My first (sacrificial) run with questions

[CrazyCanadian]

My still is a little 2 gal number with a 24" tall 2" column and Liebig condenser. I ran this as a pot still. I made 2 gal of sugar mash that I also added yellow raisins to. I never let the mash fully ferment. It still had a good amount of sweetness to it.

The run started slow but the temp really jumped from 84 degrees F to 187 in 30 minutes. I started getting drips at 150 degrees. I never got a continuous stream but about 20 drips in 8 seconds. That held steady throughout. I discovered a very small steam leak that I will fix before next run.

I collected the first 4 oz as foreshots. It had a strong smell but still had a good amount of the smell of the mash to it.

The next 6 oz was 130 proof/65%. This was collected at about 192 degrees
The next 6 oz was 120 proof/60%. This was collected at about 196
The next 6 oz was 100 proof/50%. This was collected at about 200
The next 6 oz was 90 proof/45%. This was collected at about 202.

The still is still running at a top of column temp of 203 degrees. The drips are still about 20 in 8-9 sec.

Those 24 oz I collected all still have quite a bit of smell of the mash to them.

I never intended to drink any of this run but wanted to run the still as if I would. Being as this is my first run, I am not sure I would have drunk any because there is not a night and day difference between the foreshots and the rest. I expected more of a difference and/or less of the mash smell in the output. Not sure how drinkable this stuff would have been.

So what do you think? I kept pretty good temp/time records if anyone needs more info to opine.

CC

[CrazyCanadian]

I collected one more 6 oz jar before turning off the still at a top of column temp of 205. That last 6 oz was 70 proof/35% and has just a bit of cloudiness to it. The others were crystal clear.

So I collected 30 oz of 35% - 65% from 2 gal of not quite fully fermented sugar wash. Nothing blew up. No one got hurt. Nothing was sampled.

[Shine0n]

Fix the leak and run on bubba!!!

Sounds like you did fine, and for not having fully fermented out... it sounds like you got what you should have.

What are your future ferments going to be? If sugar washes may I suggest to use a tsp per gallon of fermaid o yeast nutrient, or if you're like me just boil a cup of yeast in a quart of water and use a couple Oz per wash for the nutrients. Shaken of course

Washes or mashes using grains shouldn't need any added nutrients, keeping the potential abv to around 1.070 should keep the yeasties from over working and crapping in you wash with off flavors.

Good luck and keep up the good works and now get you a real wash going! Oh yeah, if running in pot mode or if it's a pot still without a thumper you might want to run stripping runs followed by a spirit run inorder to get a more drinkable spirit.

Shine0n

[CrazyCanadian]

Going to try Odin's Rye Bread Recipe next. Need to learn about filtering and aging for that.

So, ya say too much yeast can cause flavor problems? Going to have to learn about that too.

I am still a bit leery of taking that first taste of home made hooch. I have read up on the safety aspects of all of this but it still takes a bit of a leap of faith to take that first drink.

[ShineRunner]

I don’t think shineon said too much yeast is a problem.. yes, it can be with beer, but too little yeast is a much bigger problem. If there’s not enough yeast pitched for a given amount of sugar, the yeast will become stressed and crap the bed, so to speak. Overpitching has consequences too, but it’s much harder to do that than under pitch.

As for drinking hootch- if you followed all the rules, then you’re drinking much better than commercial stuff. Start conservative with your cuts and you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll learn the bad flavors and it will be obvious that you shouldn’t be drinking foreshots just by smelling them.. I would also recommend doing double runs, as the cuts are much clearer, especially for a beginner.

SR

[CrazyCanadian]

I know what you mean about foreshots. Nasty stuff. Would not drink that . But i read another post under Safety about a guy who got the bed spins while sober. That's the kind of thing that scares me. I guess I need to learn about cuts - probably trial and error will be the best experience there. For the rye bread recipe, my plan is to run two 2.5 gal stripping runs. Collect that product into one spirit run. Then oak it. Been also reading that carbon filtering may not be the best thing for a spirit that is intended to have some flavor in it.

I'll get there ....

[Shine0n]

I wouldn't use carbon in anything I'm making unless it's a neutral which I don't make anyhow, just make decent cuts and good blending and you'll have a nice sippin likker either white or after aging.

Oops, I would carbon filter a very over oaked spirit to clean it up or just rerun it.

Let you nose do the picking for you and you'll be good to go, on my rum, I'll smell the spirit, use the hydrometer so that I know what the abv is at certain smells. Now I've done that enough I can tell you what abv I'm at just by smell alone. Don't get me wrong, I don't use the hydrometer to make cuts, just so I know the smells at certain points and learn from it.

As for yeast, I don't filter at all, I don't clear my washes as the yeast used is a very important part of the flavor profile I'm looking for.

The only washes I'll clear is on fruit and that's only if I press the juice first. Most times I ferment on the fruit and I'll put the fruit pulp in the thumper trying not to get the yeast but I'm sure alot make it in there during the transfer but that's ok as I'll double run it anyway.

If you want better than commercial likker, dont do what they do and you'll see what I mean, make better cuts, be picky but not too picky with blending if aging long term, if drinking white, make picky cuts and blends and you'll have not good but great likker you'd be proud to share