Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Changed my mind about the mini thumper setup. Went with a 2" cap, 1 1/2" riser and internal 3/4" downcomer. 2 x 1/2" entrances to the downcomer go through the cap and riser.

Magnus wrote:

hillzabilly wrote:Most run the thumper underneath plates,do ya know how much liquid it holds ?

Hey Hill's It should work just like Mac's carter heads, the thumper is more to catch oils and be able to drain them off with the ball valve.




Is it essential to capture oils when making gin ?

Knocklofty wrote:Is it essential to capture oils when making gin ?

Thr oils/fluids can be recovered by draining off and used for flavouring, but another important aspect is that it stops it all going right through the still so you dont have to clean it all out after a run. Some oils can really contaminate a still and put odd flavours through your next run if you cant stop them going through to the boiler.

Thanks Magnus,

Magnus wrote:Changed my mind about the mini thumper setup. Went with a 2" cap, 1 1/2" riser and internal 3/4" downcomer. 2 x 1/2" entrances to the downcomer go through the cap and riser.

thump2.jpg

There is some seriouse thought and effort going on in your shed Magnus ,would be very happy ta have ya live next door.its got me itchin ta build a gin head myself ,and I donot even drink the stuff.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So I did some test runs and while it works I'm losing too much down the down comer which defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to achieve. So I've made it more like a traditional carter head and have no down comer now as well as a bit taller to get a bigger volume in the sight glass. Further testing will have to wait till days off though.

Your persistence will be rewarded Magnus,I have a lot of respect for people that do not give up or take second best,can be frusterating getting ya head around the dynamics of distilling,have a few failed prototypes myself on the shelf ,they only make success taste that much sweeter and add to the feeling of acomplishment ,when it happens .Keep swinging.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

hillzabilly wrote:Your persistence will be rewarded Magnus,I have a lot of respect for people that do not give up or take second best,can be frusterating getting ya head around the dynamics of distilling,have a few failed prototypes myself on the shelf ,they only make success taste that much sweeter and add to the feeling of acomplishment ,when it happens .Keep swinging.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I actually like the building more than the using lol, like you said it's a good feeling when a thing works out as planned..

Anyways been messing about making a basket for this thing this morning, it too is a bit of an experiment of sorts...

That stainless caddy looks great well done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

coffe addict wrote:That stainless caddy looks great well done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

It's a pain to solder but I got there

Just about finished this thing.

Looking good!

Magnus wrote:Changed my mind about the mini thumper setup. Went with a 2" cap, 1 1/2" riser and internal 3/4" downcomer. 2 x 1/2" entrances to the downcomer go through the cap and riser.

thump2.jpg

Thinking about this design and wondering wouldnt it drain fine if the drain was just through riser? Why the need to also go through cap?
Also with your basket like a perf plate do you get a bath forming there? Is that what you want? No idea just curious.

The positive pressure of the vapour inside the cap means that there is no/minimal liquid inside the cap...

Love your work Magnus, it's got me thinking of an inline carter head for the Heart of Gold rather than an offset setup!

Thanks for the explanation Zac cheers

bluc wrote:Thinking about this design and wondering wouldn't it drain fine if the drain was just through riser?

I reckon it would drain just fine through the riser like you say, thing is though I don't want it to drain... the idea was a fail safe to not let the gin head flood if I got distracted, in hindsight it's not necessary to have a down comer at all. During the test runs there was no flooding at all even when running it with every watt available.

bluc wrote:Why the need to also go through cap?

This was simply to make it all work, to stick to the physics of it all.

bluc wrote:Also with your basket like a perf plate do you get a bath forming there?

No, if you look at all gin heads, they all have a copper plate with holes drilled in them or some kind of SS basket, other than passive reflux above the basket there is no way to get enough liquid to turn the bottom of the basket into a plate.

Zak Griffin wrote:Love your work Magnus, it's got me thinking of an inline carter head for the Heart of Gold rather than an offset setup!

Cheers Zak :0, nice to get some encouragement.
It works, and the same principles are involved.
For the record, what I've ended up with is identical really to a traditional "carter head". The only real difference is the thumper is inline rather than coming through the side of the gin head. Ironically I've had to set this up offset to the column because I made my return to the PC so close to the head that the only way I can fit my PC on is to offset the head lolz.

I gotta say a big thanks to hillzabilly and Zak, without whose kind and encouraging words I don't know if I would have finished this project.

Thanks magnus was wondering about that perf plate idea while back and was worried it would create a bath :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Just happy to see other blokes building, especially things a bit left of field :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If it wasn't for blokes such as yourself building and sharing things like this, we wouldn't all be building and running bubblers ;-)

Awsome job their magnus :handgestures-thumbupleft:
You have my mind pondering now 8-}