How I do it: Strip & Spirit w/Cuts

[8Ball]

After numerous strips & spirit runs with my 5G all copper pot & no thumper, with propane here is what works for me for any spirit:

Keep the ferments @ 8-10% abv max.

Let it settle a few days after the cap drops and or the ferment stops.

Fill the boiler to 3/4 full max.

Use a de-foaming agent. FermCap S works good.

Do a slow heat up for strips & spirits.

Take 1 oz per gallon as a fores/heads cut each strip/spirit. This stuff goes into the fire starter container.

Strip until your low wines are at 30% abv or less.

You should get a gallon of low wines for every 3.5 gallons of wash/beer.

Use a combination of low wines, reserved beer/wash, and feints from the last spirit run to make your spirit boiler charge as close to 27% abv as you can.

Use a parrot & a good alcometer during spirit runs that you can compensate for temperature.

After the fores/heads cut mentioned earlier, start collecting hearts @ 75% abv or less into a clean stainless pot until the parrot alcometer reads 65% abv actual. I do this to resist the temptation to “fill the last jar” when the tails show up.

You can strip out the remainder of tails as feints for your next spirit run, or, you can continue to go deeper into the tails while you taste & smell for the flavor/odor that offends you.

You hearts cut should be very close to aging strength & your feints should be around 35-40% abv.

I age in glass with sticks, then transfer to casks when I do an annual top off after pulling drinking stock & replacing angel share.

Cheers!

[Bushman]

Nice write-up. Working with a 5 gallon still takes more patients from what I have read from other members. I have a 5 gallon still but used only for gin and another for essential oils.

Take 1 oz per gallon as a fores/heads cut each strip/spirit. This stuff goes into the fire starter container.

I use mine for killing weeds, I have used it with a mix to make windshield wiper liquid.

[8Ball]

I use mine for killing weeds, I have used it with a mix to make windshield wiper liquid.

+1. I use it to make windshield fluid & for generic cleaning as well. Love the smell of hooch when I use my wipers

[Twisted Brick]

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Excellent summary of your processes, 8Ball. It succinctly captures the succession of steps involved and would be an excellent blueprint for all who start (and continue) down the all-grain path.

After numerous strips & spirit runs with my 5G all copper pot & no thumper, with propane here is what works for me for any spirit:

And I thought my 15gal keg mash tun/fermenter was small! You have the patience of a Tibetan monk! Om...

[Deplorable]

Well written, I would add a cautionary note for new folks to not rely on solely on ABV for a heads cut. At least not until they have a firm grasp on how fermentation control can impact the volume of perceived heads and tails.

While my Spirit runs are usually between 5 and 6 gallons, I appreciate my 13-gallon boiler for stripping runs. I agree with TB, you have more patience than I do.

[shadylane]

After the fores/heads cut mentioned earlier, start collecting hearts @ 75% abv or less into a clean stainless pot until the parrot alcometer reads 65% abv actual. I do this to resist the temptation to “fill the last jar” when the tails show up.

All the other ideas are great.

But, cut's based on ABV only apply to your still and recipe.

[8Ball]

.
Excellent summary of your processes, 8Ball. It succinctly captures the succession of steps involved and would be an excellent blueprint for all who start (and continue) down the all-grain path.

After numerous strips & spirit runs with my 5G all copper pot & no thumper, with propane here is what works for me for any spirit:

And I thought my 15gal keg mash tun/fermenter was small! You have the patience of a Tibetan monk! Om...

Thanks TB,
Multiple small ferments, strips, and spirits along with multiple cask fills have allowed me to subjectively dial in how my rig operates & where my cut points usually present themselves.

[PalCabral]

Hi 8Ball,

my process is very similar to yours. At least for now I only work with 25L (6,5g) ferments which means that I fill my 50L/13g boiler half full for stripping runs. I run stripping runs full blast though, but I do collect the first 5-6cl (2oz) coming out of the spout just on principle - it goes straight to the toilet. I aim for getting low wines at about 1/3 of the input volume of wash/beer, which means 7-8L per run. I tend to stripp down to 2-3% abv and I the overall ABV generally lands between 27 and 29%. This way I stripp three times to have enough low wines for a spirit run. Should my low wines after three stripp runs be less than 21L/5g, I will plan for a fourth ferment to either stripp or include in the spirit run.

This is a hobby I only have time for during weekends, so every weekend I run a stripping run and I mash and start the ferment for the following weekend's stripping run. My all grain washes ferment out in three days so it's possible for me to mash, ferment and stripp within 7 days. Once a month, the weekend distillation day is a spirit run rather than a stripping run.

As a consequence, all my "projects" are one month long. On May 1, which is a holiday here, I will run the spirit run for my current project, a wheated Bourbon, which marks the finalization of this project. In May, my new project is a High Rye formula Bourbon which I intend to finish by the end of May. And so it rolls. March was the month for my Panela rhum project. It means it takes time to get up to volume but there are more things in my life than my hobby, and want to have some balance.

[8Ball]

Hi 8Ball,

my process is very similar to yours. At least for now I only work with 25L (6,5g) ferments which means that I fill my 50L/13g boiler half full for stripping runs. I run stripping runs full blast though, but I do collect the first 5-6cl (2oz) coming out of the spout just on principle - it goes straight to the toilet. I aim for getting low wines at about 1/3 of the input volume of wash/beer, which means 7-8L per run. I tend to stripp down to 2-3% abv and I the overall ABV generally lands between 27 and 29%. This way I stripp three times to have enough low wines for a spirit run. Should my low wines after three stripp runs be less than 21L/5g, I will plan for a fourth ferment to either stripp or include in the spirit run.

This is a hobby I only have time for during weekends, so every weekend I run a stripping run and I mash and start the ferment for the following weekend's stripping run. My all grain washes ferment out in three days so it's possible for me to mash, ferment and stripp within 7 days. Once a month, the weekend distillation day is a spirit run rather than a stripping run.

As a consequence, all my "projects" are one month long. On May 1, which is a holiday here, I will run the spirit run for my current project, a wheated Bourbon, which marks the finalization of this project. In May, my new project is a High Rye formula Bourbon which I intend to finish by the end of May. And so it rolls. March was the month for my Panela rhum project. It means it takes time to get up to volume but there are more things in my life than my hobby, and want to have some balance.

Yes, yours is very similar. I also do three all grain ferments: I strip two and a half of them, and reserve the remaining half for two sprit runs.

Here are data from one of two recent bourbon spirit runs using heirlom Minnesota 13 corn:

Full pot:
0.75G M13 Feints from last spirit approx 45%
2.50G M13 Low Wines approx 35%
1.50G M13 Reserves approx 9%
8 oz fores/early heads to cleaning jar.
74-56% hearts/early tails using a parrot.
4.285L@66%+8 oz water = 153 oz @ 62.5%
1.2G@62.5% aging on 3 oak bones 0.75x0.75x6.0
0.5G @ 44% Feints for next spirit.