any % tricks ?

[retlaw]

i am filling up an 56L oak barrel today (yee ha) and i don't have a % meter,
any tricks to use to estimate the % or how much to water down would be handy to know right now,

anybody know of any?

[Samohon]

Well, the old fellers used to use a proofing jar...

Never used one myself, but if you distilled your shine in the pot still in your avater without a thumper, chances are that you are at or below 65% abv...
Providing its a single distillation (singlings)... Double distillation (doublings)...

Sure there will be someone who has done this without an alcometer around soon...

Hope it helps...

[fullhouse]

retlaw! did u go and buy that on ebay? lol

[drpotoroo]

Got any gunpowder lying around? You could try the really old way of measuring:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_proof#History" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

... or just be safe, don't blow yourself up, and buy an alc meter.

I think I read once there is a way to measure by burning some alcohol and measuring the change in volume. It stops burning at a percentage somewhere under 40% ABV, I think, so you'd have do do some maths to work it out.

[retlaw]

lol
no i was not referring to the avatar,

i have the hearts saved from after a pot and thumper run, around 55L,
running it again mixed down with h20, pot and thumper again,
coming out real nice,

i do have gun powder here, a couple different types,

have to go check it, its still running

[Glock19Fan]

If you are advanced enough in your hobby to have a barrel AND 56 liters of spirit, I dont understand how you dont have a proofing instrument?

You could probably get away with throwing a gallon or so of water in and agin it, but I would invest in an alcoholmeter.

[Buckshot]

Look at the bead.

[NcHooch]

If you are advanced enough in your hobby to have a barrel AND 56 liters of spirit, I dont understand how you dont have a proofing instrument?

You could probably get away with throwing a gallon or so of water in and agin it, but I would invest in an alcoholmeter.

X2 , you've gone through all the effort to produce 56 Liters and buy a barrel, why not hold off a few days and get a proofer and do it right?

[mash rookie]

If I remember correctly It will not burn below 100 proof. Work with a small sample one cup or so. take off teaspoons, burn test and taste test when close. Note percentage of water added. That will tell you how much to add to the barrel.

I broke my first ABV meter recently just befor blending. I had a pretty good idea of the srtength I was starting with so I added water % accordingly and got it on oak. Yes a Total WAG. When I got my new meter I measured it at 90 p. I perfer to oak at 100 p. It was close.

[retlaw]

thanks for the tips guys,
maybe one day i would have a % meter,
three weeks to ship and around 45 for shipping is what stopped me in the past,
never needed one before,
its only been in the last year i started using a hydrometer,

i have a bigger problem to deal with,
the hearts on that last run was so good i took a bigger then big gallon out and now looks like i might be short on filling the barrel,
why is life so difficult?

[Prairiepiss]

Now I can't remember which is which? But if you drop some on a saucer and can lite it on fire its 50% or greater. And if it won't lite on the saucer but will lite on a spoon its between 40% and 50%. Or was it the other way around? Now I don't exactly where I read that. And I don't know how true it is? You mite have to play with it.

[Oxbo Rene]

Just dump a fifth of Everclear in it and your set ! ! ! !

[King Of Hearts]

Try a sample of a known alcohol percent of store bought vodka, rum or tequila against yours. About the only way I know of.

[Sungy]

I buy my alcohol measuring devices at the local brew your own beer and wine place. $7-$9 each.

[Prairiepiss]

thanks for the tips guys,
maybe one day i would have a % meter,
three weeks to ship and around 45 for shipping is what stopped me in the past,
never needed one before,
its only been in the last year i started using a hydrometer,

i have a bigger problem to deal with,
the hearts on that last run was so good i took a bigger then big gallon out and now looks like i might be short on filling the barrel,
why is life so difficult?

Where the flip are you. That it costs $45 to ship you a hydrometer? That's ridiculous.

[retlaw]

Now I can't remember which is which? But if you drop some on a saucer and can lite it on fire its 50% or greater. And if it won't lite on the saucer but will lite on a spoon its between 40% and 50%. Or was it the other way around? Now I don't exactly where I read that. And I don't know how true it is? You mite have to play with it.

thanks,
just tried some tests with this method,
store bought 40% was lighting on a saucer but you have to hold the flame to it for a few secounds,

the old boy used the burning spoon trick as an indicater when to stop collecting,

so i might be able to fill up the barrel after all because that stuff is mighty strong and is in need of a lot more water then i was thinking to get it to 50% for the barrel,

i took 500ml and kept adding 125 ml of h2O and then placed the spoon full in a saucer to light,
ended up putting 500ml of water in untill my educated quess was it was burning like the store bought 40%,
so booze must be around 80%ish,
so i am guessing 375ml of h2O per 500ml should get me around 50%ish,
with those numbers life is good again,

[Prairiepiss]

500 @ 80% you need 300 for 50%

I would do 230 for 500 that would be closer to 55%. You will loose a little to the angels. And I like mine to be 50% when done. But that's me.

