I have run about five batches since I built my still.My still is 15gal ss beer keg
with a 30 inch x1.1/2 inch colum.A16 inch x3/4 inch copper pipe coming up from it.elbows 45degrees with a 8 inch peice a 45 down 26 inchs with a 18 inch water jacket.Colum packed with marbles, condinser packed with small peices of copper.With a 3/8 inch x 24inch collecting tube.I use the pro.burner from a turkey cooker.I have done 2lb sugar per gal 1lb sugar per gal.7 grams yeast 21 grams of yeast.I have cooked hard and fast.I have tryed it slow.I toss the first 1/4 pint keep a pint for heads and save the rest.I collect till I taste no spirt then I stop.I collect n pint glass jars.I have read the sight 4 or 5 times before I started my still,books and other sites.But no matter what I do,my booze is to hot to drink.I use redstar bakers yeast.tap water to ferm.Siphon to carboy made out of plastic to clear before I cook.If I run it 1 time or 3 it is still to hot to drink.When I try to cut it whith water it gets cloudy.So I cut it with different juices,it tastes good but I want some clear drinable hooch and so do my freinds.I cannot get ac.carbon where I live.I know other guys that make it and can drink it from the still but they won't tell me any thing.And one more ? If I destill grape or apple or any other fruit will it taste like the fruit or will it be the same taste that sugar and meal gets.I"m sorry for such a long post
But I need help allI can get.
Thanks Runningkind
bought wisdom don't come cheap,but it is a good teacher
First of all...sounds like you have done everything under the sun and still you are not happy with the outcome. I'll ask a few questions just to clarify some points for myself.
#1 You have marble packing.....can you get copper mesh?
#2 I don't see anything about reflux back to the column....is there any?
#3 What does "Too hot" mean?
#4 If it gets cloudy after you cut the product with water that means you are collecting too far into the tails.
#5 Are you shooting for a nuetral vodka or a flavored product?
#6 Do you have any idea what the temperatures are during a run?
#7 What is the collection rate and proof?
#8 Are you willing to try another wash but do it exactly as described?
Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
I Mean it is hot burns to bad to drink.Icollect till I don;t tast alc.I do not have a reflux tube run in the colum.All I hve been trying so far is vodka,but would like to make flavor spirits.Temp runs about 170 stop bout 200 degrees,I will do what ever it takes to make good spirits,I love this hobbie
thanks runningkind
bought wisdom don't come cheap,but it is a good teacher
Im with grayson sounds like your keeping to long try stopping at 190f or lower get some copper mesh from brewhaus.inc cost about 15 bucks to pack your coulm toss a little more foreshots.you really need a reflux tube going back into your coulm to give you more controll.don't give up you'll get it rite.good luck
You need to order an alcoholometer also. They're cheap, like $5.00. I got mine from brewhaus. It was less than $10.00 with shipping, if I remember correctly.
Sounds to me like you are thinking you are making very good nuetral product when in reality you are running a marble packed potstill column and collecting far into the tails. If you desire to use that same setup then you will have to make multiple distillations to account for not having any reflux.
As far as the product being too "hot" to drink, it sounds like you are trying to drink it the proof you collected it at. If thats the case then you really don't understand what you are doing. Just my opinion.
Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
yeah a alco meter is a must, but you can still run reflux without any cooling but it will be a very slow rate i have tested this with mine,
you get a much better product if you run the reflux with out the cooling as the temp layers are naturaly spread and not banked up behind your reflux tubes,
but it is dam slow, not realy worth it.
and yeah marbles in a collum of that size just wont work real well, i use stainless steel scourers and they work well and cost f**k all, try collecting in small batches and mark on em what the temp range you collected in and the cut and test each one till you work out how your still runs
Whiskey, the most popular of the cold cures that don't work (Leonard Rossiter)
for too hot to drink...i am a noobie but I have found that using pointing a fan at the coils will help to cool liquid to a reasonable temperature as it comes out...not sure if that is any help...
Ok guys I run a water tube tru my colum.I run every thing tru again,collected in pint jars.I can't realy get a good temp reading ,if I move my thom.I get different readings.So I collected every thing.It still tastes to hot to drink.What I mean by hot is it tastes like hot peppers,not hot like boiling hot.I also packed colum with copper.Could I be running my still to slow For a 5 gal. wash counting heat up time it take about 8 hrs.I thought the slower the better.Its driving me to drink.
thanks for the in put
bought wisdom don't come cheap,but it is a good teacher
Ok guys I run a water tube tru my colum.I run every thing tru again,collected in pint jars.I can't realy get a good temp reading ,if I move my thom.I get different readings.So I collected every thing.It still tastes to hot to drink.What I mean by hot is it tastes like hot peppers,not hot like boiling hot.I also packed colum with copper.Could I be running my still to slow For a 5 gal. wash counting heat up time it take about 8 hrs.I thought the slower the better.Its driving me to drink.
thanks for the in put
Are you diluting it to about 40% a/v before tasting it or trying to drink it as distilled? Is there any difference between the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc bottles? I assume you discard the 1st bottle.
Yes I toss the first 1/2 pint and keep the next pint to put in my next run.I have cut it and tryed it from the still.I I cut it to drink it gets cloudy.
bought wisdom don't come cheap,but it is a good teacher
You should stop before the vapour temp hits 190degF any hotter and you'll be getting too much tails in your distilate. It is the hevier compounds that come off near and above 190 that cause your distilate to cloud when you dilute it.
My rule of thumb is start keeping at 176F (80C) and stop at 194F (90C) for a stripping run.
I then run the product through again starting the collecting at 172F (78C) and stop at 180F (82C).
I find I get 95%abv by this method keeping the temp as low as I can int the nightmare still. (See link in sig) The Distilate is smooth and clean and does not cloud when diluted. It also takes flavours VERY well (to the extent that I have mates sucking up for some ... er... samples each time I flavour my shine)
there is no replacement for experience and knowing what to exepect taste and smell like if ya running that column and when to quit adding to your keeps jar!
i agree with them if ya gunna take that much into the tails ya need to redistill it for your own pleasurable enjoymnet so just run a stripping run or reengineer your still.
The alcometer takes all the work out of it. i would have to climb up a latter every five minutes to read the top of my still. (it was perfect when i built it but i didn't acounnt for the burner so its like 7.5 feet tall.)
