180 Proof From a Pot Still

[LWTCS]

180 proof or 90 % from a pot still, is anecdotal at best.
I get 75-85 % Abv on a spirit run, but I'm running a bubble plate on top of that pot.

Agreed.. There just will not be enough of a group consensus by members that have indeed run enough to know better.
As I mentioned earlier,,,with multiple plates and no forced reflux I have only ever been able to achieve 87%

[RedwoodHillBilly]

I suppose it depends on the abv of your low wines. It wouldn't surprise me if your low wines were 75 -80 abv. Not that I'm advocating that, but just saying.

[NZChris]

Both of the claims for 180 proof were from pots with thumpers, not from simple pots, so it doesn't surprise me at all. With the thumper charged with 40% low wines, it goes well over 40% before it gets up to boiling point, plus, with tall, uninsulated risers, run slow, there is plenty of passive reflux happening, even more so on a cold day and with a draft.

I run one of my stills near a door. On a windy day, the output slows and the abv rises every time the door gets left open, so I don't believe there is no reflux happening in pot stills. If is hot to the touch, there is reflux happening inside.

[HDNB]

passive reflux happening, even more so on a cold day and with a draft.

i was really surprised what a cool breeze could do on the pot still. i never really measure before i blend anyway and I normally make whisky so i try not to go over 80. But a draft makes a big difference.
on my next run i'm going to take the insulation off of the top of the boiler and see what happens with fats/oils/lipids, which have really been plaguing me on the plated still.
i'm hoping for a bit of slowing down the vapour on the way to the column.

[sltm1]

Too true on the higher thumper abv the higher the pulled abv....however the flavor definitely suffers. I get 160-165 using one quart of heads and tails with another pint of tap water in my thumper and pull down to 90p (that jar is part of the thumper wash).

[APD]

Have had 180 proof in the first jar straight off my pot still before.

Running a 500ml tall uninsulated unpacked 4" copper column ontop of a 50L (working volume) copper domed kettle.
Thumper was an uninsulated length of 4" copper pipe at that time (proved too small on some of my subsequent runs and was up-sized later).

Happened twice. Both times were running the kettle very slowly on high abv, full molasses rum washes.
Thumper was charged with only some of the rum wash itself and only enough to cover up over the bottom/gas outlet area of the downpipe.

I'm sure the abv of the wash has a lot to do with it.
As far as I know the ratio between the concentration of the alcohol in liquid relative to its concentration as an evaporated gas would be amped up accordingly on a high abv wash in relation to what you could get off a low abv wash.

Both times were accompanied by much dancing about, general revelry and a small amount of incredulous profanity.

[skow69]

According to the standard chart, you could do it if your charge was ~75% ABV. Counting a full stage for the thumper.

[Stargazer14]

I just got 87% on a rum spirit run on my alembic pot, put a smile on my face.

[birdpilot]

Best I get is 165 proof from mine.