triple distilling procedure

[Roundyround]

I'm going to triple distill some vodka on my pot still and wondering if there was a recommended procedure. I'm planning on stripping run as usual with foreshot cut only, dilute low wines to 30% abv, do second run fast like a stripping run but take a conservative initial head cut to remove the worst of the heads by smell and taste off the still, then dilute to 30% abv and do the third run like normal slow spirit run, collecting in jars, letting it air out, keep what I like and then proof.
I'm open for suggestions if there is a better procedure or something I'm missing.

[Durace11]

That plan seems like it's pretty spot on, I'd do that! Although, if you are going to make a cut of fores and heads on your first two runs you need to heat up fairly slow until the initial cut is taken. THEN crank the heat up and go. If you go full blast from the initial flame on you are going to smear the initial cut and possibly throw out some hearts with your heads.

[rtalbigr]

Three runs probably won't be enough to clean it up and approximate vodka.

Doing your second run hard is just going to smear everything together. Once you do your strip run all subsequent runs need to be slow so you can minimize the smearing. The goal of your first spirit run should be to make good cuts because when you re-run you want to use only diluted hearts. If you want a vodka that's as clean as you can get with a pot still you'll need to make those cuts each run. After the run look at your backset. If it's real cloudy then you need to do another run.

Big R

[Roundyround]

What does the cloudy backseat represent? My tap water is fairly hard.

[rtalbigr]

Really it all depends on how "clean" you want your pot still vodka. Water does a really good job of cleaning a distillate. Every time you dilute and re-distill you are "cleaning" your distillate. So, if your backset is cloudy then the distillate needs more cleaning. With a pot still you are never going to get any thing that will approach what you can get from a good reflux system, but, by repeated re-distillation you can get fairly close. I have re-distilled as much as six times to get a really clean vodka but often four times is sufficient. I might add that a thumper with just water does an excellent job of cleaning up a distillate.

As to your hard water, I'm sure it works quite well for mashing and fermentation due to the abundance of minerals but for cleaning up a pot still vodka you may want to use RO or distiller water. I use RO water to dilute mine.

Big R