StillSmart

Had a productive day yesterday. Charged the boiler with half of the strip I had kegged. Charge was 38L @ 30%ABV when watered down.

1 hour equalisation @ 650W
Pulled off 1.2L heads into my SS heads jar over the next 75 mins, drip, drip, drip.
Upped the power to 1800W, set the cooling and equalised for 10 mins.
Started taking off the first 3 jars at 1.2L\h
Opened up the valve a little and was pulling a little over 2L/h
Took off 15 jars at this rate, the temp rose slightly so I choked down the rate.
Collected another 3 and a bit jars with a few more adjustments before shutting down.

This is what I ended up with, click to enlarge.

On my still with the mid column probe, My hearts come off at 77.7 rising to 77.8, by the time It hits 77.9 I need to close it down a little and it will drop back down. By the time it hits 78oC there are too much tails for my liking, and the run is done.
I normally don't run any faster than 1.5l/h (normally shooting for 1.2l/h average), I was trying out a different power setting and seeing if I could push the take off. Initial thoughts are this product is slightly hotter at 47% than the smooth results I normally get, but at 38% (vodka sipping strength) it is perfectly good.
The product is destined to be re-distilled for gin - so I want to see if this extra distillation will remove the hotness or if not if it make a difference when mixed with tonic (I tried a little from this first spirit run and it seems fine).
Hopefully this is going to shave sever hours off a big spirit run.

The cut -
There was 12L of pure alcohol in the boiler, the jars average 425mls each.

The SS head with 1.2L never gets tested - CUT
The first Jar - Cut
The next 19 Jars - keep
The last 1 and a bit jars - cut, this was actually okay I didn't really run into the tails at all due to controlling the take off - when mixed with a mixer I cant taste any tails, but there is a very slight 'something' when straight - I'll use this for a maceration or something.



The cut is about right for me, as a general rule of thumb when the hearts cut is watered down to my storage strength I have the same volume as the total alcohol I put in the boiler.
So I would expect to get just shy 12l of 65% in this case.

Of course the heads cut will be recovered another day, and I have a couple of bonus jars at the other side that were usable else where. The remaining 16% that I didn't collect is lost to tails the processing. Over all a good afternoon work.

Nice going Cap'n C

Very satisfying when you have a load of quality product to show for your hard work.

AM

Capt'n

Thanks for this breakdown, it really makes the process clear and emphasises the need for me to change my temperature monitors to ones that can read tenths of a degree.

I will put my spirit run on hold until I have time to change the thermometers out.

Brian

YHB wrote:Capt'n

Thanks for this breakdown, it really makes the process clear and emphasises the need for me to change my temperature monitors to ones that can read tenths of a degree.

I will put my spirit run on hold until I have time to change the thermometers out.

Brian

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No problem, by the way as I alluded to in my post the temp stays rock solid for most of the hearts run, having a 0.1o thermo only lets you squeeze the last little bit out the end of the hearts. if something goes wrong mid run the temperature change is significant enough that you'll notice it on a dial thermometer.

If your collecting in small jars you'll just run a bit further into tails before you realise.

It's definitely beneficial, but as long as you have some way of monitoring the temperature I wouldn't let it stop me from running.

Update:

I've cut the spirit and watered down to 65% for storage. I watered a little down to just under 40%, there is no taste and only smells very faintly of alcohol.

On sipping this, there is a slight hotness to it, but not in a bad way, you just know its alcoholic. Normally at this strength its pretty much water. Adding 50/50 with tonic its there is no noticeable difference to my usual product.

If I was doing a potato vodka (that I do sip straight) then I would run closer to the 1.2l on the lower power, but for stock neutral that is going to be flavoured or redistilled into gin this is absolutely acceptable. Looking like I can now shave some where from 25-50% off my usual collection time using this config and packing. result.

Capt-Cudellez wrote:Looking like I can now shave some where from 25-50% off my usual collection time using this config and packing

I may have missed it, but what was the configuration, I am assuming Bubble Ball & SPP, but was it with the stumpy column or the tall one?

Ah sorry, I'd spoken to someone on a PM and though I'd put it in the post. Yes its the BB with the full column. Been trying different power settings and take off rates, this is the first time I've gotten through a full run without it flooding.