Stripping Run in a Potstill w/ a Parrot...

[Tinner22]

Do you still try to hold the temperature dumb ring the stripping run with the heat?

[ChairLawyer]

No. Most pot stillers don't even use thermometers. They just gauge it by the amount of their output. (Steady drips to twisting thin stream)

[CRACKERCREEK]

Wow! I love this forum. I thought I had the answers I needed until this thread. My 5gal pot still (4gal running) still produces 75-80 proof on stripping runs and chugs along outputting a stream about the size of a pencil not the lead. Should I show this monster down a bit?

[Prairiepiss]

Wow! I love this forum. I thought I had the answers I needed until this thread. My 5gal pot still (4gal running) still produces 75-80 proof on stripping runs and chugs along outputting a stream about the size of a pencil not the lead. Should I show this monster down a bit?

Not for a stripping run. Sounds like its running good for a stripping run.

[CRACKERCREEK]

Just making sure. some people were talking a pencil lead output. Now it's low n slow on the sprit run? Or do I keep on keepin on the large output

[bellybuster]

slow it down on the spirit run. I go for a broken stream about half way between dripping and stream. Best is to try different takeoff speeds and see what you like personally.

once you're in the hearts area of your run, play with takeoff speed and taste a tiny bit. I can tell the difference when I run too hard.

[UrToopid]

I have been searching thru posts for a couple of days now for an answer to this dilemma and haven't found what I am looking for so feel free to point me in the right direction if there is already a topic open for this. I put it here because I think my answer may lie in the topic of strip runs. I am using a 10 gal. potstill and a 1 gal. thumper that I have used to make some amazing (white) bourbon as well as a nice rum. I am on my 7th or 8th run doing All Grain and its been working nicely until my last run...

I had a few mashes lined up and was unable to use my usual fermenter so I found this nifty looking clear tote that is 15 gallons and has a gasketed lid with six camlocks built into it. It is made by ziplock if memory serves, and I think I read "food grade" on the side of it... I did two other departures from my usual method as well.. first I used a different yeast, and second, I used Bohemian Dark Floor Malt in addition to my usual Distillers Malt and Malted Rye to go with my 66% gristed corn. I'm thinking the container may have leached some of the plastics into the wash.. or possibly what I am tasting is the Bohemian dark floor malt and a little scorching..

I don't know what went differently.. the flavor of the wash was fine; the pH was fine; the ferment went fine.. about 11 days and had dropped from apx. 10%potential abv down to about 1 %.
the wash was no longer sweet or sticky. I heated up to about 190 before my foreshots started at apx. 160 proof. I tossed the first 250 ml and started collecting pints and proofing each one, recording the flavor and proof of each one. I ended up with about one gallon of pints but every one of them from the first head to the last tail came out leaving an inner-tube flavor in my mouth that nothing short of sandpaper could get rid of.

My question for the more experienced persons on this site is this: Would a second run salvage some of this; or should I just toss it and start over?

[Worm Food]

For What It's Worth, I too am curious about this particular question/topic change. Is this the same as a "scorch"?

Just curious.

[Max_Vino]

As I thought about this I realized that there is an inverse correlation between viscosity and vapor pressure. As the viscosity increases the vapor pressure decreases thus the boiling temperature of the mix increases. For example: Acetone viscosity = .41 VP = 30 Water Viscosity = 1 VP = 2.4 As I add water to the acetone it’s viscosity goes up while it’s VP goes down.

Surface renewal also goes down as the vicious wash doesn’t flow and convect as easily . The viscosity increases as the run progresses, time to equilibrium increases and Raoult and Daltons laws break down.

Increased viscosity leads to higher surface tension. If you ever seen mud boiling you know what I mean. Bits of gorp get tossed up into the vapor stream as entrainment.

So here is my take:
higher viscosity = Stronger intermolecular forces = less surface renewal = higher boiling point = higher surface tension = more entrainment = ( less ethanol , more congener vapor in the column) = lower purity = longer aging times

So it makes a lot of sense to strip…get rid of the goo and then go after the spirit.

Cheers,
Max