My very first try at distilling - just a few questions

[themoch]

First off i'd like to thank everybody who's posted, written, and shared pictures. It has been a super huge help. for the last few weeks i've been trolling around the internet searching for information on how to make my own spirits, and this is what i've got going so far. I do have a few questions, and I will outline those as they come up.

1) I want to run a pot still because of the size limitations i have. for this i have chosen a 16 quart stand cooker with metal lid. I have not yet, but will be drilling holes in the lid to fit both a 10mm copper pipe and my thermometer.

Question number 1: what would be a good way to attach both the pipe and the thermometer snuggly?

I have read that people have used everything from rubber grommets to a water and flower paste. I would just use marine epoxy on it, but i feel that the heat may be to much and the epoxy may be toxic. is it possible to use something like silicon caulk? or would that not be recommended?

2) leading from the pot i have a clear hose that runs into my condensing coil. The coil is a 10mm coper pipe in a 5 gal bucket, draining out the bottom.

So, I think i may be all set to go. as soon as the holes are drilled and the get everything hooked up i'll be doing some water runs on it to see how the whole system flows.

my second question is more in the realm of the actual process.

Question number 2: After the first successful run where i remove both the heads and the tails i will have what should be a decent batch. if i were to distill this batch again, would i need to remove the heads and the tails again? or would the majority have already been removed in the first batch?

Question number 3: When doing a second wash can i just put the first wash into the boiler and run that? or do i need to add anything to it like some pure water so as not to cause a fire? I know this is probably a really simple question and that the answer would be that adding water only counter acts the process but I have not found explicitly clear directions for this on homedistiller, if there are, i'm sorry for re-asking

Thanks for taking the time to look. i hope i haven't made any super huge blunders.

[PUGIDOGS]

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5166

Please read all of it. then read # 8 again. There has been a number of different ways to attach columns. All have been on here at one time...do a search...Pugi

[terryt]

I think I read the answer to your question #3, on the parent site. What I read is that - you can add your wash from run #1 (which are now "low wines", but you have to add some water because if you don't, you most likely will be running your boiler dry. In order to distill all of your low wines, you will have to distill whatever you have in the boiler. You therefore will need some amount of water to make sure the boiler doesn't run dry and burn out your element/overheat the bottom plate of your boiler, etc etc. This shouldn't be a problem as the boiling temp of water is quite a bit higher than what your low wines will be.

I don't know about your question #2, but I have wondered about that one myself. maybe one of the experienced people on here can answer that one.

[tracker0945]

With regard to Question 1.
The folk on this forum are very anti plastic, silicon, epoxy etc particularly when it can possibly come in contact with the vapour or distillate.
There are many ways to make solid connections easily and have been mentioned many times.
The thermometer is best placed in the vapour path in the column rather than inside the cooker for more accurate results.
It would appear that a lot more reading, particularly on the parent site would be very beneficial for you before you begin construction, you will probably change your mind on many issues.
Cheers and good luck.

[themoch]

I have been doing quite a bit of reading. and i know that i'm coming across as a horrible noob, it's because i am.

I know what my questions must sound like, because i do have years of experience with other message boards. I know that simple questions can frustrate people who are more experienced. So i do apologize for that. If i knew what questions to ask, i'd be better able to look them up, but i'm not quite sure what the questions i have are.

So on that note, i take the critique very seriously. Today i went out and got non-plastic attachments for the still. i really appreciate the input because i do not want to mess up on something that could be hazardous to my health.

thank you again for the input and the direction.

[Uncle Jesse]

That is definitely the right attitude man. Do not take it personally. We're all concerned about teaching people properly and being safe first and foremost. And we'd like to see you live a long, healthy life so maybe someday we can hook up for a sample of your finest product.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading. and i know that i'm coming across as a horrible noob, it's because i am.

I know what my questions must sound like, because i do have years of experience with other message boards. I know that simple questions can frustrate people who are more experienced. So i do apologize for that. If i knew what questions to ask, i'd be better able to look them up, but i'm not quite sure what the questions i have are.

So on that note, i take the critique very seriously. Today i went out and got non-plastic attachments for the still. i really appreciate the input because i do not want to mess up on something that could be hazardous to my health.

thank you again for the input and the direction.

[Dnderhead]

I'm against plastic not that it is poison 'thou I'm shire it's not good
four you,' but it gives off flavors to product I'm four making the
best I can I thank I do pretty good My product is known in a
number of states , Even some that is known fore shine , Most
shine "fore sale"is four profit not for Taste Make something
that is good, that you can be proud of THIS GOES OTHER THING
AS WHELL would you want your name on it? "if you could"


I I I ONEY HADE A LILABET

[tracker0945]

themoch
Glad you were not offended because that was how I meant my comments.
Sounds like a lot of what you said was fine, just the plastics, calking etc. goes against the grain on this site. Glad you decided to go the non-plastic way, I am sure you will feel much better about things now.
It is a great idea to post your thoughts before manufacture and after you have finished how about a pic.
Don't forget to do a water run to test for leaks etc. before running a wash through it.
By the way, what I said about reading still counts, the more you do the more you will learn. No-one, not even the folk on this site knows everything.

