tpw

[CyBaThUg]

hi need some help dont know where i went wrong my setup is a potstill i used 5kg of sugar 200g tomato paste yeast and citric acid and when i did my boil it was coming out reading 65% i took it down to 20% then ran it through again i dunno if thats a mistake or not but it came out at the same percentage not higher? I then seperated it it into tumblers each marked with a 200ml line, left it air for two days with a tea towel over them and when i came back to them it had dropped about 25 to 30 ml in each glass then when i tested the % they all read 20% and my alcometer isnt broken because i have tested it on a store bought bottle of alcohol any help or suggestions please.

[rubber duck]

The 65% part on a double run is a little low but it all depends on far you diluted it on the second run. You might not be to far off.

The part about going down to 20% over two days is a little wired, if you live in a hot humid environment I guess you could loose 15% of your volume to evaporation but I don't really know.

This is going to sound really dumb but how are you testing a 170mil sample? is your alcohol meter bottoming out in your test tube?

[WalkingWolf]

Something is just not adding up here. First off, you haven't done a proper introduction (yo momma taught you better) so get on over to the welcome center and tell a bit about yourself and your rig. A general idea of your geographical, resident zone on this great planet of ours can sometimes help. Give more detail on your run.

. . . I then seperated it it into tumblers each marked with a 200ml line, left it air for two days with a tea towel over them and when i came back to them it had dropped about 25 to 30 ml in each glass then when i tested the % they all read 20% . . .

Did you swap jars through the run or did you run it all together then separate in 200ml fractions for airing?? Individual 200ml vessels will give you a lot of surface area. Over time this will definitely speed up evaporation. Typically, the 200mls fractions are collected separately to give the stiller a ballpark idea on what he/she will keep vs feints jar.

[NcHooch]

I'll just roll this out on the table just in case ...

the temp of the distillate needs to be exactly what the proofing meter is calibrated to, otherwise your measurements are gonna be off ...if you look at the compensation chart that came with it, you can see what I'm talking about ... high temp distillate will read higher than normal , low temp distillate, lower.

I'm surprised to hear you lost 1/8th of you hooch in two days of airing with a tea-towel (whatever that is) over your containers ....were they outdoors in the sun or something?

[Dnderhead]

20% low wine ran threw a pot still should come out as 69?-70%..but the diferance could be the way you ran. if it dropped to 20% it was either very hot and humid or some place you made a mistake with calculations.

[CyBaThUg]

i do live in north tropical queensland where the temp is around 32 all day and about 20 at night with 80% humidity most of the time

[CyBaThUg]

on my first run i collected it all in a jug but on the second as it was coming out it was going into the 200ml glasses