Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCCESS!

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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kiwihaas
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Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCCESS!

Post by kiwihaas »

Once the still arrived from Portugal, including duty tax the 10L column was $300 cheaper than going through middleman in NZ (including accessories copper sieve and thermometer (which I have read will be bearly a guide, so I found out!).
Rye clean....
Rye clean....
So, after rye flour wash and water wash – it was time for the real McCoy.
What I had, 20kg family grapes = stomped = 11L juice = 6kg pomace (frozennow)
Campdan tablet thown in for 2 days.
Pitched a Riesling yeast from HBS (nothing else)
Fermented 11L - SG1065 =10 days = FG 1000 = 10% ABV approx
After a racking and another week, I put a starter of 5L through still..... was a bit concerned the little fish pump I had would hold up to the cooling. Because when I did the water clean the condenser temp got a bit high. Pump is 400L/hr. Although I think the bucket I was using was too small like 5L and I was just pumping warm water back through....lesson no.1
There did seem to be some steam coming through the column connections, so rye flour was slapped on for the booze run and all seals (connection to condenser was a bit wonky just like willy!)
So the hose went inside the condenser, and both exit holes were used for drainage.(no probs with water shortages round here)
Definitely noticed my first whiff of foreshots, came out pretty fast, my first 4x 25ml jars were dedicated to that stuff. Which seems a lot…. This was also the time the spout was dribbling, badly… Now this worried me being so close to the gas burner on the BBQ.
Interestingly, that magic 78C to 82C was not when the fruity goodness came out, it was more 85-92C(Yes I know don’t trust a thermo!). Was a bit surprised.
50L,x2 100ml x2 50ml jars collected which was a wounderful fruity/sweet aroma
Then it started to “tail” off – x1 50ml, 1x30ml
So, my first ever distill of low wine!
Rye clean....
Rye clean....
Not as much as i thought came out, but it did come out at 40%-55% on the acholometer!
So diluted to 35%, got 300ml of brandy (3 teasppons of french oak added)
and 300ml of Asian Aqua Vitae (infused for 3 days with half a chilli, petal star anise, bit of ginger and sprig of mint) that little chilli already lets the lingering linger for longer!
That’s the story, next will be the questions!
Cheers,Haas
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The results!
The results!
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Da Yooper
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Re: Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCC

Post by Da Yooper »

Nice looking rig. Should give your collected spirits a 24 hour air out time before deluting.
Fail to plan == plan to fail
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kiwihaas
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Re: Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCC

Post by kiwihaas »

Looking to do quality over QUANTITY, might help me keep out of the booze stores a bit more now.

Da Yooper, thanks for the tip on breathing before diluting I red it somewhere but forgot too, so much to learn. Why let it breath?

I am gonna ask a bunch of questions in a new post so hopefully next run will be an improvement
Last edited by kiwihaas on Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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kiwihaas
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Re: Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCC

Post by kiwihaas »

quality of quantity..... I type faster than I think its a ongoing issue.... :D
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NZChris
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Re: Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCC

Post by NZChris »

Nice looking set up. I hope you have lots of fun with it.

Cheers
Chris
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moosemilk
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Re: Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCC

Post by moosemilk »

Very nice looking indeed! I'm working on building according to pintoshines plans for a 12gallon. Can't wait to get to that first run! I'm more excited to do that than I was the very first time I saw those drippings running from my ss stock pot set up. Thanks for sharing the pics and experience. Newbie to using anything other than stock pot job so reading from others new is a treat! Can't wait to share my first run story.
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T-Pee
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Re: Alembic Copper 10L-first run, review, questions and SUCC

Post by T-Pee »

kiwihaas wrote:Why let it breath?
It allows for the higher alcohols still remaining to evaporate and gives a better "feel" for the cuts.

tp
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