Cheers Joseph! Haven't put anything recent up for almost a year now, ... 2020 been a bit of a shitter of a year. Will have to post some more soon. 😊 Happy Distilling!
Living in the US. Recreational distilling is a no-no .. you make great stuff and I like the varied styles you get into most ppl avoid pressurized systems these days I've always been a fan of this style of still ..good info just wanted to say ..keep up the great work ...
Heya Random, A No-no unless you live out in the woods right? 😉 Gov in NZ made it legal to home distill only because some bean-counter in gov did the math a while back and realised the money they spent on enforcing/jailing/fining home-distillers far outweighed the potential revenue they'd take from home-made spirits being produced. ... gov' is all about the money. Glad you like my obsessive experiments. The thumpers are still an open system with a little back-pressure behind the liquid head, if I wanted to be a bit safer and had the money I should fix a pressure blowoff valve in the head of the still and thumpers. Got no inclination to stop this madness anytime soon. 😊 Happy Distilling fella.
Heya Bearded, Yeah I was pretty happy with it too. 😊 The still caught up with it at the tail end of the run but with a larger reservoir in the chiller and/or flakestand, I don't think it would be a problem. It was also a fairly large charge by my standards at this stage, between the still and the thumpers there was around 65- 70gallons of wash running thru' there. ... a lot of heat to tame over a very slow run. Happy Distilling fella!
@@AngryParrotDistillery I'm not surprised it caught up. How many hours was that run? When I heard the rooster I couldn't believe you were still coherent:-)
@@BeardedBored it was something ridiculous like 14-15 hours - was determined not to crank the 3kW elements up much past 50% - took a force of will to stick to that plan. Next mission one I clear all my paid jobs is to throw 4x 1.5kW elements in that still instead of 2x 3kW and see if I can run that full blast, reduce the runtime and not scorch/carry-over. I think hi-power but ultra low-density elements are gonna be the way to proceed. Happy Distilling fella!
I just finished a run a few hours ago. I fermented 95 litres of 100% red grape juice. I only got 6 litres, the last 860 mil jar ended up being 70% ABV. I took the last 2 jars and put them in the fridge and bought the temperate down 20 C and checked them last was 70 ABV and the second last jar was 71 ABV.
G'day Kev' Yeah - so was I ... the condensation on everything was the first thing that made me do a double-take. I'm sold on condenser-chillers now! :o) The Still managed to catch-up by the end of the run tho - one of the reasons I pulled the plug a little early. In future I think I need to increase the capacity of the chiller tank somehow. All the best to you and the family my friend!
Heya Sem, The double thumper rig is a rum still design that came out of the carribean. Most corn whiskey thumper rigs I've seen just have a single thumper or a thumper and a slobber box. The corn and partial grain conversions were good things to test the rig out on, rum has additional complications with foaming etc that I didn't want to have to firefight whilst testing a new config'. Happy Distilling brother!
Cheers Cameron, It's just making do with what I have or can cobble together cheap. This cooling system actually starts to lag behind my still especially on hot stripping runs. Got something else I'm lining up within the short-future. Happy Distilling!
i heard this afternoon they have finished my contraption and I'll see a couple of pics tomorrow sometime. When it gets here the Lyne arm will be cut in half so i will solder that together and also finish off making the arm between the thumper and the coil.
@@AngryParrotDistillery in the meantime just getting a control box ready, i have the controller fitted 220v 10000w unit just waiting on a ammeter and a 16Amp CB for inside the box. I only have one 3000 watt element inside the kettle, running on 240v so that will pull 12.5 amps. That will be good enough for the time being, because I will heat up the boiler on gas and then switch over to the element just before the run.
I used to have a little pressure washer still about 30 years ago. But lockdown got me back into this. Totally got the bug. SO though, I wonder if anyone has made a still from a old water heater.
