G'Day All

[Kaneriley227]

Hello everybody,
just thought id quickly say hi to everyone.. at them moment i am waiting for my pot still to get welded up. im going to be using 2 x 50lt beer kegs welded on top of each other hopefully making it a 80-90lt pot. then im going to use another 50lt keg as my thumper and then one more keg with the top cut off to put my copper worm into.
Hopefully it will all be ready next week so i can try and link it all together using 2" copper pipe and then start distilling. i have bought a fair bit of gear from 5SD, 4" sight galsses ferrules etc etc so hopefully its going to look the part and work well... im going to use 2 x 2400w heating elements to heat it up quicker then turn one off while im at a good temp..

just wondering if thers many people on here from the Port Lincoln area of South Australia??? it would be awesome if i could meet up with a few to see ther setups and to watch as they are distilling.

i will post up some pics when i have it all completed..

cheers

[SBB]

Gday Kane welcome to the forum. Your build sounds like an interesting one.

im going to use 2 x 2400w heating elements to heat it up quicker then turn one off while im at a good temp..

Ive never used a boiler that big connected to a thumper, but I have a feeling that one 2400W element might not do the job. All that wash plus the thumper are going to suck up a fair bit of heat. I could be wrong, thats just my gut feeling. Anyhow let us know how it goes. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I think we have at least a couple of members in roughly your area.

[Woodsy71]

Welcome aboard mate!!


Enjoy the ride :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Andy]

i think SBB might b right, thats a pretty big boiler, and a pretty big thumper.

sounds like a great build though! post some pics when its ready :)

[bt1]

Howdy Kane,
+1SBB driving a 50lt is going to be an issue with 2"/50mm inflow...be a fair ask to get sufficient heat.

Can I ask why you settled on a retro design?

bt1

[Matt_Pl]

Gday Mate,

Im in Port Lincoln as well, lovely place dont think I will ever leave!

ZakGriffin is also on the Eyre Peninsulaalthough hes up towards Whyalla??

Welcome to the club, Looking forward to the pics of your build. :text-coolphotos:

Cheers,

MP

[Kaneriley227]

Gday Kane welcome to the forum. Your build sounds like an interesting one.

im going to use 2 x 2400w heating elements to heat it up quicker then turn one off while im at a good temp..

Ive never used a boiler that big connected to a thumper, but I have a feeling that one 2400W element might not do the job. All that wash plus the thumper are going to suck up a fair bit of heat. I could be wrong, thats just my gut feeling. Anyhow let us know how it goes. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I think we have at least a couple of members in roughly your area.

Hey SSB, would it be better to run a 2400w and a 3600w or just go 2 x 3600w elements? The thumper holds 50lt but I would only charge it to 25-30lt,

I was thinking along the lines of doing a stripping runs without th thumper and just with th pot to th worm and when I have enuf juice, do a slow run with the thumper charged with feints so it would be triple distilled.... ;-)

The only reason I went so big with the setup is that thers a few of us puttin in for the costs, and if its twice as big we should be able to run twice as much... :-p

I wanted to be able to turn one off so when it's at the right temp I can slowly distill it, and get more flavours..? As a farmer we grow all our own wheat, barley, and I'll just buy the corn.. :razz:
All I'm really after is a good scotch and bourbon. That I can make and put into 20/50/200 litre barrels?

[Kaneriley227]

Howdy Kane,

Can I ask why you settled on a retro design?

bt1

Hey Bt1,
I dunno really... I was told that a reflux still was only good for making vodka.? And I wanted to run grain mashes as well.. Which I got told you could only do thru a pot still.. The thumper can be removed, then it's only a basic potstill anyway..

Will post some pics soon..

[Sam.]

Howdy Kane,

Can I ask why you settled on a retro design?

bt1

Hey Bt1,
I dunno really... I was told that a reflux still was only good for making vodka.? And I wanted to run grain mashes as well.. Which I got told you could only do thru a pot still.. The thumper can be removed, then it's only a basic potstill anyway..

Will post some pics soon..

All true, it seems the thumper designs comes a lot from the Americas, but you won't see it very much making gear in Scotland ;-)

It's all up to personal taste at the end of the day but starting with a thumper is more complex than it needs be, good drinks are made from simple pot stills with the right ingredients :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Kaneriley227]

Well it's already been built, spose I can leave it out and just run th pot still and cooling worm until I get good enuf and have a bit more confidence in distill then give it a whirl and see what happens... :shock:

[SBB]

Sorry about the late reply, As I said that was just based on gut feeling, Seems a lot of wash and a big boiler to keep on the boil with 2400w, Also the thumpers going to suck up some heat. Im not really qualified to say for sure as I use Gas, Probably better that one of the guys who uses elements answers your question.

[baysidebogan]

G'day Kane,welcome. Interesting build,with the size as well as the thumper,you may be better off going for 3600 elements and insulate the thumper so that you are not losing heat through it