StillSmart

Thought I had it sussed, do a quick strip of my wash on the t500 at a high temp then a slow spirit run with cuts...then I read this below on the T500 thread, would it be better to buy the Alembic Condenser Arm to fit on my SS lid for strip runs?




The advice came from personal experience as well as that of others who have tried to use the early T500 still heads for stripping. There is no reason you can't use the boiler as long as it's fitted with a pot head or maybe one of the later all copper T500 designs.
The problem lays in the synthetic top of the older columns, it simply gets too hot and the still then starts leaking where the synthetic material meets the stainless column. I know some people have got away with using them for stripping, but many have not. If your happy to take the risk go ahead and try, see what happens for yourself.

The alembic condenser will strip a wash much quicker but it comes at a cost. You could use it though for whiskies, rums, brandies etc when you get into that.

I started double distilling with just the column. Running the strip on the column faster (say output temp around 65c) Then redistilled slower and cooler (50 to 55c) and make cuts (heads, hearts, tails)

cheers seagull, if I do a strip with the alembic condesor arm do I need to do cuts or can I water down the whole lot to 30% and put it through the column at a slow rate and then do cuts?

Hi bud jumping in.
Strip run.
Just pull all useful alcohol off your wash.
Strip down to 30% or lower for flavour
in the spirit run, throw nothing at this
stage.

cheers,just want to make sure I do it right first time, thinking about making a gin so would this do it.
Strip run with the alembic pot condensor,water down to 30% and run slowly through the T500 and then make cuts...take the hearts and watere down again to 30% put back through the alembic pot condenser with botanicals somehow attached so vapors go through them...make cuts again.

That should do it.
On your Gin run throw away the first little bit, no other cuts are needed.
But it is all down to personal taste.

Robert.

Thanks Easy drinker, you are saying on the final run which will be through the alembic post still I dont need cuts? Wont you still get heads, hearts and tails?

Good luck mate.
Take you time.
Look for one of the proven gin recipes
on here.
Have a look on the Bay for your botanicals
or Love Brewing, but they are quite expensive.
Enjoy the end product mate

guest5234 wrote:Thanks Easy drinker, you are saying on the final run which will be through the alembic post still I dont need cuts? Wont you still get heads, hearts and tails?

Chill, read, distill, taste, air product, read more or again, water back to 30% and redistill, read, repeat etc

I've only been here 3 months. Throw first bar measure of a spirit run down the sink just in case it could be really nasty (it probably isn't that bad, but play safe) and just experiment, get it wrong and recycle. Stick your nose and finger in then taste everything you distill

edit : complete opposite to brewing where you want to keep air out. let distillate have access to air, and give the angels their share and a lot of sharpness will go away leaving you with way better than shop bought

So going by what has previously been posted, I dont make cuts on the last spirit gin run.

On your Gin run throw away the first little bit, no other cuts are needed.
But it is all down to personal taste.

On Gin run if you are using fruit,
skin or zest. you may want to throw 1st bit
on the AS I throw 1st 15ml.
only reason to stop it from going cloudy or
louching. Need to scale up on bigger
amounts, I only do 2 ltrs at a time.
Thats 2lts neutral 1 ltr water.
Collect down to 60% in the As gives me
about 900ml @ 72%. Dilute to 40%, gives
me 2 bottles and a taster.

Curmudgeon wrote: Stick your nose and finger in then taste everything you distill

Use your nose yes...but sticking a digit into what's coming off a still which can have an ABV anywhere in the region of 35% up to 90% is not recommended....as you will find out if you try.

Hey Guest, the original quote you posted about stripping I believe is when folks were completely bypassing the reflux in the T500 column and were using it like a pot still with only the product condenser cooling.
From what you post you are still refluxing on the "stripping" run, this will keep the temps down at the top of the column until towards the end of the run. Your first run just has a lower reflux ratio (running hotter, returning less to the boiler) than the slower second run.

So don't sweat it.

On gin, cutting by taste is tricky, as the product coming off the still will taste very different the day it was stilled to when the flavour "fixes" which I find is about 10-14 days after distillation. Its best to keep it stored in bulk (a DJ) until this point.
On the flavour fixing, you need to use fixatives in the recipe - the 2 most common are angelica root or orris root.

Of course if all your gin will be guzzled within a few weeks - this is less of an issue

thanks guys

I think your question was answered guest, but in many roundabout ways, I struggled to follow.
Wont you still get heads, hearts and tails?
Nope,you may get a bit of shit at first, depending upon your botanicals.
So, throw the first bit of the macerated wash spirit, a few ml will suffice.
Other than that no cuts are needed.
Obviously stop collecting at a low ABV that suits yerself.
Do allow product to mellow for a week or two to allow the magic to happen.
Between those parameters the flavour of your Gin is down to you.

Robert.