Quick one

[pHneutral]

Using the PDA-1 to get my first run. ~20L of wash at 15+% alcohol.

Into the hearts now, but the temperature at the probe is 79.5 or so. In fact, if I lower the heat a bit, the whole thing stops and drops temp. This is the best I can get it to go. The hearts are clean smelling (almost zero smell and burns immediately with a clean blue flame). Everything is coming over at 87% ABV.

I'm using propane and it is a bit fiddly, but I think I have it equalized..I brought it down once the wash was putting off vapor, and then brought it up slowly in steps until I saw the temp start to rise. is it just because of the short column that I am getting 87%? And do you think the temperature is a phantom reading? Or is my heat control just poor?

Mind you, 87% isn't bad for a short column

[big worm]

on a unstripped wash 87% pretty good keep playing with it and in no time at all you'll be getting 88% i would think the more you use it the better the runs will get...it takes a few runs to figure out how it drives.

[Hack]

I'm not sure on your particular still, but in general the lower you run your heat the purer and higher abv you get. The trade off is your collection rate drops and makes the run take longer.

[pHneutral]

Thanks for the encouragement guys

Well, its coming off at better than 90% now, since the whole first liter is at 90%, and it was 87% when I was in the first third.

So.. good news I may have cut too soon off the heads? The distillate does have a faint "banana" smell (and taste) to it.

But.. wow. Strong stuff. I'm not drinking it since its my first run but a lick of the spoon raised the hair on the back of my neck!

I am loving this!!

[CoopsOz]

Another person hooked. We are taking over the world....one person at a time!

[pHneutral]

Hook, line AND sinker

I'm in the tails now, after having to shut it down overnight and not resume until later today. I let it come over temp, kept it there for a bit at max reflux, then flushed the column at max speed (opened the VM valve all the way) until it was equalized, then switched out collection jars and cranked it down..

Result: 2.5L of 87%, 90% and 85% ABV (in that order.. 1L, 1L, 0.5L) + the 0.4L of heads (or so)

They all have a faint banana odor and taste, but from what I've read it's because of the molasses, and I'll just let them air out awhile. I wont drink the first liter, as well, since this is the first run.

Using this short column is blindingly slow, but the product is clean and clear! Those are the results from an unstripped wash, so I am fairly confident I'll be able to get 95% neutral from low wines This thing is not that hard to drive.. it seems to like to be over driven by a degree or so (at least, with propane and a big vessel under it) to get the best purity, so if you get a PDA-1, remember that.

WOO!!!!!

Count me in boys. I'm hooked, I'm getting dragged behind the boat, and am flopping around

[pHneutral]

Visited 2 friends last night, and then stayed over at another friend's. We sampled the final third of the hearts.

The resounding assessment of the white dog that I brought was REALLY positive. And a 4 star rating from a 70 year old italian woman.

They couldn't believe how smooth it was, and how easy to drink. And this is just with some agitation (pouring from jar to jar for 5 minutes) and a day of airing out. Nobody left any in their glasses, and umm.. can I just say that this stuff is sneaky? It just doesn't have the burn of regular commercial, and the buzz came up slow and even.. without any shocky warning signs like I always get with regular hooch. And then I slept like a baby, and I feel great this morning.

So I'm left, as usual, thinking.. "Why on earth haven't I done this before?"

I am so done. Now they are talking to me about bourbon and gin.

[pHneutral]

Second run started. The previous run had a bit of sugar still in it (SG 1.000), but this one went to dryness (tasted dry and was @ SG 0.990) and so that means its actually at 14% or so. I used baker's yeast with this one and just let it sit for two days after it had stopped bubbling.

I put the tails from the last batch in to boost the ABV.. it's more stable of a distill and doesn't seem to need to be overdriven this time.

Total about 6 gallon of 14% wash + 1 liter of 65% tails.

I wont be reporting all my fermentations and distilliations, but I thought that people might be interested in how I did things each time, in case they wanted to replicate them. The second wash had the sugars inverted using lactic acid, and they were added to the wash in three steps. All extras, including 450G of molasses, except the DAP added in the beginning. The DAP was split into three portions and added with the sugars. The pH was kept acidic throughout (below 4.5 or so) The portions were calculated from Smudges recipe, adjusted to 14%, omitting Marmite, but adding a One A Day vitamin.

[pHneutral]

Second run results: 2.5L of solid hearts from a 14% or so wash. 1.5 liters of tails and 1/2 L of heads.

Nice run Even smoother than the first time.

[Squint]

Hi PH
when I get my 50ltr keg turned into a elec keg, with a 4500kw element with voltage controller, the PDA-1 is the way Im a heading, will also buy an extension coloum, maybe 2, get it up high, good to see you are getting good results from your PDA-1

Squint

[pHneutral]

Hey squint!

Its an awesome unit, but it is definitely slow when going from low ABV. Even with the column extension, doing 50L will take probably 12 hours or more at 92+% hearts. You may want to consider doing what I am considering, which is doing a pot still head for my large boiler, and using the PDA-1 only for spirit runs when I want a single pass, high ABV result. In other words, I would be stripping my washes/mashes with the pot still, then running them through the PDA-1.

That way, you can do pot still only runs for other spirits, and as a side by side comparison on washes.

Keep us posted