One run or two in a Clawhammer?

[KCbrew]

Hello all,

I'm going to attempt a bourbon batch in my five gallon Clawhammer and I'm unsure whether I'm better off to pack the column with copper scrubbers and do a single run or leave them out and do stripping and spirit runs. Has anyone had experience with this for a "hybrid" type of still?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pikey]

Give us a link to your still ?

[MichiganCornhusker]

Sounds like you don't have a reflux condenser.
If that's the case, don't bother with packing the riser, just do a quick stripping run followed by a spirit run.

That little pot still will work nice for whiskey.

[Pikey]

Thanks SL

Nice looking little still, sensible price, teaches you about building at the same time

Fits in well for someone wanting to progress in the art imo. Good choice

However, that little column is pretty small (about 16" ?) - I don't think you'll get a lot of reflux out of that unless you turn the power right down - personally I'd just think of it as a pot - with packing and a little less power once it starts, you may get the abv up a bit and it should still let plenty of flavour through. Try that at some point - then you can try doing 1.5's where you collect the heads, hearts and tails, drink the hearts with a little heads and tails blended back if you like. The stuff you've not earmarked for drinking at that stage is the "Feints" and that goes back into the boiler to increase the yield and possibly the flavour of the next run of the same type. That is my standard practice.

With or without packing ? If you have enough wash, try one of each and keep notes of abvs etc at each point. I'd like to see if there's much difference, so post up your results if you do.

That little Leibig is on the mean side too imo, but should be ok to start with.

Yes I like that - and with your new building skills, we'll soon have you building a bokakob head for it if you really want reflux, but just think of it as a nice pot for the moment and play with it with/ without packing, high power/ low power etc and make yourself some nice shine to be proud of

[KCbrew]

Thanks SL

Nice looking little still, sensible price, teaches you about building at the same time

Fits in well for someone wanting to progress in the art imo. Good choice

However, that little column is pretty small (about 16" ?) - I don't think you'll get a lot of reflux out of that unless you turn the power right down - personally I'd just think of it as a pot - with packing and a little less power once it starts, you may get the abv up a bit and it should still let plenty of flavour through. Try that at some point - then you can try doing 1.5's where you collect the heads, hearts and tails, drink the hearts with a little heads and tails blended back if you like. The stuff you've not earmarked for drinking at that stage is the "Feints" and that goes back into the boiler to increase the yield and possibly the flavour of the next run of the same type. That is my standard practice.

With or without packing ? If you have enough wash, try one of each and keep notes of abvs etc at each point. I'd like to see if there's much difference, so post up your results if you do.

That little Leibig is on the mean side too imo, but should be ok to start with.

Yes I like that - and with your new building skills, we'll soon have you building a bokakob head for it if you really want reflux, but just think of it as a nice pot for the moment and play with it with/ without packing, high power/ low power etc and make yourself some nice shine to be proud of

Thanks for the feedback. Pot still it is! I'll post some results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[still_stirrin]

...my five gallon Clawhammer...experience with this for a "hybrid" type of still?

Is this the one?

image.jpg

It is just a potstill...not a "hybrid" still. Scrubbies won't do anything for you and they aren't even needed since the whole still is copper already.

In order to get reflux, you need a reflux condenser. This still doesn't have one. And since it is all copper, there is little likelihood that there would even be any passive reflux since the copper will come up to temperature as the vapor rises.

Best option for this still would be to do a strip + spirit protocol, as advised already by the others.

Another option would be to add a thumper in the vapor take off line before the product condenser. The thumper (doubler) would give you another distillation, thereby boosting your spirit's collection proof.
ss

[rob3rd]

I have this exact still. You can do a spirit run straight from your fermented wash, but I do not recommend it. It's a pretty long day at the still if you try it that way. What I normally do is collect a series of strip runs (no cuts) not using the scrubbers. When I have a 3.5 to 4 gallon overall collection, I'll do a spirit run using the scrubbers. Even a packed still column doesn't give you a full reflux, but more reflux than a straight pot still. If you run a single spirit run from combining multiple strips, your hearts yield will be a proportionately wider band of the collection. Easing the heat up gently over the first couple of hours, my first drops on the spirit run have run as high as 165 proof doing it this way. My hearts start around 130 and end around 80-85 proof.

