Greetings from northern california

[SayWhat]

OK so I am completely new

Names John.

I am a home brewer with 4 years of brewing and fermenting beer under my belt, time for the shine. In my hello I have a few questions and ill search the forums are well but I figured I would get it out here.

1. If i clan my still with the water and vinagar mix and a Star San rinse do i still have to do a cleaning run???

2. Is it better to run my thumper with or with out water and what kind of water would you put into the thumper?

3. How much should I toss out of the front when running 6 gallons of wash? And how much should I expect before I get to my tails?

Thanks in advance and I can wait to make better and better shine with help from you guys and this forum

CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!

[corene1]

Welcome to the forum . Looks like you have a lot of brewing experience but little distilling experience. Check out the link in my signature and it will get you on your way. Yes you must do the entire cleaning protocol . Water , then vinegar and water , then sacrificial run that will be discarded. Those are a must do!
What size is your still and what size is your thumper? The thumper should be 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the still for safety and to prevent puking. It can be filled with water, some wash or low wines just to cover the inlet on the bottom but it will fill during the run. Before you run it though I must stress that you do some more reading to get yourself educated a bit before you make your first runs. Looks like you have just skimmed the surface.

[Bushman]

Welcome to HD.

OK so I am completely new

Names John.

I am a home brewer with 4 years of brewing and fermenting beer under my belt, time for the shine. In my hello I have a few questions and ill search the forums are well but I figured I would get it out here.

1. If i clan my still with the water and vinagar mix and a Star San rinse do i still have to do a cleaning run???
We highly recommend the cleaning run after the vinegar run, along with cleaning it gives you a chance to learn to run the still properly.

2. Is it better to run my thumper with or with out water and what kind of water would you put into the thumper?
It can be run without water but we recommend either water or alcohol charge. I would use the same water you used for your fermentation. Are you planning on heating the thumper?
3. How much should I toss out of the front when running 6 gallons of wash? And how much should I expect before I get to my tails?
Please take some time to read the new distillers reading lounge as this question is covered. But the short answer is it depends on what you are running for a mash/wash and it's starting abv.
Thanks in advance and I can wait to make better and better shine with help from you guys and this forum

CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!

Note: Posting at the same time as Corene1

[SayWhat]

Not heating the thumper and ill check out the lounge for the details the first wash will be 6 gallons at 1.095 down to 1.000 so 12.45 percent. I have a hard time dumping a whole 6 gallon batch in my still just to dump it out. would be very costly for a company that had a huge still to fill a 500 gallon pot just to dump it when the were done running the mash. Thanks Corene1 for the information

[StillLearning1]

Not heating the thumper and ill check out the lounge for the details the first wash will be 6 gallons at 1.095 down to 1.000 so 12.45 percent. I have a hard time dumping a whole 6 gallon batch in my still just to dump it out. would be very costly for a company that had a huge still to fill a 500 gallon pot just to dump it when the were done running the mash. Thanks Corene1 for the information

You can use any alcohol really for your sac run ( most here only advise against using beer). In my opinion the best sac run is something like birdwatchers sugar wash from the tried and true section. Its cheap and ferments fast. But you can use that old bottle of swill laying around if you want, just as long as your charge is under 40% you should be fine.

As far as what the big boys do I dunno.....but I can tell you almost everyone here makes better booze, for what that's worth.

[S-Cackalacky]

It's called a sacrificial run for a reason. If you want to spend a couple days sitting on the toilet (or worse), go ahead - drink it.

[JayD]

The folks on this forum offer good advise, no... better than good advise...bloody good advise, now cleaning your still generally requires three runs...vinegar run, junkerhol run...then a good steaming to clean out the leftovers from building your still...better to follow these three simple run clean the junk out, than filtering through your kidney's. Take care, do good cuts and the rest will follow.
J...

[corene1]

The purpose of the cleaning run is that you clean it really well with soap and water , then do a water and vinegar run. During this run I would not run the product condenser for the first fifteen minuets and would start with the thumper empty this will insure a good steam cleaning and you can check the unit for leaks. The sacrificial run is a must . either make a quick simple sugar and water wash such as bird watchers , or go to the local wal mart or something similar and get a couple bottles of their cheapest liquor and dilute it down to 10% with water , that will give you plenty of volume and use that. Some will find some of that really cheap wine and use it, like that stuff you get in a box. It is necessary as the copper and stainless have microscopic pores that can hold contaminants from the manufacturing process. the hot alcohol vapors will help strip out those contaminants and it will also breakdown the flux residue from the soldering of the unit. I have found that the still will not put out it's best flavor till it has started to develop a patina on the inside, kind of like a good cast iron skillet, it must be seasoned. So once all these runs are completed just rinse and wipe the inside of the still and make sure it is dry. If you store it with any moisture in it you will get a greenish coating on the copper and will have to cleaned again. This sacrificial run will also let you learn how to run your still and can experiment with different takeoff rates and power inputs. I guess I should have asked if it is a reflux still or a pot still but the cleaning is a must for both. I will assume it is a pot still. Running it hard and fast as compared to slow and easy will affect the flavor of the drink to some extent. Most will strip the wash hard and fast and collect well down into the tails then put this back into the boiler and re duce it with clean water to under 40%. and re run it slow to clean it up , this is the spirit run. I , like to take it down to 20% as the resulting spirit comes out close to oaking strength and requires less dilution . Since you are a beer brewer let me say , don't use old beer for the cleaning sacrificial run . The hops will leave an oil in it that will affect the flavor of the next run. Again the sacrificial run is discarded it can not be rerun and cleaned up like a regular strip and spirit run process.