Can/should you put a reflux head on a thumper

Steve-Broady

I did a quick search and found a few passing comments about some sort of reflux or column on a thumper, not no serious discussion of the subject. So, I’d love to have that conversation.
First of all, yes it is obviously possible to put a column or a deflegmator onto a thumper. The pieces, properly designed, should fit together. And I can’t really see why it would be unsafe. But the real question is, is it worth doing?
The only benefit I can imagine to having a full column on a thumper would be that it might allow you to have the thumper below the still, gaining some vertical space. It should also gain you a little ABV, I suppose. But if you have the column anyway, why bother?
On the other hand, what about a deflegmator directly on the output of the thumper? Over time, it seems that you could basically fill the thumper with all of your low wines, and then start pulling off product via VM or LM, depending on the design. Probably not as good as a proper column, maybe not as good as double distilling through a pot still? One of the questions I have is whether the thumper would continue to fill up once you’re feeding it steam from the pot, and it’s full of more or less all the alcohol.Steve, you’re way behind time. This is not 38, but it’s old 97. You must put her into Spencer on time.

OtisT

Steve, you hit on the big problem I see with having reflux on the thumper, that the liquid reflux would quickly fill the thumper.  It could work if you drain or pump excess liquid from the thumper to the top of the first column (best), or back into the first boiler.  A heater on the thumper could help too, but getting rid of tails from the thumper would not happen without a path backward for your liquid, so the heated thumper would only be half of a good solution.   
Larry has a nice diagram on HD with a dual column still, both mounted at a level with the top of the boiler.   The second column is fed at the bottom by the top of the first, and there is an overflow on the bottom of that second column that drains back to the boiler.    I want to make one very badly, and I hope it will be part of my next boiler build.  We all have to have dreams.
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Steve-Broady

I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing, or at least not manageable. I’ve built a 3 gallon thumper for my 8 gallon still. I usually get about 1.5-2 gallons of low wines from a striping run, at the very most. So that alone would not overfill the thumper, I’m wondering if it would basically turn the thumper into a steam heated still, which was filled with fresh low wines heavily refluxed. Once I start pulling product off, if the volume of condensed steam matches the volume of alcohol removed, then the total volume in the thumper should be stable. Of course, that’s a big if that’s I can’t currently verify. I’m sort of wondering if it would be worth making a very small test setup just to see how it behaves.Steve, you’re way behind time. This is not 38, but it’s old 97. You must put her into Spencer on time.

Bushman

Belly buster had the same response I would have, but never having run a thumper I lack the experience.
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RC-Al

There was a post somewhere that stated that its a slobberbox unless it drains back to the boiler - I'll let others hash out the semantics of that.
Ive tried steam into on the grain mashes with 3 plates a few times,  unfortunately without a drain and with no way of knowing how full the boiler was, the Prv got a work out lols. Whilst you could work out the numbers after a number of runs, just stripping n then using the plater was much simpler, safer and easier on the nerves.
At the end of the day, steaming is far less efficient unless you have a burnable wash.
As for the bubble ball effect of a thumper - in the post bushy links to, it states that too much depth isnt good, again, you need the drain, try thinking of it as a large plate and not a storage vessel.  The deeper you make that fluid bed, the higher the boiling point in your boiler, more power needed and as stated, you start pushing tails through.

Steve-Broady

I appreciate the comments, gentlemen. I had a feeling that it wasn’t the greatest idea, simply because if it was someone would probably already be doing it.Steve, you’re way behind time. This is not 38, but it’s old 97. You must put her into Spencer on time.