This video is amazing. I find my self nodding to your questions like your are talking to me in person. It feels like I’m sitting with my grandpa and getting great wisdom.
Holy crap, this guy may be the best teacher I've ever seen, missed your calling, should have been a college professor......but glad you decided to do this instead
This was the best and most thorough explanation of a thumper I have come across. Now that I know what it's for and how it works, I decided not to use it. But, I watched the thumper implosion video and decided I would use the thumper, to infuse flavors.
Tranks for the explanation George. In Brazil we dont use Double Destilation for our drink, the Cachaça. But I will Run Bourbon, then is too hard to learn about thumper in Brazil . I apreciate your lessons a Lot. Thank you!!
Whoa, You Sir are an educator, that was an awesome guide to Thumpers. I cannot thank you enough for that video (obviously for educational purposes only since I reside in England where Distilling is second only to murder.) As we say over here -over the pond- TOP BLOKE. Barnie.
This is Exactly why Popcorn Sutton was the best of all time He went by sound and trial and error ! NO temperature gauges etc etc...... Pretty Impressive! He Is a TRUE LEGEND!!!
You just like popcorn Sutton because you’re wowed by his video. Humans have been distilling for over 3000 years. Now when you think of all the humans that have been doing this that popcorn was the absolute all time best 🤔 I dunno maybe 🤷♂️ but that’s one helluva claim 🤷♂️😂. To be clear I like popcorn too. 😂
@@smyers820gm Your talking out your AZZ You know NOTHING about me or who I am. Has NOTHING to do with videos. We all know people have been doing this for a LONG time. My fault I know guys like you get all shook up about words 🤣 In my opinion he was one of the BEST to do it and by the way I have met Popcorn several times through my Father. Hope this makes your panties feel a little better...... 🤣
George..- First thanks so much for all the videos you post they have been very helpful. I run a thumper set up and I have to mention.. filling it to 3/4 is way to much .. if you fill it that full it tends to push the mash wash out into the final product especially near the end of the run as I find everytime the thumper fills up with more liquid by the end of the run. Filling the thumper to just cover the imput tube is just right.
The back pressure created by the "thumper" unit can be calculated by using the following formula. P = ρgH ρ = density of the fluid in the thumper (kg/m3) g = force of gravity = 9.8 (m/s2) H = height of water level above the vapor inlet tube outlet located at the bottom of the thumper (m) The back pressure in a modestly sized thumper with say a liquid level of 0.2 m is quite small. Technically this thumper set-up is not a closed system. Think of the boiler or pot still having a bleed valve attached at the top which permits a certain amount of vapour to pass through or escape to the next section. The liquid level in the thumper unit serves the same function as a bleed valve. The vapour must overcome the liquid level which provides a tiny amount of back pressure. Increasing the liquid level would be like closing the bleed valve - both actions increase the back pressure. cheers
Does original atmospheric pressure need to be included in this formula? Seems to me adding 14.7 psi to the above formula would be correct. I may be wrong, just saying.
@@timflynn3218 You can be dealing with pressure drop or pressure gradient where atmospheric pressure doesnt matter. It's a relative difference in pressure between two points. Or you can also be dealing with Absolute or relative pressure. Remember, a relative pressure gauge will read zero when left in the open air. The same gauge will also read zero if taken to the top of Mount Everest even though the surrounding air pressure has decreased. So you need a different type of gauge to determine absolute pressure or a calculation or algorithm solved. We know that there is an atmospheric pressure present in both scenarios. If one thinks about it, a reading of zero pressure implies a perfect vacuum. But the pressure gauge is just determining the difference in pressure between two points within the gauge.
Best description of a thumper and how it works. I only wish I had found this video first it would have saved me a lot of trail and errors but some times that's the best way to learn. At least for me. Thanks again for the video can't wait to check out more.
Glad i found ya much needed extra 411 my pawpa was a shiner hillbilly in wv where i was raised and all this is very exciting informative info as i never got to meet him he passed b4 i was born thank you sir for ur time im now subscribed!!
