redistilling leftovers

[junglejuice]

Hi all I have a Still Spirits brand Turbo Airstill and I was experimenting with it after my first use with the residue/leftovers (whatever you want to call it) from the distilling process, so I refilled to the 4 litre line with this residue and redistilled it, the original output was measured at 800ml @ 63% from 4l of wash, I then got 800ml @ 20% from 4l of the leftovers, I then did it for the third time and got 800ml @ 5% from the third pass.

My question is this, is there any issues or any detriment to doing this?

The first pass even after filtering is a bit methoy smelling, but still ok to drink once reduced down to 40% with flavours and added to coke but there is still a hint of smell in the glass.
The second pass output has less smell of which I tried out making some butterscotch schnapps which I brought back up to a finished 20% with a small amount of the first pass output.
The third pass output smells the best, a little woody smelling which I have been using to bring down the first pass output to make my bourbon.

Is this ok to do or am I missing something????


Cheers, JJ

[Ayay]

Hi JJ, What's left in the boiler after the stillin is not worth stillin again. What's left in the boiler can be used for topping up the next brew for carrying forward some of the concentrated FLAVOURS into the next fermentation or brew.

Re-distilling what you already stilled is not re-distilling leftovers, it's concentrating the concentrates, and this is all about the alcohol that you end up drinking.

[olddog]

Start by reading here, when you have read thoroughly, you can then ask some relevant questions.http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46

[junglejuice]

Hi JJ, What's left in the boiler after the stillin is not worth stillin again. Why is this? I get 20% alchohol from this that tastes better when made up then the first pass output does.....


What's left in the boiler can be used for topping up the next brew for carrying forward some of the concentrated FLAVOURS into the next fermentation or brew. Isn't this pretty much the same as refilling it with leftovers and redistilling?

Re-distilling what you already stilled is not re-distilling leftovers, it's concentrating the concentrates, and this is all about the alcohol that you end up drinking. I am not sure what you mean exactly with this....

Sorry for being a noob but I am new to this and want to try and rid the output of the metho smell.

Later on I will be looking into what concentrates people find work well for bourbons and southo, I am very happy with the result I get with the butterscotch schnapps (made with result of the second pass process)

Cheers, JJ

[Ayay]

If you can get alc out of the leftovers then the first stillin run was very inefficient. Maybe an air still can achieve such an inefficiency?

[junglejuice]

If you can get alc out of the leftovers then the first stillin run was very inefficient. Maybe an air still can achieve such an inefficiency?

I get 20% the second pass and 5% on the third.....

[braemar]

Hi Jungle,
I'm also from 0Z.and have been stillin for around 2 years.
i built my own still and get product out it from a sugar wash in a reflux run at 95% any thing much under this i have found has taste and smell so given the % you are getting you will always have taste and smell which is ok if you are using a pot still with a wash with the intention of retaining a certain amount of flavour from your mash but if your intention is to produce a neutral spirit (vodka) and then flavour it you really need to achieve higher % to get a good neutral spirit.. So the question is what type of mash are you fermenting to put through your still ie. sugar wash, grain,turbo etc.
regs Braemar

[junglejuice]

Hi Jungle,
I'm also from 0Z.and have been stillin for around 2 years.
i built my own still and get product out it from a sugar wash in a reflux run at 95% any thing much under this i have found has taste and smell so given the % you are getting you will always have taste and smell which is ok if you are using a pot still with a wash with the intention of retaining a certain amount of flavour from your mash but if your intention is to produce a neutral spirit (vodka) and then flavour it you really need to achieve higher % to get a good neutral spirit.. So the question is what type of mash are you fermenting to put through your still ie. sugar wash, grain,turbo etc.
regs Braemar

I use a turbo yeast wash made in my fermenter which is what I was instructed to use by the same store I bought the still from, should I use something different???????

[blanikdog]

JJ, you asked what's missing. What's missing is that you don't listen.

What exactly do you want us to tell you????

