Spirit run running long

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HodyMac
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Spirit run running long

Post by HodyMac »

My spirit run is taking much longer than I had planned. Running in to a time crunch. Can I turn the heat off, and just pick up the run again in the morning?

Noob question, I know.
The Baker
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by The Baker »

Yes.

And if you tuck it in a blanket it will retain a surprising amount of heat.

Geoff
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HodyMac
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by HodyMac »

The Baker wrote:Yes.

And if you tuck it in a blanket it will retain a surprising amount of heat.

Geoff
Thanks!
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jayka
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by jayka »

Yes but while you wont have to ditch any heads your first cut in the morning might not come off in sequence. Just double check it before blending.
Sooner or later the people who run the planet all end up choosing one drink....
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NZChris
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by NZChris »

I don't check anything, just turn the heat on and carry on. Nothing is going to magically appear in the night that you don't want in the next jar.
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jayka
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by jayka »

I just think there is a higher chance of it getting muddled after cooling and reheating.
Sooner or later the people who run the planet all end up choosing one drink....
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Yummyrum
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by Yummyrum »

I do it quite a bit . If its a Pot still , yup just start it up and keep going .
If its a reflux still or flute , just hold it in full reflux for awhile to let the column equalise before starting to take off product again .
I think thats what Jayka was referring to “things getting a bit muddled “
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by Saltbush Bill »

NZChris wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:22 pm I don't check anything, just turn the heat on and carry on. Nothing is going to magically appear in the night that you don't want in the next jar.
+1
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HodyMac
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by HodyMac »

Excellent.
Thanks for the support, everyone!
zapata
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by zapata »

NZChris wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:22 pm I don't check anything, just turn the heat on and carry on. Nothing is going to magically appear in the night that you don't want in the next jar.
It has for me. I spent several years basically "on call" 24/7 and could be interrupted at any time so I had quite a few interrupted runs. First drops after restarting a spirit run seem headsy. It's not magic, you're just leaving a pot with for example acetic acid and ethanol at high temps, after you've removed the ethyl acetate that was suppressing more from forming. The equilibrium will re-establish overnight and create more. It's the equivalent of hoping a long slow heatup will encourage esterification, only x10 hours and with the equation balanced in favor of more esterification.

At least that's been my experience.

Will it ruin your jar, or your whole run? Seriously doubt it. Defining heads is a matter of taste, and as mindful as we all are nobody is cutting perfectly consistently within ml's. But pay attention to the first distillate and make the call yourself. It seems notably "out of place" to me whether I decide to keep it or not. Maybe it disappears into the first full jar, IDK, but just sniffing the initial distillate it's there when it wasn't at shutdown.
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NZChris
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by NZChris »

Look at a graph of the components as they come over during a run. Some start high and finish low, some the opposite, but they are always there in some proportion and are what gives your hearts it's flavor. There is a fair bit of passive reflux when you restart and smelling the first off might convince you that you should cut it, but there is no need to for flavored products, (neutral maybe). If you hadn't stopped and started, it would have been in your heart cut as normal.
zapata
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by zapata »

Sure, if there are no reactions. I think we can pretty definitively say there are reactions and that those reactions are affected by time, temperature, and whether reactants or products are being removed/distilled I do agree it isn't really a problem and is most noteworthy for vodka or neutral.

I've never noticed a similar smell change if a pot run is only stopped momentarily or if something increases reflux momentarily, so I really don't think it's just due to the action of reflux when restarting the still. I've played a bit with a kind of lintel type thing on a pot head, and if it were just reflux causing it then output would get headsy whenever the water was swapped out, but I never noticed that. (kinda unrelated but I struggled to notice any effect of reflux caused by a lintel at all)
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NZChris
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Re: Spirit run running long

Post by NZChris »

If you have added some acid, say fresh wash or H2SO4, there might still be some esterification happening, but nothing that I'd want to keep out of my heart cut.
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