George, I just got into distilling and I’ve watched your videos from four years ago till now. I can tell you I loved every bit of it. Turns out my girlfriend enjoys listening to you as well. It’s turned into a group activity. Just letting you know you’re appreciated and I hope you keep it up.
I love the videos too. This is an essential part of American History and Science. I'm looking at maybe getting into this from Brewing ... for 'farm fuel' purposes. Do y'all still recommend Mile Hi?
@@sciacarlo Don't use water, you need to use mash or something that contains alcohol, otherwise you'll be diluting your initial distillate and won't see any benefit from the thumper.
Great class on thumpers. Always wondered how the pot stills without control of heat made good shine other than by trial 4 logs made good stuff so duplicate it. Thanks for the insight. Happy Distilling
A true American! You do such a excellent job of explaining. The way you make your key points works so well for me to learn and retain. Thank you so much sir! You are amazing 👏
Being a mechanic your dead on sir yes I have a new high end scan tool but when I go to do a engine diagnostic before I even bring out the computer I bust out the vacuum guage and fuel pressure guage all manual as I don't trust electric test equipment.....and yes I'm only 30 but I own and can rock a dwell meter for points and I love reweighting points distributors for better power curve .. sorry for the long comment but thats why I understand you so well your simple way of explaining things helps tremendously
having this man as a friend and neighbor has been invaluable,,,now with my micro distillery coming up quickly...i can add one small thing to this video....when your fermenting is done,....especially in a large container....waiting for it to clear or chemically clearing it takes time......lots of time....6 weeks sometimes to naturally gravity clear.....by dumping your mash into a large still without clearing and heating it you start to produce tails super quickly.....by adding the thumper, you can take fresh fermented mash and distill it and get great cuts.....without waiting for it to clear or running it through another still - thump thump thump!!! Thanks brother George
...about to run a still for the first time and was clueless about the thumper. Thanks for clearing that up. You were clear and concise. Than you. I am now a subscriber.
Glad to help. Welcome to a community that serves itself. You can find many answers here or link up with others to help get your creative juices running. Happy distilling George
Great video. Very enlightening. I personally am moving towards a plated column and not at a pot still with a thumper but thanks for the education on thumpers. Always great to learn more about this fantastic hobby.
Without knowing the science or history of thumpers I have always held the opinion that were not necessary and you just validated that to me. Thanks. Controlling the temp at the pot achieves the same results.
Excellent Video!!! George, One of the basic laws of Thermodynamics is that when you are changing the state of mater from a liquid to a gas, the temperature of the liquid will not change after the boiling point is reached and all of the liquid is either converted to a gas or the pressure is changed. People don't realize that by having a thumper this changes the system from an open system to a closed system (to a certain degree). The system is limited by the difference in the pressure to overcome the water column in the thumper (if you don't have a plugged up line). The vapor stream from the still is going to transfer the heat to the thumper until the thumper reaches the boiling point of the liquid causing the liquid in the thumper and push the second distillation vapor out to the condenser. In the process you are removing any solids that might get into the thumper if your still pukes and also any oils that have a higher boiling point than the liquid in the thumper is at. One point, that some don't realize that it is important to have a inlet line tall enough that allows the cooler liquid in the thumper to not rise up into the line arm from the still. It is possible that liquid could be pulled back into the still from the thumper. I built my thumper with a by-pass line to be able to get the still up to temperature and expel the foreshots before turning the thumper on and have enough pressure (heat) in the system to get the thumper going and NOT allow the partial vacuum caused by the condensing of the vapor in the line to be pulled into the boiler. When shutting the system down, I can open the by-pass valve and vent the system.
