To dilute or not to dilute

[Bachus55]

I am stuck with a bit of a dilemma and I hope someone would be so kind as to enlighten me
As a newbie I have bought a Smartstill and with the help of this forum ( amongst others the great SmartStill Does-and-donts-by-AidenMac with diagram and the diagram of Mozr/YHB, which by the way I keep at hand all the time) produced some decent spirit (room for improvement of course).

I deluted it to around 40%, chucked in activated carbon, let it stand for a few days, stirring it a few times a day and then filtered it through a coffee filter, came out clean, although with a tiny bit of lee smell. (I will try a better filtering process in the future, DIY or even Essentia)

But... I would also like to use stronger alcohol, let's say 70-80% to macerate lemon peels or fruits or whatever.
So... Do I need to dilute to 40%, then carbon filter to neutralise it and then redistill to get the 70-80% stuff? Meaning striprun -> spiritrun -> dilute -> carbon filter -> distill again...

All input is highly appreciated!

[RickyRasper]

By diluting your alcohol you may be adding contaminants to your distillate. It really makes no sense to bring your distillate up to 70% then water it down and re-distill. Only re-distill to achieve a purer smoother product. To flavour your alcohol with citrus fruits let the whole uncut fruit tied in a clean muslin cloth sit in a batch of the finished alcohol, check it regularly until you have the desired flavour then bottle.
Make sure you use unwaxed and preferably organic fruit that has had no chemical treatment.

[Bachus55]

Hi Ricky,
Thanks for your input. Maybe I wasn't too clear in what I wanted to say.
Quote:"It really makes no sense to bring your distillate up to 70% then water it down and re-distill." I fully agree, but...
The spiritrun (out of the SmartStill) produces appr. 70% alcohol, but not quite neutral. I learned from the forum that to neutralize it, first dilute it to about 40%. If I macerate the fruits in the untreated alcohol I may still have an unwanted (after)tast in the finished product.
Carbon filtering a "fruit-liquor" will also filter out the good tastes so to speak. Hence the dilemma.
Or do you suggest to put the fruit in the treated (40%) alcohol and take it from there?
(Oh, and thanks for pointing to the organic fruits, sound advise)

[chill]

I would also like to use stronger alcohol, let's say 70-80% to macerate lemon peels or fruits or whatever. Do I need to dilute to 40%, then carbon filter to neutralise it and then redistill to get the 70-80% stuff?

Yes, that is what you need to do. I do this quite often as these drinks are popular with family and friends. If you don't carbon filter it first you will end up with off tastes. If you carbon filter it after, you will lose the tastes you are after!

Try suspending citrus fruits above (not touching) the alcohol in jar. Let sit for a month or so until the fruit starts looking tired, remove the fruit and filter though cotton wool. Brilliant!

Chuck

[Bachus55]

Thanks Chuck (or Chill )
Just the assurance a novice needs, you made my day!

[John51]

How about

Strip run -> Dilute to 30% -> filter -> Spirit run -> Flavouring
.

[chill]

Then fores, heads, tails, and other undesirable things left in the still after the spirit run are going through your carbon. The carbon won't last nearly as long as filtering after cuts have been made.

Chuck

[John51]

Yes it would use more carbon but the OP would get what he wanted.

It's a cheap enough hobby even when spending extra on carbon.

[Frank]

@Baccus55, if you are wanting to make certain recipes (eg Limoncello) then you will need a 'clean spirit' at very close to the stated ABV% in order to have success. Thing is, to get to levels beyond, say, 85%ABV its going to take time and repeated distillation (depending on your still capacity/equipment, of course).

IMHO, what is important is that, for drinking spirit, you always aim for the hearts.....as the foreshots are 'poison' and the heads will likely give you headaches (moreso if you drink young product).
So......cut and carbon clean your spirit through the strip runs/'up front' then, when redistilling, collect the fractions accurately for your high abv% neutral.....subject to dilution.

The heads (and tails?) may be worth keeping as feints too BTW