Home Distiller

Howdy here's my latest update from my first run here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=60750

I did my second run over the weekend and it went much better. The little Chinese Still is going strong. After multiple trips to Lowes and Home Depot I finally found a solution and I was able to rig up cold running water line to my pot filler to control the temperature of the condenser and I was able to use less ice to keep it cool this time around. This mash was a straight up 5 Gallon Wash of Cornmeal, Sugar, and Crushed Barley. I fermented for a little over 2 weeks with Bread Yeast.

Pre distillation the wash had a bitter to a slightly sweet taste. This time I did put it through a mesh bag and squeezed out more of the liquid from the mash. I was able to fill my pot up to the full 5 gallons. I adjusted for temperature discrepancy and ran my still until I was sure all the alcohol was mined from it about a little over a gallon yield at about 90 - 110 proof but it wasn't clear but I assumed that's because it was almost full so I mistakenly got some of the golden brown water from the wash in it. No worries because I wasn't done.

I washed out the pot and still after the initial run and I ran it through again. After discarding the foreshot it was running great and crystal clear. This time it produced a about to a little over half gallon of sweet tasting whiskey with a big burning kick after running all of it through my final proof was about 155. I added distilled water to proof it back down to 101 in a 750ml which is my preferred drinking proof. And I proofed the rest down to 90 in 5 pint jars. I think it was a good run.

I'm still learning and gonna keep reading posts to get better but all in all I'm pretty satisfied with my latest results so far. Still learning on how to make those cuts that's the hardest thing about the small still.

And by the way this is definitely a hobby for the patient because it took all damn night literally. Especially second run. I started everything at around 4pm. That was my fault but I didn't finish until after 4am. I'm starting way earlier next time.

Feedback, questions, advice, tips

Sounds like your getting there! What happened on your first run is called a puke. You filled the boiler too full and it boiled over through your condencer. Turned out ok I see because you re ran the product but avoid that in the future by simply not filling all the way to the top. Doing this will allow you to run a bit faster as well. 12 hours for a strip and spirit run on a 5 gal wash is really slow! Good to see ya working with what you got though. Keep at it man. Good times ahead for you I would say.

JayTeeDee, did you dilute your 90 - 100 proof spirits to under 40%/80proof before redistilling...??? You should not charge your boiler with anything higher than 40%... If you didn't then that would help explain how you hit 155 proof average with the second distillation...

rad14701 wrote:JayTeeDee, did you dilute your 90 - 100 proof spirits to under 40%/80proof before redistilling...??? You should not charge your boiler with anything higher than 40%... If you didn't then that would help explain how you hit 155 proof average with the second distillation...

I did not I just reran it straight. The instructions I had made no mention of diluting back down to 40% for a second run. What happens?

That's because the Chinese want to take us out, that's why they didn't put to dilute to 40% in the instructions.

JayTeeDee wrote:

rad14701 wrote:JayTeeDee, did you dilute your 90 - 100 proof spirits to under 40%/80proof before redistilling...??? You should not charge your boiler with anything higher than 40%... If you didn't then that would help explain how you hit 155 proof average with the second distillation...

I did not I just reran it straight. The instructions I had made no mention of diluting back down to 40% for a second run. What happens?

If you've done your research here you should remember that this is a safety concern... 40% and higher can maintain a flame which means that if you have a catastrophic failure everything leaving the still is readily flammable... If you stay below 40% then if there is a failure the only flammable component would be the vapor but not the rest of the boiler charge... Always dilute any boiler charge to 40% or lower before rerunning in your still...

If you haven't managed to do enough research to have read that tidbit more than a few times then you should refrain from further practice until you have... We want you to be both safe and successful... If you don't know about the 40% issue then that makes us wonder what other important theories and fundamentals you are also lacking...

Yikes I just read up on why, glad I was careful and had no spillage. OK for my next batch I will dilute the first run down to 40% and rerun it. I didn't use the Chinese instructions I culled together instructions from some other sites and distiller blogs before I found this forum.

This was the one I found that said to run it twice but no mention of adding water to bring it down before the second run http://accomplishedidler.blogspot.com/2 ... 2.html?m=1

Well this forum is about learning and it has been a good resource so far.

The omission is due to the fact that that blog is written by a single person and the author may not be aware of this safety issue... The same goes for the vast majority of distillation related books that are available - just one persons opinions... Here in these forums we are self-policing and self-checking so we provide more diverse and accurate information than you might find elsewhere... You no longer need to look elsewhere for your information because you have found your way to where you need to be...