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How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 5:35 am
by BoomTown
Check this out....I'm interested in your experience...do you match these yields?


http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/m ... hol-yields" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Text below:


Alcohol Yields

Jan 21 2013 | 0 comments
How Much Moonshine Will a Still Produce?

We often get questions like these: "How much moonshine will 5 gallons of mash make?" and "How much moonshine will be produced by a 10 gallon still?" The answer is simple: it all depends on starting alcohol and final proof. In this article we'll explain how to determine how much alcohol to expect from a run.

For the instant gratification seekers in the crowd, here's the short answer:

A 1 gallon run will yield 3-6 cups of alcohol
A 5 gallon run will yield 1-2 gallons of alcohol
A 10 gallon run will yield 2-4 gallons of alcohol

For the researchers, science nerds, alchemists, and truth seekers, here's why:
Starting Alcohol

Starting alcohol can vary significantly, having a big impact on the final yield. Starting alcohol is generally expressed as "alcohol by volume" or ABV and it can vary greatly from one batch of shine to the next. It's simply the percentage of alcohol in a solution of alcohol wash. For example a 10 gallon wash that contains 1 gallon of pure alcohol will have an ABV of 10%. The higher the starting alcohol, the higher the potential yield.

The starting alcohol of a wash is dependent on two things: the amount of fermentable sugar produced by the mash, or added in lieu of making a mash, and the type of yeast used.
Fermentable sugar

Fermentable sugar is exactly what it sounds like - the amount of sugar available to be eaten by yeast that can later be turned into alcohol. If there isn't very much sugar then there won't be much alcohol. However, too much sugar is wasteful. The amount of sugar needed depends on the recipe, the size of the batch, and the potential alcohol production by the yeast. Though, in general, the more fermentable sugar there is in the mash, the higher the potential starting alcohol and the higher the yield.
Yeast

The type of yeast used is very important as well. Bread yeast (the kind that can be purchased at a grocery store) will produce starting alcohol in the 10% range, whereas a strong distillers yeast may produce starting alcohol as high as 20%. This is due to two factors. First, distillers yeast has been bread to withstand higher concentrations of ambient alcohol. Where a bread yeast might die off once starting alcohol has reached 10 or 12%, a distillers yeast will still thrive, and will do so until ambient alcohol has increased to a much higher level (20% or so). Second, some distillers yeasts are packaged with loads of yeast nutrients i.e. Turbo 24, 48, etc. This can actually be a bad thing, as the excess nutrients contained in turbo yeasts can cause off flavors in the final product.

In short, good yeast will allow for a higher starting alcohol and a greater final yield without producing off flavors.

Final Proof

Final proof can also have a significant impact on yield. If 10 gallons (with a starting alcohol of 10 gallons) is distilled, the amount of pure alcohol collected will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 gallon. However, the collected spirit won't be 100% pure (200 proof). It usually gets proofed down to somewhere around 100 proof, or 50% pure alcohol. While the total amount of alcohol collected remains the same, there is now twice as much "product" and the "yield" is doubled. The higher the final proof, the lower the final yield, the lower the final proof, the higher the final yield.
Collection efficiency
One final note is that all of the alcohol produced during fermentation will not be collected during the run. Generally only about 85 or 90% is collected because it takes too much time and energy to get the last little bit...and it isn't the good stuff anyway. For example, if there is 1 gallon of pure alcohol in a wash and it is distilled with a collection efficiency of 85%, then .85 gallons will be collected.

Summary:

Here are a few examples of yields that one might expect when running 1, 5, or 10 gallon batches.

A 1 gallon run with a starting alcohol of 10%, a final proof of 100, and a collection efficiency of 85% will yield 2.72 cups
A 1 gallon run with a starting alcohol of 20%, a final proof of 100, and a collection efficiency of 85% will yield 5.44 cups

A 5 gallon run with a starting alcohol of 10%, a final proof of 100, and a collection efficiency of 85% will yield .85 gallons
A 5 gallon run with a starting alcohol of 20%, a final proof of 100, and a collection efficiency of 85% will yield 1.7 gallons

A 10 gallon run with a starting alcohol of 10%, a final proof of 100, and a collection efficiency of 85% will yield 1.7 gallons
A 10 gallon run with a starting alcohol of 20%, a final proof of 100, and a collection efficiency of 85% will yield 3.4 gallons

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:23 am
by MitchyBourbon
It's all good... No cuts necessary. :shock:

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:32 am
by Richard7
I wish... I get about half that after cuts. Maybe I need to collect more heads & tails! How does that compare to yours Boom?

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:07 am
by Prairiepiss
Sounds like the ramblings of a still salesman. That's full of BS. And sells turbo yeast.

Good general rule.

