How fast do you run your 4” flute?

[JimBob88]

Hello all!

So I am currently stripping out 100l of neutral wash (sugar wash with oats and raisins) and will be doing a spirit run here in the coming days. I have a 4” flute with 8 bubble cap plates and a 4” dephleg that reduces down to a 2” shotgun product condenser sitting on a 56L keg boiler heated with gas. I have played around with it for some months now and am confident in running the still and my setup. The whole reason I upgraded to the 4” is to save myself time as it seems I have less and less of it these days and I want to make the most of the time I do have. So the question to you is how fast do you run your 4” flute on a spirit run with low wines for your charge?

I know the obvious answer is “run it as fast as you want while getting a quality of spirit you are ok with” which is what I have been doing but I seem to always revert back to my 2” run speeds because that’s what I have known for the past decade. So realistically from your experience what have you found to be a good speed without pushing heads or tails through the hearts? Thanks in advance!

[Saltbush Bill]

I've always run a 4 inch plater, at 2 to 2.5 LPH.
any faster and quality goes down hill imo.
There will be those who say faster, I'll happily put my booze against thiers in a blind tasting test any day.

[shadylane]

So the question to you is how fast do you run your 4” flute on a spirit run with low wines for your charge?

Depending on the design of the bubble cap plates.
Saltbush Bill's advice of 2-2.5 lph is right in the middle of the ball park.
8 plates with low wines sounds like almost neutral spirits.
If that's what you want, a packed column might be a better tool to getter done at 2X the takeoff speed.

[googe]

So the question to you is how fast do you run your 4” flute on a spirit run with low wines for your charge?

Depending on the design of the bubble cap plates.
Saltbush Bill's advice of 2-2.5 lph is right in the middle of the ball park.
8 plates with low wines sounds like almost neutral spirits.
If that's what you want, a packed column might be a better tool to getter done at 2X the takeoff speed.

[Sporacle]

2 to 2.5 lph, slower for heads I run my first litre at about 1 lph.
As for the 8 plates it won't be overly flavoured or Neutral, like everyone else has said.

[JimBob88]

Thanks for the reply’s all. I will heed your advice and collect at around 2.25l/hr going slower through the heads down at around 1L/hr.

A packed column is something I plan to try in the future. I can remove my plates and just pack my sections. I went with the modular plated setup because I make a lot of whiskey and rum And then to add an extra 4 plates to the order was less than $200 so I did that knowing I could get a decent neutral spirit out of 8 plates. I will sacrifice the speed of off take to get down to 1 main still for the 2-3 runs of neutral I make a year was my thinking.

As far as the almost neutral flavour profile I don’t drink neutral as it is I only really use it as a base for gin or liqueurs (or if the wife wants a tray of Jell-O shots to take to a friends place). So because of that if there is a little carry over of flavour from the oats and raisins I am ok with that. Besides it really is not much that comes over in my experience. But maybe you have a better recipe for a plated column neutral? I am all ears to all ideas!

[shadylane]

As far as the almost neutral flavour profile I don’t drink neutral as it is I only really use it as a base for gin or liqueurs .

In that case, and starting with a yeast happy wash, you could drive the plates harder.
Depending on the plate design, maybe 3.5 ltrs/ hour max during hearts.
Run drip to progressively a tiny trickle at the beginning with several small jars handy.
Also have small jars ready towards the end of the run.
Be vigilant because tails will suddenly appear.

[bluc]

2.5-3lph