First Run

[*MoonShine*]

First Run, Head temp go to upper 180's f. and still nothing running out?

Bad mash?

[mulekick]

First Run, Head temp go to upper 180's f. and still nothing running out?

Bad mash?

Yeah, sounds like you didn't have any alcohol in your mash.

[masonjar]

I just ran a 4 gallon sugar wash today that was 12% ABV. (SG started at 1.09 and fermented down to 1.0) Some foreshots trickled out at about 160F and then the temperature climbed up to mid 180s and slowly climbed up to 208F. I collected 3 litres of distillate and threw out the first 100ml. On the second run the distillate started coming out at about 180F and I collected about 2L, throwing out the first 50ml and stopping when I started smelling tails. I ran it once more and the temp was about 178 for most of the run and I again tossed the first 50ml and ended up with about 1.5 litres of 85% ABV when I smelled the first hint of tails. The final product smelled pretty darn clean to me. I cut it down to 45% and had about 3 litres. This was my 7th time using the still and I think I'm starting to get a feel for it.

It's pretty amazing that even on the third run, the backset smelled awful, because I thought the wash smelled really clean before I started that run.

[masonjar]

Hmm... I wonder what the backset would smell like if you distilled commercial vodka. Has anyone ever tried that before?