Air Still distillation breakdown

[volvohater]

Thanks for all this useful information.
It been a big help

Just a quick question.

Is it worth using the carbon teabag on a stripping run ?

Or just for the spirt run ?

Regards

[volvohater]

Forget the question

Just found the answer on page 3 of this thread.

Note to self
Read whole thread before posting

[Smisby]

Hi Guys,

This is all very new to me.
I'm only on my 2nd ever 25L wash. The 1st I followed the instructions and was happy enough with the outcome but then I saw this!
Man alive, it makes 100% sense to me so I'm having a go. So far I'm just doing the stripping runs but I think I've hit a snag, its yielding 52% @ 1.6L.

My wash was made with 8Kg of Tate&Lyle's finest, Still Smarts classic turbo yeast and their carbon stuff and then cleared with their turbo clear.
Left the wash for 8 days before clearing it for anothr 24 hours - I never took a hydrometer reading at the start as I didnt think there was a point, but did at the end and it almost disappeared and was 880 or there abouts.
I've done 3 strips now taking 1.6L off each and each one shows on my spirit hydrometer 52 or 53%.
I've now got a demijohn of low wines at 52% not the expected 30% - each run was from room temp in a cold still and took about 3H 45M.

I'm happy enough to dilute it to 30% and spirit run the lot, but is this normal / has anyone has such a high ABV from a stripping run before?


Cheers, Smisby.

[John51]

Your alcometer might be out.

I've got a small cheapo one plus a long expensive one and they give different readings. The long one isn't accurate across the range. A litre of 92% diluted to 40%? by adding 1.3L of water measures 45%. If that 45% was accurate then the starting ABV would be 103.5%.

[YHB]

8kg is a lot of sugar, it will give you a high %ABV for the wash which will also give you a high %ABV for your low wines. It may however also give you off tastes that you do not want.

Everything is a compromise, you want maximum returns for your efforts but you also want the best quality possible. Unfortunately you cannot have both.

5 or 6 kg of sugar seems to be the middle road that most people choose for a good tasting spirit.

Try it both ways, see the difference and let us know what you think.

Oops forgot - Welcome to the forum

[Easydrinker]

@ Smisby
Welcome! Your strip sounds about what could be expected from a wash with that much sugar.
I get about 1.5 litres @40ish% from 4 litres of 14% wash,with a little higher ABV tails mixed in.
Water it down and do your spirit run.
Save some of the best tasting and maybe try a wash with less sugar.
Compare the results and see which, if either, you prefer.
Have fun!
Robert.

[Almanac]

Smisby: There's nothing wrong I think you just missed something in the guide.

When stripping your wash you let the still run until what's coming out reaches down to 20%ABV.

The strength of the full batch from each stripping run, in your case 1.6lt, will always be somewhere between 40-60% and you then dilute it to 30% in prep for the later spirit runs.

So there is nothing wrong you're right on track and doing a good job so enjoy yourself.

If you go back to my guide you'll see the stripping runs product is shown and the water to be added to dilute the product to 30%.

....and welcome to StillSmart

AM

[Smisby]

thanks everyone - Am feeling a bit more confident now.

This run was to see if we can tell the difference between bottles water / dextrose Vs. Tap water / Tate&Lyle.
We live in Yorkshire so the tap water is most excellent (anyone used rain water? - we have lots of rain here)
Problem is, my dextrose / Sainsburys 32p per 2L was a single starter 800ml run
.
This sugar and tap water will be a double distil at least.
My dextrose run was quite pear droppy in smell (acetone/acetate?) but I haven't let the angels share out of that yet and its only 3 weeks old.

The main game is to get some nice vodka and play at making gin to do sloe, bullace, damson, raspberry, redcurrant, elderflower and all the rest gins and vodkas.
My friends damson vodka wins so far..

Now, I've got just shy of 2 demijohns of 52% - I'll cut it to 30% and run it again watching it like a hawk and smelling it like, well, an eager beaver new home distiller to see what this foreshots, heads, herts and tails malarkey is all about.
I'm keeping the foreshots for all of the "use alcohol to clean this" things I've read.
Am i right that a tripple distilled heads only run will produce the best if I do the sniff of each 100ml with no foreshots to bin off?

