Ideas for a modular upgrade

[Black Bull]

Ok,

So this i my current setup in Both Pot and Reflux modes.

So over the last 6 months or so as I've run my still in different configurations, I've read also and learned a lot more,
and my idea of what setup I want has changed.
Given that I will most likely be mainly making rum I want a great pot still setup, but something that's easy to convert to a reflux for making good clean neutral spirits to make anything else (Mainly cocktail mixers for the wife and her girlfriends)
The following are my "requirements"

1: Relative ease of double pot distilling rum washes to make minimum 20l batches of 40% ABV spirit
(should be easy enough with a 100l wash + Thumper charged with low wines)
2: Minimise heat up times.
3: Easily convert to reflux to make 95% ABV clean Neutral spirit
4: Minimise cooling requirements without needing 1000+ liters of water
5: Easy disassembly and CIP option.
6: Lastly semi automate boilers. current control setup is strictly manual

So with that in mind I've gone through the excess stuff I've acquired and collected and come up with the following setups.
I only need to get the 6" stuff, a 135" reducer bend and tube for the second line arm + some odds and ends.
I may look into going to a double retort as I like some of the high ester Jamaican style rums.

The reason for keeping the "thumper" in Reflux mode, is because it'll be a pain in the ass to not use and it will cut down on the amount of adapters and fittings I need, as an example, my big Onion/Whiskey helmet is 8" in and 4" and about out so will need a reducer to use a 6" tower adding more height.
Total height of the tower on top of my boiler is the other issue.

I also have a 4" offset carter head I can add in to muck around with Botanicals (MMmmmm Coffee Rum)
Looking at using one of the kegs I have laying around to build the doubler/thumper and also ended up with an extra two elements when I bought the still. so figured I could put an element in it to bring it up to 70-80 degrees before the still boils and cut down the warm up time.

Lastly, thinking of waste heat reclamation to preheat wash to make the reflux rig into a semi-continuous setup.
I'd also love to have a fractioning head... but I'm nowhere near experienced enough yet to go that far

So....
Hit me with your thoughts or anything I may have missed.
And can a MOD please rotate the first two pics....dunno why they're sideways

Mod Edit: think its good now Dave .

Rotated pics sure are a pain in the arse. If you have an iphone , try to edit the pics first …. Even just a small crop will remove the junk that causes them to rotate …… fuck knows why , but it seems to work .

Thanks Steve brodie for the heads up .

[Bolverk]

I think this one size fits all approach is going to leave you with too clean of a flavorable spirit and to dirty for a neutral. A CCVM (run as a pot for super flavorful) or LM may be a better option.

Id be more inclined to have a valve the directs the vapor to either a thumper OR the reflux column but not have a dephleg over a thumper as I'd think you'd have a big potential to over fill your thumper.

Check out the Charantrais style of still for a beer preheater

[Black Bull]

Mod Edit: think its good now Dave .

Rotated pics sure are a pain in the arse. If you have an iphone , try to edit the pics first …. Even just a small crop will remove the junk that causes them to rotate …… fuck knows why , but it seems to work .

Thanks Steve brodie for the heads up .

The pics were the right way up to start with, and now second one is missing so will try again.

[Black Bull]

I think this one size fits all approach is going to leave you with too clean of a flavorable spirit and to dirty for a neutral. A CCVM (run as a pot for super flavorful) or LM may be a better option.

Id be more inclined to have a valve the directs the vapor to either a thumper OR the reflux column but not have a dephleg over a thumper as I'd think you'd have a big potential to over fill your thumper.

You have a valid point. the retort/thumper setup is purely because i like High ester Jamaican style rums,
from what I've read there is no better setup to create rum like this

As for the reflux setup, After your feedback, I can see I'll need to have a valve to close off the thumper.
The goal for having it this way is to minimise the height of the rig as my boiler is quite tall, think of it as an offset column.
Lastly I want it semi-permanently setup, just swapping out the second line arm for the reflux tower

[Black Bull]

Running it tonight as a hybrid LM

[MooseMan]

BB can you wind the legs up on that still to lower it?
It sits very high off the floor, so unless you have a reason to have it sitting that high up, I'd get the legs chopped, or modded so they are adjustable if you can?
That will take away a lot of the headache you have about your reflux column being too high.

I have no idea if running with a thumper under the column is a good or bad idea, but it's not something I've seen around this place.

[Yummyrum]

I have no idea if running with a thumper under the column is a good or bad idea, but it's not something I've seen around this place.

it’s not common thats for sure Moose . Issues that arise are the boiler drying up and the thumper overfilling because of the long time the reflux operates compared to how long a Pot run would be .
Here is one Myles built . Photos snatched from CCSC forum .

You can see Myles adds an overflow tube to the Thumper and it drains back to the boiler via the drain in the Boiler . Also the Thumper has to be higher than the boilers fill level .

Not sure if he ever finished it .

[OtisT]

I have no idea if running with a thumper under the column is a good or bad idea, but it's not something I've seen around this place.

it’s not common thats for sure Moose . Issues that arise are the boiler drying up and the thumper overfilling because of the long time the reflux operates compared to how long a Pot run would be .
Here is one Myles built . Photos snatched from CCSC forum .

You can see Myles adds an overflow tube to the Thumper and it drains back to the boiler via the drain in the Boiler . Also the Thumper has to be higher than the boilers fill level .

Not sure if he ever finished it .
IMG_1663.jpegIMG_1662.jpeg

I recall there are a handful of related threads HD. Try searching for “multiple columns” or “multi column”. While these may not be specific to a column over a thumper, there are some shared challenges there to overcome.

Both Larry and Windy City have double columns, and threads on their work go into the issues of a column not over the boiler. Larry’s design put the second column also on top of the main boiler, and he drains excess liquid below column two back into the main boiler. Windy City has column 2 at floor level and he pumps his excess from below column 2 to the top of column one.

Hope this is helpful.

[shadylane]

I have no idea if running with a thumper under the column is a good or bad idea, but it's not something I've seen around this place.

it’s not common thats for sure Moose . Issues that arise are the boiler drying up and the thumper overfilling because of the long time the reflux operates compared to how long a Pot run would be .

I've tried it several times and without a return from the thumper to the boiler, the thumper would overfill.
Another problem was the physical height required for an elevated thumper with a column on top of that.

On a side note. What I used to think was a thumper drying up, turned out to be the pot sucking it empty after shut down.

[jonnys_spirit]

A pump would be ideal. Any idea for an adequate pump for high proof high temp etoh that is also robust?

Cheers,
jonny