My first trial batch..

[Winebibber]

With the plans to finally upgrade to an all grain single malt in the due course of time, I tried to start my first batch with a 'Tried and True Recipe' of sugar wash. Obviously, I wanted to succeed in the beginning itself with least complexity.

With all the notes taken down from the forum, the parent site and various suggestions and comments of all the experienced distillers here, I decided this recipe for a scaled down to 14 Liter wash approx. :

2.2 Kgs of plain white granulated sugar
12 liters of RO water from my home filter
1 Tsp of Gypsum powder
1 Tsp of Citric acid granules
1/8 Tsp of Epsom salt
1 Tablet of Vitamin B complex
1/2 Tsp of DAP

I added the sugar in 4 liters of water at 50C, mixed thoroughly. Filtered with a fine strainer. Ground the other ingredients in a marble mortar and pestle. Mixed them with the sugar water, added another 7 liters of RO water at 31C and stirred well. After 15 mins or so, I sprinkled around 1/2 cup of Prime Instant Dry Yeast from AB Mauri, available at ebay/amazon at very reasonable price. Stirred gently to mix. Tightly closed the lid of the 15 liter clear food grade plastic jar fitted with my home made Airlock. Checked the SG with a hydrometer, it was 1.075, and the wash temp. was 31.5C.

I however don't feel comfortable with adding DAP in the wash. Possibly in the next batch, I'll avoid these ingredients and go for tomato paste as suggested in Birdwatchers recipe. But how about adding Vitamin B complex and Epsom salt in Birdwatcher recipe? Not clear to me, perhaps I need to read more.

Next I placed the fermenter in a bath tub filled with water (around 30-31C). After an hour, the wash started foaming, and I could see the CO2 bubbles coming out of the Airlock tube. After another an hour, the activity became frenzy, and the bubbling came out like machine-gun shots! This process went on for 3 days and slowed down. I shook the fermenter every day a little to reactivate the bubbling. After the 4th day, the CO2 bubbles were too slow to come out - about 1 bubble every 10 seconds or so. On sixth day, I could hardly see any activity. Then I took off the lid and tested the SG, it came down to 0.993. I guess I am lucky enough! I can smell the strong alcohol in the jar! I guess the yield should go around 10% according to the calculators on the parent site.

Today is the 7th day, I have kept the fermenter unmoved to let the sediments settle down, which I can observe already. I plan to siphon the clear wash (which is not very clear though, a yellowish Smokey color in fact) in a few days and give it a run in my assembled cook pot with home made condenser coil with 20 ft 3/8" copper tube fitted in a 10" OD plastic container with cold water-in and hot water-out arrangements.

This will be a purely test run, not for consumption. As my first trial, I am using a 10 liter ss cooker along with induction heater, adjustable from 100W to 1200W power. I'll try to run it with minimum required heat. I know the pressure cookers are not considered to be a good option for distilling, and I am ordering some spares to assemble a 40 liter ss tank for my next batches with proper seals and fitments. The cooker option is just for the first trial run, very carefully though. I just can't wait to see my first clear alcohol drops coming out from the condenser! However I have made some little alteration to the cooker for the moment, like replacing the silicon gasket with a hand made Cork gasket wrapped with PTFE tape, which tested ok while boiling water, ie, no leaks. I've also removed the weight on pressure nozzle and fitted the 3/8" copper tube of the worm. I understand it is still not fully safe and I need to upgrade to properly made bigger ss boiler very soon, possibly with a reflux column.

I'll let you know the outcome of the distillation, judging cuts and mixing (which could be another helluva challenge for a novice like me! ) in next few days.

Cheers!

PS: Recently saw the 'Plastic Codes' topic. I think I'll have to replace my present plastic fermenter jar too with a ss one, in my next 'drinkable' batch.

[piperdave]

Fermenting in plastic is OK, distilling your wash (or mash) with plastics in the boiler or vapor path is not. Search HD for everlasting gasket and there is a good discussion of what and what not to use in the safety section of the forum.

[Winebibber]

Fermenting in plastic is OK, distilling your wash (or mash) with plastics in the boiler or vapor path is not. Search HD for everlasting gasket and there is a good discussion of what and what not to use in the safety section of the forum.

Thanks for the ideas, piperdave, I was just worried about the grade of plastic I was using. I didn't know it is safe of fermentation. The 'Everlasting Gasket' is another good thing to know. I inadvertently did a similar thing, only I used a 6mm thick cork sheet instead of cardboard. I guess I can replace the same with cardboard.

