Built a 2"X36" reflux filled with copper scrubbers and ran my first batch which contained 2gal. white grape juice, 10 lbs of sugar and water to make about 5-6gallons of mash. Didn't know how long to allow the still to reflux before starting to collect so I waited maybe 5 minutes??? Then started collecting at a steady drip of 2-3 drops per second pretty much throughout the entire run. I collected the first 4 batches in 1oz. increments then the rest at 4 oz using a different glass for each. The first 2 ounces I just tossed and the rest got gradually less cloudy and sweet (like a REALLY strong wine smell) smelling until about 16 ounces total liquid had been collected The temp. stayed pretty steady at 172.5F for this first bit then climbed to about 173.2-173.8 for the remainder of the run which produced an additional 36-40 ounces. What fun! Kinda like a science experiment! I only combined liquids that had a consistent smell of alcohol (actually had very little smell!) Then the temperature started climbing and in only 30 seconds or less it went from 173.8F to 178F and no more distillate came out so I just shut off everything.
My questions are:
1. How did I do?
2. Is it normal for me to have 16 oz's of heads or did I not reflux long enough before starting to collect?
3. Is it normal for stills to just all of a sudden stop producing at the end of the run? I never got any tails?
4. The 16 oz of heads I produced had floaties in it. Are there things I can do to prevent this and the cloudyness?
newbee's first run questions
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