Heya Nelly, Sorry for late reply. My kettle and thumpers are made from old 200L stainless steel hot water cylinders. As long as its copper/stainless, foodgrade and clean, then where theres a will .... The curse of this is I can't go anywhere now without looking at things that could become boilers/stills/line arms. 😊 Happy Distilling!
that is some pressure in the copper lines there.I am trying to work it all out. I have settled for 4" 20cm long from the boiler, then at the bend 2" copper length 15cm, then reduce to 1 and a half inch length 50cm then bend into the thump keg, and coming out of the thump keg im still thinking about it.
looking at everything, safety comes into it, i have only gas,so one thing i did was order another SS safety relief valve with a dial pressure gauge built into it, Its a mental thing too knowing at all times the pressure in there.And im hoping i can release the pressure using the relief valve at the end of the run. fingers crossed.
Use to take a good portion of the day to run 50gal. After putting in recirculating system. Everything seems to work or complement the working of the still
@@AngryParrotDistillery , what up bro? How's the family? Haven't been doing much. Been in out of ER. Went to Nashville last week found out I got tumors in my left lung and a tumour hanging on my back bone eating it's way threw. Get my test results back tomorrow. Find out if radiation well help with treatment.
@@rafer2002 Ahhh jesus man, I'm sorry too hear that fella. 🙁 I been feeling bummed out for the last few months - covid kinda came along and dealt to my business, ... but hearing what you are going thru' definitely puts all of that in pretty harsh perspective. Hope things work out with the docs for you, please let me know how things go when you hear back. FWIW if you ever want someone to yak to I can flick you my whatsapp details.
i ordered a low pressure 5 psi safety relief value (BOV) today. Expensive little mothers.Did you ever think about installing a (BOV) in your twin thumper set up.
G'day Cameron, Yep had thought about that, just a matter of cost and time. I do have a plan at some stage to add liquid level indicators, drain valves (to drain back to the kettle) and pressure valves ... will get there at some point. Major problem I got hung up on earlier this year was cooling for condensers from the still - some of my attention had been turned to that. Happy Distilling!
@@AngryParrotDistillery That sounds technical but good, I've seen that style Lyne arm that you made at milehigh " good job on making the lyne arm too.It sure does hold and push out some pressure. I got my 8 gallon reflux - pot still 10 years ago from Mile, Its the old long style split in half column using a tri clover clamp. Now its time to add on a new thumper which is here now. :)
@@cameronshine3465 Outstanding. As you can probably tell I'm a huge fan of thumpers. I have a video I haven't uploaded yet from the begining of this year where I ran a spirit pass thru the still with a single thumper, I had all the cuts laid out at the end - it was very efficient at separating heads and tails from hearts and produced some decent abv whiskey. I'll dig it out finish editing it and upload it. Happy Distilling.
@@cameronshine3465 Tasted great for a sugar-head, needed some whiskey-esk material for a recipe I have but didn't want to use any nice single malt or full corn for a mixer type thing. Re-fermented on the grain to extract more of the flavour - and there was still plenty left.
Its a bit of a battle trying to keep the temperature down in the condenser as the last 2 litres that came out the temp was around 30C and showing on the alco meter about 77 ABV. so I was un sure when to stop the run. I guess I could have got another 2 litres out of it before it got to 60 ABV. i TOOK OF 2.5 litres of foreshoots and heads. I think soon i will get a larger condenser, I have a sight glass coming in the next few days for the thumper. I think when I get some backins then I should get 10+ liters I hope :)
Yeah theres a bit of a hiss and roar. Heh. I'll get around to adding ball valves to the tops of the still and thumpers at some stage to remove the "pucker factor" 😊 Happy Distilling!
I have done some thinking on the pressure release between the boiler and the thumper. Installing a small tap on the thumper normal position for a tap , down low in the thumper, when it comes time to release the pressure then just open the tap showery on the thumper? what do you think on this ?
Heya there in the Philipines! Rule of thumb is roughly 1kg to 4litres of water although I usually push it a fair bit higher. The abv of your mash isn"t going to affect the abv of your distilled product dramatically so your are better to go for a good quality mash rather than trying to shoot for a crazy fermented abv and stress your yeast. A starting gravity around 1060 to 1080 is good ballpark. How much Malt depends on the conversion power of your enzymes in your malt. I've not had a lot of luck with malted corn so my corn whiskey is 100% dry corn, milled and then converted with bought enzymes during mashing. Tip when mashing corn - add a little alpha amlayse when you are heating it up to gelatanizing temp around 65% and stir all the while. Your bit of alpha will denature before gel temp but it will have loosened your mash up enough that you aren't stirring half set croncrete. 👍 Then you can cool the mash to the temp you can add enzymes as normal. Happy Distilling!
