StillSmart

Hi all.
New to this forum so hello to everyone!
The only thing i have ever brewed is tea! So wish me luck.
I need a little direction please if anyone can comment that would be great.

Purchased the T500 with copper column kit. Looking to make some reasonable neutral spirit.
I have 25 litres on the go at the moment but only sugar and spring water with distillers vodka yeast. All bubbling away nicely after 4 days at 22.0c.

Although i am reading up on the correct methods regarding wash, cuts etc please remember this is my very first go!!! So practice first just to get the hang of the Still and methods etc.

Here goes my questions!

If i start with lets say 23 litres of wash at about 13% and run this through the still until the end then i believe i shall have a return of about 3.09 litres at 92% approx.

If i then water this back to 30% this i believe gives me about 9.4 litres at 30%

If i then run this back through the still another time, spirit run (consider cuts etc but still reading this subject) then am i correct in saying i should end up with about 2.91 litres at 92%.

Water back to 40% should offer me about 6.5 litres of neutral at 40%.

I appreciate the cuts etc but not quite there yet!

Or could i end up with similar results with just one pass and good cuts (no 2nd distill)?

Also is the 15 minute full reflux important? If so should this be done on the first or second run. I believe on the copper T500 its full power water for 15 mins then pull back to average 50-55c for the run.

So what am i looking to achieve on my first run.

A neutral for mainly vodka and i do have essences which came with the T500 so i will use them up. Mainly for mixing and a quality dare i say as good as the supermarket cheaper own brands.
Of course i appreciative its possible to do better but its my first go and if i can achieve this i know i am at least on my way. I do have carbon filtration also if needed.

Thank you for reading and hope you can help! Please go easy on me as its my first go!
I do however brew a cracking cup of tea.
Thank you
Daren

Welcome fella. I'm new to all this too but bought a copper columned t500 a couple of months back.
Couple of observations
You'll be lucky if your wash gets above 10% after fermenting so getting 2.5 litres out of your 25 litre wash is about max return. Having said that it's top abv and great neutral. The rest of your maths is good.
The t500 manual doesn't say that you need to do a further spirit run after the first run, but if you want to, go ahead.....there are those on here who do and those that don't.
You'll need to bin the first bit of the distillate don't forget.......the manual says 50 ml I believe but I bin 100ml ....it smells like nail varnish!
The final observation is that you mention cutting the power on a spirit run. There's no way to really do this with a T500 unless you have a power controller (there's also no need when using the refusing column )
Edit.
Ah I see what you mean, power back the water flow..........you'll find that once it starts to come out. You'll need to adjust the flow to keep between 50 and 65 ....you'll find a sweet spot i.e. There's no need to keep adjusting after the first few minutes when it stabilises........after the first hour and a half or so you notice the temp creeping up.......you can increase it slightly and stabilise it again and so on, but this it the sign that you're coming to the end of the run
Hth
Good luck it's great fun

Hi Daren 13, welcome to our little home.
You have bought yourself a nice bit of kit there mate,
have one myself. Your figures are good,and you will
with practise make some good spirit. Wash recipes we
have, most are easy and cheap. Always aim for quality
not quantity. If you want quantity put on 2or even
3 washes.
1st run or stripp run is to pull all the alcohol
from the wash no cuts, no reflux just run at 58-60
degrees fast run.Do this to other washes, combine
in the still, water down to about 30%.
Spirit run to refine and take the best (hearts).
This is when you set on reflux at the beginning of
the run to compress the heads.

gaza does give a good method/explanation,
to those with some experience.
I am not going to try and improve upon it,
I merely suggest reading and reading again until you understand what he is saying.

Robert.

Thank you folks your advice is much appreciated. Will post back with positive results I hope. Thank you again!
Regards
Daren

Hi Darren. I am going to pull you up a little short. I have never used a T500, so excuse me if i appear to blow smoke.

I question your being able to pull 13% off your wash ar 92% ABC on a stripping run. If you can, i would dispence with a spirit run as you already would have distilled to an acceptable neutral. Preferably, do a strip and then a spirit run.

You asked if the 15 minutes of reflux is necessary. If you intend to arrive at a very clean, high ABV neutral, then the answer is yes. But for at least 30 minutes, preferrably an hour, until such times as your column reaches equilibrium. And then only pull off alcohol at a rate that will not disturb equilibrium.

Your on the right track. Cheers.

Just like to add this Daren13. We all talk about quality
over quantity.
Say your total volume from your stripp is 2.5ltrs at 92%
not very much, but if you do 3 washes and stripp you end
up with 7.5ltrs at 92%. if you let down to 30% you will
have about 23ltrs at 30%. Nearly a full charge. Thats
how you get quantity as well.
With cuts I normally have 5-6ltrs of hearts at 93% or so.
Let down to 40% you will end up with about 12ltrs.
Kale Wash (my favourite) costs £3 per wash, take leccy
into account and you are still under £1 per ltr.
Cheap for good Vodka ehhh.

gaza was stuttering a bit there, so I deleted his duplicate post.

RJ has it on the need for reaching equilibrium in the column, it's what reflux stills were designed for. I think your hypothetical numbers may have caused some confusion there.

Between us, all here will help you produce good product.

Welcome.

Robert.

Sorry Ed this mouse has a way of its own, linked to the
wayward operator and all hell breaks loose when I post

As we constantly show, we are a bunch of friendly folk.
If you can't keep up, we will rib you endlessly.
All in fun.
Some of us don't get out much.

Robert.