[RidgebackDad]

...three weeks to ship and around 45 for shipping is what stopped me in the past...

I'm hoping that's the cost to ship the barrel?!?

[retlaw]

yeah just guessing 80%,
from the numbers from equal parts water and spirits burn like store bought,
it burns on the saucer but needs to have the light held to it for a few seconds,


just thought of another way one can check %,
by weight,
it wood be easier to stick to metric,
you would want to do it in grams,

"The density of ethanol is 0.789 g/cm3, or 0.789 kg per liter.

There are 3.7854 liters per gallon, so 1 gallon of ethanol weighs 2.987 kg.

There are 2.2046 lbs per kilogram, so 1 gallon of ethanol weighs 6.584 lbs.

Compare that with the weight of 1 gallon of water: 8.3454 lbs"

[blind drunk]

Do different proofs weigh the same?

[Dnderhead]

alcohol/water both weighs different,,but the difference is small and a very accurate scales and a large amount of product is needed to tell.

[retlaw]

alcohol/water both weighs different,,but the difference is small and a very accurate scales and a large amount of product is needed to tell.

just have to think on a smaller scale,

and have good scales which i have, one hundredth of a gram,
didn't even had to pull out the gunpowder grain scales,

i just did these tests:

20 drops of water weights 1g
48 drops of 40% store bought weights 1g
59 drops of what i put in my barrel weights 1g

so if 40% equals 28 extra drops, that should be each extra drop is 1.428%
and i have an extra 11 drops on top of that,
which should be an extra 15.7% over 40%,
so that should make my barrel sit at 55.7%
perfect,

all done with less then a half oz,

i did test the weights several times to get the most accurate reading because in some cases there were some slight variations in weight, just kept weighing until one number kept coming up more then the rest,

if anyone has a % meter and a good set of scales with a few extra minutes i would love to know if these figures are right,

the comformation would be:
is 55.7% of alcohol = 59 drops per gram of weight?

[Dnderhead]

just go buy a hydro and git it over with!

your drops of water are like my drips,,,i came up with 40=1 g

[retlaw]

just go buy a hydro and git it over with!

your drops of water are like my drips,,,i came up with 40=1 g

the closest town of "not much" which i might get to every two weeks has nothing,
i live in the bush and the last time i went to the big smoke i tried but no one sells them higher then wine making,

and when shipping on the net is five times higher then the price of the product its hard to press the button,

i doubled checked my drops with the internet and they are correct at 20 per g of water,

this could change with the size of the dropper but as long as when figuring it out the same dropper is used for water and spirits there should not be a problem, unless trying to double check my figures then you would need 1 g to weight 20 drops,

if i had access to everclear i could test the drops per gram with that but that to is not sold around these parts,

i think this is a easy way to check %,
sure i might have to pull out the gun powder scales to get even more accurate numbers but that is something i can do,
checking it with a % meter at this time i can't do and is out of the question,

[Dnderhead]

where you at (general) some one can help you out.

[edge]

Here are two threads that I think explain it very well and include movie:

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3597

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 46&t=13305

[Prairiepiss]

I knew I read around here somewhere. Taters post is the one I read. Good find edge.

[drpotoroo]

The weight method should be really good if you have accurate scales. But using a dropper is adding unnecessary error, IMO. My experience is drops don't always come out of a dropper the same size. Plus, if water and alcohol have different surface tension, they will definitely come out different sizes. The better way would be to compare the weights of a known volume that you can accurately measure - maybe 100ml, maybe 250ml, maybe 1 litre depending what you have around to measure with.

[retlaw]

how come a 56 L barrel full makes me fell so good just by looking at it everytime i see it sitting in the corner of the barn?
emotional boost eye candy anticipation of the future,
makes you want to grow older,
i hope i can make it that long,
3 years before it can be called whiskey eh?
well.... three years minus 3 days,

[Buckshot]

Just shake the jar and look at the bead, if it hangs about the size of a BB like a string of pearls,it's about 100 proof.If the bubbles are big and pop fast it's high proof. It quits beading at 80 proof.