Distillate to water calculator

[A BIT DIFFERENT]

I was interested to see that there is a calculator that helps work out approximately how much distillate one can get to water by entering known entities such as volume of wash and percentage ABV etc. The calculator asks for the % your or the specific still distills at. How does one know the % alcohol a still will produce to enter into the calculator?

[Salt Must Flow]

Depends on exactly what you're asking about and which calculator you're referring to.

When you say volume of a "wash", are you referring to fermented table sugar, panela, sugarcane juice or molasses? If other, please specify.

Are you asking about a stripping run or a spirit run? A pot still or a reflux column? Are you talking about a one and done run and if so, with what type of still?

[Yonder]

Ya see, there’s just too many variables involved in that to make it work. Your equipment, its efficiency, how low you go in the run. Tho’ I may be confused as to exactly what you’re asking. The calculation page has a fine approximation of how much water to add to a distilled product to get a desired abv or how much water and product to make a desired bottle. Please try to rephrase….

[A BIT DIFFERENT]

Depends on exactly what you're asking about and which calculator you're referring to.

When you say volume of a "wash", are you referring to fermented table sugar, panela, sugarcane juice or molasses? If other, please specify.

Are you asking about a stripping run or a spirit run? A pot still or a reflux column? Are you talking about a one and done run and if so, with what type of still?

Hey Salt

Thank you for taking the time. What I was referring to was the calculator that was posted by RAD which enables one to work out the approximate volume/quantity of distillate one might get out of a wash. It asks for known entities such as approximate % ABV, volume and then also the % that the still being used will distill at. I am just a bit confused as to how one would know what % your still distills at. Am I totally understanding it wrong, or will a still (because of size and shape perhaps), distill at a certain %?

[quadra]

Yes. Some still designs distill at an expected lower level of reflux and ABV, others at a higher level. A Simple pot still vs a column still vs an industrial side draw fractionation still will all have very different theoretical vs actual outputs. the theoretical output depends on the Quality of the feedstock and operation as well as the systems design efficiency. A pot still in theory makes an inferior product to a Coffey still if your goal is high ABV.
Does that help?

[Salt Must Flow]

Depends on exactly what you're asking about and which calculator you're referring to.

When you say volume of a "wash", are you referring to fermented table sugar, panela, sugarcane juice or molasses? If other, please specify.

Are you asking about a stripping run or a spirit run? A pot still or a reflux column? Are you talking about a one and done run and if so, with what type of still?

Hey Salt

Thank you for taking the time. What I was referring to was the calculator that was posted by RAD which enables one to work out the approximate volume/quantity of distillate one might get out of a wash. It asks for known entities such as approximate % ABV, volume and then also the % that the still being used will distill at. I am just a bit confused as to how one would know what % your still distills at. Am I totally understanding it wrong, or will a still (because of size and shape perhaps), distill at a certain %?

Ok, I get it now. You're referring to the calculator shown on this page called 'Distillate To Water Calculator'.

This calculator is particularly handy for a reflux column. It will calculate approx what the total collected product will be (foreshots, heads and hearts) as well as how much will be left inside the boiler. This also helps to predict approx when to be aware the run is almost over and tails is coming. It also helps people who know exactly how much liquid MUST be left in their boiler to cover their element when doing a relatively small spirit run.

YES, to use this calculator you must first know how effective your column operates for it to be most accurate. For instance if you bought a still online and you find that it is only capable of producing 90% ABV ... for that calculator to be accurate for your still you must enter the % ABV it produces.

This is why people always say, "learn your still". You can learn how to operate it to the best of its potential and see how well it works.

[A BIT DIFFERENT]

Hi Salt

Many many thanks. I do not have a reflux still. I got my hands on some old pure copper hot water geysers (South Africa). I have a business that gives me access to copper sheets and products, so I got some 2" copper pipes and fittings and fashioned a lid and condenser for the geysers effectively giving me two large pot stills. One is 65 liters and the other over a 100 liters capacity. That's mainly what I use. The reason for me asking is because I am trying to find a sort of "rule of thumb" guide as to how much product (in liters) one can reasonably expect to get from a wash if distilling down to 20%? I like to collect my product over about 40 jars in order to not mix the cuts too much and risk losing out on some good stuff that has gotten caught up too close to the heads, if you get what I mean? You're probably going to tell me that the proper and only way is to go by smell and taste. I get that, but I do not get to distill as much and often as I would like which means that I am not doing it often enough to "hone my senses". Thanks for the feedback and info though. Much appreciated.

