How much spirt do you get from 5 Gal.

[nv_hunter]

I was wondering how much spirit (on average) do you get from a 5 gal wash? I ran a whiskey run and took 1.5 L . I stoped there because the temp at the bottom of the column was riseing. Is this an average amount?

[modul8]

Depends what the ABV of the wash was.

There are some good calculators on the main site that will tell you.

Distilling -> Distilling the wash -> How much to collect

[nv_hunter]

Thats why I am asking. I used a hydrometer to check the ABV and it read zero but after distilling the alcohol was 175 proof.

[modul8]

Hydrometer or Alchometer?
Does it read SG or ABV?
If it reads ABV only, you probably wont get a good reading on the wash.

You will need to know how much sugar you had in the wash and if it fermented all the way out to determine your ABV.

[nv_hunter]

I think it abv only.

[modul8]

Sounds like what I know as a Alchometer rather than a Hydrometer.

To determine the ABV of a wash you will want a hydromter to measure Specific Gravity (SG).

The readings from a hydrometer are like 1.050 etc rather than a %

[Husker]

You need 2 different kinds of hydrometers. One is a hydrometer made for testing water / sugar concentrations. Sold for wine and beer making (we make beer, but without the hops and CO2 bubbles). The other type, is better known as a alcoholometer. It is used to measure the percentage of ethanol in a water mixture. There are other types of hydrometer and hydrometer like devices (and some are calibrated to work with other liquids). But for distillation, these are the 2 we often use. NOTE one will not work in place of the other.

http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Hydrometer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Alcoholometer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Also, a vinometer is a similar instrument, but I do not have one of these.
http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Vinometer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[goose eye]

them cheap vinometers is over rated. your wine gotta be all the way worked off an they aint to ackerate.
so im tole

[bronzdragon]

use that link that was posted earlier in this thread to the calculator. It will give you a good idea of what to expect. The quantity varies due to the amount of alcohol in the actual wash/mash.

I usually shoot for 10-11% and if I'm doing a stripping run, I'll get a gallon at about 50% before I shut off. If I'm doing a spirit run from 5 gallons of wash I'll get about 3 quarts at 75-80%.

It also depends on how clean you're cutting your spirits, i.e. how much tails you're running. If I run rum, I run way into the tails for flavor and I'll get 3 quarts. If I run whiskey, I don't run a whole lot of tails and might only get a little over 2 quarts. I rarely run vodka or neutral, but those would be cut even closer and you'd get a bit less.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

~r~

[Butch50]

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