Experiment: 4 different distilling methods with same wash

[tjsc5f]

Run 1 still charge was 1.07 proof gallons (total alcohol). My hearts cut (62.5%) was 104 oz (3.1L), or 47% of total alcohol.
Run 2 still charge was 1.15 proof gallons. Hearts cut was 144 oz (4.3L), or 61% of total alcohol.
Run 3 still charge was 1.26 proof gallons. Hearts cut was 188 oz (5.6L), or 73% of total alcohol.
Run 4 still charge was 1.51 proof gallons. Hearts cut was 180 oz (5.3L), or 58% of total alcohol. NOTE: My typical pot still yield is between 35 and 45%, so this is an anomaly.

Did you happen to keep track of your heads and tails volumes for each run? Run 3 efficiency was epic, curious if it was primarily heads compression, tails suppression or both

[higgins]

...
Did you happen to keep track of your heads and tails volumes for each run? Run 3 efficiency was epic, curious if it was primarily heads compression, tails suppression or both

I always collect an equal amount in every jar. I use a formula to predict how much distillate I will collect, then divide that by 24 to get volume per jar and round up to nearest oz.

With the first 2 flute runs I was way off, only getting 17 and 19 jars. Then I realized that my formula to predict amt of distillate assumed that the abv of the collection would be about 60%, but on these runs it was about 89%, so naturally I got fewer jars. I adjusted my formula to use 89% for run 3 and collected 22 jars. So now I have to use the estimated ABV of the distillate in my formula.

As for keeping track of heads/tails, here's the data:
Run 1: 8 oz jars; 3 heads, 11 hearts, 3 tails, last jar was 45% ABV.
Run 2: 8 oz jars; 2 heads, 15 hearts, 2 tails, last jar was 52% ABV.
Run 3: 8 oz jars; 3 heads, 18 hearts, 3 tails, last jar was 53% ABV.
Run 4: 11 oz jars; 4 heads, 15 hearts, 4 tails, last jar was 43% ABV.

For the flute runs, I'm sure that heads compression and tails suppression both played into it. The first jar of each of the flute runs smelled like pure acetone, much more so than with a potty. And it was quite obvious when tails started coming over. Doing the cuts was interesting because when we went 1 jar past the good stuff it was really easy to tell, both going down to tails and up to heads.

[Dougmatt]

Thanks again for posting this Higgins and I continue to follow. I just read back through everything amd may have confused myself but where did the low wines used in run 4 come from? Was it the strip in run 1 or did you do a different strip? If different, what did you strip with the pot or the flute?

[higgins]

Thanks again for posting this Higgins and I continue to follow. I just read back through everything amd may have confused myself but where did the low wines used in run 4 come from? Was it the strip in run 1 or did you do a different strip? If different, what did you strip with the pot or the flute?

Run 1 was a single distillation using 4 gal (15.1 L) of beer from each of the 3 ferments.
I held back about 1.7 gal (6.4 L) from each ferment (total of 5 gal, 18.9 L).
I did 3 stripping runs on the remaining 34 gal (128.7 L) beer and combined the 3 strips together.
Run 2 was a single distillation of 2.8 gal (10.6 L) low wines mixed with the 5 gal (18.9 L) of saved beer.
Run 3 was a single distillation of 5 gal (18.9 L) low wines.
Run 4 was a single distillation of 6 gal (22.7 L) low wines.

The premise of this experiment is to see what differences the distillation methods create when using the exact same beer. Since I don't have a fermenter big enough to do a single mash, I decided to combine the beer from each mash in equal proportions, which is what I'd have if I actually combined all 51 gallons (193.1 L) of beer in a single vessel. This should eliminate any differences between the 3 individual ferments.

[higgins]

I have moved the 4 Badmo barrels for this experiment into The Attic for some occasional temperature cycling.

[higgins]

My 4 friends and I did our comparison tasting session yesterday afternoon.

First a synopsis of the 4 products. I did 3 identical wheated bourbon mashes totaling 51 gal (193 L) of distillers beer and mixed them together. I saved 17 gal (64 L) of beer for the 1x and 1.x runs and stripped the remaining 34 gal (129 L) into 14 gal (53 L) low wines.

• Run 1 was 12 gal (45 L) of beer thru 2 4" sieve plates (1x distillation)
• Run 2 was 5 gal (18.9 L) of beer mixed with 2.8 gal (10.6 L) low wines thru 2 4" sieve plates (1.x distillation)
• Run 3 was 5 gal (18.9 L) low wines thru 2 4" sieve plates (2x distillation)
• Run 4 was 6 gal (22.7 L) low wines thru 2" pot still (2x distillation)

Last week I made up 4 oz (120 ml) of each at 80 proof and labeled the jars 1 thru 4. Then I asked my wife to replace the labels with new ones using symbols, and create a sealed cheat sheet to tell me which is which after the session. The 4 jars were now labeled with symbols in random order: @, $, #, +. This was done so that I did not know which jar was which run, which would certainly have biased my opinions. I didn't unseal the cheat sheet until after all tastings and rankings.