Holy Bejeebus! You sir, should be writing books in this - or even teaching this at some lucky college as an adjunct professor. I have been home brewing for the past few decades, and could only wish that I had the guidance of someone like yourself when I first started out. Now that I'm finally taking those first baby steps at distilling, you have given me the confidence and the tools (thank goodness for the interwebs sometimes, I guess) to have at it. Thanks for taking the time to produce these excellent videos. I hit that subscribe button so hard, I nearly cracked my screen!
Buddy I love how you explain things! Dropped in to see how you shared your knowledge and am duly impressed. Keep doing what you do, I'll keep doing what I do, and as you say; "Happy Distilling." "Apples and Oranges aren't the same, until you put them in a mash." -"Grandpa" Martin.
Good explanation, on both the thumper and the slobber box. I become a little more knowledgeable about this craft every time I watch one of your videos. Thanks for your service
Massive thanks from Finland.......quite simply the best description of a thumper I have heard and seen...just looking for an excuse to to phone you up and say hi....keep doing what you do...its greatly appreciated ......
Hi George, excellent videos. I just started watching them. I understand 99% of the distilling process but for my own summation, the vapor from the still pot rises, travels through the tubing into the thumper. It passes through the liquid in the thumper and rises again to the top as vapor. Then up and over into the condenser, turning back to liquid and exits as liquid at the collection sight?
I know this is an old video but I just found your channel.. dude you could sell a book or DVD you are a mountain of usable easy to understand knowledge.. thank you so much I've been wanting to do this for a long time but couldn't find the write knowledge for me but this is awesome.. thanks again for sharing this knowledge and God bless..
I'm 5 years late to this party. I used this method 6+ years ago, but I missed the control side of the thumper. I had a 15g still and 15g thumper. I missed the mark with filling the thumper for sure and the holes in the feed pipe to the thumper. Thank you so much for the knowledge of functionality.
I have watched a couple of your videos- love your style. You never mentioned scrubbing- passing a vapour through a cleansing liquid . A thumper acts as a cleaner- all impurities and dissolved in the thumper liquid and pure distillate evapourates. They do this in laboratories. I imagine if you had several thumpers connected in series the end product would be super refined. Anyway- I do not know what I am talking about and I love your presentations.
Would also suggest some holes up the side of the input pipe near the bottom to help prevent a boiler vacuum colapse. Never heard of the need to fill it 2/3 full. Just a couple of inches to cover the end of the pipe is enough. A water charge will also give a boost in ABV. The thumping sound you hear is the collapse (condensing) of vapor as it enters the cool liquid. Theoretically the liquid in the thumper will nearly always be slightly cooler than that of the boiler. At least until the boiling points of the two become somewhat equalized. Just my $.02.
Thank you for an excellent video. I often wondered how a thumper worked! You really do have a talent for explaining things. (Especially to people like me who are not the brightest spark in the fire!). I've now subscribed.
Great instructional video, thankyou. One question, when you refer to the mash in the still do you mean the wort? or are you cooking the grain in there too, haven't seen that before.
Thanks, George.. You, Sir, are awesome. The knowledge on this has certainly helped to better my education on my all-time favourite hobby.. Sure could have used that slobber box a few weeks back.. 🤦♂️ I will try the thumper as demonstrated..
Can you please make a video where you are actually using a thumper. Iv learned so much from your channel. Please continue the great work you guys are doing.
Brilliant, im from the UK and seen lots of videos on moonshine and how moon shine stills work. By far i have learned more from this video clip, i have watched give than from all of the othere video clips, iv seen befor, iv subscribed to and looking forward to watching all of your videos, and in time i will be phoning you with a few questions about a still im going to build. Thanks Allen
Adding the cap to the bottom of the pipe, coming from the still would certainly add pressure to the still. The small holes may slow the amount of bubbles and make them smaller, at the bottom of the thumper. Most stills have a 45 degree cut at the bottom, or have the bottom of the pipe cut like a "crow's foot," at it sits on the bottom of the thumper. A modern still could probably take the added pressure, using a cap with holes in it. I wouldn't recommend it for anything less. A thermostat can be useful... Around 170 is the heat in the still you want to maintain. That will boil the alcohol. If you get to 190, then you begin to boil the water in the still and it will begin to cut your run with too much water. Simply put, your ethel will boil out of the wash, at a lower temp than the water will... And so you will check your run in several jars, with a hydrometer, to check proof. The proof of the run is never consistent from start to finish. You will run out of alcohol before you run out of water in your wash. The oldtimers, used to be able to keep track of the heat under the still, by how often they heard the "thump," in the thumper! Too fast meant it was too hot, and you'd get a weaker product. "Slower is always better for the quality of the finished product." It takes great patents to get that... Great whiskey cannot be rushed, unless you like water!
