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I did my first batch a few weeks ago. It was a basic sugar wash. I used 5lbs of white table sugar to 3TBS of bakers yeast to two gallons of water. After my initial run the product came out at about 140 proof. I proofed it further down to 90. However the longer it sets on my counter the hotter to the tongue it gets. It was once nice and smooth now it is like a fireball in my mouth. Can anyone please advise me on something I could have done or a possible cause?

as far as I'm concerned a basic sugar wash doesn't make good drink from a pot still without several runs.
I would look at your SG. a 17% wash is only ever gonna give you firewater.

Okay well bellybuster what kind of wash would you recommend for a new comer like me to try. I am always willing to learn and try new things. I thought about a grain wash but am unsure of how to malt it. Could you recommend something on here I could read to help me better understand the malting process?

Too much sugar or not enough water
In my world too much yeast
No nutrients ?

Read my tag lines

Good Luck

Coyote

I appreciate it Coyote thank you.

Quite frankly a one gallon still is going to be hard to get anything good out of much less make proper cuts.

tp

check out some of the tried and true recipes like UJSSM or sweet feed

There is an entire category here called "Mashing and Fermenting" click on board index above and scroll down through the catagories. Also the Uncle Jess (UJSSM), and the Sweet feed recipes mentioned above don't require mashing.

To much sugar. To small of a still. Bad cuts because of the size of the still. A bad recipe. Wrong type of recipe.

Tried and true recipe section.
Novice guide to cuts.
And get a bigger still.

I would suggest the birdwatchers (tried and true recipe, validated about, oh, 17.2 million times by now) ... if you used turbos, then that explains a lot. Not only are they expensive, the produce a colorless liquid version of the diarrhea one produces after eatting burritos from a dark Mexican ghetto alley (like that analogy??? )

Learn to cut, run yer still as slow as possible, once you are making acceptable likker and realize this facinating hobby is for you, start to upgrade

<edit> - ok, I have been drinking my likker and realized in the OP you used bakers - well, you just surpassed about 82% of those that come here to solve problems - congrats. Still, try the birdwatchers, be patient, learn to cut as best you can on the still you have, and once you learn a bit more, go find the design plans and pick a tried and true still design ...

I'd opt for Uncle Jesse's Sour Mash recipe in Tried and True, too much sugar causes the hot taste, 2 G is not enough water either, 1 Lbs of sugar per gallon of water.

Also needed is a yeast nutrient or the yeast dies off, gotta get yourself some cracked corn or something,

You must use around 4.5 - 5 Gallons of water or the wash is way too concentrated, will likely kill baker's yeast, will generally taste like hell.

You also might add oak chips, apricots, cranberries, and a very small piece of a cinnamon stick to soak in the distillate for some time.

Age it with no lid so it can de-gas or whatever, seems to cure up better without a lid so it can vent off a bit. Then filter it, use clean glass and stainless, use distilled water for cutting it down to 80 proof, will taste close enough to store-bought Jim Beam or something, just be mindful of your SG so the hot sensation on your tongue don't return, you want washes exiting the 20L bucket at about 8-10% abv.

I highly recommend the All Bran or Gerber if you are going for something light to drink and pretty foolproof. The plain sugar washes just don't come out quite right for me.

I've made Birdwatchers a fair few times and started drinking it after the first run, tastes a lot better than the store bought vodkas, even the higher end ones.

No headache or shitting through the eye of a needle. I would say possibly cuts and definitely too much sugar, I use 3.5-4kgs in a 20ltr wash.

It's pot still. The first time through is pretty rubbishy. The fix is to ferment enough for three or four charges, put them all through, discarding the foreshots and stopping collection at about 20%ABV, or when it tastes nasty, put it all back in the still, add water to 40%ABV, then run it again, making your cuts. You won't believe the difference.

NZChris wrote:It's pot still. The first time through is pretty rubbishy. The fix is to ferment enough for three or four charges, put them all through, discarding the foreshots and stopping collection at about 20%ABV, or when it tastes nasty, put it all back in the still, add water to 40%ABV, then run it again, making your cuts. You won't believe the difference.

He will after he follows your advice the first time .

i run my pot single run almost every batch. Different strokes for..........

Yes its a pot still. But its a Mr distiller. So its not the best pot still. And it doesn't have any control. And he's making a sugar wash. Not even a good one.

A plain sugar wash through a pot still single run. Is probably ok more then likely. Going to turn out to be crap.

It would benefit from multiple runs.

Multiple runs will also give more product. So making cuts will be easier. Its still to small to make really good cuts. So anything will help.

But the best thing that could be done. Is using a good recipe. And running it accordingly.

You might try a 1.5x run, strip your first charge then add it to the next charge as low wines, then run it as slow as your still will let you. Go tried and true and keep your SG's between 1.060-1.065 seems to take a lot of the bite out of your finished product keeping the SG lower.