Size is arbitrary to how you want to use it. The bigger the thumper the more energy applied to the pot, because the thumper will bleed off some of this energy. Here's a few different ways people use thumpers. As a steamer setup. Put another way the boiler is filled with water or cleared liquid from fermentation but the "thumper" is loaded with the grains/fruits, sludge and clear liquid. Nothing in the thumper will burn or scorch as no direct heat is applied and the highest temp ever introduced will be water vapor and at 212 F/100 C temp. This type of setup is great if you ferment on the grain and just want to load it all right into the still. A near 1 to 1 boiler to thumper setup is great for this. One must be careful that the grains or fruits don't plug up the output. The traditional method of using a thumper that is roughly 1/3 the size of the boiler. Ideally you load the thumper with low wines of around 40% or so and the boiler with your 8% or so ferment. This is similar to a double distillation as the average of what leaves the boiler is 40% or so which is feeding the thumper which then leaves as "high wines" or roughly 70% or so. Can also use high wines as well depending on what's trying to be achieved. A thumper can be filled with nothing but water and used as a filter to get a bit more pure product but not any higher ABV. This is useful for making pot stilled vodka. The water helps to trap fusels and tails. A thumper (even small) can be used to make Gin/Jenever. You can load all the macerated vodka/spirit and botanicals directly into the thumper without worry of scorching of the botanicals regardless of how the boiler is fired. Doesn't matter ifa heating element or direct fired as no botanicals are present in the boiler. The thumper only gets heated by the vapor from the boiler. You can also use a double thumper setup. Many Rums use a system like this but they typically call the thumpers retorts. The typical load/setup in this setup is the 8% or so in the boiler, 40%ish low wines in the first retort and high wines or 70%ish in the second retort. This would allow a triple distillation in one pass. While Irish whiskey isn't traditionally made this way, it could be done like this with great success for triple distillation with increasing "boiler" charges AND nothing higher than 8% to typical low wines in the boiler. Same with a Bourbon made similar to Woodruff Reserve that is triple distilled. Even if you don't specifically load the thumpers/retorts with said % it will work out that way itself due to the ABV output from each section. This would allow you to load both retorts with only low wines for safety reasons while still getting the advantage of the 2nd thumper. Some rum producers do exactly this. Most of your large commercial distilleries use thumpers (called doublers) after their fluted stills. I personally have 3 different size thumpers that can be used on my 26 gallon which are 1 gallon (gins/genever), 5 gallon & 15.5 gallon (keg). I can run these with a pot, flute or reflux depending on what's trying to be achieved. The 5 is most useful for running grains in for bourbon where I don't lauter. The 15.5 can be used as a thumper OR can become the boiler and the 26 gallon becomes the thumper (steam setup) in which the 5 gallon can become a high wines thumper. Useful for rums or other grain/fruit/rum washes where it would burn with direct heat. Thumpers are great for making meaty/dirty spirits where you want muck in the "boiler" for the flavor vs a settled wash (not always the best). Some people think of a thumper as a "plate" but it's so much more than that as it can be pre-loaded with low or high wines, water or solids. Thumpers REQUIRE much more attention as you mention due to pressure and possibility of blockage so one should always stay with a thumper setup 100% of the time. One must also be careful using them when stopping heat to the boiler or a flame out on propane. You NEED to open the boiler to the atmosphere to relax the pressure for safety (3 way valve between the boiler/thumper is required on any decent size thumper) or alternate method to open the system and relax the pressure.
awesome info! i have 5 gallon still and use a 1 quart jar as gin basket, a half gallon jar thumper and am in procccess of making a 1.75 gallon copper thumper. this fall im building a 20 gallon pot and then making new cap and using my 5 gallon copper pot as a thumper for the 20 gal
@@Hippyslacker 1 quart for a 5 gallon size still isn't really big enough to do much. I'd say you want a minimum of 1 gallon or better a 2 g or 3 gallon thumper for the 5 gallon pot. Remember you only need to start the thumper with enough liquid for the vapor to be under the fluid level. The boiler/thumper will adjust it's level of fluid itself depending on your starting ABV in the boiler. You should try to avoid glass as it's an accident waiting to happen especially if mason jars. Might work fine 999 out of 1000 times but that 1 in 1000 could be a problem. It's normally not go to shatter like a hand grenade but the glass will crack. Now if using GAS (stove, propane) you have high wines or flammable fluids next to your gas... It's a safety thing. Can you do it, sure. Should you do it, probably not. BTW, a 2 gallon boiler designed to be used standalone OR as a thumper is great to have. It makes a good size thumper for 5 gallon boiler BUT it's also great for standalone use for doing GIN. You can make a cheap condenser coil for a 2 gallon still. Just macerate the botanicals for 24 hours then dump them in the boiler, put on stove and run it. Great way to run 1 to 4 liter batches of GIN. I got some SS screen and made a small basket (not pretty but works great) that sits about 3/4" inch above the bottom of the pot to keep the botanicals off the bottom so they can't burn. I just use a hose hold SS strainer and put the screen on top of it to keep the botanicals from sinking to the bottom. Low tech that works.
This video is excellent. Have not done any brewing yet, but on my journey to learning. The information you share is just what every first time brewer needs to know. Love the drawing as well.
As always the king of home distilling hits a home run with a great video filled with very useful information for all levels. By the way Thumper is the name of the bat I carry in my truck for dumb azzes I don't want to shoot.#HappyDistilling my friend and Thank you for your service
Hi George. I've been looking for a good video on running a pot still with thumper. I recently purchased a 20 gallon traditional pot still. And all the videos I've come across seem more focused on the modern pot still. Any suggestions or links would be greatly appreciated. As always your videos are awesome. Happy distilling.
