new to distilling need advance with problems

[stuntkiller]

Hi I am kinda new to the actual distilling prosses Iv made mead an other stuff but this time I made some mash with sugar water an malted corn an yeast an left it alone an it turned out to be 20+ proof the question I have is how do I determine the head an what to do to determine methanol I took some of the first drops an light it an everything that was distilled burned solid blue an smelled the same an tastes simillar any help on what to do?

[oliver90owner]

I'm sure all would be revealed if you go to the new distiller's section and read it all very carefully - and then again, until it is all absorbed.

[BentJar]

YES , Stunt, take a look at the Tried and True recipes, like Uncle Jessie's. They are easy and work. You will find yerself making some shine you will be proud of. The sweetfeed recipe is great also.
Done correctly, you will see 70% right off the still, clean and no head or stomack issues.
Dont f**k around with those UTube recipes. They are trash.
get urself some cracked corn and bakers yeast and have at it

Most of us use 8 oz jelly jars to make proper cuts. Get a case at wal mart. Number them and learn by taste and smell.

[rad14701]

Your first problem, aside from not doing enough research before starting out, was to make a wash that fermented to 20% ABV... I'm gonna guess that you used Turbo Yeast - with grain... If you do enough research you'll catch on to all of the mistakes you've made to date and be able to move forward without having to ask whether or not you did anything wrong... The New Distiller Reading Lounge and the parent site are great starting points, but it may take more than that...

[stuntkiller]

Thanks an the recipe that iused was from here an I didn't use turbo yeast an I haven't looked on utube an I only used alittle bit of distillers yeast I'm not sure how it turned out to be 20 proof I only let it ferment for 8 days an it was still kinda bubbling when I took it out

[Prairiepiss]

What were your SG readings?

It can only get to 20% if you provide that much sugar. And in distilling stopping a ferment before its done. Is just a waste of sugar. It's not like wine or mead. Where some leftover sugars can be a good thing. So you determine the ABV by the amount of sugar you use. To much is bad.

[stuntkiller]

I only added 3 cups of sugar to a gallon an a half of water an I tasted the mash an it was bitter an was still bubbling a little an what iv read here says iv added to litte sugar

[Beerbrewer]

According to the wash calculator you should have had an SG1.046 to get around 7%abv.

[pfshine]

Are talking proof or percent? There is a huge difference by double.

[Prairiepiss]

I only added 3 cups of sugar to a gallon an a half of water an I tasted the mash an it was bitter an was still bubbling a little an what iv read here says iv added to litte sugar

How did you determine you got 20%?

[stuntkiller]

I used 2 different proofing hydromiter that are for hard liquor an spirits an both said it was at 20 proof when I checked it after 8 days I'm just going to start a new batch today

[rad14701]

I used 2 different proofing hydromiter that are for hard liquor an spirits an both said it was at 20 proof when I checked it after 8 days I'm just going to start a new batch today

You cannot measure the proof/% of your wash using an alcoholmeter... You use a hydrometer to measure Specific Gravity, subtracting the Final Gravity from Original Gravity and multiplying by 129... Some use 130, 131, or 131.25 but the calculators on this site use 129...

Example: (1.080(OG) - 0.990(FG)) * 129 = .09 * 129 = 11.61% ABV