Hi All,
I have used my thumper keg this year for over 10+ times. This week I had 3 runs, the first one was fine and the the other 2 had the same issue. The still pot works fine and producing vapor, you can feel the thumper heating up to a point that it is hot but can be still touched. And the all stops, the thumper doesn't produce any vapor. It was filled up to 1/3 for both occasion, checked all seals and pipes and all fine. On this last one I noticed the some of the liquid from the thumper went back to the main still pot too and was floating on top. This is a mystery for me and haven't found any solution anywhere.
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Any advise would be welcome as I have more to do next week but don't want to fail.
I’m guessing , maybe it’s got colder in your distilling area .
I think you might need to increase the heat to the pot still .
Suck back from thumper to pot sure does sound like heat to Pot is falling or failing .My recommended goto .
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
The temperature can be the same, but if the pot does not get enough power, it still can not drive the thumper. The power must be enough to cover the losses in boiler, pipings and thumper and than have enough left to evaporate the contents of the thumper.
How are you heating the boiler? When it "was working", how much power was used?
If it isn't heating the thumper enough, increase power.Last edited by Salt Must Flow on Thu Dec 22, 2022 6:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Imagine if someone said, "this pot of water is not boiling and producing enough steam". How are you heating the boiler and how much power did you use? Increase power. "But it worked before". Increase power. Are you afraid to increase power? Are you able to increase power?
Without specific answers all we can do is speculate. Insulate your boiler. Insulate plumbing as recommended earlier. As for precisely 'why' it worked before ... we can only speculate as others have already done. Other than insulating, what is the only variable that you control? It's your power input. Increase power.
What was the ambient temp difference between the days? What was the temperature of your liquids? Sounds like you have always been borderline "Not enough power" but haven't noticed it until the conditions proved to be just cold enough, that you couldn't overcome them. But there are always more variables and options. Just my 2 cents."In the silence of the study one can discuss theories, but only in practice one becomes an artist" - Meunier
could also be a failing power unit. Unit works for awhile but then gets hot and drops out. Perhaps a connection is bad and as it get hot the resistance increases and so power to the boiler decreases. Especially with suck back, it should like power is decreasing.
Don’t look at the thermometer .
The way to run stills has always been to adjust power to maintain a certain sized output stream of alcohol .
Thermometers are a modern day bit of bling that everyone seems to think they need .
As Saltbush bill reiterates “ All they do is confuse the hell out of beginners”My recommended goto .
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
So…. Have you confirmed your pot is hooked up to your thumper inlet and condenser to the outlet? Sorry if this feels like / is a silly question, but that could potentially create this behavior depending on the angles and heights of your piping.
Edit: a picture of your system might help too.I just read an article about the dangers of drinking that scared the crap out of me.
That’s it. No more reading!
I would have thought that would simply blow the contents of the thumper straight out the spout until the level was below the thump pipeMy recommended goto .
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
Post time 2022-12-22 10:51:43
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