Thumper question

[Biffy]

Good day.

I have a few quick thumper questions. In Europe where my parents came from everyone distilled with simple pot stills...no thumper.

My first question is can you run a single run through a thumper or do you need to run it through a pot style first (no thumper) then re-distill through a thumper?

Second question...I have a vivor 3 gal and thumper has an inlet and an outlet, but looking at most thumper they have a pipe on the inlet going down into a liquid (fruit juice or alcohol. Is one correct and other wrong and is there a diff ?

Appreciate the help.

Peace

[elbono]

I started with a Amazon still similar to the vevors.

Most of their "thumpers" have an inlet and outlet that are the same. For it to work as a thumper the inlet meeds to reach near the bottom so it is submerged so the vapor will bubble through the liquid in the thumper.

Mine came with a loose piece of 3/8" copper tubing that I coerced into the inlet fitting and it worked as a thumper. Without something like that the vapor goes in and out and nothing useful happens.

I definitely got higher proof with the thumper but I don't think it was as good as two separate runs.

There are a lot of issues with these little guys but the biggest is all the silicone gaskets. You need to get rid of those pronto. A flour water paste seals better and doesn't put chemicals you don't want in your hooch.

[tombombadil]

If the vapor tube doesn't go below the surface of the liquid in the "thumper" then it's more of a slobber box to catch puking. Still useful but will not increase abv much if at all.

[Yummyrum]

This is a good read from Steve Broady about modifying a Vevor viewtopic.php?p=7738066&sid=f6fb78a30af ... a#p7738066


However , I would not use one of these stills to distill Fruit or Grains as the holes in the gaskets and the condenser size is just too small and highly likely to plug and become a bomb . Should be fine for a sugar wash . But then , who would want to drink Pot stilled sugar wash ?
If you are using these stills please strain everything that goes into it through a sieve first.

[Biffy]

Thnx everyone for all the good advice. Most of these I kind of remember from my dad when I was 8 years old. He died a few years back and I had 2 bottles of his cherry moonshine. I offered it to all his old friends at his wake. Same with my mom when she passed...moonshine from her family.

[rubberduck71]

You can do one-and-dones if you have a thumper. Not quite a true 2x distillation, but if you run it correctly & make strict cuts, you end up with a very good product.

[Stags]

You can make excellent whiskey and rum doing one and done through a thumper.

Some of the best I’ve ever made was one and done through a vevor.

Yes, strip and spirit is more efficient. But when I do that I have to dilute to aging proof, and that’s a big flavor loss to me.

I smell a larger setup with double thumpers in my future

[still_stirrin]

You can make excellent whiskey and rum doing one and done through a thumper.

Some of the best I’ve ever made was one and done through a vevor. <— Sounds like a “low threshold paradigm” to me.

Yes, strip and spirit is more efficient. But when I do that I have to dilute to aging proof, and that’s a big flavor loss to me.<— I think you left some of the flavor in your boiler on the strip run.

I smell a larger setup with double thumpers in my future

With practice, you should be able to “catch” all the flavor from your mash without diluting to aging strength after cuts.

[Stags]

You can make excellent whiskey and rum doing one and done through a thumper.

Some of the best I’ve ever made was one and done through a vevor. <— Sounds like a “low threshold paradigm” to me.

Yes, strip and spirit is more efficient. But when I do that I have to dilute to aging proof, and that’s a big flavor loss to me.<— I think you left some of the flavor in your boiler on the strip run.

I smell a larger setup with double thumpers in my future

With practice, you should be able to “catch” all the flavor from your mash without diluting to aging strength after cuts.

Yes I’ll bite at the chance to learn from a master

I think my best generation of UJSSM was around gen 3 and went through the vevor. Now I’m into the teens. And I still much prefer it to any reasonably priced store bought drop. 2-3 generations ago got my new electric all copper rig (thumper optional) and scaled up to 55 gallon barrel fermenter. Yes there’s been growing pains since. Never did strip/ spirit in the vevor- puny condenser wouldn’t support it. I like the new rig and I’m sure I’ll get it dialed in over time. All that to say I think there’s some validity in the opinion- I do think I remember reading a lot of consensus that UJs tend to peak in generations 3-5.

