inline thumper on a 4"column

[drinka]

Nice one meat! Any pics of inside cap/riser?

thump plate (600x800).jpg

Bottom plate.

Riser 2 1/4" SS
Cap 3" copper on right.
drain is 3/4" with a 1" funnel, j-trap extends up the riser.- drain depth can be changed higher or lower if running 1-2 plates.
3/4" drain at the bottom to be used with triclamp tap.(left)

top plate to completed.

Thanks for the pic mate. Can you please explain what you mean by running 2 plates in it? I understand how what's in the pic works but can't see how a 2nd plate fits in. Cheers.

[woodduck]

I find once i fill my thumper I then power up and take off as quick as i can (overpower the rc, thats on full flow), usually 6-7ltrs hour until my abv drops below say 91% and my thumper level drops then i power down and reflux again, repeat if you don't have enough capacity to get all your alc into the still. I do this until the thumper starts to fog for me usually twice, then you know your pretty much done. This is just my experience with my thumper anyway.

Im trying to figure out just what you guys are saying

So have it on an average distilling power, i havent got a rig like yours so im going to do an example like 2.4kW. then have in full reflux until there is only alc in the column including thumper. Then when you want to collect you power it up a few kW and maintain full reflux water flow but the extra power pushes the vapor through? and you power up until you get the 6 or so L/h?
How long do you need to do full reflux for to get the water out and separate the fractions better?
Is this correct and is this a flavored wash or neutral?

The flow rates sound really good for a 4" rig with a thumper

You've got the idea :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I run my volt controller on my 3600w element so i heat up with 3600 and 2400 then turn off the 2400 once plates are loaded and use the controler to keep the plates stable until the thumper is full then just power up the 3600 until i get the right flow rate. I don't adjust the rc, just push past it.

It takes me about an hour of refluxing to fill the thumper.(i think, i don't take much notice)

I only use this method for flavored spirits. I don't use my thumper for neutrals as mine is way too tall and with 800mm of packed section on top it would be way too high. The other reason is you need to go slow and reflux alot more for neutrals to get them clean enough.

[Meatheadinc]

Thanks for the pic mate. Can you please explain what you mean by running 2 plates in it? I understand how what's in the pic works but can't see how a 2nd plate fits in. Cheers

Top plate is a regular bubble cap style plate that will sandwich between the ferrules (first pic), like most modular units.

[timboss]

Just saw this thread. Are these bad boys going to make it to production?

I had to lean back in my chair so I didn't drool all over myself

[1 2many]

Just saw this thread. Are these bad boys going to make it to production?

I had to lean back in my chair so I didn't drool all over myself

I could be wrong but I think it was special order.

[MacStill]

Yes we order them in as a special order, usually around 4 to 5 weeks for delivery :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Zak Griffin]

Obviously ideally you throw more power at a bubbler with a thumper, but has anyone run 4 plates + a thumper on 2.4kW? I can't see any reason why it won't still work, you just won't get the quicker run times talked about here...

[WTDist]

So in the middle of looking around for 8" glass for a thumper which hasnt been easy, is 2L too small amount for a thumper bath volume or should i push it to 3L? just wondering if one glass section will do.

[WTDist]

what would be better for speed/separation using only a maximum of 4.8kW on standard 50L keg (upgrade in far future)

1) a large 8" double glass thumper under 4" plates or,
2) two 8" bubble plates under 4" plates

Trying to work out if an 8" thumper or two 8" plates is best option. I like the idea of large thumper but thought this is a question i need to ask before i start.

Cheers
WT

[warramungas]

Hmmmm. Maybe I should cut mine into three sections and make 2x 12" plates instead of 1 big thumper. :think: Now you've got me thinking. :))

[WTDist]

yea i figure if i can go through hearts at 5 or 6L/h with a thumper thats good. but if people can push 6" rigs to get 5l/h throughout the entire run including heads then 8" should be like what, 8l/h? more? power permitted of course. im thinking two 8" plates might be better but i think this question requires an answer from the most experienced.

Is there anyone out there using 8" rigs? and what speed do they pull?

[warramungas]

yea i figure if i can go through hearts at 5 or 6L/h with a thumper thats good. but if people can push 6" rigs to get 5l/h throughout the entire run including heads then 8" should be like what, 8l/h? more? power permitted of course. im thinking two 8" plates might be better but i think this question requires an answer from the most experienced.

Is there anyone out there using 8" rigs? and what speed do they pull?

You could have 3x 8" plates if you used a bowl reducer for above the glass. Put one on top without the window.
Seriously got me thinking about making 3x 12" plates. Got the copper for the plates with that bit of buckled 4" but Id have to make them up myself with 50 mm caps
Doubt it would be useful as I don't have the megawatts of power required to run it. Plus I could only have about 100 mm of separation between plates. Would have to clamp it together like a sight tower with silicone seals. Sh*t!!!! Now I don't know which way to go! :angry-banghead: But how goddamn cool would it be!!!!
Will make a new thread if I decide to have a crack at it.