Hello George ! Happy Distilling 👍👍 I ordered a new 10 gal. brew pot with a BASKET and built in valve last night 😉 Next will be my new still !! Thanks for all you do ! Happy Memorial Day 🇺🇸
wldtrky38 I highly recommend you do a plain water run on any new still just to iron out the quirks , test your fittings, learn it’s behaviour. Doesn’t hurt to throw some food dye in so you’ll find any leaks, etc. AND definitely use a stop watch and write down the times of when certain things happen, make notes on the sound of the boil. My T500 takes about an hour to boil up and begin refluxing. The boil has a distinct change of sound when it’s about to shoot from 32 degrees C to 42, and I’ll begin my water flow at 42, sit there with my hand on the water dial and hold it there at 42 while I take off my heads. PLEASE NOTE - These figures are a 25 litre T500 which measures the water temp exiting the columns, so any temperatures I mention are specific to this configuration. The TL:DR begins here..... I take 500ml off a 25lt dextrose wash for safety, flavour and it’s useful. I put it in a spray bottle for cleaning windows and various other things, it even works great if you chuck it in the washer bottle of your car with a little drop of washing up detergent. Then I install my charcoal filter after I check that I have a satisfactory flame, and the smell is not unpleasant. Then I turn the water off and let it overshoot the goal range so that the charcoal can be cleaned, activated, etc.. and let it blow a little steam through the charcoal, but only for a few seconds - minutes. So we’re about 2 hours in by this stage, and then I’ll turn the water back on and a T500 should have water exiting between 52 and 65 degrees c, so I aim for 55-57 because it will fluctuate over the next few hours. I take about a gallon into a gallon jug, and then I call it, because you can start introducing unpleasant flavours if you go chasing your tails. This is what works for me, sorry for rambling on a bit, but definitely do a dyed water run on any new still. Happy Distillin mate!
Always love your videos. I'm a home brewer but this popped up tonight. I was just curious if what you a the process time to go thru thumper etc to theooint to start fermenting? Like in beer you do your mash and boil which typically is 1 hour to 2 hours depending on times you mash etc
Hi George, I run my first run through again with spring water. Alc per is 91% first & 95% 2nd time. I will definitely be putting corn syrup and Vanilla in my next wash. This last run was a success as i used trad yeast with tomato puree & lemon juice of 3 lemons. It took 2½ weeks to stop fermenting but was a sweet tasting Alcohol my Wife said it's the best I have made. Onwards & upwards. Any folks I meet who want to start distilling, I send them to you...👍🏼🥃😉
THAT sounds very interesting!! Tomato puree and lemons...wow!! What kind of an alcohol beverage is it that you made? I have yet to make my first run. I've been watching youtube videos first, to learn what I can and sincerely I ask you because it truly sounds interesting to me. Thanks...Lily
@@lilymcalister1825 im pretty sure hes running a basic sugar mash ,this was my first run ever recipe it worked and you will make alcohol but my last two i ran corn no lemon or tomato paste and the difference in the flavor and alcohol percentage is much higher with corn.good luck be safe have fun.
@@lilymcalister1825 The tomato and lemon helps the yeast in the mash to work. The yeast likes the mash to be acidic. George says 5.2 PH. Thats why it fermented for 2.5 weeks.
George, I recently made a two jar thumper, cleaned it first with soap and water and did a vinegar flush and just ran it for the first time today. It worked GREAT so I am very pleased. Now, I am wondering what to do with what is left in the thumper after I shut the still down. Is this left over mostly water? There is probably less than a pint, total between the two jars. I am guessing it would not contain enough alcohol to be worth throwing in to the next run.
Thanks for the great video! Question - if the arm going into the thumper is above the level of liquid in the thumper, will this be an open system? Will it still condense?
Just wondering, with the slow pressure increase in the still and linearm as the vapor pressure works to push the liquid down and produce a sudden thump... the pressure and increased heat also, due to higher pressure from the increasing temp in the buildup to the thump, forces more ethanol in the begining of a run along with more methanol into the external line arm. When the sudden pressure drop caused by the thump and release of that pressure and heat in the vapor that rises as a bubble out to atmospheric pressure... Then would the sudden cooling due to the drop in pressure (think air conditioner sysyem) cause the heads methanol to form bigger vapor droplets combining with the ethanol that is more readily pulled out of vapor into the thumper solution at a much lower temp. The ethanol vapor excaping in the bubble to the surface not pulled out by the thumper solution in the time it has to rise through it, the vapor then being hotter in the thumper than the meths at that instant of cooling, would then escape at atmosperic pressure at a slightly more ethanol to methanol proportion to the condensing coil than if right from the still? In other words, is it also a heads trap more than an infusion basket (like you alluded tob in the video of ot not workong well for a gin basket) as well as a final heat regulator before the condensor?
