Distillate emerging temperature

[butterpants]

I've seen various temperature points as "too hot" for distillate coming right off the condenser.

Not a solid consensus nor a succinct reason as to why this temperature point.

Outside of the obvious yet remote pitfall of flash ignition from getting extremely hot... let's say you're digging deep into tails for something... the discharge is getting hot with increasing % water. How hot is too
hot and why?

I could see there being possibly a slight positive effect from a warmer distillate with undesirable volitile compounds being burned off.... almost like an accelerated airing out period.

Just wondering.

[Saltbush Bill]

a slight positive effect from a warmer distillate with undesirable volitile compounds being burned off.... almost like an accelerated airing out period.

Ive heard of people running it that way for that very reason.
I guess like a lot of things in distilling its personal choice and what gives you the results that you want.

[fizzix]

Go for it butterpants!

{I've found by accident my still's upper limit because it pukes when the condenser is very hot (but still dripping liquid).
Also my condenser is small at 12" so isn't very forgiving.}

[ShineRunner]

On a stripping run, I run as fast as I possibly can. With my old Liebig, I was limited by having to keep my outlet temperature under about 130-140. I know that’s hotter than some even like to run. My shotgun can handle anything I throw at it with the 5500w element. Not sure that there is any advantage to running hotter or colder. I do believe that it does help some volatile compounds burn off slightly faster, but have no way of testing or proving that theory..

I guess a test could be designed where you run your still at the same heat input but manipulate your coolant flow on 2 consecutive jars.

SR

[bluefish_dist]

Isn't that really just a function of your product condenser? If it's big enough your output is always pretty cool.

It is warmer running in lm mode than during a stripping run for me. The one thing I can see for lower temperatures is that they correction is less for your hydrometer.

[ShineRunner]

Isn't that really just a function of your product condenser? If it's big enough your output is always pretty cool.

It is warmer running in lm mode than during a stripping run for me. The one thing I can see for lower temperatures is that they correction is less for your hydrometer.

I think essentially, yes. But I think the OP is asking if there’s any advantage to running hotter. I can’t see there being much to running a stripping run hotter, but I do remember seeing some references in the past to adjusting your coolant to allow things to come off a little warmer on a spirit run.

Now that I think about it, I have (accidentally, in the past) had times where my distillate ran hotter because of issues with my pump. I remember the resulting jars being rough and tailsy. But I think that was tails from previous runs getting pushed out of the pipe. They hadn’t been cleaned out by the heads earlier. I have since started to let the fores push further down the tube (by feeling the heat on the condenser) to clean things out more.

SR

[SaltyStaves]

I did a stripping run yesterday that came out rather hot (summer down here). The low wines were added to a carboy of identical low wines from the previous week (which were sitting at room temp).
It gave me pause for thought when I combined them. The marriage of the two batches, may have been helped along by the rise in temperature.

[butterpants]

Ok I thought I was missing something.... apparently I was not. CARRY ON PEOPLE!

[Pikey]

I keep mine pretty cool, don't want alcyhol fumes in the air