HOLY CRAP GENTLEMEN! SUCCESS!!

[Amos Moses]

I've had a bit of success, although, I must be running way to slow. I have a 32 gallon pot still boiler that I filled with 20 gallons of 12%. It has been taking me 12 hours to get about 3 liters. I throw out the first 200ml. The first 500ml have tasted pretty bad and marked them as heads. The next liter is good and save it to dilute and drink. The last liter I have been marking tails. I get around 70% ABV throughout the run with little fluctuation but I must be leaving a lot of good stuff in the pot.

From what I have been reading, I should be getting more product faster.


I'm using the boiler on a natural gas burner. I'm just starting another run today. I'll try to run a bit faster this time and see what happens. It's just a sugar wash. I also have a 3rd gen USJM fermenter going that will be ready very soon. I would like to get more product. I think I just need to do stripping runs and then do a spirit run. I don't seem to be getting near enough just doing one slow run. And it takes way too long.

EDIT:
How much good stuff should I get out of 20 gallons that is drinkable? And how fast should it run? I have only been getting maybe 200mL an hour or so after initial start up.

[Dnderhead]

that's 2.4 gallons or about 8 litre of alcohol (total ) you cant git all of it out but should git most of it. most keep cooking untill it gits down to
20%

[Amos Moses]

that's 2.4 gallons or about 8 litre of alcohol (total ) you cant git all of it out but should git most of it. most keep cooking untill it gits down to
20%

I'll do that. Thanks for the response.

[punkin]

2.4 gallons is 9.1 litres. You are ripping yourself off, and probably gathering nearly all heads.
Run much faster and get more quantity.

You might be well advised to strip all your wash till you have 1/3rd volume (or <20% spirit running out your worm), then rerun your low wines after three washes.
Great way to;
1) Ensure you're numbers are right for collection volume
2) Learn to make cuts, as they are easier and more noticeable on purer product
3) Quicker and more energy efficient (although a different flavour profile)
4) More consistent flavour over a period of time and from wash to wash.

[punkin]

A follow up..
I bought a spirit hydrometer ($9.99 at noble grape) and found out I have 7L of 75%abv! I mixed in 1/2L of the first of the tails or the very last of the heart.
Now I don't know how you guys do it, but, I took a tiny spoon and mixed in a tablespoon 1/2 bottled water and 1/2 spirit. Smelled then tasted it. Hearts were fine..then the second bottle of hearts...then third....um...I can't taste/smell NOTHING NOW! I dumped the rest of my hearts in and tried to rinse my mouth with water but the first bottle of tails tasted great too so I added then stopped. I couldn't tell the difference anymore and I didn't want to ruin it. I kept all the heads/tails in a carboy marked "feints". So now tonight I'll go home and mix 7L of whisky with 6.125L of water to have 50% corn whisky! woohoo!!

The whole freaking garage smells of whisky and I can't smell/taste in there at all.

Aaaahhhh......
We don't drink the whole 2 teaspoons of each sample?


Just a tiny sip to wet your toungue...




You can either go slow and taste one every few minutes, i'll often be drinking beer, probably not the best thing to refresh your pallatte, but works for me.

You don't have to taste every hearts segment either, once you have a few cuts under you're belt you'll be able to make rough cuts at the worm, that way most of your hearts will be in big bottles, so you only need one taste of hearts to start you off and get the flavour of that particular brew in your mind. Then slowly work your way up or down.

[Amos Moses]

I have it running now at close to one liter per hour. I had been trying to run it at 78C which made it run really slow. It's now running around 83C and is coming out much faster. I have the thermometer in the top of the still head. It's down near the pull off point. It seems to be OK, flavor wise, coming out now. It's coming out around 75% ABV at this rate.

[punkin]

I have it running now at close to one liter per hour. I had been trying to run it at 78C which made it run really slow. It's now running around 83C and is coming out much faster. I have the thermometer in the top of the still head. It's down near the pull off point. It seems to be OK, flavor wise, coming out now. It's coming out around 75% ABV at this rate.

Stop looking at the damn thermometer and turn the wick up.

I have a mostly 1 inch still, that reduces down to half inch for the condensor and i can run a spirit run at 4l an hour and a strip run at 6l an hour.
Your still is likely to be different and i'm not sure of the setup of your stillhead, but a 32 gallon boiler is nothing to be sneezed at (mines 13).

Edit; i found your still in the bluegrass thread, i spose all you can turn it up to is what your condensor can handle, but it looks like it should handle a whole lot more than 1 l an hour.

I assume you are running it without any packing? 75% sounds high for a first run.

[Dnderhead]

I keep forgetting that there's two different gallons gits right down confusing at times IMP=4.55L US= 3.78 L

[junkyard dawg]

amos, don't worry about keeping the still at that temp. It's going to go up to 85 or so before its really working its best. You have no control over what temperature it runs at. thats determined by whats in the boiler.

Turn it up to see how high you can go... don't puke it or get crazy, just keep a good eye and ear on whats happening and turn it up till its really going fast. I can easily do a liter in fifteen minutes with a 12% wash. Then you gotta try turning it down to see how low you can go and still maintain the flow. Practice that a little bit. When you do a spirit run you will use much less fuel and have to turn down very low. Once you do that a few times you will catch on how you can 'drive' a still. That thermometer is not what you use to steer tho... Steer with the size of the fire and stream of likker coming out.