P.s. Sorry for the slight hijack there......

[warramungas]

Reviving an old topic here as I just want an opinion from my learned colleagues. I'm going to build an inline thumper for an eventual 4" f*d column out of some scrap but sound stainless fire extinguishers. This will be in conjunction with my boiler build so I can get the welder to do both jobs at once.
I can build a 30 liter or an ~11 liter using two weld on ferrules and they'll both have adjustable downcomers so I can vary the volume with the wash. They'll both have the same height just a different radius. They'll be connected to a 100 liter boiler and the still through the 4" triclamps.
I'm guessing my washes will be up to a max of 15% abv with an occasional feints run for some neutral.
I have room for either one.
Will I find any advantage to making a larger one or will the smaller one be more than sufficient? I could then use the larger one for feints storage but I don't mind using it for a thumper either.
Cheers guys.

[WTDist]

from all the advice given to me i would say go the 30L one.

[Zak Griffin]

A 30L inline thumper? I think you need to do a bit more reading and absorbing and a bit less reading and regurgitating, WTD.

an 11L inline thumper on a 100L boiler with a 4" rig above it would be perfect. Big enough to let you run a 2" riser and 3" cap in the thumper for maximum thumpage.

The 30L will make a great ageing or low wines/feints storage :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[warramungas]

an 11L inline thumper on a 100L boiler with a 4" rig above it would be perfect. Big enough to let you run a 2" riser and 3" cap in the thumper for maximum thumpage.

The 30L will make a great ageing or low wines/feints storage :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I do a stack of bourbon washes and save up 50 or 60 liters of feints then I'll run them for my wife's vodka. Would having a larger thumper be of any advantage there? I've never run one so I'm not sure. I can adjust the biggun to 10 liters for run of the mill washes and increase it to 25 for feints runs.
If you reckon its not worth it or of no advantage I'll go with the smaller one. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[WTDist]

A 30L inline thumper? I think you need to do a bit more reading and absorbing and a bit less reading and regurgitating, WTD.

an 11L inline thumper on a 100L boiler with a 4" rig above it would be perfect. Big enough to let you run a 2" riser and 3" cap in the thumper for maximum thumpage.

The 30L will make a great ageing or low wines/feints storage :handgestures-thumbupleft:

um :?
If you dont want it to hold all the alcohol then 11 will be fine but i thought he wanted the thumper to hold all of it.

To get all the alcohol out into the thumper and still, say the thumper has an abv of 40% and next plate has more and so on. If he has 100L @ 12% thats not 12L in the thumper thats about 30L. if you take that 12L @100% and take it down to 40 you have 30L and thats only if the thumper is 40%.

If the thumper was 11L and this was to hold all the alc on a run then the wash would only need to be 4.4% as 4.4L @100% is 11L.

these figures dont allow for the plates i know which will be about 100-200ml each perhaps? maybe the thumper will be more like 60% average in which case to get all the alc out on a 12% wash of 100L it would need to be about 20L but i thought i saw somewhere they were more like 40% or 50%.

doing some cacs in my head,
100L * 12% wash is 1200 (12L @100%) and to get that to fit in 11L it would need to be 109%.

I may be wrong but i have been advised to make it so i can get all the alcahol into the thumper and column plates. A Im sure this doesnt matter too much and its up to the builder how they go about it.

Bigger is better for the thumper i recon, mine is too small. If your gonna build a thumper build it how you want the first time. Ideally you want to hold all the alc in your still for economy, i have to fill mine twice so it's not really that much quicker really. Just my experience anyway.

Perhaps you might not need 30L, but i think you do need more than 11L.
Both would work and its up to you what you do. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Zak Griffin]

Lets say you have a 50L boiler of 10% wash, this gives you in unrealistic terms 5L OF 100% alcohol to be extracted, so your thumper needs only to be a total of around 7L or even a bit less to hold all the distillate available (keeping in mind the bath on each plate above it) leaving some space. The 30% you're referring to is most likely when using a thumper as the 2nd distillation on a simple pot still and thumper set up. So basically the absolute minimum would be around a 5L on a 4" still as an inline thumper for that type of a run strategy of not allowing any distillate to return to the boiler

You're getting caught up in the numbers mate.

[WTDist]

Yea they get me those numbers :angry-banghead:

Cant help myself, always see numbers with things for some reason. 8-}

Probabally why i drink :laughing-rolling:

[bluc]

To make use of a 30l thumper you would have to hold it in full reflux till all the alcohol was removed from the boiler, could do it that way but would defeat the purpose of using it to speed things up, remember the inline thumper acts as a higher proof alcohol buffer to feed the colum, alcohol will be exiting the pc while alcohol in entering the thumper both from the boiler and by reflux..