StillSmart

Hi guys, sorry Im back from a fairly long lay off and Im just looking at getting restarted.

This wash wont be double/triple distilled so Im after some general advice.

I was going to run with 5kg of sugar, but I read somewhere that a lot of people only use half the VS with 5Kg of sugar.

Would that be worth doing? and at what point should I stop the Air Still as I assume it would be less than the 750ml I would normally collect (after discarding 50ml)

Thanks in advance

Hi shawry The Vodka Star is designed to handle 6 kgs of sugar in a 25 litre solution. For even purer result, change downwards to 5.5 kgs per 26 litres (you will then sacrifice a small amount of alcohol but that is the price for purity). Fermentation should be ready in 5-7 days.and by making the wash to 26 lts after racking you have enough for six charges in the air still.
As regards splitting the yeast ive only heard of people doing it with the alcotec that can tollerate 8kg sugar
Cheers

Hiya buddy. What still are you running?
I'm quite interested to see what your results are from
a single distillation.

It is called stripped wash. If you are not double distilling, it does not matter how much you collect, it will all taste like crap. The sugar in, not half the VS, is what determines how much you collect.

Do your liver a favour: go buy a bottle of cheap vodka and double distill this.

Chuck

Forgive me Chuck,that reads a little harsh,even if I see where you are coming from.
Firstly,to get back to the OP,I have used half sachets of VS with good results;today I had to throw bread yeast and DAP into one which stalled at 1.030,happily now fizzing merrily,hopefully finished in a few days.
shawry99,what can I say?
Just not to drink the stuff that comes from a single run through an air/smart still.
It really is rough compared to a double distillation.
That little still can produce good product,with a little patience.
Robert.

I've never actually tasted single run from the smartstill as I found this
Forum and went straight into double distilling.
Currently stripping 60ltrs into demijohns ready to cut back to 30% and
Rerun.
I love the smartstill but something at the back of my mind keeps whispering
T500 lol
Whatever the op decides, good luck and keep us posted with results.

chill wrote:It is called stripped wash. If you are not double distilling, it does not matter how much you collect, it will all taste like crap. The sugar in, not half the VS, is what determines how much you collect.

Do your liver a favour: go buy a bottle of cheap vodka and double distill this.

Chuck

Not going through all this again, I agree it probably doesnt taste nearly as good as a double/triple distill...but it doesnt taste crap (just crap compared to what you guys produce...there is a difference), and Ive suffered no ill health/hangover/trots doing it the SS way. When I have the time, and more importantly the space to be able to double distill and store whilst doing it then I will, but atm I cant.

Thankyou for the info on collection though, thats what I was unsure of, so half a pack of VS is enough if I read Easydrinker correctly?

I am reducing the amount of sugar from 6kg to 5kg, so Im right in assuming that that will mean I produce a lower alcohol strength, and as such will get less useable from the still?

I have never used VS. Just plain old bakers yeast works fine. I use .25Kg of sugar per 1L of water. No problems.

RumJohn wrote:I have never used VS. Just plain old bakers yeast works fine. I use .25Kg of sugar per 1L of water. No problems.

i thought if you used bakers yeast you had to use nutrients too? though I could well be confusing myself

Ignore this thread

I managed to aquire some cheap containers, and steal some space from the wife

So Im going to be starting a couple of washes to attempt double distilling.

A single run will suffice if your in jail or someplace where 2 runs are out of the question. Most bai jiu in China is single run and it is crap.

Adding nutrition is not an essential ingredient. If using white sugar it will be. If using a brown sugar you wont need to add a nutrient.

shawry99 wrote:Ignore this thread

I managed to aquire some cheap containers, and steal some space from the wife

So Im going to be starting a couple of washes to attempt double distilling.

Man,I am so happy for you,you really should not regret it.
Best of luck with it all.
And yes,most of the time a half sachet of VS works as well as a full one,just a day or two longer.
Robert.