That said- curious about your opinions on capturing flavor. I generally run my stripping runs below 20% abv before shutting down. Sometimes go far into the “corn water” phase after tails have completely passed. Are you recommending using corn water for dilution? Adding feints to spirit runs? Happy to learn

[ckdistills]

That said- curious about your opinions on capturing flavor. I generally run my stripping runs below 20% abv before shutting down. Sometimes go far into the “corn water” phase after tails have completely passed. Are you recommending using corn water for dilution? Adding feints to spirit runs? Happy to learn

I'm on a similar journey, looking for my keep cut to be around aging proof at 55 - 60%. I'm getting close - just put up a gallon of 10:1 Corn:Oat whiskey at 61% after cuts. Here's what's worked for me on my pot still and with my ferments (all grain with some sugarheads on the spent grain):

• Run the strip down to 26-27% combined abv - for me this is 2-5% coming off the spout

• Add fresh beer to the spirit run to top up boiler. I added about 3/4 gallon beer to 4.35 gallons of 26% low wines - ended up at 22% abv in the boiler

• Keep going on your spirit run past tails. I added two jars at 10% and 7% that looked clear and tasted sweet, corny, and a little grainy. In a separate all feints run, I found graham cracker down in the sweet water.

I think that I get more natural or passive reflux than others because I've read others not needing to strip as low or use sweet water to get to the same aging proof. Hope that helps.

[Saltbush Bill]

I remember reading a lot of consensus that UJs tend to peak in generations 3-5.

I can tell you from experience that ,that is nonsense, you can run UJ generations endlessly and they only get better in my opinion.
Could you point me in the direction of the threads where this is said?
3 to 5 gens is where those who use to much backset or stuff up in some other way give up and start again IMO.

[Bradster68]

Iv never made a UJSSM yet. But isn't the trick to back off if ferment gets slow,and add if it's fermenting fine?
Just curious for when I finally get around to making some

[Saltbush Bill]

It's easier to strike a happy medium I think.....Ive always found 4 litres of backset in a 28-30L ferment to work for me.
YMMV.

[Bradster68]

It's easier to strike a happy medium I think.....Ive always found 4 litres of backset in a 28-30L ferment to work for me.
YMMV.

[New scott]

Hello new to this even though I have been around it my whole life. I am hoping I am asking this in right place. I am running a 15 gallon keg with 2” pipe out of top , make a 90 deg to the right, then falls 4 degs over 3 ft long then another 90 down to a 15 gallon thumper keg with 2”flange clamp on thumper keg. Ok inside this 2” pipe I have a 1”pipe going almost to the keg bottom and slant. Is the 1” down pipe to big? And is the 15 gallon thumper to big?Every thing I see is like 1/2 inch going down and a 5 to 8 gallon thumper. I come back out of thumper with a 1”” pipe to my Liebig that is 3/4 over 1/2 and 40” long. All I want to make is old fashion corn moonshine, sweet feed based shine , and ever now and then some huckleberry shine Any help in getting there would be great. I inherited 5 stills and these are the smallest working parts, the larger copper pot is 250 and a submarine copper & wood pot looks to be 500 I want to donate them to our local museum in Anniston. I have talked to some there about this. That is some awesome history. There was a article written about the sorghum mill where syrup was made and also where these stills were used lol

[Yummyrum]

Your Pot and Thumper setup sounds OK to me .
Only issue with a big thumper is that it may loose a bit more heat . Nothing a blanket around it won’t fix .

Best you donate those big O’l boilers . They are much too big for home distilling.

We even have a rule about it .

In our view 30 gallons and under is considered hobby size. Do not bring anything larger than this to our site. Legal distillers can talk about larger boilers in the Craft Distiller forums.

[Demy]

Thnx everyone for all the good advice. Most of these I kind of remember from my dad when I was 8 years old. He died a few years back and I had 2 bottles of his cherry moonshine. I offered it to all his old friends at his wake. Same with my mom when she passed...moonshine from her family.

It was a noble gesture...I'm sure those people appreciated it. Good boy!

[New scott]

Yes the museum is even helping pay for cost to repair the big ones. They are getting permits for me to move them so I don’t have to fear going to jail for transporting two stills from 130 miles away to there building . I am really excited about fixing them and also getting my kegs up and going.I think I might change thumper to smaller size and insulate it. I will use propane of natural gas for heating and cooking
I am thankful to the knowledge all of y’all folks are willing to share with me alone this journey.