Home Distiller

What up?!

Giving y'all a update from my previous dilema which I detailed here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=60703 Well I got past that issue and ran my first full batch so let me let you know what happened.

First off the Chinese still did work as advertised but I can tell it's not the absolute best and probably won't stand up to the test of time should I do this more often. It does have some limitations such as: the in and out tubing provided is basic and it doesn't have the option to connect it to a constant cold water source, I had to use an aquarium filter and a bowl to keep the cold water flowing but it was very hard to keep cold considering the cold condenser sits directly above the the pot still and I ran out ice also near the end of my run. More on that later but I might have a solution to that problem now.

The Wash: I made a basic 5 Gallon Cornmeal Mash that sat for about 20+ days. I transferred about 4 Gallons of that into the pot still. I honestly didn't have the patience or energy to try to squeeze out the remaining gallon as it was very late at night.

I started getting my first drips at about 165F and collected about 5 or 6 ounces of the foreshot to discard just in case. My pot never got above 195.

Now admittedly I wasn't being scientific at all with my cuts so I definitely have to read up more on that (good thing I have another mash ready to go). So I just started collecting in pint mason jars filling them almost to the head trying to see what I could get.

I numbered the jars 1 - 12 so after I completed the run I started testing. Smell test was fine, taste test was OK. Jar 1 proof tested at 110 Jar 3 test at 90 Jar 5 was at about 75. By the time I got to Jar 12 it was 0 and tasted like bitter distilled water So I'm assuming that was tail.

I still had plenty of mash left in the pot and probably good usable alcohol but where I think I went wrong was I couldn't keep my condenser and worm cold enough thought the duration of my boil and the collection of distillate.

What I'm going to do is since I have access to a constant cold water source inside and outside and my property is private and on well water I'm going to get a hose and connect it to the inlet and that way the coils should keep cool and I can use less ice.

Of course I'll get better with my cuts and and collection and make sure I do more accurate testing. This was more of a test run for me anyway because I was eager to use the still but I plan on making my next run on Saturday when I have more time and patience. I think that one will be better.

Any questions, thoughts, or insight you all could provide on what I did would be greatly appreciated cause I probably did a lot more wrong LOL.


Thanks folks!

JTD, if I get this right, this was your first run ever. It is not to be tasted, it is not to be kept. It's a sac run, it must be dumped. Also, did you do the previous cleaning runs with vinegar/water? Those apply even on bought stills.

You did not specify how you did the mash, but i gather it is 5 pounds sugar in 5 gallon water, plus some grains not mashed, just for flavor. That should yield you around 5%ABV, so doing the math you should have about 32 ounces alcohol in your charge. You collected 12 pints, starting at 110pr ending at 0pr. Mean value could be 40pr? If it is then you pretty much got it all.

Actually if you do not cool adequately your product condenser, what happens is that you get vapor exiting it, and not that alcohol stays in the boiler.

Please take the time to read some more the basics, in order to avoid hurting yourself and others.

cuginosgrizzo wrote:JTD, if I get this right, this was your first run ever. It is not to be tasted, it is not to be kept. It's a sac run, it must be dumped. Also, did you do the previous cleaning runs with vinegar/water? Those apply even on bought stills.

Before I did this run I had done all my cleaning, steaming, sanitizing and vinegar. And I did a sac run with some cheapo store bought fruit wine before running my actual wash.

cuginosgrizzo wrote:You did not specify how you did the mash, but i gather it is 5 pounds sugar in 5 gallon water, plus some grains not mashed, just for flavor. That should yield you around 5%ABV, so doing the math you should have about 32 ounces alcohol in your charge. You collected 12 pints, starting at 110pr ending at 0pr. Mean value could be 40pr? If it is then you pretty much got it all."

It was a 5lbs Cornmean + 5lbs Sugar + 5Gal Water with some Crushed Rye and Crushed Barley

I think the actual alcohol I collected might be just about 32oz considering the calculation. %gal down to 30oz wow I gotta step it up LOL!

cuginosgrizzo wrote:Actually if you do not cool adequately your product condenser, what happens is that you get vapor exiting it, and not that alcohol stays in the boiler.

Yea I'm definitely going to work on that cooling issue.

cuginosgrizzo wrote:Please take the time to read some more the basics, in order to avoid hurting yourself and others.

Thanks for the advice.

Yea about that 32oz....remember when I said you might outgrow that boiler pretty quick? That's what I was talking about! Lol. Hard to learn and make cuts with such a small amount. That's why alot of us run keg boilers. 10 or 12 gallons of wash to start with makes life alot easier.

But anyways congratulations on your first successful run! Nothing beats that feeling! Good luck with the condncer solution. That seems to be a big one with these type stills is the flake stand is to small to stay cool. Look up these two terms to help you decide what's best: temp gradient, and shock cooling. I'll let you take it from there.

Again congrats. Let us know how the second run goes when you have some more time to enjoy it.

StillLearning1 wrote:Yea about that 32oz....remember when I said you might outgrow that boiler pretty quick? That's what I was talking about! Lol. Hard to learn and make cuts with such a small amount. That's why alot of us run keg boilers. 10 or 12 gallons of wash to start with makes life alot easier.

Yep didn't take into account that 5 Gallons of wash doesn't equal the same amount of distillate. I'm used to home brewing where 5 gallons is 5 gallons. But again it was a gift but I'm upgrading soon.

Congratulations. That first run feels great, eh?

Couple things. First, you thermometer is off. Pure ethanol boils at 173, so an ethanol/water mixture can't boil below that. If your last jar was 0 proof then it was water only and boiled at 212. Most of us don't collect down to 0 because the amount of product doesn't justify the energy cost. "Tails" refers to the end of the run that still has alcohol in it.

Cheers.