OD has given you two links and you're not reading them. You bought a device which isn't very efficient. There's nothing you can do about it cos you have already stated that you won't sell it so you're stuck with it. Had you done some research first it's very doubtful that you'd be in the situation that you're now in. The only thing you can do now is to read and make the best of what you have, and that means that you will have to do some personal reading. Sorry, but it really is that simple.

[junglejuice]

JJ, you asked what's missing. What's missing is that you don't listen.

What exactly do you want us to tell you????

OD has given you two links and you're not reading them. You bought a device which isn't very efficient. There's nothing you can do about it cos you have already stated that you won't sell it so you're stuck with it. Had you done some research first it's very doubtful that you'd be in the situation that you're now in. The only thing you can do now is to read and make the best of what you have, and that means that you will have to do some personal reading. Sorry, but it really is that simple.

Steady on, if you read my last response in the "welcome centre" thread which has the post that you're referring to you will see that when I tried it the link didn't work properly for me, it does now, I have read it and found it very interesting, I am now going to look into the wash recipe some more to improve what goes in, I am sorry I am a noob, I am also sorry that I listened to the HB store, it is not a case of not listening and it is also a case of a hobby that has some very unusal terminology that I am yet to understand.
For instance I was told when I bought the still that the airstill unlike their bigger brethren doesn't require discarding of the first 50ml which is methanol as I was told that airstills do not produce methanol, I still don't know. I have to now try and sort between what the shop has been telling me and what faceless forum members have written (not aimed at any individual, this applies to any forum) but certainly appreciate an constructve advice.
There is also not a lot of sense in reading theory or methods for stills that I don't own and most likely never will, I will however be reading up on the fermenting side of things to improve the input to hopefully improve the output.

Cheers, JJ

[Dnderhead]

you could have gotten the same results if you kept running the first time,,,
(ssss dont tell any one but after you've taken off what you want to keep
then comes tails) this can be added to the next run.

[Prairiepiss]

Steady on, if you read my last response in the "welcome centre" thread which has the post that you're referring to you will see that when I tried it the link didn't work properly for me, it does now, I have read it and found it very interesting, I am now going to look into the wash recipe some more to improve what goes in, I am sorry I am a noob, I am also sorry that I listened to the HB store, it is not a case of not listening and it is also a case of a hobby that has some very unusal terminology that I am yet to understand.
For instance I was told when I bought the still that the airstill unlike their bigger brethren doesn't require discarding of the first 50ml which is methanol as I was told that airstills do not produce methanol, I still don't know. I have to now try and sort between what the shop has been telling me and what faceless forum members have written (not aimed at any individual, this applies to any forum) but certainly appreciate an constructve advice.
There is also not a lot of sense in reading theory or methods for stills that I don't own and most likely never will, I will however be reading up on the fermenting side of things to improve the input to hopefully improve the output.

Cheers, JJ

You can read up on fermenting all you want. If that is all you ate going to research . You will never make a quality spirit. You mite be able to make some good beer or wine. But if you don't know how to distill what you have fermented. What's the use? As been pointed out to you. You should be researching distillation theory. Yes you will have to study other stills in order to understand this. I'm sory that a home brew shop is trying to squeeze every penny out of you. But they are full of BS. That's how they got your money. But now its up to you to do the research so you can operate what you have to produce a safe drinking spirit. Nobody here has anything to gain by giving you disinformation. Unlike the HB shop.

Take the advice of these pros here at HD. It's well worth it.

[rad14701]

Sure seems to be a lot of new folks coming here after being screwed over by brew shops recently... To every one of them reading this all I can say is to forget absolutely everything they told you and do plenty of research here... It may sound like we get frustrated here, and we do, but we get more frustrated at the brew shops for falsely convincing unknowing customers into thinking that home distillation is easy and can be done by following their simple instructions which are merely a means of perpetuating sales and profits... Of course, not believing us when we state otherwise doesn't help matters much either...