Double distill/refux/ reflux as pot.

[Thatstink]

Hi guys. I finely got a product from my mash (basic cornmeal, dry fruit mix molasses etc .) Double distilling in my pot then carbon filter gives me a reasonable result I am happy to drink. May not be the best yet but I will work on that after I have this sorted. I should have my boka set up end of this week. To get a similar result as running my pot twice how should I run the boka to get the same result as double distilling. whats the best way to run the boka. I am asking cos the pot is 5G the boka 10G+. Is it worth putting any packing, do I just distill twice like a pot. would a single reflux run give same result. less flavour. ? sorry for noob questions.

[still_stirrin]

The boka is good for neutral spirits. The potstill is good for flavor. So, the best tool for the job depends on what the job is.

A sweetfeed (corn and barley with molasses) is a full flavored mash, so it seems the best tool would be the potstill, or an alembic.

If you're aiming for a high proof clear vodka (neutral), then the boka is your tool of choice. Still, for the best clean neutrals, a first pass through a potstill to strip helps a lot. So, sometimes double (or even triple) distilled is the best approach for neutrals.

But what ever you do, be safe, responsible, and discrete.
ss

[rad14701]

Before I banged out a liebig for pot stilling, mainly stripping, I ran my LM reflux head in hybrid mode by mounting over a short packed column... I'd run in reflux mode for equilibrium, would take off foreshots and heads, then open the take off valve wide open for pot still mode for the hearts... Then I'd revert to reflux mode, hit equilibrium again, and then pull the tails...

My current method is to always run wash through the pot still to strip as much alcohol from the water as possible by doing a fast stripping run... Then for flavored spirits the low wines, diluted to 30% - 40%, get another slower pass through the pot still... For neutral spirits the low wines get sent through my reflux column, also diluted to 30% - 40%...

With a pot still and reflux column you have many options...

[Pikey]

It's good to read rad's way

I'm relatively new, and I have an offset still which is not properly constructed to be a full reflux, but has similarities to a boka.

I have a 40" x 1" column, which is thinner than most and thus has a larger surface area in contact with the vapour. I find that with a wash of 11% or thereabouts and the valves wide open (pot still mode), I get a distillate around 60% average for the main part, without packing. If I pack it with stainless pan scrubbers I can get a little more % output.

Much is made of double and triple distilling and no doubt on here somewhere there are discussions about the merits, but for me a single distil brings a lot of flavour over - and I suspect that one of the main reasons for extra distilling comes from a desire to REDUCE flavour. I do that by adjusting the ingredients of the wash and use remarkably small amounts of molasses or malt etc to get the flavour profile I want in the distillate. If I wanted for some strange reason to have a product without flavour, I wouldn't put any into the wash ! Maybe tehn I'd look at second distilations, but I don't and can mimic Bacardi and Glenmorangie Scotch with reasonable ease and a single distillation. As I develope, I may change my approach, but having only 5 years or so experience, I have not reached that stage although the importance of blending back some heads and parts of teh tails to me is quite a huge part of my recipes.

A boka is a great starting point, but bear in mind, that imho you can get an element of reflux from an uninsulated column alone and a little more if you introduce some packing, without ever touching the valves.

You need to decide what you are trying to make, do the cuts and start with just drinking the hearts, then try just drinking the heads and you may find that you really need some of that early flavour and sharpness in there. I don't advocate just drinking tails, but early tails has a lot of flavour and you may want to incorporate some of taht too.

At the dusk of the day, the sun being over the yard arm, sit in your rocker and sip your latest. Wonder what you can do to get it a little closer to the flavour you want to get out of it !

Happy experimentation

[Thatstink]

The boka is good for neutral spirits. The potstill is good for flavor. So, the best tool for the job depends on what the job is.

A sweetfeed (corn and barley with molasses) is a full flavored mash, so it seems the best tool would be the potstill, or an alembic.

If you're aiming for a high proof clear vodka (neutral), then the boka is your tool of choice. Still, for the best clean neutrals, a first pass through a potstill to strip helps a lot. So, sometimes double (or even triple) distilled is the best approach for neutrals.

But what ever you do, be safe, responsible, and discrete.
ss

So if the boka strips all the flavor what does a pot still stripping run do. Isn't it the same as a slow run through a column. I guess I will find all this out by doing it myself but at least by asking I will have a better idea. Also everyone talks of how neutral a column is but still mention heads and tail flavour. I take it flavour still comes through here and isn't neutral for all it produces.?

[BayouShine]

So if the boka strips all the flavor what does a pot still stripping run do. Isn't it the same as a slow run through a column.

Not quite the same concepts here. Pot still stripping runs and refulx runs aren't the same

In pot still mode, you're just separating your alcohol from the wash with no regards to cuts or smearing. They're run hard and fast to make low wines for a later spirit run. They also carry over a lot of flavor because there is no reflux here.

Refulx runs, on the other hand, are ran much slower. Here, you're separating your wash at a higher abv, while taking careful consideration to your cuts. Because the purity of the alcohol is a lot higher, you lose flavors as it becomes more and more neutral as the abv goes up.

Totally different runs.

Also everyone talks of how neutral a column is but still mention heads and tail flavour. I take it flavour still comes through here and isn't neutral for all it produces.?

You still have heads, hearts and tails no matter what still you use. The object of a reflux run is to separate these fractions out as effectively as possible. The neutrality of the final product is a result of how well the still is able to compress each fraction and your ability to drive the still correctly, while making good cuts.

[Thatstink]

Thanks guys for taking the time and clearing that up for me.