Some basic distillation w/ reflux questions

[hacker]

Some basic distillation questions;

I have started assembling parts to build a nice big reflux still, the boiler is a nice big 50L stainless steel keg

Going to have a column imported or bought locally and attach it to the top obviously, I have a few questions running in my mind atm, i've got some absurdly n00bie level experience running a 5L AIR cooled stilll with no copper :/, basic Dextrose & still spirits triple distilled packs; w/ the worlds crappest carbon filter thing Anyway!

1. with a 50L boiler, is there a specific volume I have to fill it to? or if I have 25L washes can I just put in 24-25L of that? or do I need to fill it to the 40L~ mark?

2. specifically regarding the wash, I just read that proper neutral spirits don't use a sugar wash, can I use the same 30L fermenter I have at the moment and what do I actually want to use to make the best vodka?

3. filtering, how many times do you guys filter through carbon?

4. how many times will you run your 'wash' through a still in total before you start the next phase of cleaning it?

5. do you put a wash through more than once?

6. me being an impatient prat, how much does letting loose carbon sit w/ stiring occasionally in your diluted booze right before you filter it improve the quality?

7. with my current rubbish still, i've got no issues getting the methanol out, but the yuck fusels or whatever is still there, im getting building a much much better filter this week, and adding a paper filter step to it and possibly number 6; should this be enough to make my booze essentially tasteless?

8. i'd love to give my mum a bottle of apple flavoured vodka with no hangover and no foul taste!

9. safety question, is there a max % abv you can put in a still? there is no risk of it igniting right?

[Vodka_Master]

1. You can basically fill it how much you want, as long as you don't let the bottom scorch. It's just not worth it running 5L runs. I personally do 25-30L runs in my 12 gal boiler (about 45L)
2. For really good vodka, you will probably need a grain wash, but me personally i do sugar washes and they turn out really good. But you will have to stay away from those turbos, they usually created a lot of nasty flavours.
3. I don't filter with carbon. If you distill it well enough through a good reflux still you wont need to.
4.If using a reflux still, you can run it only once, although it's best to make a strip run first.
7. With a reflux still, you will get times where something specific comes out of the still. So when you reach the ethanol part, you should be getting a good 95%, witch is mostly clean with very little to no off flavours. Do your cuts right and you wont need any filtering.
9. I most people dilute their low wines to around 40% before a spirit run. But just because it's not high abv in the boiler it doesn't mean nothing could go wrong and you could just leave it there running all alone for hours. The alcohol vapours themselves are more flamable than the liquid, so make sure you keep it save, like smoking beside the still, ect.

[Thorn_veritas]

well that about sums that 1 up!

[manu de hanoi]

4.If using a reflux still, you can run it only once, although it's best to make a strip run first.

....because you can use bicarb to remove unwanted stuff in case you want some neutral

[hacker]

4.If using a reflux still, you can run it only once, although it's best to make a strip run first.

....because you can use bicarb to remove unwanted stuff in case you want some neutral

That's exactly what I just read!

I'm going to do like 6 runs with this crappy still then try a second run with bicarb should be 2 runs with bicarb

but yeah see how it goes, im currently on the last of my last batch of 'vodka'...

i'm also going to build the cheapest carbon filter ever I've got it all drunk planned hahhaha

[rad14701]

Do things right the first time and you won't need to filter through activated carbon... Part of ding it right is to make sure you have low enough %ABV low wines in your boiler at all times... Not only does diluting low wines, for secondary distillations, need to be below ~40% ABV for safety, but also to help keep impurities in the wash rather than them sneaking into your spirits...

If your wash volume is more than a single still charge then you could probably save some time, overall, by doing strip runs and then combining those strips for a single spirit run... Done properly, you shouldn't need to do anything more with your already clean spirits...

[Braz]

If your wash volume is more than a single still charge then you could probably save some time, overall, by doing strip runs and then combining those strips for a single spirit run... Done properly, you shouldn't need to do anything more with your already clean spirits...

This gets close to a question that has been bouncing around in my head. If running a reflux still and being patient, letting it run full reflux for an hour, taking the product off slowly, is there any advantage to doing a stripping run first? I can see a clear advantage if you have limited boiler capacity but assuming your boiler can handle the wash volume easily, is there an end quality advantage to stripping?

Braz

[rad14701]

If your wash volume is more than a single still charge then you could probably save some time, overall, by doing strip runs and then combining those strips for a single spirit run... Done properly, you shouldn't need to do anything more with your already clean spirits...

This gets close to a question that has been bouncing around in my head. If running a reflux still and being patient, letting it run full reflux for an hour, taking the product off slowly, is there any advantage to doing a stripping run first? I can see a clear advantage if you have limited boiler capacity but assuming your boiler can handle the wash volume easily, is there an end quality advantage to stripping?

Braz

There could be a definite time benefit...

Let's say your wash volume requires two spirit runs... If you run 100% reflux for 1 hour per run that equates to 2 hours... If each run were to take 5 hours total, for example purposes only, then you have a total of 10 hours invested with 2 of those hours being for equilibrium...

Now, let's say you do two strip runs that take only 1.5 hours each for a total of 3 hours to strip the total volume... Charge the boiler with those low wines and run at equilibrium for 1 hour and then do the spirit run for only 3 hours due to starting with a smaller volume of cleaner ~40% low wines for a total spirit run time of 4 hours... So, 3 hours to strip plus 1 hour for equilibrium plus 3 hours to collect clean spirits equals 7 hours, or a 30% reduction in overall time, cooling, and heating expense... So, even though it takes three runs rather than two the overall time is far less...

True, these figures are hypothetical, but several members here are using this method successfully... Perhaps they will share their real world times here for a more accurate comparison... I know my strips take less than half as long as my spirit runs and I pull foreshots whereas many others don't...