It would be interesting to compare the product of a boiler and thumper to a stripping run and a second distillation. If the results are similar, then the thumper system looks like it would use less energy since you only need to run it one time.
I was always told that the thumper was used to trap fusil oils out of the distillate. I noticed you never mentioned that. So are the fusil oils part of the heads and tails that get discarded or does a thumper help with trapping them?
Hi George, thank you for your sharing, it was enlightened me.. supposedly it would be safe using distillation, just worried about alcohol fume from the thumper that will ignite the flame, but i guess will be safe putting the water inside the thumper 😁
Thanks for the great video. Just got my first home kit for Christmas and was wondering what this extra pot was for. I sure will be watching a few more of them. As my Father used to say ""Salute" Also hitting the Sub button...
George, Im about to begin distilling and I have to say that I love the way you incorporate science into the process. However, I do have a couple questions for you or anybody with knowledge. 1- What liquid is recommended to put in the thumper? Since this will be my first attempt, I don’t have any tails, or hearts for that matter, to put in the thumper. 2- Do you recommend using a thumper for a beginner ? Thanks for any input.
hey George, you should look into getting an art tablet for your channel, itll be alot easier than drawing a diagram with a mouse because you just use the pen to draw on the tablet and it displays what you've drawn on the computer. so far only thing ive made was a run of choke cherry wine (dad used to make wine and beer all the time but sort of got out of it over the years) and now that I got dads old equipment and started buying parts for my own still watching these videos Ive learned alot, Keep er up
What alcohol content should the liquid generally be in the thumper? I take it it's proportionate to what concentration you want your distillate to be? Do I need to run the heads longer to ensure there is nothing nasty getting trapped in the thumper? Can the liquid in the thumper be added to the distillate, or discarded/rerun?
I have a question on this. If you are planning to double distill then would or does using the thumper speed up your process any at all? If so then at what rate? I was told it was done more to increase the entire process of double distillation and decrease the time spent.
So do the stopping points change with a thumper. Meaning like the 150° point for the burn off before getting the flow started? Cuts for the foreshore, head hearts n tails?
Am I correct in understanding that it makes a thumping sound because the pressure of the vapor builds up in the delivery tube and creates periodic large bubble and that sound reverberates to the outside of the thumper's case?
Hi George love your stuff need some quick advise given the lockdown where I am at i can only get Cameroon's Bourbon soaked wood chips which are meant for smoking meat, If i slightly toss then over a pan or bake them for that char will it work with spirits and be safe to consume, though they say their products are 100% natural I dont know if they add some chemicals to such wood chips will it be safe whats your take on it? Kindly reply thank you.
Hi George. I have just started to build my first still and have watched a plethora of still operation videos. I will most likely be a master distiller before my first mash boil up. Lol. In you description of having a Thumper in the mix you stated that avoiding the possibility of an explosion, the incoming line to the thumper should be disconnect to avoid any disaster should a blockage occur. Would it be beneficial to have an emergency venting valve fitted to the thumper feed line. I purchased a cheap Chinese still as a prelude to something better down the track if my interest is still as high as it is now. In this build, I plan to use a solid copper line system instead of the flexible braided lines. I could install the safety tap. Cheers from Australia.
Hello Sir I love your videos I have wanted to distill for a while and I been watching your videos learning all I can about it and tomorrow I will start my mash and get ready for my maiden voyage do you have any advice on anything about the run like temp when to stop the run anything i love and welcome any advice or suggestions since I am a beginner thanks so much from your friend and fan from Arkansas
Hello George, I'm interested in buying a starter still. Seems like there's a big debate on the thumper adding additional flavors? what do you use? and if no thumper whats the best way to add natural flavour like if I wanted to make a lemon Vodka? Thanks.
You say a thump keg isn't necessary and I agree with the safety aspect as I had a blow out a few years ago. Luckily it was a windy day no follow up explosion. What do you say though to people that say a thump keg is needed to attain "high shots"?