[Homebrewer11777]

I think that calculator works well for stripping runs but maybe not as useful for spirit runs.

The Distillate to Water calc for stripping runs, set the still ABV to the target ABV of the combined low wines. If you started with 20L of wash at 9% and collect low wines into one large container until the ABV in the container reaches 25%...you can expect to collect 6.84 liters of 25% low wines.

I found an interesting calculator over at hobbybrennan that looks like it could solve your spirit run calculations. Distillation Simulator 1. No idea if it is any good but does seem to produce results that make sense based on my own spirit runs with a pot still.

[jonnys_spirit]

When I run a batch through my 16gallon pot still boiler I’ll ferment with a starting gravity if about 1.070 in a 50gallon blue hdpe drum for three stripping charges. Strip down to a 25-30% aggregate abv which yields approximately 5g low wines each of three strips. Combine the low wines for a 15g spirit run collected in 20-24 mason jars. After cuts my yield is typically 2.5-3 gallns of 120 proof barrel proof. That’s pretty consistent for my setup over many runs.

Double your boiler/ferment size and double your yield per batch.

Approximate quantities but it’s a line in the sand. You still need to make cuts. Keeping a notebook with details will help you refresh your memory next time you run if it’s not often.

Cheers,
Jonny

[Salt Must Flow]

Hi Salt

Many many thanks. I do not have a reflux still. I got my hands on some old pure copper hot water geysers (South Africa). I have a business that gives me access to copper sheets and products, so I got some 2" copper pipes and fittings and fashioned a lid and condenser for the geysers effectively giving me two large pot stills. One is 65 liters and the other over a 100 liters capacity. That's mainly what I use. The reason for me asking is because I am trying to find a sort of "rule of thumb" guide as to how much product (in liters) one can reasonably expect to get from a wash if distilling down to 20%? I like to collect my product over about 40 jars in order to not mix the cuts too much and risk losing out on some good stuff that has gotten caught up too close to the heads, if you get what I mean? You're probably going to tell me that the proper and only way is to go by smell and taste. I get that, but I do not get to distill as much and often as I would like which means that I am not doing it often enough to "hone my senses". Thanks for the feedback and info though. Much appreciated.

Are you doing stripping runs, collecting your Low Wines and then doing a Spirit run? That is standard operating procedure with a basic pot still. It sounds to me like you're doing a single run directly into your jars.

During a stripping run, you run it hard and as fast as your condenser can handle (or to not foam/puke) while collecting everything that exits. Most people do multiple stripping runs until they have enough collected Low Wines to do a single Spirit Run. The Spirit Run is done slow and steady directly into your collection jars. Often the following day or so is when people make their cuts.

During a stripping run, that calculator gives you a very good idea of how much total Low Wines you would should expect. You enter volume of the wash, the % ABV of the wash, enter what your total collected Low Wines % ABV will be and it will tell you the total collected volume of Low Wines and how much fluid will be left inside the boiler.

[Copperhead road]

I was thinking the same thing Salt, sounds like he’s collecting straight into jars from a stripping round.
As mentioned to multiple stripping runs until you have enough and then do one big spirit run low and slow (slower the better)

[A BIT DIFFERENT]

Good day Gentlemen (all 3)

Thank you very much for responding and sharing your knowledge. The fog is starting to clear.

Yes Salt, I am doing a single run straight into jars, reason being is that I do mainly fruit schnapps and have heard that you lose a lot of flavor when you strip?. I stand to be corrected here and would welcome it. I understand the concept of stripping and am not averse to doing it. It makes total sense that the stripping runs would make the use of the calculator easier by virtue of the fact that you can measure the % more accurately.