Don't know if these will line up or not and be readable. But, thought the newbies might appreciate seeing the data. I threw the 1st 1/2 cup away that was run before I started collecting. It took 16 minutes to fill up my continuous alcohol meter collector.
Time Comment Mash Temp Head Temp %abv at start
3:58pm First drips 179 110
4:34pm Started collecting 201 178
4:50pm 1st pint started 202 184 73% 2-3 drips/sec
6:00pm 2nd pint started 204 190 65%
6:30pm 3rd pint started 205 192 63%
7:36pm 4th pint started 207 193 55%
8:27pm 5th pint started 209 195 47%
9:30pm 6th pint started 210 205 38% Tails
This is pretty typical with my pot still. The 5th pint is starting to have some strong odors and is a little cloudy. I may pitch it in the next run along with the 6th pint. The best tasting and smelling is the 2nd thru 4th pints. The 1st pint is so strong, I don't know!
My next door neighbor just said my 3 week old stuff is the best home-made hooch he ever tasted.
New recipe run data
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I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you run your pot still faster. The 2-3 drips per second recommendation is for reflux stills, where you are trying not to disturb equilibrium. There has been a lot of discussion on this recently and folks like pintoshine have said that they have noticed no difference in quality from different take-off speeds in a pot still. You just have to pay closer attention to get your cuts right.
On my pot still, I've found that even at the lowest heat setting (electric), I get like a quart every 15 minutes on a spirit run. Running a still is time consuming enough - I thought you might want to save yourself some time.
On my pot still, I've found that even at the lowest heat setting (electric), I get like a quart every 15 minutes on a spirit run. Running a still is time consuming enough - I thought you might want to save yourself some time.
I agree with Samogon. There is very little difference in fast vs slow running of a "pot" still. The reasons that you do not run a "full" speed are:
1. Run very slowly when collecting foreshots (to eliminate all of them).
2. Run a little slower in the heads, to make detecting the switch from head to body more easy to do.
3. Run the very end of the body a little slower (to get as much body as possible, and be able to end, just prior to the presence of the tails).
During most of the body and after the true switch to tails, you can run pretty fast (much like a strip run).
Even if you are distilling into numbered bottles (like you did in your explanation), it is best to start out a little slower, then after you have pulled about 20-25% of the "available" EtOH out, increase the power, and then when you have extracted abotu 70% of the "available" EtOH, again, drop the power down a little, and collect until you have pulled out 90 to 95% of the expected EtOH. That will give you containers of product/heads/tails which are separated a little better, but still allow you to run the entire distillation in a time efficient manner. After a run or 2 with the wash you are using (with your still), you should pretty much have a good idea how much fores, heads, body, tails will be present, and you can then know when to increase and then decrease the power input to help make the cuts.
H.
1. Run very slowly when collecting foreshots (to eliminate all of them).
2. Run a little slower in the heads, to make detecting the switch from head to body more easy to do.
3. Run the very end of the body a little slower (to get as much body as possible, and be able to end, just prior to the presence of the tails).
During most of the body and after the true switch to tails, you can run pretty fast (much like a strip run).
Even if you are distilling into numbered bottles (like you did in your explanation), it is best to start out a little slower, then after you have pulled about 20-25% of the "available" EtOH out, increase the power, and then when you have extracted abotu 70% of the "available" EtOH, again, drop the power down a little, and collect until you have pulled out 90 to 95% of the expected EtOH. That will give you containers of product/heads/tails which are separated a little better, but still allow you to run the entire distillation in a time efficient manner. After a run or 2 with the wash you are using (with your still), you should pretty much have a good idea how much fores, heads, body, tails will be present, and you can then know when to increase and then decrease the power input to help make the cuts.
H.
MikeyT wrote:Well, I don't know guys. When I run much faster I get a little cloudiness and 'fusals' (?) on top of the pints. Fusals - clear looking scum floating on top. Might be using the wrong term here.
To me, that sounds like you are running without enough headspace, and are having the wash boil over. I certainly may be wrong on this, but in my distillations, I have not seen this type of behavior.
Also, I personally do a 2 distill run, every time. First is a fast strip run, where the only thing I toss out is a little bit of fores, 2nd is a more controlled, and carefully cut run (some fores, heads until they are completely gone, then body until I detect tails). Stripping out 3 mashes, then merging them into a single product run, certainly makes the cuts happen much easier.
H.
You distill on the grain, right? Might have more fusel 'oils' available. Second run should remove those.
I've only gotten cloudy distillate once, just during the foreshots, and my boiler was definitely too full. I usually get floating 'slicks' of scum on top by the time I get to tails in a stripping run. They go away during the spirit run. When I run a stripping run hot, I'll get little copper colored shiny flakes of oil also. Second run takes 'em out, so I don't worry about them either. A thumper or doubler would probably take them out in the first run.
I've only gotten cloudy distillate once, just during the foreshots, and my boiler was definitely too full. I usually get floating 'slicks' of scum on top by the time I get to tails in a stripping run. They go away during the spirit run. When I run a stripping run hot, I'll get little copper colored shiny flakes of oil also. Second run takes 'em out, so I don't worry about them either. A thumper or doubler would probably take them out in the first run.
Yeah, on the grain, sort of. I strain the mash then add back about 1/4 of the solids into the pot still.Samogon wrote:You distill on the grain, right? Might have more fusel 'oils' available. Second run should remove those.
I've only gotten cloudy distillate once, just during the foreshots, and my boiler was definitely too full. I usually get floating 'slicks' of scum on top by the time I get to tails in a stripping run. They go away during the spirit run. When I run a stripping run hot, I'll get little copper colored shiny flakes of oil also. Second run takes 'em out, so I don't worry about them either. A thumper or doubler would probably take them out in the first run.
I'm running today's run bout twice as fast. More like a drip, stream, drip, stream,............ No cloudiness so far and I'm into the 4th pint with the % at 50%. I added about 2 quarts of tails to the batch that I've collected over the past several days.