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Hi. I have a 5 galon copper alembic potstill. I have been using propane to heat but would prefer to go electric. Most immersion heaters seem to need a tripple clamp and or mostly used it seems on stainless or keg boilers. Im afraid of the thinness of my copper pot to handling the weight of an immers...

Cheers Wouter. Hope it helped. I know the info from this thread is what got me my first batch! I am hugely grateful to all the fine folks who contributed. The recipe works great. My only comment is that when you go back to page one, and der wo's mash bill of 2kg to 2.75kg )depending on the wash ABV ...

hahaha. Nice Zapata. That's fricking hilarious! lol

BTW: I re ran a MUCH slower run of the entire distillate from my first sprit run 9except one jar which I accidently dropped and broke) The results are sweet, clean and rather superb IMO for a new make spirit. None of the bitter grassy tones and off flavors are present. I am glad I did it. Maybe the ...

Cheers. As to the "Scotch Community" this is a generalization not specific to this forum at all.

Im going to empty by barrels back into my boiler and re run my spirit run doing all new cuts. My goal is to take what I have gathered and try to prevent as much smearing as well as go less far into the tails. One question: Should I add my jar of foreshots back into this second sprit run OR leave the...

Thanks for the replies. Zapata your comment of "being a scared parent" might be spot on. In any case that made me laugh and reassurd me. Still Life thanks for the info on output temps. HDNB thanks for the comments Der Wo: Thanks for your feeback on temps. I will aim to stay below 105. The ...

Awesome feedback all. I like the idea of waiting a few weeks then re running it. I finally pegged the bitter taste that lingers on the tongue for a LONG time. To me, it tastes like wet piece of grass stuck in my mouth. I feel like the AG went well. I feel like der wo had a great recipe. The spirit r...

I feel like I better add something. There were times during the runs (both stripping and spirit runs) where my condenser heated up quite a bit (I am using a very large bucket of cold water that's recirculating) Once it got warm I tried to get on it quickly and drain the large reserve bucket and refi...

Thanks. Its been in the barrels for only 2 days now. So, its ok to pull it from the barrel and redo the run (sorry if that's a horrible newb question but lets face it I am a newb after all). I brings me hope to think that I may be able to re run the entire distillate a 3rd time and mayble take bette...

Thanks HDNB. Does anyone have any tips to help shorten the learning curve? Its discouraging to hear of 20 plus runs before it starts to work. Reason being, in our cold weather (its super cold for over 8 or 9 months of the year), I will be lucky to do one real batch per year (maybe two if I am lucky)...

lets try that agin (sorry my num lock was on) jar 6 had (drum roll....) 73%. there. got it.

I should edit for jar 6 I got % and also this hobby is the best hobby I have every had! cant wait to learn and grow and develop workable skills! thank again to this group for facilitating that and sharing knowledge!

So I finished my first run using this thread of recipe/tips/instructions. I have about 4 liters of finished "new make spirit" at about 63.5 ABV. I poured this into one 3 liter barrel that had sherry in it for about a month and another 1 liter barrel that had port in it for a month. I am no...

Thank you gents. I feel much better not going into my first run blind and thank to you guys I have a great sense of how to proceed. Im sure there is room for trial and error but at least I have a plan and will be safe. I am grateful for the tips! MDH I like the idea of using a spreadhseet to track h...

der wo you mention that "there is no temperature to hold except when you run a potstill". I am running a copper alembic pot still. Not a column still. So, does that meant hat your rule applies to me and there is in fact a temperature I should run because I am in fact using a pot still?

I promise this is my last question before I start my batch. Do you put ALL of the distillate that comes off the first stripping run into the spirit run? In other words, do I throw out the foreshots from the first "stripping run" the way I would in the final sprit run or is it fine to colle...

Thanks EVERYONE! Great tips. I was talking distillation temp but those tips on keeping a nice warm ferment are helpful too. I might use an electric blanket I have at the house to keep my fermenters warm. The tip "it's not good practice to distill based on temperature. Depending on the exact mix...

Again, that you all for your assistance and especially der wo for your generous responses and rgeat recipe sharing. At the risk of annoying everyone with my newb questions, I have two more related to this subject. Maybe the answers will be of some help to the next newb wishing to break into the hobb...

One more question comes to mind about your recipe der wo (sorry to be a pain) what nutrients do you add in and how much?

Thanks again

K

Also, can anyone comment on preheating the scotch whisky wash before putting it into the still? In other words is it a good practice to take the finished wash and preheat it in a separate boilers before pouring it into the alembic still to start distilling?

Thank you all for the reply's kind gentleman! This helps clarify a few important points for sure. And thanks Der Wo for the great details. Very helpful my friend! I was able to locate some Safspirit M-1 Distillers yeast by Fermentis which is said to impart fruity flavors which I like. I will be tryi...

Hi all! I hope I am not an annoying newb when I ask this question. I have studied these threads and researched online for weeks. I am familiarized myself with the fundementals of mash making, sg's, abv's, heads, hearts and tails. etc. I have purchased a 20 liter alembic potstill, and all the equipme...

Thanks gents. Its a long haul to getting competent at this and im green as can be. Its a huge value to have experienced folks to ask questions of

Hi all! I hope I am not an annoying newb when I ask this question. I have studied these threads and researched online for weeks. I am familiarized myself with the fundementals of mash making, sg's, abv's, heads, hearts and tails. etc. I have purchased a 20 liter alembic potstill, and all the equipme...