Oh yes you know me george I swear by my glass doublers. I also have a very hands on approach In sit and watch the batch run. Multiple temperature probes and then a pressure gauge on the pot itself as well as a blow out plug. A blow out plug is used in an autoclave sterilizer just incase it exceeds safe temperatures or critical pressure. George 3 (the new build) will have this and then a gin basket for flavoring at the end. I will send you an e mail because I am re designing my stack and also this cooler will definitely need work. Terribly inadequate. Definitely putting the PID on this one but have a few un answered questions on my choices of heating.
Love this in-depth look into thumpers and I love the pre-face of not taking offense. Took alot of good info out of this but out of personal runs I can tell you a lion's share of the flavor lies withing what ya got in the mash but that thumper is key for flavors to marry rather than clash together. You can taste it on the back end rather than upfront or in the body but idk, I'm juat a dude lol could be placebo effect
I just watched older thumper video. I am so curious how a thumper would work if it was treated like a slobber box. Saying have a traditional thumper set up but starting with the thumper empty
Good video... i have a 20 gal pot still with a thumper. My question is if we understand all this info you put in this video. Do we use it for first run or no? Thats where i get confused. I have heard we shouldnt re run distillates butni see people putting tails and hearts in their pot for a second run ... so much info gets confusing
If you increase the pressure in the main boiler then that would also increase the temperature at which alcohol and water would have to reach before they would turn to vapor correct? Wondering what the pressure increase is. I suppose it would depend on how full you fill the thumper initially? Am I correct? Do you have any relative data from testing this?
How does the thumper get hot enough to vaporize the ethanol again? Is the pipe hot enough from the initial steam? Or does the vapor not condense and just bubble through the thumper?
Question...if it's "thumping " it's not turning into a liquid is it? A bubble that bubbles, pops at the top (the thump) and so isn't true double distillation. I'm sure some of the ethanol would turn back liquid as the bubble travels and then would later evaporate again (double distill) but most of it would make it through as a gas and make it to the copper coil unchanged. Maybe I'm getting too technical...dunno. just have a hard time calling it double distill when the vast majority of that bubble makes it right past the liquid or it wouldn't make a thump to begin with. On the flip side, LOVE your videos and have learned soo much. You make it fun and easy but also have the best info. So many channels pass off wives tales as gospel while you explain why each way works or doesn't work.
Just watched the latest video regarding thumpers, always informative! I am a little confused as to using a thumper to enhance flavor, the "gin basket" example. If a thumper doesn't add flavor, how does a gin basket add flavor? I understand the placement of each is different in the system, but isn't the process the same? Thanks!
You can use either to infuse the alcohol you are distilling. Ginhead infuses the vapor path with the botanicals in the basket in the column. Thumper can also be used to infuse the distillate, for example putting macerated citrus into the thumper liquid. The re-evaporating vapor coming off the surface of the thumper liquid can carry an infusion of whatever botanicals/flavour you had in the thumper.
Hi there, I've just got a 5 gallon three pot still system!! someone told me to put a bottle of white wine in my thump keg for distilling my mash is that a good call or not??
I built an hho generator that included using a thumper. It was used so that the flame couldn't shoot back up into the container and make it explode. If it tries to explode it will just push water back up into the main generator chamber. Maybe people do something similar with thumpers in distilling as a safety measure to make sure the still doesn't explode if the vapor coming out is accidentally ignited.
Hi George this is Uncle Poe from the big island of Hawaii and I've really just started the craft of home distilling I have the Chinese still with the football and I'd like to put a thumper on it is that possible thanks for all your great work great videos I'm having a blast here's shots to you buddy
I just got my new still today its just a 3 pot 9 gallon still . im changing the worm out for a bigger copper worm but other than that im just going to clean it out because its stainless steel, then distill water in it until I get confident in my abilities enough to run off a batch. I want to make sure I know my still before i try to make any alcohol. By making distilled water several times i can get a good feel for the equipment and be ready for any problems that might arise. lol
Thank you George. My question is this: I was gifted a Vevor 3 Pot type still with a "thumper," but I'm not sure if it will actually act like the thumper you describe in your video. Any thoughts or comments? Thanks very much.
Okay I’m confused. Does the liquid in the thumper get distilled or does,the vapors just pass through the thumper contents. Does the temp in the thumper get high enough to distill again???
So the thumper allows you to use a higher temperature on the still... So will distillation be faster using a thumper without watering down the product?
Two types of explosion mechanical and chemical. What a thumpers creates is an airlock causing pressure in boiler deeper the liquid in the thumper the more pressure in boiler. Thirty foot of liquid in thumper would equal 15 psi in boiler or one atmosphere.
maybe we should talk about how a vacuum loads a container, what vacuum distillation is useful for, and what safety regulations one has to observe when converting an open system into a closed system.
