Novice strip and spirit run question…

[Suburban Guy]

To confirm, in order to do a strip run on a basic wash, I would simply put the wash in the boiler and collect EVERYTHING that comes out on the other side, including foreshots, yes?

Then I could take the low wines, dilute to 40% and re-run in a more controlled manner as a spirit run, discarding the initial foreshots and collecting between 200-400 ML in individual jars so I can make my cuts?

Does this about sum it up? I am sure this has been covered many times over; I am continuing to read and search the forum and appreciate the feedback. I am planning my first run for tomorrow.

SG

[blind drunk]

To confirm, in order to do a strip run on a basic wash, I would simply put the wash in the boiler and collect EVERYTHING that comes out on the other side, including foreshots, yes?

Some remove the foreshots during the stripping run. Other do not. If you boiler charge is 5-6 gallons of wash, I'd use the 200 ml jars for better separation.

Other than those two points, yes.

[Suburban Guy]

So the removal of foreshots on a stripping run is somewhat subjective? Curious, do you remove them BD? It is a 5 gallon charge so 200ML is what I will collect at, although I just got done lableing my bottles and marking each with label tape at the 400 ML line!!! Thanks very much for the response.

[blind drunk]

Hey Suburban Guy, I do remove them during the stripping run. I just like to know that they are gone. You'll end up doing another early cut during your spirit run anyways, so maybe it's a moot point. Good luck.

[rtalbigr]

Like BD says, some do some don't. I collect every thing on my strips and then make my seperations when I do a spirit run. It's pretty much whatever ya want to do.

Big R

[Suburban Guy]

Hey Suburban Guy, I do remove them during the stripping run. I just like to know that they are gone. You'll end up doing another early cut during your spirit run anyways, so maybe it's a moot point. Good luck.

Good deal and thanks again.

SG

[Suburban Guy]

Like BD says, some do some don't. I collect every thing on my strips and then make my seperations when I do a spirit run. It's pretty much whatever ya want to do.

Big R

I hear you, thanks.

[WalkingWolf]

So the removal of foreshots on a stripping run is somewhat subjective? Curious, do you remove them BD? It is a 5 gallon charge so 200ML is what I will collect at, although I just got done lableing my bottles and marking each with label tape at the 400 ML line!!! Thanks very much for the response.

If you are not familiar with making cuts then 200 mls would be 5 times more affective in helping you learn the process. 100mls would be 20 times more affective. 400 mls is a lack of commitment.

[Suburban Guy]

So the removal of foreshots on a stripping run is somewhat subjective? Curious, do you remove them BD? It is a 5 gallon charge so 200ML is what I will collect at, although I just got done lableing my bottles and marking each with label tape at the 400 ML line!!! Thanks very much for the response.

If you are not familiar with making cuts then 200 mls would be 5 times more affective in helping you learn the process. 100mls would be 20 times more affective. 400 mls is a lack of commitment.

Oh, I’m committed Wolf, 200 ML it is! Admittedly I think I’d go insane collecting in 100 ML increments though.

[Samohon]

I used to cut my spirit run using 200ml jars for nearly every run I made. My wash, coolant and heat were so consistent that I could swap out my heads jar and place my hearts jar to collect the whole of the hearts section of the run. This comes with practice, but in the meantime, use your 200ml jars to take your cuts. Soon you'll be able to anticipate when the cut is going to be made...

BTW, I nearly always collect the fores from the stripping run, then take another 100ml slowly at the beginning of the spirit run.
But as the guy's have said, you can take them from the strip or spirit run, but do take them slowly...

Keep us posted on your progress...

[Suburban Guy]

I used to cut my spirit run using 200ml jars for nearly every run I made. My wash, coolant and heat were so consistent that I could swap out my heads jar and place my hearts jar to collect the whole of the hearts section of the run. This comes with practice, but in the meantime, use your 200ml jars to take your cuts. Soon you'll be able to anticipate when the cut is going to be made...

BTW, I nearly always collect the fores from the stripping run, then take another 100ml slowly at the beginning of the spirit run.
But as the guy's have said, you can take them from the strip or spirit run, but do take them slowly...

Keep us posted on your progress...

I like it, I think once I dive in cuts will start to make a bit more sense. As it stands, they sound truly complicated. I went to public school, so this could take a while!

Update: started my strip run, and did collect the foreshots. I am getting a steady stream, about the size of a toothpick, someone on here used that analogy, and I liked it. Does the speed sound ok?

My boiler is 16 gallons and I am running a worm condenser and currently have 20 liters of All Bran wash going through. I was planning on capturing 12 liters…sound about right?

[Samohon]

I always collect the fores at about 2-3 drops per second. After I have taken them I apply a little more heat to get the toothpick stream you describe.

Everything seems to be going OK...
Keep us posted...

