Anavrin wrote:
That sounds about right then, if your using your airstill you have two options,

Dilute with 4.5lt to get your 9.5 litres at 30%, do two 4lt runs and save the other 1.5lt for next time, or just add 3lt to make 8lt and run it in two batches, see how it turns out.

Anavrin wrote:
5lt at 57% is a very poor yield off 45lt of wash, I would expect to get that from 25lt of wash, assuming your making sugar washes that is, if you think about it, 5lt at 57% is equivalent to 2.85lt of alcohol.

25lt at 10% = 2.5lt of alcohol

What was your wash made of, how much sugar did you use and what method did you use when you stripped it, for example, I strip until the output from the still drops to 30%, if I start with a 25lt sugar wash of about 12-13%, made with say 5.5kg of sugar and fully fermented, I would have about 5lt @ 55% by the time I've stripped it until the output gets to 30% and I turn the still off.

To answer your second question, most people dilute the strip down to 30% for the spirit run, in your case divide your 5lt by 30 and multiply by 57 giving a new total volume of 9.5lt, so you need to add 4.5lt to get 9.5lt at 30%

Toper wrote:
You don't say what you're distilling but, when I do a strip (first) run, I tend to bring far more over, resulting in a much lower %abv than 57%.

I would have though that there may well be usable alcohol left behind in the boiler.

Of course, if you are doing a neutral, things might well be different. Other here could say.