[Winebibber]

Yesterday I siphoned the wash, filanally little more than 13.5 liters. Most of the sediments have settled down, but the color is still smoky. Then I arranged my pot still, cleaned and first did a water boiling run without cooling the condenser and let the steam flow out for half an hour. This also made sure I have no leaks from my gasket or worm joint. Then I cooled down, cleaned the boiler and worm with water and did a vinegar run for another half an hour. Again cooled down, cleaned the stuff.

For the wash run, I divided the wash in 2 equal parts of 6.75 liters each and started with first batch. I took a note of time, wattage and quantity, temperature and ABV of collected distillate carefully. I started collecting in 180 ml small jars. I tried to make single slow run with the least possible heat applicable. First I heated the pot at 800W for about 20 mins, when I could feel the heat of the worm, reduced it 500W for next 10 mins. When I saw the first drops coming out, I reduced the heat to a mere 100W and let run. To my surprise, the distillate was clear as sprinkling water. I collected about 150 ml in every 20 minutes. The data of collection is as below:

Jar no. Time Qty. ML Temp. Abv % Comments
--------- -------- ---------- -------- -------- ---------- ---------------

1. 20 min. 140ml 33C 55.3% Sharp smell of Nail polish remover
2. 22 min. 150ml 30.7C 54.4% Sweet aroma, sharp
3. 20 min. 140ml 31.2C 49.8% Smells good ?
4. 20 min. 145ml 31.5C 47.2% Smells good
5. 20 min 130ml 31.1C 43.8% Good
6. 20 min 150ml 31.2C 39.8% Some stinky smell.. (?) no color change
7. 20 min 140ml 31.5C 30.5% Little smelly, no color change
8. 20 min 150ml 32.1C 22.8% Smells, feels oily on fingertips, no color change yet
9. 20 min 145ml 32.3C 16.8% More smells, clear distillate
10. 20 min 140ml 32.2C 12.6% too little smell, watery

Then I stopped the still. Cooled down, recharged with 2nd batch of remaining wash and re-run the process. As the results were more or less same to the above, I am not reproducing the same here.

After having collected another 10 jars of distillate, I took another 10 bigger jars of 500ml each and mixed the outcomes from both the batches number wise. I covered them with muslin cloth and left overnight for airing and cooling.

Now, a little guidance is requested:
Should I consider the jar no. 3,4,5 and 6 as the hearts? Taking the total yield of hearts as 1120ml, ie., 280ml each jar.

Off course, the 280ml of first jar goes out as foreshots. Is it sufficient to discard 280ml of 2nd jar as the head? Or should I also discard another 280ml from jar no 3? If I do this, I will be left with around 840ml as hearts.

Should I save the contents of jar no 7,8,9 and 10 as tails to be re-run as 'feints' in the future? Or should I mix the 30.5% Abv contents of jar 7 in the hearts and consider only remaining 3 jars as tails? (As such this a sacrificial run, and I wont mind throwing away the entire product after tasting)

To be very frank, I have read so much of discussions on the cuts during last few days, I have become a very confused! Either I need some good advise or perhaps a few wee drams of whisky to relax my head.

I'll be highly thankful for you kind opinions!

PS: Another dumb newbie question : I have not come across yet but is there any rough guideline for novices, like this : If you slow run a 10 or 20 liter of sugarwash in a pot still, you will get an X ml of foreshots, Y ml of heads and Z ml of tails +/- 10% or 20% ?

Just a wild hunch, considering too many factors involved. But I feel that may be an easier workaround for the novices like me.

PPS: The tabulated data did not work, it is messed up, sorry.

[Pikey]

Congratulations on your first success -

We all have different desires and tolerances and what we "keep" will vary according to what "Flavour profile" we want in ur product.

I run 25 litres and discard the first 100ml as foreshots.

What you're doing here is a single run and your abvs are a little low. Some would do several such runs, then combine teh outputs, dilute to 40% abv and run again as a "Spirit run".

Others would do "1.5's" ie :

Your bottles 3,4,5 seem to be to your liking - keep
Bottle 2 is heads (sharpness) - but not neccessarily Bad flavour - YOU decide whether you want any of that "sharp" in your product, if so add some. If not - back into the pot for the next run.

6,7,8,9,10 - Taste and see whether you want those flavours in your product, as with no 2. If not - back in the pot with next batch of same wash. - These are basically tails, although in a whiskey or rum, some of their flavours may be desireable and tehy may be considered "Hearts" - but - it's your product - your choice.

Don't worry about putting them back in as "Feints" - they will boost the abv of your wash and you will get more juice next time at a little higher abv, with more "3,4,5's" in it.