First off i want to say thankyou for all the information you are putting out there. Second. I have a question i need a little help with. I have a 6 gallon pot still and it has a thumper on that looks to only be about 1 quart in size. I believe this is to small. Can i run it dry just as a slobber box or do i need to cut the inlet pipe off at the top of it for it to work? Thanks for your imput!
About the cap on the down tube with holes to increase the surface area of the vapor stream in the thumper ,wouldn’t that increase the chance of plugging the down tube and increasing pressure from the boiler to a critical level.
I'm Italian and to understand I had to insert the automatic translation. Finally someone who explains how the thumber works !! I have a question, however, and that is in the case of not using the thumber to separate the head and tail of the grappa, I adjust according to the temperatures, with the thumber how should I adjust?
It wouldn't need much adjusting. Just consider the thumper as if it was a second boiler who's heat source was the vapor of the first boiler. Vapor won't be hotter than the boiling point of whatever liquid it started as. In this case, the highest boiling point of any liquid in the first boiler is that of water, at 100°C. The only way to get the thumper hotter than that would be to add some liquid to the first boiler with a higher boiling point, or to build a fire under the thumper...so it's effectively self regulating.
@@giuseppescalia9068 you could easily run the exact same mash in the thumper as what you put in the boiler. this system is designed to use the thumper to turn the alcohols into a vapor, while leaving the water as a liquid, using only the heat being imparted to it via the vapor from the boiler, which will never be hotter than the temperature of boiling water. that way it becomes much harder to overheat the mash. you could use plain water or whatever, but it would take longer to start collecting distillate in the condenser. you could use pure ethanol from a previous run too, in which case it wouldn't take very long at all. I'm not really into brewing wine or making booze though. just a chemistry enthusiast, with a good understanding of why distillation happens, and thought i would help to explain it since i like to see curious people reassuring me the human race still has smart individuals who want to learn, and so ask questions. ever watched a movie called idiocracy? if you have you know what i mean...lol
Great video George, if I'm following you correctly, if you pack a column with one of copper mesh, and use a gin basket you could get a similar effect to a thumper without having to have an extr pice of equipment or risk.
In a direct comparison, yes. There is much more to it than that but in its simplest terms the answer is yes, you could mimic the results with column packing.
Hi, Ive just bought a still, 3 stage. I thought the "Thumper" has the store has sold me would be the same has the one you've shown. ie pipe all way down the bottom. In mine it has an inlet, only through the top, no down pipe, and an outlet to the worm from the top. I was wanting to put a 20/30% alcohol into my thumper with some juniper berries to make gin. Cant I do that with not having the pipe all the way to the bottom ? love the channel. Shaun, UK
If a thumper is used to add flavor could it be the same size instead of two thirds ??? Can you use more than one thumper to add different flavor profiles ???
I'm just getting into this, so I've checked out a few channels. You're explanations are awesome. I only know two moonshiners and asked a few questions, but I hate asking some of the basics. That's said, if you're on your first run, could you use your first mash, then use the tails later on?
Love the video very explanatory I have a question please, Can i make the cuts by regulating the temperature? for example I can hold the temp to 150F the methanol evaporates when stops pouring at the end I know there is no more methanol left, then I increase the temp to 175 and hold it there for ethanol then again when stops pouring I know there is no more ethanol in the mash Do I still have the tail in final product if I stop the heat before water starts to evaporate? Thank you!
I’m running a thumper for the first time. I have a temp gauge in both the still and thumper. What are the temperatures I should be looking for in each one? By the way both sensors are not in the liquid but will be reading vapor temps. Thanx
This video is amazing. I find my self nodding to your questions like your are talking to me in person. It feels like I’m sitting with my grandpa and getting great wisdom.
Holy crap, this guy may be the best teacher I've ever seen, missed your calling, should have been a college professor......but glad you decided to do this instead
yep!
