My First AG steam strip

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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tjsc5f
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My First AG steam strip

Post by tjsc5f »

Well I ran the first AG beer through my steam rig today. It didn't go as I originally planned but got 'er done anyway.
The original plan was to mash and ferment in the half barrel thump keg - this went OK. I did 20lbs super market yellow corn meal, 5lbs malted rye, 2.5lbs malted barley and high temp enzymes to help thin out the corn while gelatinizing.
After fermentation I was hoping I'd be able to siphon off enough clear beer to put in the boiler, thump through the grain and run a single plate column above the thumper to do a one and done.
I was only able to get around 4 gallons of clear beer siphoned off, which wasn't enough to charge the boiler, so I drained the thump keg down about half way, charged the boiler with water, removed the reflux condenser and went for a pair of strip runs instead.
The first half gallon from each run looked pretty good, after that the distillate started getting really yellow. After another half gallon I started getting a lot of floating brown stuff. Looked kind of chunky but when you fish it out on your finger it's really thin and smears.

I ended up with a little over 4 gallons. I'm not sure what the final ABV was because I dropped my hydrometer :x

Along with the brown stuff in the distillate, when I pulled the rig apart for a wash down I found some silver pasty looking stuff in the PC, looked kind of like anti-seize. I found another post on the forums here that said both the brown stuff and silver stuff was from oils in the grain (the silver specifically was from the rye - interesting stuff).

Now I'm looking forward to doing a spirit run and getting it in a Badmo barrel for a 4 year slumber.
tjsc5f
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Posts: 192
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:18 pm
Location: MO, USA

Re: My First AG steam strip

Post by tjsc5f »

Just a little update:
The abv of the stripped run was around 35% after temp correction.
I did the spirit run today. Pulled off a little less than 2 gallons, went all the way down to cloudy tails. Ended up keeping a little less than a gallon at 71% after cuts. Proofed down to 55% and filled my first Badmo barrel!

Using PPG from brewer's friend and doing the math, it looks like my stripping run ended up over 100% efficiency based on an OG of 1.074. I'm sure the source of error here is that the collected volumes were only roughly measured, but for any of you doing similar steam strip/pot spirit runs, do these yields seem to be in the ball park of what would be typical?
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TwoSheds
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Re: My First AG steam strip

Post by TwoSheds »

Thanks for documenting and updating.

I only have one (mostly successful) steam strip under my belt too, so can't really comment on your numbers, but will be following along.

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Ben
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Re: My First AG steam strip

Post by Ben »

tjsc5f wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 7:56 pm I'm not sure what the final ABV was because I dropped my hydrometer :x
This happens so frequently I keep at least 2 around. When I get down to 1 I order 2 more :P Dang ol' butterfingers.
:)
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Dancing4dan
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Re: My First AG steam strip

Post by Dancing4dan »

tjsc5f wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 7:56 pm Well I ran the first AG beer through my steam rig today. It didn't go as I originally planned but got 'er done anyway.
The original plan was to mash and ferment in the half barrel thump keg - this went OK. I did 20lbs super market yellow corn meal, 5lbs malted rye, 2.5lbs malted barley and high temp enzymes to help thin out the corn while gelatinizing.
After fermentation I was hoping I'd be able to siphon off enough clear beer to put in the boiler, thump through the grain and run a single plate column above the thumper to do a one and done.
I was only able to get around 4 gallons of clear beer siphoned off, which wasn't enough to charge the boiler, so I drained the thump keg down about half way, charged the boiler with water, removed the reflux condenser and went for a pair of strip runs instead.
The first half gallon from each run looked pretty good, after that the distillate started getting really yellow. After another half gallon I started getting a lot of floating brown stuff. Looked kind of chunky but when you fish it out on your finger it's really thin and smears.

I ended up with a little over 4 gallons. I'm not sure what the final ABV was because I dropped my hydrometer :x

Along with the brown stuff in the distillate, when I pulled the rig apart for a wash down I found some silver pasty looking stuff in the PC, looked kind of like anti-seize. I found another post on the forums here that said both the brown stuff and silver stuff was from oils in the grain (the silver specifically was from the rye - interesting stuff).

Now I'm looking forward to doing a spirit run and getting it in a Badmo barrel for a 4 year slumber.
Sounds like it puked a bit. Don’t worry about it to much on your stripping runs. It happens. Likely need more head space in your thump. On grain strap can really foam up. Usually need about 40% head space in the thump.

I heat the boiler with electric and the thump with propane while constantly stirring. Then when boiler is making steam shut off propane to thump and close it up and let the steam take the thump to boil with boiler at 100% power.

When thump boils shut down boiler for a few minutes to let thump settle down. Then restart boiler at lower setting and adjust up slowly. Seems to minimize tendency to foam and puke.

I Insulate boiler steam line and thump after shutting off propane to help speed things along. Just some old wool blankets.
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