First cleaning run

[UncleJosh]

Hi all,

I just did my first cleaning run on my newly build potstill.
I've taken a few measurements along the way, and i'm wondering what you all think about it.

Material i used:
30 Liter pot still with a very short column/head (about 25cm long and 6cm diameter), 100% copper (plus 2 brass fittings) and a shotgun cooler.
About 40 Liter cooling water (i probably need a slightly bigger tank next time) and a car-radiator for extra cooling.
25 Liter sugarwash with a Turbo yeast. I've let the wash sit a bit too long (about 1,5 months) before distilling. But i don't think this is very important because it was just for the cleaning run.
Propane burner.

I removed the wash from the fermenting vessel with a hand operated piston pump and it looked clear as water (very nice). But i used an orange coloured bucket so i'm not shure if it was 100% clear.
The wash was about 14% alcohol at this time.
After filling the boiler with the wash i started the burner and the pump for the coolingwater.
It took about 1/2 hour before the outtake point startet dripping, when i got a nice small stream i lowered the burner a bit and started the fan on the car radiator.
I didn't bother with heads or tailes because i will flush everything after i'm done anyway.
The first 300 milliliter came out at 65 to 70%. Way higher then i expected.
After about 1 hour the takeoff was 40% and there was a thin layer on top of the takeoff. I'm not shure what that was but it was there untill i stopped distilling.
At 1 hour 15 minutes the takeoff was at 30%. At this moment the cooling water was at 34C.
At 1 hour and 30 minutes the takeoff was at 10%, here is when i turned the burner off and stopt distilling.
The total takeoff was about the 7 to 8 Liters i expected.

Results and questions.
- The total takeoff at a temperature of 20C ended up at 42%. Pretty nice i think.
- The boiler needed 30 minutes to start up and seemed to be done after 1,5 hours of running (after the startup, so the total time is about 2 hours).
- At the end i lowered the burner to the point that the takeoff was just streaming and noticed that i had the burner a lot higher during the run then i needed. The propane tank was frozen at the lower half at the end (probably to the hight of the liquid gas inside).
- The remaining liquid in the boiler at 20C seemed to be a 0% alcohol, so i assume i got all i would get from that wash.

Question 1: During the run, the takeoff was about 45C and my alcohol meter is set for 20C. Is the true percentage of alcohol higher or lower then i measured?
Question 2: The remaining liquid in the boiler was a bit milky and had a slight yellowish colour. Could this have been the remaining yeast in the wash or might this be something i took of the innerside of the boiler?
Question 3: The layer on top of the takeoff had a slight milky colour and didn't realy look to be oily. Any thoughts on what that could be? I know there are some oily like substances coming with the tails, but i expected these to be more... oily...
Question 4: After the run, i emptied the boiler and wiped the inside with a paper towel (this towel also came out yellowish). Should i rinse the inside with water as well or is this clean enough?

Thanks for reading.

[GrassHopper]

Hi all,
Results and questions.
- The total takeoff at a temperature of 20C ended up at 42%. Pretty nice i think.
- The boiler needed 30 minutes to start up and seemed to be done after 1,5 hours of running (after the startup, so the total time is about 2 hours).
- At the end i lowered the burner to the point that the takeoff was just streaming and noticed that i had the burner a lot higher during the run then i needed. The propane tank was frozen at the lower half at the end (probably to the hight of the liquid gas inside).
- The remaining liquid in the boiler at 20C seemed to be a 0% alcohol, so i assume i got all i would get from that wash.

Question 1: During the run, the takeoff was about 45C and my alcohol meter is set for 20C. Is the true percentage of alcohol higher or lower then i measured?
Question 2: The remaining liquid in the boiler was a bit milky and had a slight yellowish colour. Could this have been the remaining yeast in the wash or might this be something i took of the innerside of the boiler?
Question 3: The layer on top of the takeoff had a slight milky colour and didn't realy look to be oily. Any thoughts on what that could be? I know there are some oily like substances coming with the tails, but i expected these to be more... oily...
Question 4: After the run, i emptied the boiler and wiped the inside with a paper towel (this towel also came out yellowish). Should i rinse the inside with water as well or is this clean enough?

Thanks for reading.

Question 1: Lower
Question 2: This normal
Question 3: It's most likely just tails if it was toward the end of run Normal depending on wash
Question 4: Rinse it with water

Notes: The liquid you call "takeoff" is called distillate for future terminology.
Your run sounded pretty normal.
Is this your sacrificial run?
You ran pretty far into the tails (10% in think you said) Some go this far and some don't, most go around 20%. Your choice.
Just know there is still a lot of good likker in those tails. Save em.
Congrats on your first run. You are on your way to addiction!

You'll probably get flamed for the Turbo yeast.....but maybe they didn't see your first thread. He is going to change his ways folks.

[jedneck]

Just checking. Did you do a vinegar run first?

[moosemilk]

You said your total distillate (takeoff) collected at 42% (without temp correction). Did you end up putting everything you collected together? If so, you are going to want to do a spirit run then blend cuts leaving heads and tails out.
,
A 14% abv wash isn't too bad for sugar but probably the upper limit (some rum guys go this high), but for sugar washes most prefer to stay under 12%, closer to 10% abv. Your ferment is about 90% of your final product. How it goes determines much of your quality. A high gravity wash will tend to stress yeast.

You'll hear varying views on turbo yeasts, the majority avoid them. You'll get a much better product using the right yeast for the job. Champagne yeast such as 1118 works well for fruits (brandy) and many sugar washes. Ale yeasts work great for AG (all grain . . . NO sugar), good ol' bakers yeast works very well for rum. A lot of us use bread yeast for most everything, including myself. I do use 1118 for fruits though.