This was the best and most thorough explanation of a thumper I have come across. Now that I know what it's for and how it works, I decided not to use it. But, I watched the thumper implosion video and decided I would use the thumper, to infuse flavors.
I love this channel! You sir, are the Bob Ross of distilling. Your teaching method is much appreciated
Once again.. Thank you for your time that you put into these videos
Best explanation of a thumper I've heard. Thanks George.
Tranks for the explanation George. In Brazil we dont use Double Destilation for our drink, the Cachaça. But I will Run Bourbon, then is too hard to learn about thumper in Brazil . I apreciate your lessons a Lot. Thank you!!
Wow, glad I found your site, by far the best videos I have come across. Fantastic explanations, much appreciated!
Very nice, you crystallized a couple pieces of important information for me. Much appreciated.
Absolutely beautiful explanation! So much information and context. Thank you!
Outstanding discussion. You really bring it all together easy to understand. Thanx George
Thanks George you have helped me out so much with my hobby and save me a lot of money keep doing the videos keep teaching I appreciate your time sir
Whoa, You Sir are an educator, that was an awesome guide to Thumpers. I cannot thank you enough for that video (obviously for educational purposes only since I reside in England where Distilling is second only to murder.) As we say over here -over the pond- TOP BLOKE.
Barnie.
This is Exactly why Popcorn Sutton was the best of all time He went by sound and trial and error ! NO temperature gauges etc etc...... Pretty Impressive! He Is a TRUE LEGEND!!!
I think he was saying that Popcorn Sutton was the legend. But this guy doing the video is definitely pretty freaking awesome.
You just like popcorn Sutton because you’re wowed by his video. Humans have been distilling for over 3000 years. Now when you think of all the humans that have been doing this that popcorn was the absolute all time best 🤔 I dunno maybe 🤷♂️ but that’s one helluva claim 🤷♂️😂. To be clear I like popcorn too. 😂
@@smyers820gm Your talking out your AZZ You know NOTHING about me or who I am. Has NOTHING to do with videos. We all know people have been doing this for a LONG time. My fault I know guys like you get all shook up about words 🤣 In my opinion he was one of the BEST to do it and by the way I have met Popcorn several times through my Father. Hope this makes your panties feel a little better...... 🤣
George..- First thanks so much for all the videos you post they have been very helpful. I run a thumper set up and I have to mention.. filling it to 3/4 is way to much .. if you fill it that full it tends to push the mash wash out into the final product especially near the end of the run as I find everytime the thumper fills up with more liquid by the end of the run. Filling the thumper to just cover
the imput tube is just right.
Thanks so much. Experience and shared tips are always welcome here.
George
The back pressure created by the "thumper" unit can be calculated by using the following formula.
P = ρgH
ρ = density of the fluid in the thumper (kg/m3)
g = force of gravity = 9.8 (m/s2)
H = height of water level above the vapor inlet tube outlet located at the bottom of the thumper (m)
The back pressure in a modestly sized thumper with say a liquid level of 0.2 m is quite small.
Technically this thumper set-up is not a closed system. Think of the boiler or pot still having a bleed valve attached at the top which permits a certain amount of vapour to pass through or escape to the next section. The liquid level in the thumper unit serves the same function as a bleed valve. The vapour must overcome the liquid level which provides a tiny amount of back pressure. Increasing the liquid level would be like closing the bleed valve - both actions increase the back pressure.
cheers
Does original atmospheric pressure need to be included in this formula? Seems to me adding 14.7 psi to the above formula would be correct. I may be wrong, just saying.
@@timflynn3218 You can be dealing with pressure drop or pressure gradient where atmospheric pressure doesnt matter. It's a relative difference in pressure between two points.
Or you can also be dealing with Absolute or relative pressure.
Remember, a relative pressure gauge will read zero when left in the open air. The same gauge will also read zero if taken to the top of Mount Everest even though the surrounding air pressure has decreased. So you need a different type of gauge to determine absolute pressure or a calculation or algorithm solved.
We know that there is an atmospheric pressure present in both scenarios.
If one thinks about it, a reading of zero pressure implies a perfect vacuum.
But the pressure gauge is just determining the difference in pressure between two points within the gauge.
