1st run about to start. Help guys?

[Alkyholik]

In a couple of days I'm about to do my 1st sugar wash run thru my pot still. Its 23ltrs. Is it better to do 2 x 11.5l runs?
Tell me if I'm not thinking it through right.
I am thinking of doing a stripping run 1st. I throw away 200ml right? Then this is then 'low wines' I'm left with? Then I dilute this to just under 40%, then do a spirit run. Also throwing away the 1st 200ml again? Then I divide up into jars,the heads,the hearts and then the tails,is that correct? Now,my still has a thumper,I've been reading up on charging it but I have nothing to charge it with is it ok to just put a little water in to help with removing bad tastes? What I'm left with in boiler, I can put through with the next batch? The stuff with the fusel oils in it,can this be used again? Or the tails?
Sorry I'm trying to read as much as possible but getting old in my years so a bit confused with reading so much so quickly lol

[jog666]

Have you done a sacrificial alcohol run yet?
How big is the pot & thumper?
Stripping all of the wash then putting the low wines back in for a spirit run is normal practice.
First 200ml is scrapped..... I dont think I have ever measured my foreshots. I normally collect the early drips & first several minutes of stripping as foreshots. That never gets mixed back in for consuming. I do keep some around for cleaning & random shit. During a spirit run I collect those early drips and until it starts to clean up (by the nose). Then I start collecting heads, etc for cuts.
Yes, after foreshot cut during a strip run, that is called low wines.
The thumper could be charged with water, wash, heads or tails. If this will be a keeper run, not sacrificial and depending on sizes, I would put some of the wash in the thumper & the rest in the boiler.
What is left in the boiler & thumper after you are done running is backset. Generally scrap it but it can be used for a sour mash/PH adjustment for the next batch. Its also a good weed killer.

[Alkyholik]

Ah jog666 thank you for replying. Haven't done a sac run yet. Was going to do a vinegar/water run then rinse it all out,then a run with just water to make sure. I tested my still with water today to make sure no leaks happened etc and all seemed good.
I think the thumper is about 6 litres iirc. Main pot is 30ltrs or just under.
Was just reading up on making cuts there in the novice section. Did I read correctly that hearts normally starts at 80deg c?
What's the best way to tell when heads starts to peter off and hearts start? Thru taste/smell? I have about a dozen litre size jars and was going to use these for when it starts to go from hearts to heads,then bigger containers for the hearts then back to jars for the end of hearts and start of tails? Or is this a bad idea? When you do your sugar wash thru still, how do you determine hearts,tails etc?

[Alkyholik]

Sorry I find it difficult to put into words what I'm thinking. Always have.

[CoogeeBoy]

What is left in the boiler & thumper after you are done running is backset. Generally scrap it but it can be used for a sour mash/PH adjustment for the next batch. Its also a good weed killer.

That is one thing that I hadn't read before, it would have saved a lot of my plants! I thought it would be good fertilizer but noooooo......

[Corsaire]

Do a sac run first. Just water and vinegar don't get every nasty out. Better be safe than sorry imo.

Your thumper seems small compared to your boiler. A starting point for filling is about 2/3's full. Experience will show you how much further you can take it before you'll get problems with a puke.

You can fill your thump with water or wash. Water will act as a filter of sorts, wash will carry over flavor. So depends on what you want to make.

If you do strip and spirit run there's no need to discard fores in the strip run imo, but others take a fores cut on every run.

For a strip run I just collect everything until my total collected low wines are below 40% abv. How low exactly depends on what I make.

On your first ever spirit run I'd advise you to tape over that thermometer and only go by taste and smell. And dilute your samples!
1l samples are waaaay too big. I'd go with 200ml per jar I think. Helps to train your senses, if you have lots of smaller samples you can look for differences between them.

For doin cuts, best advice I read here was to start in the middle, and go towards tails. Then go from the middle to heads. This will help prevent numbing your sense of smell and taste.

Good luck!

[MartinCash]

Like Corsaire says, do a proper alcohol sacrificial run before you keep any product for drinking. There are nasties that will not dissolve in water or vinegar, and you don't want those coming out in alcohol you will be keeping.

You will probably find a ton of uses for that alcohol, but please don't drink it. I ran my sacrificial run 2 or 3 times through to get a feel for my still when I was starting out, and it teaches you a lot.

Once you've done a full sacrificial run with wash, you'll be ready to start distilling stuff to drink.