G'day Cameron. Cheers, I should really put a ball valve on each vessel to allow pressure to be bled off without unsnapping triclamps. I get the ferrules from a local dairy supplier. Which country are you in? Happy Distilling.
i will use the safety relief value to release the vapor pressure.But i am doing a 2" step down from the boiler to the thump keg and I need a break between the boiler and the thump keg for storage .
@@cameronshine3465 try "Steel and Tube" Stainless division if you have them over there. Otherwise dairy process equipment suppliers or brewing suppliers. Happy Distilling.
Great set up Graham. I look forward to viewing your other videos!
Cheers Joseph!
Haven't put anything recent up for almost a year now, ... 2020 been a bit of a shitter of a year.
Will have to post some more soon. 😊
Happy Distilling!
Living in the US. Recreational distilling is a no-no .. you make great stuff and I like the varied styles you get into most ppl avoid pressurized systems these days I've always been a fan of this style of still ..good info just wanted to say ..keep up the great work ...
Heya Random,
A No-no unless you live out in the woods right? 😉
Gov in NZ made it legal to home distill only because some bean-counter in gov did the math a while back and realised the money they spent on enforcing/jailing/fining home-distillers far outweighed the potential revenue they'd take from home-made spirits being produced.
... gov' is all about the money.
Glad you like my obsessive experiments.
The thumpers are still an open system with a little back-pressure behind the liquid head, if I wanted to be a bit safer and had the money I should fix a pressure blowoff valve in the head of the still and thumpers.
Got no inclination to stop this madness anytime soon. 😊
Happy Distilling fella.
Just awesome to see that whole set up running. Man that cooler was crazy:-)
Heya Bearded,
Yeah I was pretty happy with it too. 😊
The still caught up with it at the tail end of the run but with a larger reservoir in the chiller and/or flakestand, I don't think it would be a problem.
It was also a fairly large charge by my standards at this stage, between the still and the thumpers there was around 65- 70gallons of wash running thru' there. ... a lot of heat to tame over a very slow run.
Happy Distilling fella!
@@AngryParrotDistillery I'm not surprised it caught up. How many hours was that run? When I heard the rooster I couldn't believe you were still coherent:-)
@@BeardedBored it was something ridiculous like 14-15 hours - was determined not to crank the 3kW elements up much past 50% - took a force of will to stick to that plan.
Next mission one I clear all my paid jobs is to throw 4x 1.5kW elements in that still instead of 2x 3kW and see if I can run that full blast, reduce the runtime and not scorch/carry-over.
I think hi-power but ultra low-density elements are gonna be the way to proceed.
Happy Distilling fella!
@@AngryParrotDistillery That's dedication! I'm super impressed. I would have fallen asleep in a chair, LoL:-)
@@BeardedBored ohhh mate - by the end of it I was so damn close - was getting a little punchy.
Just shut the thing down and went home to bed.
I just finished a run a few hours ago. I fermented 95 litres of 100% red grape juice. I only got 6 litres, the last 860 mil jar ended up being 70% ABV. I took the last 2 jars and put them in the fridge and bought the temperate down 20 C and checked them last was 70 ABV and the second last jar was 71 ABV.
I can taste it now. I'm amazed how cool it goes
G'day Kev'
Yeah - so was I ... the condensation on everything was the first thing that made me do a double-take. I'm sold on condenser-chillers now! :o)
The Still managed to catch-up by the end of the run tho - one of the reasons I pulled the plug a little early.
In future I think I need to increase the capacity of the chiller tank somehow.
All the best to you and the family my friend!
@@AngryParrotDistillery Now I have to make one. Wifes gonna kill me. One more piece lol
Bah ... what's one more night in the doghouse in comparrison with "ice-cold moonshine" 😊
Happy Distilling brother!
Such a cool set up, a very authentic way to make a corn liquor.
Heya Sem,
The double thumper rig is a rum still design that came out of the carribean.