I love your passion for your craft. Thank you sir.
George I love all your videos you explained it perfectly ! 👍😎
top bloke best teacher ever could watch you all week and I will
Best description of a thumper and how it works. I only wish I had found this video first it would have saved me a lot of trail and errors but some times that's the best way to learn. At least for me. Thanks again for the video can't wait to check out more.
You make the best and most informative videos I've ever seen on this subject thank you very much
i love watching your videos im learning so much. thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Glad i found ya much needed extra 411 my pawpa was a shiner hillbilly in wv where i was raised and all this is very exciting informative info as i never got to meet him he passed b4 i was born thank you sir for ur time im now subscribed!!
Absolutely love the way you teach! I could listen to you all day.
Holy Bejeebus! You sir, should be writing books in this - or even teaching this at some lucky college as an adjunct professor.
I have been home brewing for the past few decades, and could only wish that I had the guidance of someone like yourself when I first started out.
Now that I'm finally taking those first baby steps at distilling, you have given me the confidence and the tools (thank goodness for the interwebs sometimes, I guess) to have at it. Thanks for taking the time to produce these excellent videos.
I hit that subscribe button so hard, I nearly cracked my screen!
Awesome.
Thanks a bunch
George
Buddy I love how you explain things! Dropped in to see how you shared your knowledge and am duly impressed. Keep doing what you do, I'll keep doing what I do, and as you say; "Happy Distilling."
"Apples and Oranges aren't the same, until you put them in a mash."
-"Grandpa" Martin.
Good explanation, on both the thumper and the slobber box. I become a little more knowledgeable about this craft every time I watch one of your videos. Thanks for your service
Massive thanks from Finland.......quite simply the best description of a thumper I have heard and seen...just looking for an excuse to to phone you up and say hi....keep doing what you do...its greatly appreciated ......
Best teacher ever ! answering all thoses questions i always wonder. Cheers from France !
Hi George, excellent videos. I just started watching them. I understand 99% of the distilling process but for my own summation, the vapor from the still pot rises, travels through the tubing into the thumper. It passes through the liquid in the thumper and rises again to the top as vapor. Then up and over into the condenser, turning back to liquid and exits as liquid at the collection sight?
What's the difference in reflux and thumper? From my understanding each section of a reflux column does the same thing as a thumper.
another great video pure pleasure watching them all thanks
Thank you for making this video. GREAT background information.
Thanks, I really appreciate all your videos and sharing of knowledge.
I know this is an old video but I just found your channel.. dude you could sell a book or DVD you are a mountain of usable easy to understand knowledge.. thank you so much I've been wanting to do this for a long time but couldn't find the write knowledge for me but this is awesome.. thanks again for sharing this knowledge and God bless..
George
Can't thank you enough for your time and info
You and your crew have made this a most pleasant hobby with your professionally done videos
You make it so easy to understand. Always wondered about how thumpers worked and if I needed one.
You sir are the Red Fisher of distilling. You are a real story teller. I love listening and learning from you.
Thank you so much for sharing your extended knowledge. Your a star.
Been waiting for a barley and hops thumper video, thanks from Australia George
Thanks so much for your videos and your teaching skills
I'm 5 years late to this party. I used this method 6+ years ago, but I missed the control side of the thumper. I had a 15g still and 15g thumper. I missed the mark with filling the thumper for sure and the holes in the feed pipe to the thumper. Thank you so much for the knowledge of functionality.
I have watched a couple of your videos- love your style. You never mentioned scrubbing- passing a vapour through a cleansing liquid . A thumper acts as a cleaner- all impurities and dissolved in the thumper liquid and pure distillate evapourates. They do this in laboratories. I imagine if you had several thumpers connected in series the end product would be super refined. Anyway- I do not know what I am talking about and I love your presentations.
Thanks George. I've used your guidelines to build my thumper - I'll probably test run it next weekend. I'll email you a few photos 😁
Would also suggest some holes up the side of the input pipe near the bottom to help prevent a boiler vacuum colapse.
Never heard of the need to fill it 2/3 full. Just a couple of inches to cover the end of the pipe is enough.