[goinbroke2]

This is what Hawke said to me back on page 1;
"I'd do a single stripping run. Should take about 45 minutes to first boil. Another 2 1/2 to 3 hours for the run. You should end up with around 8 litres of low wines (more or less depending on how hard you push it) Pull your backset to restart your ferments and leave about a gallon or so to add with your low wines for a slow spirit run.
I'd pull 200ml as foreshots, then collect everything else on the strip, down to 15 or 20%."

This was DEAD ON for me. With out going back I think it was like 43 min to boil, 2 1/2hr's for the run and I got 8L of low wines.

I have 25ft of 1/2" copper tube wrapped in a 20L pail with flowing water. Even when I did my first "too-fast" run and everything came out watery the output was still cold.
My point is, the coil is like HP and tits, you can't have to much! My rim burner cranks out a crapload of heat, and the worm will STILL cool it no problem.
Crank up your heat and if the condensor can't handle it, build it bigger so it will.

Oh yeah, and I don't have a thermometer at all. (although I'm a newby and could be screwing this all up too I suppose)

[Amos Moses]

amos, don't worry about keeping the still at that temp. It's going to go up to 85 or so before its really working its best. You have no control over what temperature it runs at. thats determined by whats in the boiler.

Thanks, I did find that it ran out pretty nice at around 85C. I just need to keep working at it. I get all caught up in the numbers and don't let things run like they should I think. Practice practice.

[Amos Moses]

Stop looking at the damn thermometer and turn the wick up.

I have a mostly 1 inch still, that reduces down to half inch for the condensor and i can run a spirit run at 4l an hour and a strip run at 6l an hour.
Your still is likely to be different and i'm not sure of the setup of your stillhead, but a 32 gallon boiler is nothing to be sneezed at (mines 13).

Edit; i found your still in the bluegrass thread, i spose all you can turn it up to is what your condensor can handle, but it looks like it should handle a whole lot more than 1 l an hour.

I assume you are running it without any packing? 75% sounds high for a first run.

No packing.


I was too busy running around. it's only 32L not 32 gallons. Heh big difference. I did run it faster this time and got more output.
Too much sampling not enough thinking. Sorry for the mistake. Thanks for all of the responses even though I'm farther out than I thought I was apparently.

Sorry about the false info. That can't help any.

[goinbroke2]

Something for the "post your mistakes" thread

I could probably fill it, but people would get tired of reading about me and my incompetence!


Well, I poured 6.125L of bottled water into my 7L of whisky and it got cloudy....for about 3 seconds then went clear. It was humidity and warm carboy/cold water from cooler.
So now I have 13.125L of 50% corn whisky. Looks like a carboy half full of water.
Poured my first drink, on the rocks...(which I CAN'T do with store bought) and hey that's pretty good.
Then I mixed it 70% whisky - 30% 7-up and holy crap all I taste is 7-up!
TOO COOL!

So, why does my whisky smell nice and "fresh" at 50% and store bought at 40% takes your breath away/burns the eyes? I'm guessing it's the amount of reflux carrying flavour over? More heads/tails in store bought?

[Barney Fife]

More heads/tails in store bought?

Ding ding! We have a winner...

i recently had to -buy- rum on a foreign trip, and when I opened up the bottle, from simple force of habit, I took a deep whiff of it before pouring a drink, and my reaction was simply 'holy shit! heads aplenty!" Also had a headache the next morning, despite not having had that much of it; never, ever happens to me otherwise. I think it safe to say that large distilleries don't toss anything out....

We are spoiled, friends, we are spoiled.

[goinbroke2]

I took a drink of my stuff and hurt my back....from patting to hard! LOL!

[VicBill]

goinbroke,

You might need to recalibrate that calculator of yours. If you had 7l of 75% ABV and you added 6.125l of water, you get 5.25 l of ethanol in 13.125 l total.

This equals 40% abv (5.25/13.125) same strength as the store bought you are comparing to.

[goinbroke2]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! CRAP!!!!!!

I just looked and your right! Crap! I checked out how much to make it 50% and how much to make it 40%.
Then I went to the garage the next day and went by memory and added 6.125L.

Damn, I have a bad case of "CRAFT" disease.
Can't
Remember
A
F***ing
Thing

They say the memory is the second thing to go, the first? ....I forget.....

Thanks, now I have to go make up all new labels.

[goinbroke2]

I guess I'll have to modify these to show 80 proof not 100 proof.

[punkin]

You should always check your product after cutting. The calculators are often short on the large quantities. Although usually spot on on a bottle, it still pays to check and make sure you haven't made a mistake that could hurt someone.

I reckon the large quantity calcs are out because of the chemistry of the alchohol/water mix. It just doesn't add up to the sum of both parts.

[goinbroke2]

Good point, I think I'll go check it later.

At the bottom of this thread it says; Users browsing this forum: goinbroke2 /1 guest / google [bot]
What is the Google [bot] and why is it on here?


edit: now it's; Users browsing this forum: goinbroke2 and 1 guest

[punkin]

Awww


You scared the little googlebot away

[Hawke]

The google bot is how Google finds the information that shows up when you search. This insidious bug is viewing every page on the web.

[goinbroke2]

Hmmm, never knew that. Go to bed tonight a little less stupid...

So, I just checked it....37-38%abv

Oh well, live and learn, I won't make that mistake again.

[HookLine]

"Corn Extract"