Corrected Boiling Temps For Altitude

[knucklhed]

I'm at 2,900 ft, water in a pan boils at 205-206F

Do the same temp corrections apply when my wash is in the kettle? Does the alcohol in the wash skew that scale?

I've run my first 30 gallons of hookrum wash through, and Hook says that you can take the tails out to 95C, on my first 12 gal of wash I tried that, only got to about 94C and ended up with a bunch of distilled rum water.

What's the best thing to do?

Thanks!!

[WV Shine]

I have the same problem Knucklhed... I'm above 5K It does suck though because lots of good guidance is useless to us if its based on temps... I does make ya better at running by feel/smell/taste though
I haven't seen any correction charts for this so far, but I think I could probably figure out how to make one. Anyone know of a resource?

If/when I get around to making one, I'll definitely post here for everyone.

[Prairiepiss]

Rum using a pot still? Take the thermometer out throw it on the floor. And stomp on it.

Smell taste and feel. Collect in small jars and let air out 24 to 48 hours. Then make your cuts by taste smell and feel. You are making it for you to enjoy right? A thermometer won't know what you like? Only you know what you will like.

[heartcut]

Your approximate correction will be 90% of the water correction.
For altitude correction:
Multiply the BP of water by 0.81556 to get the BP of pure EtOH (in degF)
Multiply the BP of water by 0.81415 to get the BP of an azeotrope
As the concentration of EtOH goes down, the BP will approach that of water in a linear fashion.

Like PP said, if you go by smell and taste, a correction won't be needed

[knucklhed]

Thanks for the info fellas!!

I'm using a short unpacked column on my bok - only using temps as another reference point, since I'm new to boiling alcohol I'm just trying to get a feel for things and observe what is happening at what temps etc... Not living/dying by the thermo by any means!

[Prairiepiss]

Ok maybe don't smash it. Seeing how your using a boka and all.

Did you run it twice or just once? At what kind of take off rate did you run it? If your running it with the takeoff valve wide open. You should be controlling it like a pot still. Adjusting the heat input to get the desired takeoff rate. Not adjust the heat input to adjust the temp.

[knucklhed]

Ok maybe don't smash it. Seeing how your using a boka and all.

Did you run it twice or just once? At what kind of take off rate did you run it? If your running it with the takeoff valve wide open. You should be controlling it like a pot still. Adjusting the heat input to get the desired takeoff rate. Not adjust the heat input to adjust the temp.

Well I ran the first part of the wash just once, tossed the fores and saved the heads, hearts & tails in separate containers. Tossed a handfull of JD oak chips into part of the hearts to "quick age" for immediate sampling, and put the rest of the heads, hearts & tails back into the next portion of wash.
All of the hearts for the whole 30 gal batch is now sitting in a ss pot airing out and will be run thru for a second time with some fresh wash after the next 30 gal is stripped.

Yes, the take off was wide open, and yes, adjusted burner to control output, not the temp.

On these stripping runs, I've had a take off rate of about a gallon per hour, 2.5" bok with a 1/2" cold finger and single coil of 1/4" tube, totaling 15 ft of tube, no vapor escaping the atmospheric hole at the top. Since these were stripping runs, I plan on slowing it down for the spirit run... Advice?

[Prairiepiss]

I would suggest a broken stream. Where it comes out of the tube in a stream. The breaks apart into drops. That would be a good starting point. But this will be one of those you need to figure out what works best for you things.

[knucklhed]

Are you suggesting a broken stream for the strip and spirt runs, or just the spirt?

Also, the temp of the rum was right around 155°F at the take off, I've seen that some recommend talking rum off a bit hotter than other spirits to allow it to gas off some, is that temp too hot? Should I add a liebig?? theres quite a bit of vapor escaping the jars at that temp...

[Prairiepiss]

Spirit run. A strip run you go as fast as you can safely. Your not concerned with the product on a strip run. It's just gona be put back in the still for the spirit run. All its doing is increasing the ABV and cleaning it a bit.

[WV Shine]

Here is some hard data from wikipedia, the second link is interesting as it provides a lot of info on the boiling points of different azeotropic mixtures... I had looked on wikipedia before and hadn't run across these 'data' pages, so maybe its new (I probably just missed it though ).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_(data_page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope_(data" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)