A water charge will also give a boost in ABV. The thumping sound you hear is the collapse (condensing) of vapor as it enters the cool liquid. Theoretically the liquid in the thumper will nearly always be slightly cooler than that of the boiler. At least until the boiling points of the two become somewhat equalized.
Just my $.02.
Thank you for an excellent video. I often wondered how a thumper worked! You really
do have a talent for explaining things. (Especially to people like me who are not the
brightest spark in the fire!). I've now subscribed.
Great explanation George, much appreciated!
Thank you very much sir for good info .George would you do a video about
making Jäermeister (the famous German spirit ) thanks again
This mixture has as many 34 ingredients and are a closely held secret. I have not found any information on this.
Thanks again. You are my favorite person to watch on UA-cam, and I watch a lot on UA-cam.
Thanks
Been looking for a few years to find a clear explanation of this.
Great explanation! Love your videos
Great instructional video, thankyou.
One question, when you refer to the mash in the still do you mean the wort? or are you cooking the grain in there too, haven't seen that before.
So clear George. Thanks
Artist and Professor. Thank you!
Always wondered the science behind a thumper, thanks George top explanation
Thanks, George.. You, Sir, are awesome. The knowledge on this has certainly helped to better my education on my all-time favourite hobby.. Sure could have used that slobber box a few weeks back.. 🤦♂️ I will try the thumper as demonstrated..
Great video... I finally understand the difference and purpose of a Thumper and or slobber box... thank you
Great video, thank you for the expert information,
Great video.
Great job George on closed systems
Amazing video. Thank you
Do you still have to do a methanol pour off with a thumper ? Also what do you do with what’s left in the thumper when you are done ? Is it drinkable?
George for president!
Can you please make a video where you are actually using a thumper. Iv learned so much from your channel. Please continue the great work you guys are doing.
Great content. You should write a book with all this knowledge.
One location the Falkland Islands. Terrific stuff George.. Thank you for all..
Awesome! Gorge, you the man. Thank you!
Yehaw some good ol cape Breton mountain Dew coming this summer , thanks pal
Brilliant, im from the UK and seen lots of videos on moonshine and how moon shine stills work. By far i have learned more from this video clip, i have watched
give than from all of the othere video clips, iv seen befor, iv subscribed to and looking forward to watching all of your videos, and in time i will be phoning you with a few questions about a still im going to build. Thanks Allen
Like the videos good job George
Is şt possible to use a bubble cap tray in the thumper to maximize the efficiency?
Great video. Thank you.
Mr. George,
thank yous again for sharing
You are very welcome
Adding the cap to the bottom of the pipe, coming from the still would certainly add pressure to the still. The small holes may slow the amount of bubbles and make them smaller, at the bottom of the thumper.
Most stills have a 45 degree cut at the bottom, or have the bottom of the pipe cut like a "crow's foot," at it sits on the bottom of the thumper.
A modern still could probably take the added pressure, using a cap with holes in it. I wouldn't recommend it for anything less.
A thermostat can be useful... Around 170 is the heat in the still you want to maintain. That will boil the alcohol. If you get to 190, then you begin to boil the water in the still and it will begin to cut your run with too much water.
Simply put, your ethel will boil out of the wash, at a lower temp than the water will...
And so you will check your run in several jars, with a hydrometer, to check proof. The proof of the run is never consistent from start to finish. You will run out of alcohol before you run out of water in your wash.
The oldtimers, used to be able to keep track of the heat under the still, by how often they heard the "thump," in the thumper! Too fast meant it was too hot, and you'd get a weaker product. "Slower is always better for the quality of the finished product." It takes great patents to get that... Great whiskey cannot be rushed, unless you like water!
Great video george
Thank you good sir for a very informative video. Greetings from UK.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!! Much respect!!
Thanks a bunch
George, What actually goes into the Thumper ? can I put the mash that I put in the pot?
I think he did say that. Maybe go back and watch again. That's what I do.
You can also save your tails and use them in your next batch. Higher alcohol content than the wash.
Thank you very informative
Thanx oom awsome explanation
Very helpfull - tnx a lot. William - Netherlands
First off i want to say thankyou for all the information you are putting out there. Second. I have a question i need a little help with. I have a 6 gallon pot still and it has a thumper on that looks to only be about 1 quart in size. I believe this is to small. Can i run it dry just as a slobber box or do i need to cut the inlet pipe off at the top of it for it to work? Thanks for your imput!