If you have 10 gal of 10% wash that will have 1 gal of 100% alcohol in it. After cuts and diluting to drinking strength 40% you will get around 1 gal of finished product. This holds true for washes up to around 14%. Once you go over 14% the amount of usable product decreases. Due to yeast stress producing more heads and or tails.

This thread explains it much better.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 65&t=30266

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:10 am
by beelah
On a strip run, with a 10-12% wash, 20-23L in volume, I get about a gallon when diluted to 40%....that's an UJSSM wash...when I have 5 gallons of low wines, I do the spirit run and get about 2-21/2 gallons of drinkable product at 40%, but that varies with what I may be making or aging on oak, as I tend to age my product at 55%.

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:42 am
by BoomTown
Prairiepiss wrote:Sounds like the ramblings of a still salesman. That's full of BS. And sells turbo yeast.

Good general rule.

If you have 10 gal of 10% wash that will have 1 gal of 100% alcohol in it. After cuts and diluting to drinking strength 40% you will get around 1 gal of finished product. This holds true for washes up to around 14%. Once you go over 14% the amount of usable product decreases. Due to yeast stress producing more heads and or tails.

This thread explains it much better.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 65&t=30266
Thanks P.P.

Boom

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:29 pm
by still crazy
falls under the category

BS in BS out


oh ya BS stands for bullshit

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:43 pm
by MitchyBourbon
Cows shit too bit they don't brag about it.

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:45 am
by rad14701
I sure hope that site isn't run by one of our members because I'm gonna be honest here... It sounds to me like some guy who couldn't stay busy with contracting work (clawhammer is a dead giveaway) thought he'd subsidize his income by building and selling stills without knowing much of anything about distillation of spirits... And then his site gets linked to the HD forums to increase site traffic and potential profits from our membership... And that pisses me off...!!! :problem:

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:51 am
by BoomTown
rad14701 wrote:I sure hope that site isn't run by one of our members ...... And then his site gets linked to the HD forums to increase site traffic and potential profits from our membership... And that pisses me off...!!! :problem:
So what are you saying Rad.., I should delete my posting?

Boom

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:45 pm
by Actiontrent
I think it's more so credibility theft he's talking about! Am I correct in saying this?

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:26 pm
by Richard7
I think the following post after the first take care of the creditability factor.

Edit to add I do however like some of the copper working techniques they show on their videos.

Re: How much moonshine can a moonshiner make if....

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:04 pm
by clawhammer
Guys, guys, guys... Really?

I wrote the article in question.

The article is not about making cuts. The article is not about how much hearts, specifically, one will pull out of a batch. The article simply attempts to explain the amount of total alcohol available for extraction from a batch of wash based on x starting alcohol, x collection efficiency, and x final proof. As MitchyBourbon so conveniently demonstrated, a lot of people don't even make cuts and many more have no idea what "making cuts" even refers to, let alone the importance of implementing the practice into their runs. Furthermore, mentioning the concept of cuts / hearts / "drinkable product" to a beginner (in the middle of an article that also attempts to explain fermentable sugar, yeast efficiency, starting alcohol, proofing, etc.) is likely to make a newbie's explode...and we don't have liability insurance for exploding heads, so we opted to try and to keep it simple with this one.

Along those same lines, we presented an additional set of calculations assuming that some of our readers are using turbo yeast and may have a much higher starting alcohol. Though, we specifically say in the article, plain as day, "Second, some distillers yeasts are packaged with loads of yeast nutrients i.e. Turbo 24, 48, etc. This can actually be a bad thing, as the excess nutrients contained in turbo yeasts can cause off flavors in the final product." So, Prariepiss, who is it you are referring to when you say, "Sounds like the ramblings of a still salesman. That's full of BS. And sells turbo yeast."?? If it's us, you're mistaken. We don't recommend turbo yeast, nor do we sell it. Did you even bother read the article before sounding off on it?

Barring the existence of super-powers, allowing one to defy the laws of basic mathematics, the calculation presented in the article cannot be disputed... 10 gallon batch, 10% starting ABV, 85% collection efficiency = 1.7 gallons. I mean....really...it's simple math. Is all of that drinkable? To many it would be. Would I drink all of it? Nope. I'd call less than a gallon of it hearts. But not everyone makes cuts. And, again, the article wasn't titled "How Much Hearts will a Still Produce" because that's not what the article was about.

There is a lot of good info in this forum, some of it provided by a few of the folks who commented in this thread. Accordingly, we constantly refer people to this site...VIA links on our site, in our email responses to folks, on our Facebook page (I'm quite confident we send more traffic to you than you send to us). Though, there is some trash, negativity, and posturing here too. I guess that keeps it exciting though....right Rad? Right Prariepiss?