How do you measue proof during distillation?

sploke · Post by **sploke** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:50 pm

I keep reading to collect tails down to X %abv. How do you know what your % is while the distillate is running off the still? Do you actually get a high enough volume to use an alcoholmeter, just by taste, feel etc?

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:32 pm

all of the above.

using an alcometer is kind of a pain. Taste and feel takes some learning, but it will come to you after a while.

duds2u · Post by **duds2u** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:09 pm

If you have a parrots beak you have total control over your output as you can see the changes as it is happening, and make your cuts accordingly.
I have only just started using one and it makes everything so much easier.

Cheers
Mal

canadianmoonshiner · Post by **canadianmoonshiner** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:32 pm

You can estimate the strength of the distillate by measuring the vapor temperature. For example:

78C = 95+ %
80C = 87%
82C = 82.5%
84C = 79%
86C = 76%
88C = 72%
90C = 67%

Look at the graph at http://homedistiller.org/theory/theory/strong" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
The blue line is the wash strength & its boiling point.
The red line is the distillate strength & vapor temperature.

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:10 am

Like this:

sploke · Post by **sploke** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:26 am

Ah I've seen a setup like that before...so you basically have a rolling read of the current 25-50ml coming off, give or take....I'll have to work on something like that for the future

Post by **Tater** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:48 am

Or you can learn to read the bead

DBM · Post by **DBM** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:44 am

Catch a coupla drops of your whiskey in a spoon, in a dimly lighted area light it with a lighter, as long as it burns an almost invisible blue, it's high proof. When it burnes with a yellow flame its getting weak, when its hard to light you better start tasting it, cause you are in the tails.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:48 am

Uncle Remus, how do you correct for temperature? I usually flow just enough water through my condensor to make it work, and the distillate is pretty warm. I haven't checked, but I guessed that the alcometer readings would be wildly off.

thats a nice setup by the way...

canadianmoonshiner · Post by **canadianmoonshiner** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:22 am

I have a graph that corrects for temperature in my photo album at the website below. If you can't read it I can email the original excel file to anyone who wants it, or you can use this data to create your own:

30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
10C 2.47 2.39 2.2 2.07 1.91 1.75 1.47
15C 0.41 0.4 0.37 0.35 0.32 0.29 0.25
20C -1.64 -1.59 -1.47 -1.38 -1.28 -1.17 -0.98
25C -3.7 -3.58 -3.3 -3.11 -2.87 -2.63 -2.21
30C -5.75 -5.57 -5.14 -4.83 -4.47 -4.09 -3.43
35C -7.81 -7.56 -6.97 -6.56 -6.06 -5.55 -4.66

For example: an alcometer reading of 60% at 30C would have a correction of -4.8, so the actual abv (corrected to 15.56C) would be 55.2%

sploke · Post by **sploke** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:18 pm

What's "read the bead"? Is that like when you shake it in a bottle, how much it foams, or whatever is a good indication of how strong it is?

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:04 pm

junkyard dawg wrote:Uncle Remus, how do you correct for temperature? I usually flow just enough water through my condensor to make it work, and the distillate is pretty warm. I haven't checked, but I guessed that the alcometer readings would be wildly off.

thats a nice setup by the way...

Until I get well into tails the temp of the distillate is cold. If anything it is well below 20 degC throughout most of the run....even if the temp is off 20 deg you still have a pretty good idea what's going on.

possum · Post by **possum** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:07 pm

yes sploke that is what it is. use a smal jar, and shake/thump it...experience looking at various samples will get you there. smaler bubbles and longer before they dissapear = higher proof.
tasting, and temperature controlled ignition( light it cold in a spoon) will also inform you. Spirit hydrometer is pretty easy to use,get a glass cylinder with it.

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:55 pm

I believe that training your senses is the best way to learn.
A wise old timer (you know who you are...lol) gave me this priceless info when I was getting started...

"just go by what's coming out.
you smell it.
you put it in a spoon and burn it.
you drip it on a plate and burn it.
you taste it.
you rub it on your hands and smell it.
you rub it on your hands and feel it.
you put it in a little vial or bottle and shake it and look at the bubbles."

"as long as it lights easily in a spoon it's over 100 proof.
When it won't light in a spoon but will light on a plate it's under 100 proof but over 75 or so.
If it burns clear and blue and steady with a flame you can't see in sunlight it's very pure.
If it burns with a yellow "beard" it's got some fusils and impurities... the bigger the beard the more off it is."
"See how much liquid is left in the spoon after the burning stops."
(taste what is left in the spoon after the burning stops)

"Taste your output, compare it to the taste of the liquid left in the spoon after burning.
Tasting isn't very accurate for strength (and it gets less and less accurate the more you do it) but it is the most accurate test of how your stuff actually tastes (imagine that)."

"Catch some of the output and rub it between and all over your hands.
Move your hands from arms length toward your face, see how close you have to get to smell it.
Feel how fast it evaporates.
Feel when you rub it between your hands whether it feels oily or slippery (like soap) or scrunchy. "

"Learn to recognise how those feelings correspond to smell and taste and to how it burns."

"Put an half an ounce to an ounce of your output in a small glass bottle or vial with a tight fitting cap and give it a vigorous shake.
Look at the bubbles that form briefly along the edge of the liquid in a string like beads. (READING THE BEAD)
bigger more uniform bubbles happen at higher proof and it will stop "beading" alltogether as you start to drop below 100 proof. "

"Do all these things at regular intervals every time you run.
Pay attention to how these sensory tests corrispond to one another at different points in the run."

"Don't expect to understand exactly what you are seeing and smelling and tasting and feeling the first several times you do it.
Remember that you are training your senses as much as you are learning an intellectual set of tests... the senses learn through consistancy and repitition."

"Just keep doing it, consider it an integral part of your process even if at first you can't tell what good it's doing."

"It will all come together. There are people who can nail proof within two or three points by rubbing the liquor between their hands. The only thing they've got that you don't is experience... and if you don't do the tests whether you "get" them or not you'll never gain the experience. "

Once you senses are trained to tell proof, purity, etc... then buy yourself an alcoholmeter.