First time Distiller from NorCal

[beardedbrewer]

Hi guys! I'm new to this hobby and so far I am loving it!
I have been a homebrewer for a number of years and I finally thought I'd try my hand at distilling!

I bought a stainless reflux still that has a separate reflux chamber and can be run as either a pot still or a reflux. I went ahead and did this because it was cheaper than I could build one and the wife gave me the thumbs up . The tower has copper packing and rashing rings. I am using a 2-3" adapter and tri clamps to connect this to a 15.5 gallon stainless keg and use a burner. I also built a parrots beak to help me make cuts with a hydrometer.

For my first adventure I made a 1.062 mash with all grain (I am a brewer so it seemed logical first choice) I fermented it for about a week and distilled in pot still mode and got about 23 8oz jars of liquor ranging from 120-30 proof after tossing 5oz of foreshots. Most of the hearts tasted pretty good so I combined them into a 64oz jug with some oak chips and saved the rest to re-distill later. You can definitely taste the grain and its a bit on the sweet side.

Having never done this before I wasn't sure what to expect.... It only took about an hour and a half to get this quantity..... So am I going too fast (or hot) or do I simply need to make another wash and stripping run and combine the two with added water and run again? OR should I simply do a single run with the reflux head on in the first place?

I think next I may try to make a sugar wash and make something neutral, I assume I should just run that once with the reflux....

This is my first time so forgive me if I've said anything stupid.... I have been reading and lurking for a few months and just became a member. There is a ton of info in the forums and I have been searching but I really just wanted to do an intro and ask a few questions to make sure I'm on the right track. I think I'm going to enjoy this!

[OlympicMtDoo]

Welcome to HD beardedbrewer, Your experence in all grain brewing is good but you need a little time on the still to figure out how she operates. It sounds to me from the info you have given that you may have been running a little to fast. Doing a cheep easy sugar wash and getting it through your still is great practice and experence. Look at the tried and true section for a cheep simple sugar wash, I like Birdwatchers and have never had it fail and it's a great way to learn about your still and it can make some pretty good drink if your run it in reflux. Is your still a MileHi or what? Good Luck and enjoy

[beardedbrewer]

It's from hillbilly stills. It was on sale so I went ahead and got it.

I need a ton of practice!

As far as running I think my banjo burner is too big to run slow so I think I'll just use a smaller burner so I can slow it down. As far as running the sugar wash do I just reflux it one time? Is it considered a vodka or what? How long should a reflux run last with a 5 gal wash?

Thanks for the reply!

[pounsfos]

depends if it is a spirit run or a stripping run

what we usually do is do multiple stripping runs, collect it all untill we have enough alcohol at 40% to chuck in the still (USUALLY takes 4-5 batches)

then we run it in reflux mode to create a good neautral (if that's what you are after)

the speed of these depends on the still, siz4e of column etc.. but to pyut it in perspective for you

I run a 50L reflux still with a 2' column packed with pot scrubber

I stripping run of 40L at 10% takes me about 2.5 hours (incl 1 hour for warming up)
a spirit run of 40litres of alcohol at 40% takes me about 8-12 hours

[beardedbrewer]

Thanks for the reply.

Ok. So that's a lot of stillin to get a good spirit run going. Which is no big deal. But what will happen if I just reflux a 5 gallon sugar wash? Is it just less efficient? And less abv?
And I understand you don't want to distill anything over about 40% correct?

[beardedbrewer]

I originally thought to make a whiskey for instance you'd want to retain flavor so just run as a pot still. But that didn't give me quite the abv I wanted. Would it retain some flavor just running in reflux mode with no stripping runs?

But if you're going for a neutral spirit stripping runs are also required? I guess I was under the impression stripping runs were for those that only had a pot still. Sorry if this sounds dumb but I'm just trying to get it all straight in my head.

[OlympicMtDoo]

It all depends on what you are after beardedbrewer, I run my neutrals through my still (CM) in reflux but leave it hot and run it pretty fast on the first run. You can get some pretty good hearts out of the first run if you run it slow enough and make good cuts. I usually keep some of the very best hearts but run the bulk a second time, it cleans up a lot after being diluted and run a second time. Then whiskey in pot still mode is a different story, there are almost as many different ways of doing the many different little things as there are distillers but the main theory is the same. Just make sure everything is safe and give her a go. Good Luck

[beardedbrewer]

Yeah I guess it's all situational. So one more question and I'll leave it alone and go experiment some more.
When combining stripping runs do you typically dilute it with water? For instance if I have 3 gallons at 40% would you want to ad a few gallons so you don't run the still dry? Or does that dilute it again and you're back where you started? Or will there still be some left over because you're further refining it.

[rad14701]

You can dilute with either water or wash, whichever you choose... You could even do a stripping run and then combine those low wines diluted with more wash and do what we refer to as a 1.5 (one point five)... Not a single run yet not a double run... Strip in pot still mode and run the 1.5 in pot or reflux mode... You have lots of options...

[beardedbrewer]

Cool sounds like there's no right or wrong answer just depends how you want everything to taste. Thanks for the tips guys. Back to the lab for me. Gonna try a sugar wash next for cheap practice!

[OlympicMtDoo]

Let us know hoe it goes bb, good luck.

[beardedbrewer]

Well brewed 10 gallons of beer this weekend. Had enough second runnings to make a 5 gallon wash added 6 lbs sugar to get about 1.080 gravity. Will ferment it out and try to run it through the reflux.
Then I'll do the straight sugar wash next.

[beardedbrewer]

So ran this stuff over the weekend. It was about 8% and produced 7 half pints of 180 proof and I collected 20 half pints in total.
Feeling pretty good about this thing.
Now to make cuts and water it down to 40-50%.

[bearriver]

Welcome and congrats on your success

[googe]

Sounds like your on the right path mate. I do single runs on a LM and get a very very neutral product, I use lava rock/ scoria for packing, seems to work well. Alot do flavours with 2 runs with a pot but many do single runs also, would need to be a slower run but probably quicker than strip and spirit runs. I use a 3 plate column for rums ect, single runs at 90%. Like everyone said, there's so many different way to do it!.

[beardedbrewer]

Did a sugar wash for the first time. Took forever to ferment.....thinking I should have used more yeast. After it fermented to 1.020 I got tired of waiting and ran it anyways. I got 10 jars of stuff at about 165-170 proof. Cut that down to 120 and ran it through a brita filter three times. Turned out awesome!

[OlympicMtDoo]

Glad it turned out good for ya BB but don't use the brita aren't they full of plastic parts ? a no no. If you want to filter thats fine but build your own out of copper or stainless and use active carbon.