[themoch]

okay,

so doing some more reading i can't find the information for this, and i know it's probably there. so after reading this:

http://homedistiller.org/dtw/use_pot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

i still have these questions

1) when i go to turn on the boiler, do i bring it up to the 78C and just let it sit there (ie keep an eye on it so that it stays at 78C) or do i just turn the stove on "high" and let it do its own thing?

2) if after only 1 run of the wash, can i collect all of the distillate and run it again, this time removing the fore-shorts and the tails on the 2nd run? Or do i remove the fore-shorts and tails in the first wash and then don't worry about it in the 2nd one?

[CoopsOz]

The magical 78 Deg is defined by the alcohol in the wash, you don't control that. Most people bring the wash to the boil very quickly (ie high heat) and then back it off so it's got a nice rolling boil. As for your 2nd question, I make no cuts whatsover on the first run (aside from 100m of fores) and make my hearts cut on the 2nd run.

[themoch]

so you take the fore-shorts from the first.

and fore-shorts and tails form the 2nd?

[BW Redneck]

Best way for a newbie to learn to do cuts:
On the spirit run, fill small bottles from the end of the still (size depends on how much ya expect to yield from the run).
Line them all up in the order they came out.
Let them sit open to the atmosphere covered by coffee filters overnight, then smell each bottle in turn. The ones that smell good (by good, I mean clean) ya put into a bulk container, like a glass gallon jug. If it smells solventy or like wet cardboard, don't put it in.

This method tends to be a bit wasteful, since the edges of the hearts can become consumed by the feints.

[CoopsOz]

yeah, themoch, I toss the fores from both. I know it's overkill but it's only robbing the heads cut that you don't drink anyway. Put it this way, if I'm only single running the first litre that comes out of a 30L UJSM @ 9% is tossed, I don't bother keeping the heads anymore because it's to much of a hassle to try and clean them up.

[Husker]

One thing to note:

No matter which method you use to determine your "cuts", do not dispose of the heads and tails from your run (yes you DO dispose of the foreshots, and do not put them in your next run). However, the heads and tails from this run, can be dumped into your next spirit run. This next spirit run will reclaim much of the ethanol which was in the heads and tails of this run. You certainly DO NOT want these heads/tails getting into your product. However, since the still will separate the components, placing these parts of your run into your next run will allow the still itself to salvage as much of the good stuff as it can.

NOTE some types of flavored products will actually get "better" on the 2nd, 3rd, ... runs, due to the addition of prior run's heads and tails. Things like rum and whiskeys are this way. Adding back the feigns of your last run, will make the product better in flavor.

H.

[themoch]

alright!

so it was all set up and running a water wash. i collected 1400mL of water. and it ran like a charm. I stopped early because i had proven it worked.

my only problem is that the water that came out smelled like wet cardboard.

i was using the flour/water mix to seal the lid, and the connection between the boiler and the condenser. could this be the problem? or is it because it's the first time i've used the copper pipes?

i thought i flushed them properly before hand.

thanks for all the help to get me this far!

[CoopsOz]

Distilled water smells and tastes like shit IMO....I wouldn't be to concerned.

[pintoshine]

LMAO Distilled water coming from my still smells like tails. Tails smell like shit. Hmmm.....

[themoch]

I took a look at the inside of the boiler after i was done with cleaning everything else out... and there was a thick white film around the inside... i can only imagine that my "city water" is filled with all sorts of crap that got boiled out when i was doing the wash....

i did venture to taste a bit of this, after throwing away the first 200 ml. it tasted wonderful but smelled bad. after i spit this out i had the taste of cardboard in my mouth.... which i promptly washed out.

it's been a few hours and i'm still okay, so i'm gessing it wasn't that bad.

so i'll be trying a wine wash or something soon, to see how that turns out.

Thanks again!

[Dnderhead]

yep now you can see what you've Ben drinking
most water has added stuff a so you do not get sick
kills bacteria etc but does not take it out ,when you
you distill you take off alc-water, and leave other
stuff behind And you can see it


All in the name of progress $$$$$$$$

[themoch]

okay so on sunday i did a single run. 5L of cheap wine.

dumped the first 150ml (just to be super careful) and then took 250ml samples until the temperature started going up and i had collected about 750ml of distillate. i cut where i thought the tails should be (due to the increase in temperature and the smell), dumped the last collection that smelled of tails and blended everything together.

bottled it and now it's sitting in the cabinet well labeled. Problem is, it still smells like tails, and has a foul super alcohol wine smell.

is the smell due to the fact that it still may have a large quantity of tails? or like i had feared there's something wrong with the still because the distilled water had the same taste.

i'm sure somebody else has dealt with this. any pointers? would putting it through a 2nd wash clean it up?

thanks.

[Dnderhead]

Yes every time run threw still you git cleaner product
i don't know what your wash was or what you want i
think you had pot still if so 2-3 times four whisky etc
4 times four vodka o yes if trying four vodka add water before next
run what you have now is called low wines

[blanikdog]

Did you let it 'breath' for a day or two before bottling?

blanik

[themoch]

no i ididn't but i guess i should, shouldn't i

[punkin]

The super alchohol smell and taste could be caused by heads.

For a 750 ml total you should be collecting in much smaller containers, 50-100 ml will be easier to make proper cuts from.