PS. Meter of truth reads 37% on supermarket triple dstiled gin and vodka

Thanks again everyone!

[Almanac]

.......
Problem is, my dextrose / Sainsburys 32p per 2L was a single starter 800ml run.........
Sorry, I just don't get this

My dextrose run was quite pear droppy in smell (acetone/acetate?) but I haven't let the angels share out of that yet and its only 3 weeks old.
Your distillate should be aired immediately after the spirit run and the Pear smell/taste is due to Heads in the distillate.

.......The main game is to get some nice vodka .......
To get any kind of reasonable Vodka from an Airstill requires Triple distilling and serious Activated Carbon filtering followed by very careful cuts. Vodka, because of it's relatively neutral taste/smell profile is the most difficult to produce from an Airstill. I gave up trying because my wife, a Vodka expert, was always able to detect off flavours no matter what I did. However, she absolutely loves the Vodka I produce from my 50lt potstill.

Now, I've got just shy of 2 demijohns of 52% -
Having taken 1.6lt from each stripping run you should have 9.6lt. You need to add 6.4lt of water to give you 4 spirit runs.

I'll cut it to 30% and run it again watching it like a hawk and smelling it like, well, an eager beaver new home distiller to see what this foreshots, heads, herts and tails malarkey is all about.
...malarkey

Am i right that a tripple distilled heads only run will produce the best if I do the sniff of each 100ml with no foreshots to bin off?
A Heads run will have relatively little Foreshots but it's still there. The Heads cut is very big, as you'd expect.

PS. Meter of truth reads 37% on supermarket triple dstiled gin and vodka

Meter of Truth

You're getting there, just take it one step at a time

AM

[Smisby]

[quote="aidanmac"][quote="Smisby"].......
Problem is, my dextrose / Sainsburys 32p per 2L was a single starter 800ml run.........
Sorry, I just don't get this


Sorry.
The 1st ever run I did was using advice from the shop I got the still from.
This was "dextrose is better than sugar, it gives a better taste - less taste" & "dont use tap water, bottled water from Sainsbury's (32 pence per 2L bottle) is filtered and most people use that"
Desxtrose is twice the cost of sugar here and Sainsburys is a supermarket chain in the UK.
So, I've binned off the bottled water and posh sugar for this run and I'm using the guide with a wash made from granulated sugar and Yorkshire's finest tap water.

The wash smelt very nice compared to the one made with dextrose.

Malarkey is too hard to define. but its "good petrol gives better MPG malarkey" or "what's all this monsters in the wardrobe malarkey" its a witchcraft you don't understand and are wary of malarkey.

[chill]

Ignore the shop. They just want to make money. If you are making beer, then yes, dextrose can produce a better result. Regular sugar can give the beer a cider taste. Tap water works just fine, unless your local water is particularly noxious for some reason.

Chuck

[Easydrinker]

Chill speaks sage words,concerning certain HBS.
For sure to be sure, AM understands the meaning of the word "Malarkey", I suspect it was your useage/context that caused his remark,or rather,which ever smilie it was used.
And the literal meaning of the noun "Malarkey" is rubbish/nonsense.
No dig at you here;I myself often mis-use the word.
Language is moving and changing faster than ever before.
And as you will discover,the final product is dependent upon the cuts.
No malarkey.
Robert

[John51]

The problem HBS have is that once we've got the equipment, there is nothing we actually need to buy from them.

I use Vodka Star yeast because of the consistency and convenience but I get it from Ellie Clair on the bay as my local HBS doesn't stock it.

[Nukeproof]

The problem HBS have is that once we've got the equipment, there is nothing we actually need to buy from them.

I use Vodka Star yeast because of the consistency and convenience but I get it from Ellie Clair on the bay as my local HBS doesn't stock it.

Ive just done a wash of VS for first timem wot do you cut the spirit down with, ie tap water/ bottled water.

Thanks

[vino-tinto]

I use my own distilled water, or if out, I use bottled water from the supermarket