StillSmart

Once my wash has fermented and cleared I start my distillation in two parts - the stripping run, and the spirit run.

Stripping run.

I run the wash through the still once, in 4 litre batches. I collect 1500ml every run, leaving me 6 x 1500ml of strip, equalling 9 litres. This takes roughly 4hrs 25mins from turning on to collecting 1500ml. With a 14% wash, a stripping run will yield 1500ml of approximately 30% alcohol.

Distillers conditioning and ceramic saddles are a must for the stripping run to prevent burping/over boiling.

That is enough for two spirit runs (8 litres), and one litre that is kept until the next wash. Every fourth wash I will have an extra four litres to do a spirit run with.

My spirit run is as follows.

There is no need to use Distillers Conditioning in the spirit run.

50ml foreshots - discard
250ml heads - normally at 78-80% - are put in a container labelled 'heads'.
500ml hearts - normally about 74-75%

then I collect the tails down to 60%.

I calculate this by collecting the tails in 100ml batches, kept in wine glasses, measuring the ABV as I go.

Once it goes below 60% I collect about 300-400ml more I put it in a bottle (I chuck it in the next wash after fermentation and clearing to bring the ABV up a bit, and also to make it easier to get 24 litres off the yeast cake (lees).

The tails above 60% I smell and taste test, adding what I want to my hearts.

Usually, I can collect 700ml of tails above 60%. Dependent on smell (sometimes the last 100ml stinks rotten), I add the lot to the 500ml hearts, dilute down to 40% and carbon filter.

This normally adds up to 2.1-2.2 litres of 40% ABV per spirit run.

This means I get 4.4 litres per wash. BUT!

By collecting 250ml of heads per spirit run in a jar, I am saving up for a heads run.

For every wash I get 500ml of heads. Once I collect 1750ml of heads (every three and a half washes), I do a heads run.

I water down the 75-80% heads to 30% with water to make 4 litres up, and run it.

Now remember this is now a triple distilled spirit. I do the run, and collect the lot in 100ml batches, measuring abv as I go.

Once the run gets past 55-60% ABV I stop collecting.

I then smell, and taste the batches, add the ones I want to keep together, dilute down to 40%, and carbon filter.

Last time I got 1.5 litres of 40% abv alcohol out of it.

You can see my results here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=714&p=6350#p6350.

I also have a litre of stripped wash, which once every four washes gets a spirit run yielding me another 2.2 litres.

So, by doing that and the heads run every three washes, and adding that to my 4.4 litres per wash, I actually get 5.4-5.5 litres of 40% spirit per wash.

Not the 7 litres Richard at wineworks espouses, but if you want your spirit to taste nice, the single run method is a no go, unless you want to start experimenting with non-turbo home made washes.

What I make is nice stuff. As its being run through a pot still you get a faint smell (slightly sweet). But the taste is really good. I have had no complaints.

My method is by no means perfect, but it works for me. I will continue to try and improve it.