Most corn whiskey thumper rigs I've seen just have a single thumper or a thumper and a slobber box.
The corn and partial grain conversions were good things to test the rig out on, rum has additional complications with foaming etc that I didn't want to have to firefight whilst testing a new config'.
Happy Distilling brother!
@@AngryParrotDistillery learning more every day!
that cooling system, brilliant . thats the real McCoy.
Cheers Cameron,
It's just making do with what I have or can cobble together cheap.
This cooling system actually starts to lag behind my still especially on hot stripping runs.
Got something else I'm lining up within the short-future.
Happy Distilling!
@@AngryParrotDistillery that will be something to see, something that will beat the one you have now.
i heard this afternoon they have finished my contraption and I'll see a couple of pics tomorrow sometime. When it gets here the Lyne arm will be cut in half so i will solder that together and also finish off making the arm between the thumper and the coil.
@@AngryParrotDistillery in the meantime just getting a control box ready, i have the controller fitted 220v 10000w unit just waiting on a ammeter and a 16Amp CB for inside the box. I only have one 3000 watt element inside the kettle, running on 240v so that will pull 12.5 amps. That will be good enough for the time being, because I will heat up the boiler on gas and then switch over to the element just before the run.
@@AngryParrotDistillery sorry im mean 220v and 10,000 watts controller installed
I used to have a little pressure washer still about 30 years ago. But lockdown got me back into this. Totally got the bug. SO though, I wonder if anyone has made a still from a old water heater.
Heya Nelly,
Sorry for late reply.
My kettle and thumpers are made from old 200L stainless steel hot water cylinders.
As long as its copper/stainless, foodgrade and clean, then where theres a will ....
The curse of this is I can't go anywhere now without looking at things that could become boilers/stills/line arms. 😊
Happy Distilling!
that is some pressure in the copper lines there.I am trying to work it all out. I have settled for 4" 20cm long from the boiler, then at the bend 2" copper length 15cm, then reduce to 1 and a half inch length 50cm then bend into the thump keg, and coming out of the thump keg im still thinking about it.
looking at everything, safety comes into it, i have only gas,so one thing i did was order another SS safety relief valve with a dial pressure gauge built into it, Its a mental thing too knowing at all times the pressure in there.And im hoping i can release the pressure using the relief valve at the end of the run. fingers crossed.
yes a sight lass would be very handy
Yeah, ... kinda operating blind otherwise.
Tapping the side of a hot stainless vessel to guesstimate how full it is ... not ideal.
Happy Distilling!
just an update , mine is finally on its way. i will have to do some work on it when it gets here but that's ok. And I'm out of whiskey here.
Sweet!
Oh no ... no whiskey, ... say it ain't so LOL.
Angry Parrot Distillery yes it is so. But my new still will be delivered tomorrow thank goodness 👌
Use to take a good portion of the day to run 50gal. After putting in recirculating system. Everything seems to work or complement the working of the still
Heya Milkman!
You mean a cooling recirculating system?
@@AngryParrotDistillery , what up bro? How's the family? Haven't been doing much. Been in out of ER. Went to Nashville last week found out I got tumors in my left lung and a tumour hanging on my back bone eating it's way threw. Get my test results back tomorrow. Find out if radiation well help with treatment.
@@rafer2002
Ahhh jesus man, I'm sorry too hear that fella. 🙁
I been feeling bummed out for the last few months - covid kinda came along and dealt to my business, ... but hearing what you are going thru' definitely puts all of that in pretty harsh perspective.
Hope things work out with the docs for you, please let me know how things go when you hear back.
FWIW if you ever want someone to yak to I can flick you my whatsapp details.
@@AngryParrotDistillery , how would I come across that info
@@rafer2002
Give me an email;
grant@angryparrot.co.nz
I'll send you my whatsapp info.
i ordered a low pressure 5 psi safety relief value (BOV) today. Expensive little mothers.Did you ever think about installing a (BOV) in your twin thumper set up.
G'day Cameron,
Yep had thought about that, just a matter of cost and time.
I do have a plan at some stage to add liquid level indicators, drain valves (to drain back to the kettle) and pressure valves ... will get there at some point.
