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1.072 - .992 = .080 x 131 = 10.48% ABV



so does this mean in a 5 gallon batch 10.48% will be pure ethanol

or does this mean or 10.48% fores, heads, hearts & tails.

In theory I should be able to get 2 quarts (half gallon) of alcohol.



when I check my OG I did not get a temperature reading
my temperature for my FG was 68.
I dod not adjust my readings to 60 degrees so the number will be off.
I am mainly just trying to understand the formula and make sure if
I have it correct.



so how did I do?

The ABV is of all the alcohols, fores, heads, hearts and tails.
Yes in theory you can get 1/2 gallon but reality tends to prove different. It's not really of value to continue running through all the tails.
You also need to look at the ABV of your product coming out.

That 10.48%, or 10.5% is the potential pure ethanol in the wash... However, when running the still you won't be taking off pure ethanol and you'll never extract every drop of pure ethanol in the boiler... So the volume of spirits will be greater than that percentage due to water and any other constituents in the wash... The short answer is that you get what you get based on several variables associated with the run...

As an example, there is ~.5 gallon of pure ethanol in that 5 gallons... If you pot still it and the average of the collected spirits is 50%/100 proof then you will have ~1 gallon of spirits... But, again, this is all just theoretical numbers and not reality...

There is a pot still calculator on the parent site, written by Husker, that should be of help if pot stilling... When running a reflux column the actual volumes are not quite as easy to estimate... And the numbers don't take cuts into account at all so you end up with less drinking spirits when you remove the Foreshots and whatever goes into the feints jar...

rad14701 wrote:That 10.48%, or 10.5% is the potential pure ethanol in the wash... However, when running the still you won't be taking off pure ethanol and you'll never extract every drop of pure ethanol in the boiler... So the volume of spirits will be greater than that percentage due to water and any other constituents in the wash... The short answer is that you get what you get based on several variables associated with the run...

As an example, there is ~.5 gallon of pure ethanol in that 5 gallons... If you pot still it and the average of the collected spirits is 50%/100 proof then you will have ~1 gallon of spirits... But, again, this is all just theoretical numbers and not reality...

There is a pot still calculator on the parent site, written by Husker, that should be of help if pot stilling... When running a reflux column the actual volumes are not quite as easy to estimate... And the numbers don't take cuts into account at all so you end up with less drinking spirits when you remove the Foreshots and whatever goes into the feints jar...

Ok. This is what I was thinking. I have ran a few cleaning runs and I have only produced 1 full quart and 1 pint before the wet dog/cardboard smell came through. I have read on here somewhere that you could produce 2-3 gallons from 5 gallon mash. It seemed like a lot to me. I guess if the ABV of the mash is really high it is possible.

Thank you for your input guys.

distillrook84 wrote:I have read on here somewhere that you could produce 2-3 gallons from 5 gallon mash. It seemed like a lot to me. I guess if the ABV of the mash is really high it is possible.

I doubt it. Even with a feints run the "wash" is diluted to <40% so the math just doesn't add up.

If you read it on this board we'd sure like to know who said it.

tp