[still_stirrin]

MartinCash,

That is the best advice for a new distiller to learn. Very well stated. Thx.
ss

[jog666]

Ah jog666 thank you for replying. Haven't done a sac run yet. Was going to do a vinegar/water run then rinse it all out,then a run with just water to make sure. I tested my still with water today to make sure no leaks happened etc and all seemed good.
I think the thumper is about 6 litres iirc. Main pot is 30ltrs or just under.
Was just reading up on making cuts there in the novice section. Did I read correctly that hearts normally starts at 80deg c?
What's the best way to tell when heads starts to peter off and hearts start? Thru taste/smell? I have about a dozen litre size jars and was going to use these for when it starts to go from hearts to heads,then bigger containers for the hearts then back to jars for the end of hearts and start of tails? Or is this a bad idea? When you do your sugar wash thru still, how do you determine hearts,tails etc?

Use the wash for the sacrificial run. Its only sugar wash. Do it after the water/vinegar run and a good rinse/wash out.
30L & 6L..... sounds loop sided. General rule around here is atleast 1/3 of the boiler size for a thumper.
Use your senses instead of the temperature.
Smell then taste to figure out cuts. For quite a while I half filled pint jars from early heads to well into the tails. Alot was learned from doing that. Now I collect heads in one container til they start to clean up and switch to full pints. If I have any quarts or bigger handy I will catch the hearts in them as I know I will keep that section. Then switch back to pints towards the tails.
The liters would work good (or ok) to collect a stripping run into. Like Corsaire said, small samples during a spirit run.

What is left in the boiler & thumper after you are done running is backset. Generally scrap it but it can be used for a sour mash/PH adjustment for the next batch. Its also a good weed killer.

That is one thing that I hadn't read before, it would have saved a lot of my plants! I thought it would be good fertilizer but noooooo......

Its on the acidic side plus if I get to it quick enough its still very hot. I use it to kill off the plants my 4 legged lawn mowers wont eat. It might also drive off fire ants but I havent tested that yet.

[Alkyholik]

Brilliant thanks guys. Last night I read through the novice guide to cuts.i like the idea of laying the jars out and go from tasting and smelling from the middle of all the jars,to the tails and then to the heads. 1 thing though. When it is said to start mixing some of the heads with some of the less neutral tasting tails etc,is this so more of the end result can be used? I mean, if I have a jar with heads that tastes a nice neutral drink and a tails jar that has a bit of an aftertaste to it,if I mix them both,does this make the 1 with aftertaste more neutral, and the jar with the heads(ish), have a little more of a distinct taste to it?
Also,I have heard from a couple of people who didn't do this whole cuts process, they just binned a bit of the heads at the start of the spirit run,same with tails,and kept the rest(in 1 container),& diluted it to taste.
I like the idea of doing cuts as it will learn me about the whole process, about what's happening at the different stages of the run,and also it will give a better end result. No sense in going to all the trouble of fermenting and distilling, and not taking the same care during the spirit run!!
Lastly I think you mostly advise me to do a sacrificial run. I'm so keen to even taste a little of my 1st wash. Would it be ok to dilute say a third of the end of the wash and put that thru as a sacrificial run,then afterwards do a run with the remainder? I have another wash ready 3 days after the 1st batch btw.
As I said guys, I really appreciate your help.

[Saltbush Bill]

To begin with just keep n drink hearts......once you have that part organized and begin to understand the process you can start to blend other stuff in. Until such time the feints need not be wasted, keep them to run again with the next wash or until you have enough for a feints run. As with all things distilling , learn to walk before you try to run.

[Alkyholik]

Thanks bill. Will do

[Alkyholik]

Bill does the way the alcohol increases/SG going down, look ok to you?
I was looking at shadys version of a sugar wash and his was at 1.01 in a cpl of days!!
Makes mine look slow as hell. It's still bubbling away though

[silverbean]

I don't have the experience that Bill has but the 1st ferment looks a bit slow to me, the 2nd is good. If they keep it up then they both may finish about the same time. Several things can cause a slow ferment, PH, amount of yeast pitched, aeration or source of water. Did you measure Ph? The lemon juice is to adjust the Ph, too big a lemon = Ph too low. The yeast need oxygen at the start to multiply, oxygenating the wash before pitching is important to build a good colony. Regardless the wash is fermenting just a bit slower but still ok. 10 - 20 points a day is ok by me.
If your 1st wash is perfect how will you learn. Use it (or half of it) for your sac run and you don't have to stress about messing up the 1st runs. Have a play with you still and see how it reacts to changing power, how far you can push the condenser. Your off to a good start

[greggn]

I was looking at shadys version of a sugar wash and his was at 1.01 in a cpl of days!!
Makes mine look slow as hell. It's still bubbling away though

How are you managing the ferment temperature ? IMO, that's the shortest path to a finished fermentation yet it's probably the most ignored.

[Durhommer]

Now that its getting cold for me I'm thinking about getting an aquarium heater for my fermenting

[Alkyholik]

I have my buckets on top of an old electric blanket. Both are about 30degC today. The 1st wash was not bubbling so much. I wondered if my tomato paste wasnt enough so I put a tea spoon of DAP into it and it seems to have perked up a bit.is this ok?