First Sugar Wash Strip

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.
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Mr Sippy
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First Sugar Wash Strip

Post by Mr Sippy »

I recently completed my first spirit from 30% low wines of 3 previous strip runs and the results were not at all what I was expecting. I am using a pot still and thump keg with electric heat

in the stripping runs the distillate started off around 80% (cant remember if I corrected for temp) and trended steadily down as the run progressed. The first 2 runs ran hard. The 3rd strip run I ran slow like for a spirit and tried to tune my palate to the cut distinctions. I need more practice :)

But in the spirit run the distillate started off around 84% corrected and stayed there for over 6 hrs until I quit. I thought that's how a column behaves and a that a pot distillation spirit run would also trend regularly down :shock:

I did the distillation over 2 days and these are the stats:
Day 1----6.5 hrs----19 pints----83.5% avg
Day 2----4.5 hrs-----9 pints----77% avg

The last 6 pints dragged down the average. 70% of my volume is over 80% abv. But the stuff is gawdawful untastable at that level. I will dilute to 40% according to kiwidistillers excellent tutorial for tasting/cut purposes. I am hopeful I can make good judgement there. I am not as confident yet in the more subjective aspects of this craft.

I don't post here much because I tend to listen more than talk. As others have often said, "the answer to your question is here somewhere". When I first came to this site, I knew nothing and had nothing. Months later I know my equipment performs well, my ferments are proper and my spirits are... well, I'm sure my spirits will be quality. And when I get to my goal of making whiskey and maybe even brandy I know in large part my success will be the direct benefit of your commitment, passion and generosity of time. Thank you so much.

Cheers
Be Kind, Tell the Truth, Sip Good Whiskey
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still_stirrin
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Re: First Sugar Wash Strip

Post by still_stirrin »

Mr Sippy wrote:...in the spirit run the distillate started off around 84% corrected and stayed there for over 6 hrs until I quit. I did the distillation over 2 days and these are the stats:
Day 1----6.5 hrs----19 pints----83.5% avg. <- that's collecting 230 ml in 10 minutes.
Day 2----4.5 hrs-----9 pints----77% avg. <- that collecting 158 ml in 10 minutes.
So, for your 28 pints of collection, does that also include the heads (possibly jars 1 thru 4 or 5)? It seems a little bit slow for a spirit run, but not too bad for day 1. Day 2 was slow and you could have pushed through a little quicker.

Regardless, let the jars air for 24-36 hours and then do your cuts. Start at the middle jar and work your way down first. Then, come back to the middle and work your way up. Make notes of your perceptions as you do this so you can reference them as you work through the jars. Note - smell, texture, taste, burn, etc. Be descriptive with your notes.

This feedback will help you discern the appropriate cut points between heads/late heads & early hearts/hearts/late hearts & early tails/and tails.

As a beginner, be critical of your hearts cuts....to make it clean for your celler. The tops and bottoms can be recycled into a feints jar for future rerunning.
ss
My LM/VM & Potstill: My build thread
My Cadco hotplate modification thread: Hotplate Build
My stock pot gin still: stock pot potstill
My 5-grain Bourbon recipe: Special K
Mr Sippy
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Re: First Sugar Wash Spirit

Post by Mr Sippy »

still_stirrin: Thank you for pointing out the inconsistent rate :oops: . I collected, generally, the beginning in 8 oz jars, the center in 16 oz, then back to 8 oz at the end and misidentified some jars in my spreadsheet. The correct stat for day 2 is 13.5 pints. So 245 ml/10min?

I will let the jars air out some. On day 1 they stayed uncapped during the run ~90^F. At the end of the day they were measurably lower. Day 2 I capped when full. I didn't have a way to measure proof during the run so I made a boneheaded calculation about how much I should get. My quantities include heads but probably little tails. Measuring the proof later, with my last jar at 66%, I think I left a lot of swill in the still :oops:

Cheers
Be Kind, Tell the Truth, Sip Good Whiskey
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still_stirrin
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Re: First Sugar Wash Spirit

Post by still_stirrin »

Mr Sippy wrote:....The correct stat for day 2 is 13.5 pints...245 ml/10min?
Little lower...it's actually 236 ml/10 minutes....consistant with day 1.
My LM/VM & Potstill: My build thread
My Cadco hotplate modification thread: Hotplate Build
My stock pot gin still: stock pot potstill
My 5-grain Bourbon recipe: Special K
Boda Getta
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Re: First Sugar Wash Strip

Post by Boda Getta »

You didn't say (or I missed it) how large your chargeds we're, but it sounds like you had good strips. I often air for 48 hrs and airing is very important. Your cuts will make or break your outcome. Just starting out I messed up a couple of batchs with heads because I was greedy. As poster noted save your feints and run them as well. Fact is if you mess up the cuts with too much heads, extra aging usually takes care of that or you can re-read everything. Take your time with your cuts. I often take a break if my taste buds are stressed. I often have portions I'm not sure about, I set them aside and re-edit until later.
Good luck.
BG
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