Good luck and make good cuts.

RR

[Rockhead]

I have the exact still also, except with the Leibig doubled in length and angled 45'. Since it is a bourbon run i wouldn't pack the column at all. Doesn't really do much on this short of a column anyways. I made my condenser larger to be able to run it harder on stripping runs, but for the most part I just make cuts on one pass and done. The HBB I've been making just tastes that good on single run. Plus i mostly wait too long between runs and need to replenish my inventory so time becomes of the essence. Try it both ways, packed and not, and see if you can tell the difference. I couldn't.

[Brian Boru]

How do you like that still? I'm looking at this one: https://www.clawhammersupply.com/produc ... gJfxfD_BwE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Pikey]

I think Rockhead is right in doubling (or more) the size of the Leibig. If you want to try for more reflux - why not double the length of the packed column as well, wrap a few turns of copper pipe around the top of the column and run water through it ? Then you're getting towards a Coolant management, without the issues of silicone and plastics we are a little dubious about.

Never be able to make "Proper" neutrals, but decent whiskey abv's on a single run and probably "acceptable" sugar wash neutrals for gin bases, "Panty droppers" etc with a couple of runs.

Better still, obtain or make a "Bokakob" column and stick it on top of a coffee urn ! Add a little power controller and you have a decent reflux still, which can also be run as a pot and make fine whiskey too. All electrically operated and adjustable at a lesser cost.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36050

[Kareltje]

I think that if you only fill the boiler half, fill the riser with packing and run it slowly, you could in one run get to about 80 %ABV. Judging by the form I think it will lose a lot of heat when it is not insulated, so you will get a great passive reflux.

Like most members said: run it in all different ways you can think of and get used to it.

It is a funny concept, seemingly like the concept of IKEA: send the things in the form of a small 2-dimensional packet and add instructions so the customer can easily make his own 3-dimensional article.

[Pikey]

I think that if you only fill the boiler half, fill the riser with packing and run it slowly, you could in one run get to about 80 %ABV. Judging by the form I think it will lose a lot of heat when it is not insulated, so you will get a great passive reflux.

.........

Why are you saying fill the boiler half K ? Are you thinking to use the top half of the boler as an Alembic head ?

I might try that and running slow as possible, on mine next time I do a bulk wash to compare with a "normal" run !

[Kareltje]

I think that if you only fill the boiler half, fill the riser with packing and run it slowly, you could in one run get to about 80 %ABV. Judging by the form I think it will lose a lot of heat when it is not insulated, so you will get a great passive reflux.

.........

Why are you saying fill the boiler half K ? Are you thinking to use the top half of the boler as an Alembic head ?

I might try that and running slow as possible, on mine next time I do a bulk wash to compare with a "normal" run !

Yes, I think so. Especially since this boiler is quite high. I compared two runs with and without insulation of the boiler:

I would be happy to know what you get.

[Pikey]

I will do that K - here's a pic of my stream at the moment - how much output do you think I should slow that down to - To make the most effective (benrficial) comparison ?

[Edit - were those runs of yours done with both charges teh same size - I'm wondering whether I need to do both runs with half full boilers - but as I typed, I knew - I with boiler full, one with boiler half full, one with boiler half full run slow - now I'm thinking - One with boiler full - run slow ]

[Kareltje]

Seems quite a speed to me!
Are you running right now???
For comparing I would think of a factor 2: so half or double the speed to begin with. So you know in which direction you have to move.

[Pikey]

Again another thread methinks - but winter's coming - so much to get organised