[rtalbigr]

How hard/fast ya run is another one of those subjective things. I mostly want to run just above a drip, so the stream is like a large needle, a little smaller than a toothpick. Then when I get late into a run I'll increase the heat and the stream size. But like I said it's kinda subjective. It seems to me I get a cleaner seperation, especially from heads to hearts this way. By initially keeping my heat input as low as possible initially I'm distilling off the lightest fractions first; methanol, acetone, etc.

Big R

[Suburban Guy]

I always collect the fores at about 2-3 drops per second. After I have taken them I apply a little more heat to get the toothpick stream you describe.

Everything seems to be going OK...
Keep us posted...

How hard/fast ya run is another one of those subjective things. I mostly want to run just above a drip, so the stream is like a large needle, a little smaller than a toothpick. Then when I get late into a run I'll increase the heat and the stream size. But like I said it's kinda subjective. It seems to me I get a cleaner seperation, especially from heads to hearts this way. By initially keeping my heat input as low as possible initially I'm distilling off the lightest fractions first; methanol, acetone, etc.

Big R

I think I will slow it down a bit next time fella’s. I put 20 liters in the boiler and collected just short of 12 liters of low wines in a 4 hour period. One would assume that I have somewhere in the vicinity of 7 liters of backset still in the boiler? I’ll have to wait until it cools down a bit.

I must say I am pretty disappointed thus far. I combined the 12 liters of low wines together and just got done taking my first readings, which are coming up around 15%, something doesn’t seem right here...sigh.

My initial SG was 1.080 and just under 1.000 at the end. The wash fermented well, I racked it, let it settle and ran it earlier today. Any thoughts ?

[WalkingWolf]

You measured your specific gravity with a hydrometer and you need an alcometer to measure distilled spirits.

Glad to see you reduced your sample size to 200 mls (better commitment )

How hard/fast ya run is another one of those subjective things. I mostly want to run just above a drip, so the stream is like a large needle, a little smaller than a toothpick. Then when I get late into a run I'll increase the heat and the stream size. But like I said it's kinda subjective. It seems to me I get a cleaner seperation, especially from heads to hearts this way. By initially keeping my heat input as low as possible initially I'm distilling off the lightest fractions first; methanol, acetone, etc.

Big R

I'm with rtalbigr on this as well. I will collect the early part at what I call a broken stream to try to get the best splits I can. In the hearts I'll increase then after a couple of liters (on a 20 liter wash) I'll slow it back down as I get into the tails -- As an add on; I do single runs so try to keep my cuts as clean as possible.

Sounds like your making good progress. That rig you running will serve you well and good liquor is just around the corner.

[rtalbigr]

Don't get too disappointed SG. When I first started this it was like, "What the H*** am I doing wrong," ya it can be really frustrating, and I didn't have this forum to fall back on, I just kinda muddled thru. There's a long learning curve here but keep at it and it will eventually fall into place, sort of a eureka moment. It'll get better, keep readin and studyin.

Big R

[blind drunk]

I will collect the early part at what I call a broken stream to try to get the best splits I can.

I read this in another post of yours WalkingWolf and now I do it like so. It has served me well

[Suburban Guy]

You measured your specific gravity with a hydrometer and you need an alcometer to measure distilled spirits. Big R

I am a JACKASS!!!

[LWTCS]

I am a JACKASS!!!

AWE dont be so hard on yer self.

[WalkingWolf]

Not a jackass my friend but a Novice as the post title reflects. You have taken this information in a positive manner with encouraging feedback. You are attentive to your quest (your still is proof) so you will have this sewn up in a couple runs. Good luck.

I will collect the early part at what I call a broken stream to try to get the best splits I can.

I read this in another post of yours WalkingWolf and now I do it like so. It has served me well

Thank you blind drunk -- always good to hear positive feedback.

[Suburban Guy]

Alright, I kicked the dog and yelled at the wife and am feeling much better!

Well, not really, but I did just order an ALCOHOLMETER via Mile Hi a few minutes ago. As a penalty to myself I paid almost as much for shipping as I did for the tester, this in the spirit of getting the damn thing to me quicker.

You know it is funny, as I was reading about SG readings on here, I just thought the decimal point was being omitted, hence my readings made sense to me at first.

Now, I do have almost 12 liters of low wine from the All Bran. If you were me, would you put another wash together in order to come up with 24 liters to play with or would you go for a spirit run on the 12 liters I have and go for a spirit run? I was kind of thinking that if I had more to play with it may be a good training?

My sincere thanks for the help and support gents!

[WalkingWolf]

Call mile-hi first thing tomorrow morning and have them add at least 1 more (I'd recommend 2 more) alcometer to your order. Get more for your shipping. The first thing you do when you get in the alcometer is take it out of the box and throw it on the floor. Get the first one out of the way then you will have another one (or two) to break as you move forward. (you can never have too many alcometers)

[Suburban Guy]

A very solid recommendation Wolf, I just sent them an email, but will follow up with a call. I have a brew shop close by and they seem to be distiller friendly, that is why I didn’t pay too much attention to the hydrometer that I bought, just thinking it was an alcoholmeter; they don’t carry alcoholmeters, odd.