A little hard to demo on a flavourless wash, but do a UJSSSM or whatever next time and what I'm saying will become apparent.

PS - amazing that "Crystal clear" from a mucky old bucket of crap isn't it ? - You should Never experience any other than "Crystal clear" and colourless. - if you do - something's wrong !

atb

[Mikey-moo]

Congrats on the first run. But you don't want to drink any of that! You don't want to keep any part of it for feints runs or reprocessing. It'll have all sorts of nasty residues in it. Throw it away. The clue is in the name... sacrificial. Go sacrifice it.

The questions you ask and the comments you make e.g. being surprised that the output was crystal clear - make it clear you've not done the minimum reading we ask of new members. Slow down. Take a breath. Read the link in my signature - all of it, and the links contained therein.

Once you've done the reading, then make a new wash, run that, then practice making cuts etc.

[bilgriss]

If you keep reading, you'll find your answers.

You will also find that as you continue to repeat the procedure, you'll find patterns. Your equipment with a set recipe will behave more or less similarly one time to the next, making it easier to spot what works and what doesn't. Compare your notes to those scattered about the forum and you'll make sense of it.

As for finding the percentages to look for with regards to cuts....... that won't happen. Every recipe is different, as is every still. A sugar wash will be different than all grain. Fermentation temperature and the speed you run impacts these numbers.

Congratulations on having completed your cleaning runs. It gets more fun now!

[Winebibber]

Congratulations on your first success -

We all have different desires and tolerances and what we "keep" will vary according to what "Flavour profile" we want in ur product.

I run 25 litres and discard the first 100ml as foreshots.

What you're doing here is a single run and your abvs are a little low. Some would do several such runs, then combine teh outputs, dilute to 40% abv and run again as a "Spirit run".

Others would do "1.5's" ie :

Your bottles 3,4,5 seem to be to your liking - keep
Bottle 2 is heads (sharpness) - but not neccessarily Bad flavour - YOU decide whether you want any of that "sharp" in your product, if so add some. If not - back into the pot for the next run.

6,7,8,9,10 - Taste and see whether you want those flavours in your product, as with no 2. If not - back in the pot with next batch of same wash. - These are basically tails, although in a whiskey or rum, some of their flavours may be desireable and tehy may be considered "Hearts" - but - it's your product - your choice.

Don't worry about putting them back in as "Feints" - they will boost the abv of your wash and you will get more juice next time at a little higher abv, with more "3,4,5's" in it.

A little hard to demo on a flavourless wash, but do a UJSSSM or whatever next time and what I'm saying will become apparent.

PS - amazing that "Crystal clear" from a mucky old bucket of crap isn't it ? - You should Never experience any other than "Crystal clear" and colourless. - if you do - something's wrong !

atb

Thanks Pikey, for the good words!

I'll plan to do the 'Spirit Run' with my next batch. And that is some great advise on Cuts and Feints!

After doing a couple of batches of sugar wash, I'll definitely try a hand on UJSSM. I'll post my experiments soon.

[Winebibber]

Congrats on the first run. But you don't want to drink any of that! You don't want to keep any part of it for feints runs or reprocessing. It'll have all sorts of nasty residues in it. Throw it away. The clue is in the name... sacrificial. Go sacrifice it.

The questions you ask and the comments you make e.g. being surprised that the output was crystal clear - make it clear you've not done the minimum reading we ask of new members. Slow down. Take a breath. Read the link in my signature - all of it, and the links contained therein.

Once you've done the reading, then make a new wash, run that, then practice making cuts etc.

Sure, Mikey-moo, this run was for sacrifice indeed! Will just put a drop or two on the lounge from each bottle to 'feel' the difference and take a note. Rest goes to the sacrificial drain pipe!

And you are perhaps right, I have been going too fast in reading the topics. Need to re-read a lot. After all, it's not a thriller novel. Thanks for the good wishes!

[Winebibber]

If you keep reading, you'll find your answers.

You will also find that as you continue to repeat the procedure, you'll find patterns. Your equipment with a set recipe will behave more or less similarly one time to the next, making it easier to spot what works and what doesn't. Compare your notes to those scattered about the forum and you'll make sense of it.

As for finding the percentages to look for with regards to cuts....... that won't happen. Every recipe is different, as is every still. A sugar wash will be different than all grain. Fermentation temperature and the speed you run impacts these numbers.

Congratulations on having completed your cleaning runs. It gets more fun now!

Thank you bilgriss,

Great advise, I need to run a couple of batches of the same type wash to study the patterns and outcomes. This will sure give me a first hand experience to learn the art of distilling, while reading more on the forum.

The fun shall continue...