First stripping run

[RazorCatchPrey]

So I just finished my first stripping run on my first still and would welcome any tips.

My still is my old 6.5 gallon brewing kettle. I drilled a hole in the lid, attached two feet of 1/2 inch copper pipe then attached a 90 degree elbow then another 45 degree elbow before attaching another two feet of 1/2 inch copper pipe with a 3/4 inch condenser.

I sealed some of my joints with silver solder and sealed up the rest with dough, then ran first water, then vinegar steam through then flushed with water before my first run.

I fermented 11 gallons of wash in my 6.5 gallon carboy and 6 gallon bucket. To make my wash, I used two gallons of Evolved Habitats molasses stirred into 6 gallons of hot, but not boiling water, then added 24 pounds of light brown sugar and a couple of tablespoons of yeast nutrient before adding cold water to bring it down to pitching temperature.

I pitched 3 packets of Danstar wine yeast in a starter made with malt sugar, yeast nutrient, and molasses. I made 3 quarts of starter and let it go for four days before pitching, half in one fermenter and half in the other. Following advice I had read on here, I also added a teaspoon or so of olive oil to each fermenter to keep the foam down.

The fermentation took off after only a few minutes and went strong for over a week. I left it for two weeks until it was done to about two bubbles per minute in the airlock.

Last night, I set up my still, siphoned one of the fermenters into it, leaving a half gallon or so behind on ether yeast cake to reuse, then sealed up my lid with biscuit dough, turned my electric stove on high, and turned on the water to my condenser.

After a half hour or so, I finally got some output. I had turned my back for a minute and when I turned back, I had about a half cup already, so I tossed all of that as the fore shots.

For quite a while there, I got what were pretty clearly heads. They were pretty sweet and very strong. I probably got 3-4 quarts of these heads. I was running the still hot the whole time, as. Puji recommended in the Pujirum post. I kept waiting for the taste to change for hearts, and I think I convinced myself that they came much earlier, then when I started getting something with little to no taste or odor' I thought I was running out of alcohol. Luckily I kept going and going, and eventually got something with what I have read described as the wet cardboard taste. I kept going until I started getting no flavor at all again, then shut it all down.

In all' I collected about 6 liters of output from 5 gallons of wash in this stripping run,

I plan on running the other half of this batch of wash tonight, then mixing up some more wash with just brown sugar and dunder to start fermenting again, then I will strip out those and combine with these for a spirit run. Hopefully by then I will have my Alcoholmeter so I can use that to help me make my cuts.

I have a bag of medium toast oak chips from the homebrew store I plan on using to flavor the spirit at about 80% if I get it that high on the scone distillation! then I will dilute back down to 40% for drinking strength.

Like I said' any comments are welcome, as I am trying to learn!

[pounsfos]

yup sounds good

I would suggest doing 2-3 more stripping runs to get enough to fill the still again with low wines (20-40%)

then doing a slower spirit run, you will get a MUCH cleaner product

[exon]

Sounds like you are doing quite well, and having great fun!