Try keeping your wash in the 1.065 range (approx 8.5% abv) to a max of 10% abv. This will keep stress on the yeast to a minimum. When yeast get stressed, they get upset and take a crap in your wash producing more off flavours. Happy yeast make yummy stuff. Just like people, happy workers make better product.

Keep at it and keep reading, plenty to learn! Link in my signature for Cranky's guide is an excellent source for new/novice and it's even a great refresher for us with some experience to go back over from time to time.

Best of luck and congrats!

Posted while jedneck was . . . . . . yes, be sure to do ALL of your cleaning runs BEFORE doing a run you can actually drink (don't drink your sacrificial run unless you like drinking flux)

[Monkeyman88]

You said your total distillate (takeoff) collected at 42% (without temp correction). Did you end up putting everything you collected together? If so, you are going to want to do a spirit run then blend cuts leaving heads and tails out.
,
A 14% abv wash isn't too bad for sugar but probably the upper limit (some rum guys go this high), but for sugar washes most prefer to stay under 12%, closer to 10% abv. Your ferment is about 90% of your final product. How it goes determines much of your quality. A high gravity wash will tend to stress yeast.

You'll hear varying views on turbo yeasts, the majority avoid them. You'll get a much better product using the right yeast for the job. Champagne yeast such as 1118 works well for fruits (brandy) and many sugar washes. Ale yeasts work great for AG (all grain . . . NO sugar), good ol' bakers yeast works very well for rum. A lot of us use bread yeast for most everything, including myself. I do use 1118 for fruits though.

Try keeping your wash in the 1.065 range (approx 8.5% abv) to a max of 10% abv. This will keep stress on the yeast to a minimum. When yeast get stressed, they get upset and take a crap in your wash producing more off flavours. Happy yeast make yummy stuff. Just like people, happy workers make better product.

Keep at it and keep reading, plenty to learn! Link in my signature for Cranky's guide is an excellent source for new/novice and it's even a great refresher for us with some experience to go back over from time to time.

Best of luck and congrats!

Posted while jedneck was . . . . . . yes, be sure to do ALL of your cleaning runs BEFORE doing a run you can actually drink (don't drink your sacrificial run unless you like drinking flux)

This was his sac run.

[moosemilk]

This was his sac run.

Just saw his other thread and noticed. Thanks for clarifying that Monkeyman.

[UncleJosh]

Hi Guys, Thanks for reading my story and commenting about it.

This was indeed the scraficial run, and i will (try to) use "distilate" in the future. I'm not a native English speaker and am translating everything from Dutch so i'll probably make some more strange translations. Sorry for that, i'll try to better my writing
I did my vinager run and all the cleaning before this sacraficial run, so the still should be clean as a wistle (exept for the rinsing i still have to do).

Because this was my first attempt on distilling, i let the still run untill the 10% distilate came out. I have to admit that i searched around a bit about the expeted time it would take to do this run and i had seen figures from 4 to 6 hours for similar size still's. So i was a bit surprised that i was at 10% after running the still for 1,5 hours. Next run i'm planning to catch the distilate in 500 milliliter jars, that way i can mix only the good stuff.
But as the total amount of distilate at the end is about 30% of the original wash i think i will do 3 stripping runs and then a final run from the three stripping runs together. I think this will be the most economical way to use the still.

The Turbo yeast was an experiment and because this was just the sacraficial run. I've got two more bags of turbo yeast and i think these will end up in the trashcan. (cause i don't like yeast crapping in my drink )
I think i'll use a wine yeast (lots of strains to choose from) or maby even a bakers yeast for a drinkable version. I'm allready looking foreward to the change in smell when using another yeast. It can only get better i think.

I'm planning on a sugerwash again for the next run(s) so i end up with a relatively clean alcohol. With this i'm planning to make a liqueur, with probably a fruit taste. Depending on the total amount i end up with i might even do several different mixes.

Thanks.

[rad14701]

UncleJosh, rather than just outright tossing the rest of your turbo yeast you can successfully repurpose it... When mixing up future washes you can boil about 1 tbsp of turbo yeast for use as nutrient... The boil will kill the yeast and allow you to benefit from the B vitamins it has to offer along with a reduced amount of the turbo yeasts prepackaged chemical nutrients... This low amount won't overwhelm any sugar wash and will be better than just trashing the yeast...

[UncleJosh]

Hi rad14701, thank you for the tip.
Not that it was a big investment, but if it can be saved... why not.

Thanks,

[sungazer]

I am one to stand up for the commercial or so called Turbo washes although not all are marketed as "Turbo" When you compare the ingredients and quantities of ingredients used to some of the recipes purported here I would go with them any day Although in lower concentrations than specified on the packet.

These products are designed to be used with Reflux stills that make high ABV product. When making high ABV product it contains very little smell or taste. They are not meant for use with pot stills. Use the product in a diluted quantity anywhere from half to 1/4. let it sit like you did and it will run with no problems.

There seems to be tendancey to try and keep distilling a special craft that only can be done after lots of learning. Lots of experience can open many new avenues to you, to AG ferments made with a pot still with only one run producing 40% ABV fine tasting. That is the holy grail to some. A good drink can be made using many different methods in between the two extremes.

To me a commercial distiller that advertises that he has had to triple distill his wash is just telling me he had a shit wash. He had to clean it to a near neutral then age or let it absorb flavor from charred oak for 12 years. It is commonly accepted that the majority of the flavor no matter how many times it has been distilled does come from the oak aging however.

I will get flammed for everything I have said here however I am happy to let the chorus sing.