: changed data after a model run.

Hey Kareltje, the first 2 were smaller sp runs 8gal 40% to the boiler and 2gal 40% +- and 2gal wash in the thumper. I really should not say they were not the same because I never checked. Nor did I even expect it.
I have only about 4 months with this still and about 3 months with a 8gal vevor.
So I ASSume this should be expected.?
Would there be a problem if I were to add it back to the boiler for my next spirit run?

I sure appreciate the advice. Thank you

Ah, so it seems the boiler and the thumper were depleted of alcohol at almost the same time!

I do not know much about taste, so I can not judge that aspect, but as for the alcohol the backset of 40 % can be treated the same as a low wine of 40 %. It is just 40 % alcohol and 60 % water.

Just for this problem I use thermometers between my boiler and each thumper: not for knowing the amount of alcohol, but for knowing when the producing vessel has delivered all its alcohol to the accepting vessel: the temperature will be constant for some time.
My thermometers all are a bit of, but when they stay at the same temp (99 C or 103.5 C) for an hour or so, I assume they produce only water.

What I also do, sometimes (f.e. when the boiler is clearly depleted and the thumper is not by far), is stopping the fire under the boiler, opening the connection from boiler to thumper, closing the thumperside of this connection and go on with a fire under the thumper. It takes some good gloves, but can be done safely and I think I have less heatlosses when I fire the new boiler, formerly known as the thumper, directly. One could consider that a stripping run from the former thumper.

STILL WORKIN, you said,

in the pail I had about 4gals of 40%in the backset and backset from the still was almost nil.
I kept that pail and transferred it to my stainless 9gal container.
Can i add it to my next spirit run?

As Kareltje said, you can add this back to the boiler. It would just be more rich in tails than normal.

Why did it happen? Did i run to fast or quit to soon?

Your run went very smooth it seems, but it could be that you quit the run too soon at 75% abv out the spout. You were probably still in the hearts range with more hearts to go, maybe down to about 40% abv out the spout. Is this true, did you see tails when you stopped?

The last two sp runs where not like this.

We see that the feeds were different in your last two ( sp = spirit? ) runs than this one. This one had 40% low wines in both the boiler and the thumper, the last two had 40%abv in the boiler but about 25% abv in the thumper. The 25% abv comes from half 40% low wines and half wash at 10% abv. So, the abv out the spout will be different ( higher and last longer ) since more alcohol was in the thumper.

I can show you some graphs of what probably happened in both cases. See my thread " Hail the Mighty Thumper " for background on these graphs.

First the 40% thumper feed run -
Here is an estimate of the ABV of the distillate out the spout (circles) vs run time
Here is an estimate of the ABV of the liquid in the thumper (circles) vs run time
If you stop this 40% thumper feed run at 330 minutes run time, there would be 75% abv out the spout. And there would be about 32%abv left in the thumper. You measured 40%, was that temperature corrected? A temperature correction would put it lower in ABV. I do not show it, but these calcs also resulted in 5.8 gal made at the 330 minute run time. If you did not see tails when you stopped, you probably could have run up to 500 minutes before tails started.

Now, here are the same graphs of the runs with 25% abv in the thumper. I will assume you stopped the runs at 330 minutes, about 45% abv out the spout. Just want to show you how much less alcohol is in the thumper and there is much less when you finish.


So, that is the difference in the two runs. You can see for yourself these effects by going to the HD Calculator Section and running the Haggy Pot Thumper Calculator file. Input your data and see the results on line. You then play around with the Internal Reflux Inputs to get a match to your data.

Your pot-thumper still runs well. Are you making the proper cuts with your spirit run? It would be unusual to see tails at 75% abv out the spout.

haggy

Thank you for your time haggy. My run time was 5hr 15min. The pot temp was 92c (195f+-). after rubbing the second last jar in my hands the smell and the feel were off and the next day the smell was still a little off.

My first concern was the heat @ 195f my cold water supply had diminished to nil . I have a well so i use a freezer(I am looking for a larger one)

I started at 10:15 and by 12:20 I was running at 170f in the pot and 170f in the thumper @ 86% from the parrot. From 12:20 to 1:51 the pot was 180f and the thumper was176f. In that period i received approx 1.25gal or 5.4lt non corrected 86% and my flame was barley visible from about 11:55 on.

After looking at your charts I would say I was running a little fast as well as quit to soon and After reading my notes the first 2 sp runs lasted just over 6hrs .
I think I got it! Great explanation and great charts. Thank you
STILL WORKIN