[blind drunk]

The first thing you do when you get in the alcometer is take it out of the box and throw it on the floor. Get the first one out of the way then you will have another one (or two) to break as you move forward.

Too funny. So true.

[Bull Rider]

SG...

Sounds like you're on the right track, and you're getting A+ advice from several of the best stillers on the forum.

I'm running out about 32-40 liters of mash on each run, on the strip runs I take out and save the first half a liter or so. I save it for cleaning and as a general purpose solvent.

I also take out forshots on the spirit run too. My way of thinking is that I'm just reducing the amount of heads that I'm going to collect as the forshots and early heads are right next to each other.

On my spirit run, on a pot still, I ease into the run. I run a banjo burner pretty hard to get the boiler up to speed, and then ease way back on the fire as the temp. reaches 170 or so. Once I'm into the hearts part I bump up the heat, and run a pretty good rate, more than a toothpick discharge.

Once I'm into the part for tails, and I know that I'm not going to be using any of what's left for blending, I turn up the fire even more to finish out the run. The end part will be feints for the next batch.


Spot on advice about the hydro and spirit hydrometer, if you have two on hand, you won't break one for a long time. Always order them two at a time.



Bull.

[Suburban Guy]

SG...

I also take out forshots on the spirit run too. My way of thinking is that I'm just reducing the amount of heads that I'm going to collect as the forshots and early heads are right next to each other.

Once I'm into the part for tails, and I know that I'm not going to be using any of what's left for blending, I turn up the fire even more to finish out the run. The end part will be feints for the next batch.

Bull.

I like these two points very much Bull...

[Suburban Guy]

Ok, I’ve got 20 bottles so far with approximately 200 ML in each of them, this from a 20 liter charge of brown sugar wash. If my math is correct I have only collected 4 liters (1000 ML in 1 L). So, do I seriously need double or triple the amount of collection jars in order to do my cuts correctly? I don’t see how that would make much sense, or will I eventually get into the tails where it is really noticeable that I will want to collect them off in 4 liter jugs? I swear every time I think I am figuring things out, I just keep coming up with more questions boys.

I have just constructed a parrot, will this be a better route for me to go, or should I keep learning the basic fundamentals of cuts, regardless of how painful it is for me?

On a similar note, I swear the stuff coming out of my still right now smells and tastes like a rum. This was supposed to be a strip run but I pulled the throttle back pretty far in an effort to collect at a slow and steady pace.

SG

[rtalbigr]

I think you're good with what ya got. 200ml is a good start for learning your cuts. When ya figure out what your doing you can consolidate some. For instance, collect the first two or three jars after fores @ 200ml, then collect 5-6 jars @ say 400ml, etc.

To see how your cuts work start with jar #10 then work your way out, often the differences will be rather subtle until you get well into the heads or tails. A lot of people can tell a lot by smell but it just doesn't work for me. I sip a little in and then "roll" it around in my mouth and hold it there for a few seconds to get all the flavor.

Some find a parrot very useful. I don't use one, so it's up to you. I always just use a test tube with my spirit hydro. It is nice knowing where you're at with abv and with experience it will help a lot, especially with your cuts in the tails.

Big R

[Suburban Guy]

Good deal Big R, thanks.
I think the biggest issue I am/was having is that 20 liters is going in and I am expecting more out. As it stands I have 4 liters of what I consider heads, hearts and the start of the tails, is that in the ballpark with respects to quantity out? I am sure there are a lot of variables.

I know I am going to toss some of the heads and tails in a container to run later, read all feints run, and then use the backset left in the boiler for my next generation wash, which I don’t quite get?

I am going to let the bottles sit for a day and then start playing around with them. If I wanted to do it the easy way, I could just take the first 6 bottles (30% heads), and the last 6 bottles (30% tails), get them out of the picture and take the remaining hearts and have something semi-drinkable?

SG

[rtalbigr]

If I wanted to do it the easy way, I could just take the first 6 bottles (30% heads), and the last 6 bottles (30% tails), get them out of the picture and take the remaining hearts and have something semi-drinkable?

If you're gonna drink it white that would work. If your goin to age it then ya might want to include some of the tails and maybe some of the heads, although I pretty much exclude any heads. With proper aging using some tails can add siginificantly to the flavor profile.

then use the backset left in the boiler for my next generation wash, which I don’t quite get?

With sour mash the backset is used primarily to reduce ph and help prevent bacterial infections, it also introduces some flavors. It was primarily initiated years ago by bourbon distillers.

With rum it's actually called "dunder." The purpose of using it with your wash is to use the flavors left in the dunder. You're only gonna want to have 15-25% of it in your mash. The more you use the "heavier" your rum will be, more rum flavors. It's not actaully necessary to include the dunder in your mash unless you are actually wanting the heavier flavor. Some here use fresh dunder and some are experimenting with aging their dunder before using it. If you prefer a lighter flavor don't include the dunder in your mash.

Big R