Awesome knowlege
About the cap on the down tube with holes to increase the surface area of the vapor stream in the thumper ,wouldn’t that increase the chance of plugging the down tube and increasing pressure from the boiler to a critical level.
Of course anything is possible but this is unlikely if your mash is clean.
George
I'm Italian and to understand I had to insert the automatic translation. Finally someone who explains how the thumber works !! I have a question, however, and that is in the case of not using the thumber to separate the head and tail of the grappa, I adjust according to the temperatures, with the thumber how should I adjust?
It wouldn't need much adjusting. Just consider the thumper as if it was a second boiler who's heat source was the vapor of the first boiler. Vapor won't be hotter than the boiling point of whatever liquid it started as. In this case, the highest boiling point of any liquid in the first boiler is that of water, at 100°C. The only way to get the thumper hotter than that would be to add some liquid to the first boiler with a higher boiling point, or to build a fire under the thumper...so it's effectively self regulating.
@@jamiecoppedge8279 Thanks, but what liquid do you put in the thumper?
@@giuseppescalia9068 you could easily run the exact same mash in the thumper as what you put in the boiler. this system is designed to use the thumper to turn the alcohols into a vapor, while leaving the water as a liquid, using only the heat being imparted to it via the vapor from the boiler, which will never be hotter than the temperature of boiling water. that way it becomes much harder to overheat the mash. you could use plain water or whatever, but it would take longer to start collecting distillate in the condenser. you could use pure ethanol from a previous run too, in which case it wouldn't take very long at all. I'm not really into brewing wine or making booze though. just a chemistry enthusiast, with a good understanding of why distillation happens, and thought i would help to explain it since i like to see curious people reassuring me the human race still has smart individuals who want to learn, and so ask questions. ever watched a movie called idiocracy? if you have you know what i mean...lol
Great Video & thanks! But what should be the temp in the thumper? Dose it change over the run?
Thanks for answering my question
Great video George, if I'm following you correctly, if you pack a column with one of copper mesh, and use a gin basket you could get a similar effect to a thumper without having to have an extr pice of equipment or risk.
In a direct comparison, yes. There is much more to it than that but in its simplest terms the answer is yes, you could mimic the results with column packing.
Hi, Ive just bought a still, 3 stage.
I thought the "Thumper" has the store has sold me would be the same has the one you've shown.
ie pipe all way down the bottom.
In mine it has an inlet, only through the top, no down pipe, and an outlet to the worm from the top.
I was wanting to put a 20/30% alcohol into my thumper with some juniper berries to make gin.
Cant I do that with not having the pipe all the way to the bottom ?
love the channel.
Shaun, UK
Makes perfect sense George, love the ideas of a slobber box and thumper; 1 question, what type of silver solder do you recommend..?
If a thumper is used to add flavor could it be the same size instead of two thirds ??? Can you use more than one thumper to add different flavor profiles ???
Awesome. Thank you for sharing.
Keep up the great work.
Hey George, awesome video thank you.
I'm just getting into this, so I've checked out a few channels. You're explanations are awesome.
I only know two moonshiners and asked a few questions, but I hate asking some of the basics.
That's said, if you're on your first run, could you use your first mash, then use the tails later on?
Love the video very explanatory I have a question please, Can i make the cuts by regulating the temperature? for example I can hold the temp to 150F the methanol evaporates when stops pouring at the end I know there is no more methanol left, then I increase the temp to 175 and hold it there for ethanol then again when stops pouring I know there is no more ethanol in the mash Do I still have the tail in final product if I stop the heat before water starts to evaporate? Thank you!
When you use a thumper do you have to disconnect it right away when you shut the heat off I enjoy your sessions every time
Awesome video man
I’m running a thumper for the first time. I have a temp gauge in both the still and thumper. What are the temperatures I should be looking for in each one? By the way both sensors are not in the liquid but will be reading vapor temps. Thanx
Jon Person 175 is max
Methanol boils at 145. Ethanol boils at 17- something. 2, i think?
Is it possible to use a sight glass on the still and also on the thumper?