my first go!! new electric still

by **pi55ed** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:28 pm

OK...... Here is my 1st go with my new metal smartstill............ i put just under 4 litres of homemade red wine into the machine..... and i took 100ml from the result spirit and added the barometer to it and its coming out at 40% abv........ is that about right ??
My average wine percentage is approx 10%....... but the still is extracting it at 40%...?

It smells yeasty but dont know if thats normal from wine?? but smells like strong spirit anyway..... would you think its drinkable? with a yeasty aroma?

by **pi55ed** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:09 am

it actually came out at 40% without going through the carbon filter bag.....
Once done through the filter bag its all come out at 20%

by **Jimmy** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:46 am

How much did you take out? If you put in 4 litres at 10%, you should be looking to take maybe 800ml at above 40%. The carbon won't affect the alcohol content, so something isn't right here!
Once it's been filtered, it should be less yeasty but in theory it's perfectly drinkable - I'm wondering why you've got 20% though - are you using a spirit hydrometer? You won't be able to take a proper reading without one. If it truly IS 20% then you've taken too much and you've got a lot of tails in there, which will taste bad and bring down the alcohol level.
If you have any more wine, try this - put 4 litres in, switch it on. After about an hour, it will start coming out. Collect a couple of teaspoons full in an old jar or something, and then switch to your main collector. Take about 800ml (mark it off first by putting 800ml of water in and drawing a line) and then switch to a third container and collect some more, maybe another 800ml.
Once you've switched off, investigate the three containers you have. The first will be heads, with a strong smell of meths and will taste bad (don't drink it, but you can dip a finger in if you're curious). The middle lot should be good, and the last lot should be weak and taste nasty. Then look at what you have left in the still, which will smell like vinegar and be rank. Adjusting the levels you collect is the key to this hobby, but it all depends on what is going in - there's a calculator which you can use (link on the main site under the main alcohol making article) - that might help.
Good luck!

by **pi55ed** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:19 am

I have a spirit hydrometer at my dads house which i used, it initially came out at 40% not through the carbon bag in the machine...... i threw away the first 120ml........ then put the rest.....800ml through the machine and carbon bag...... the full 800ml came out at 20% abv.............. I wonder if the wine hadnt fully matured.,..... although it had fully fermented.........

As i said this was basically a test for my new toy

I will now stick to the wash from alcotec / black / yeast / etc, and make vodka

I wont be drinking my last experiment, even though it burned with a match........

by **Jimmy** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:57 pm

Yeah, I'd say that your wine wasn't very strong in the first place by the sound of it - check out my 'how not to make Calvados' article on the main site, I had a similar (but worse!) result with mine. Get to grips with it by doing the standard stuff, then you can experiment!

by **pi55ed** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:08 pm

yep i will start with the sugar vodka wash alcotec 48......... theres one going at the moment for 5 days with a brewbelt around it, its fizzing good

by **pi55ed** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:23 pm

So....... do you have an ammended recipe for CALVADOS to let us have.....