At the session we each had 4 glasses marked with these symbols containing 1/2 oz (15ml) of each product. After we each went about our business tasting and discussing, I asked each to rank the products from best to worst.

The rankings:

   Taster 1:    +   #   $   @
   Taster 2:    $   +   #   @
   Taster 3:    #   $   +   @
   Taster 4:    #   $   +   @
   Taster 5:    @   #   +   $

Assigning 4 points for 1st, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th here are the totals:

   #:   16 pts 
   $:   13 pts 
   +:   13 pts
   @:   8 pts

NOTE: Tasters 1-4 are all long time brown likker drinkers. Taster 5 is a relative newbie. If we discard Taster 5's rankings, we have:

   #:   13 pts 
   $:   12 pts
   +:   11 pts 
   @:   4 pts 

So which symbol is which run? Here ya go ...

   @:   run 1 (2 plates 1x)
   +:   run 2 (2 plates 1.x)
   #:   run 3 (2 plates 2x)
   $:   run 4 (pot still 2x)

The 1x column stilled product was without question the least favorite.
The other 3 were close enough to call it a tie.

I have a 1 gal Badmo filled with each one, plus another 8 oz each white in a PTFE lined pint jar. We will repeat this process in a year or so, comparing and ranking the white, then comparing and ranking the 1 yr aged versions.

This project/experiment took quite a bit of time, but I learned a lot and I'm glad I did it.
Because of the small QUALITY difference between products from the 1.x column, 2x column, and 2x pot distillations, I'll probably choose a method based on QUANTITY produced. Most likely I'll work on 1.x column distillations for a while since that will reduce stripping runs.

[Steve Broady]

Very interesting and informative, Higgins. Thank you! I’m curious what it was about the 1x plated run that your inexperienced tater preferred. I find it intriguing that there’s such a stark difference of opinion on that one.

[higgins]

I had given each taster a note card and pencil and asked them to write stuff on each one. There were protests, but all wrote something.
On the 1x I wrote 'Strong aroma, corn-y, slight tails-like component. Strong flavor, sweet corn, slightly off (tailsy but not exactly)'. Another wrote 'unpleasant chemical aroma'. Taster 5 wrote 'lowest aroma, smooth mouth'.

So maybe taster 5's 'smeller' doesn't work as well as the rest of ours does.

I would have expected the 1x dist to have the most flavor and aroma of the column-stilled runs, and it did, but it had an off-putting aroma and flavor component that was similar to tails, maybe earthy-grainy-musty like. Once you get past that it was very good, and that might age out in a barrel.

I had a hard time choosing between the 2x pot and 2x col as my favorite (I didn't know which was what at time of choosing), finally choosing 2x col because it was slightly smoother.

I strongly suspect that the order of preference of the badmo aged versions a year from now will be quite different.

[tjsc5f]

This is great. Can't wait to see the aged results.

[haggy]

Very nice work. Well planned runs and excellent data. Congratulations.

[higgins]

Update: Not quite 1 year, but close enough!

All barrels were 4.25 qt badmos, medium toast, char 3.
Barrel #1 = 1x column
Barrel #2 = 1.5x column
Barrel #3 = 2x column
Barrel #4 = 2x pot

Last week I made up 94 proof samples of each barrel (90-95 proof seems to be the preferred strength for most members of our group), then labeled 4 empty bottles as A, B, C, D and asked my better half to pour the 1,2,3,4 into A,B,C,D in random order and put the written key into a sealed envelope.

Yesterday I took them to our BLAST session. There were 8 of us in total, with 4 of us having been involved in the initial white dog sampling. We sampled them in order, A thru D, and there were some considerable differences. Recorded comments were:

A = #4 (2x pot)	corn, buttery popcorn, sweet, warming, astringent
B = #1 (1x column)	a little buttery, a bit sweet, spicy
C = #2 (1.5x column)	corn, slight buttery, slight sweet, woody, aromatic
D = #3 (2x column)	corn, buttery, thin body, slight bitter finish.

...
I strongly suspect that the order of preference of the badmo aged versions a year from now will be quite different.

We didn't actually do any scoring as we did with the white dog, but the apparent order of preference was 2x column, 2x pot & 1.5x column (tie), 1x column. This is exactly the same order of preference as was the white dog, which surprised me somewhat. I actually preferred the 2x pot run - it had more flavor & was a bit more complex, but exhibited some 'young bourbon' character, whereas the 2x column run was the smoothest and seemed a bit more mature, but also a bit less complex, yet still flavorful.

As a result of this I'll split my bourbon runs between 2x pot and 2x column this year, and will revisit these 4 again next year.

[tjsc5f]

Thanks for the update higgins.
I have a feeling that 2x column will still be the crowd favorite next year, but by year 3 and beyond the others will start to dominate.

[Bkvance]

I can’t wait to hear the resulting taste tests, I’ve jumped into this sea with both feet and purchased a 26gal, dual heater 4” Flute system from Mile Hi and this is the kind of stuff I want to learn. Mr Higgins, what a cool write up and learning opportunity,

Cheers!

[Lowlyric]

Thank you for the experiment. Awesome read and very informative.