Major problem I got hung up on earlier this year was cooling for condensers from the still - some of my attention had been turned to that.
Happy Distilling!
@@AngryParrotDistillery That sounds technical but good, I've seen that style Lyne arm that you made at milehigh " good job on making the lyne arm too.It sure does hold and push out some pressure.
I got my 8 gallon reflux - pot still 10 years ago from Mile, Its the old long style split in half column using a tri clover clamp. Now its time to add on a new thumper which is here now. :)
@@cameronshine3465
Outstanding.
As you can probably tell I'm a huge fan of thumpers.
I have a video I haven't uploaded yet from the begining of this year where I ran a spirit pass thru the still with a single thumper, I had all the cuts laid out at the end - it was very efficient at separating heads and tails from hearts and produced some decent abv whiskey.
I'll dig it out finish editing it and upload it.
Happy Distilling.
yeah nice i will defiantly have a look at that one. How did that one taste?
@@cameronshine3465
Tasted great for a sugar-head, needed some whiskey-esk material for a recipe I have but didn't want to use any nice single malt or full corn for a mixer type thing.
Re-fermented on the grain to extract more of the flavour - and there was still plenty left.
Its a bit of a battle trying to keep the temperature down in the condenser as the last 2 litres that came out the temp was around 30C and showing on the alco meter about 77 ABV. so I was un sure when to stop the run. I guess I could have got another 2 litres out of it before it got to 60 ABV. i TOOK OF 2.5 litres of foreshoots and heads. I think soon i will get a larger condenser, I have a sight glass coming in the next few days for the thumper. I think when I get some backins then I should get 10+ liters I hope :)
really surprised at the amount of pressure when you broke the seal . . R
Yeah theres a bit of a hiss and roar. Heh.
I'll get around to adding ball valves to the tops of the still and thumpers at some stage to remove the "pucker factor" 😊
Happy Distilling!
I have done some thinking on the pressure release between the boiler and the thumper. Installing a small tap on the thumper normal position for a tap , down low in the thumper, when it comes time to release the pressure then just open the tap showery on the thumper? what do you think on this ?
going in and coming out of the thump keg sealing wish, i think i will just use the Methodist misters pecker method :)
20 minutes later - maybe i am wrong on this, maybe this is not a break between the thumper and the boiler
On a 25 gallon pot, how much corn, corn malt, sugar, and water, would you use.
Trying to produce 150 to 190 proof liquor.
Heya there in the Philipines!
Rule of thumb is roughly 1kg to 4litres of water although I usually push it a fair bit higher.
The abv of your mash isn"t going to affect the abv of your distilled product dramatically so your are better to go for a good quality mash rather than trying to shoot for a crazy fermented abv and stress your yeast.
A starting gravity around 1060 to 1080 is good ballpark.
How much Malt depends on the conversion power of your enzymes in your malt.
I've not had a lot of luck with malted corn so my corn whiskey is 100% dry corn, milled and then converted with bought enzymes during mashing.
Tip when mashing corn - add a little alpha amlayse when you are heating it up to gelatanizing temp around 65% and stir all the while.
Your bit of alpha will denature before gel temp but it will have loosened your mash up enough that you aren't stirring half set croncrete. 👍
Then you can cool the mash to the temp you can add enzymes as normal.
Happy Distilling!
@@AngryParrotDistillery thank you very much
nice vapor release, what shop did you get the small tri clamps from i need 2
G'day Cameron.
Cheers, I should really put a ball valve on each vessel to allow pressure to be bled off without unsnapping triclamps.
I get the ferrules from a local dairy supplier.
Which country are you in?
Happy Distilling.
@@AngryParrotDistillery im in QLD Australia
i will be putting in a safety relief value with a pull ring at the top . But i am looking to break the boiler and the thumper pipe with a tri clamp
i will use the safety relief value to release the vapor pressure.But i am doing a 2" step down from the boiler to the thump keg and I need a break between the boiler and the thump keg for storage .
@@cameronshine3465 try "Steel and Tube" Stainless division if you have them over there.
Otherwise dairy process equipment suppliers or brewing suppliers.
Happy Distilling.