% vol max ??

[HangOver]

Hey guys

regulars here will know im new to this but I just got to tell you about this.

Not that I want to kill myself and would never drink it I just measured my 3rd lot of distilate and it's 75% vol !
What sort of vol have other had?
Surely this little baby beastie can't make it much stronger than that?

[Jimmy]

You can get it above 80%, about 83% I think!
Uncle Jimmy's lecture for today - take some of the really strong stuff and rub it between your finger and thumb - see how it feels different to 40% spirit? If you get good at that kind of thing, you can tell in an instant how strong things are without needing to measure.

[HangOver]

i tried it and it feels wet, lol.
75% stuff evaporates on my fingers in less than 5 seconds, about 15 seconds for 37% higher one fees direr if thats possible.

I think the smell is more distinctive it just smells stronger more ermmm try it and see hard to put it into words.

[Jimmy]

It's kind of greasier the higher it gets, and like you say it evaporates faster and burns with a blue flame with no yellow. All good fun testing this stuff, and makes you look impressive when you can tell the strength before you've even measured it - well, that and the fact you've used the calculator, lol.

[pi55ed]

Hey Hangover,

How much did you take out to get.. 3rd lot of distilate at75%, and what wash were you using..?

Turbo wash, or home made wash... ???

[HangOver]

hi pi55ed

Using a turboyeast wash with 8kg of sugar, took a few weeks to finish and another week or two to clear using turboclear.
From the fist wash I threw away the first 50ml then kept approx 650ml which was about 59%

I let it run after this and collected another approx 400-450ml and stored it.

I repeated this for the second wash.
The third wash i dumped the x2 stored 400ml portions in the still and topped up with wash.

For the 3rd wash the 650ml portion was 75% but not all of it I didnt measure it exactly but I would guess about 400ml which I bottled for no reason other than I was pretty damn amazed.
I distilled the 4th wash, (just tonight) and got the 59% again and stored the spare 400ml.
If you do this 3rd wash thing when you distil it check the vol regularly as I found after it gets lower than 50% it dropped very very quickly and very low. No idea why.

[HangOver]

oh, sorry now I think about it I didnt do that with the first wash, I double distilled it because it smelled so bad.

ie threw away the frist 50/60ml, collected i dunno maybe 1L plus a little bit?
The 1L+ I threw straight back in the still and topped up with standard wash.

[Jimmy]

When you re-distill, the dropoff point gets quite sharp because you're getting nearer each time to a straight water/ethanol mix in your wash.

[umpa]

When you distill a second time, should you always have 4 ltr,

eg. I collect 800ml first time, do I simply re-distill that or should I add the 800ml with say RO water to make 4Ltrs and get 800ml from that.
Regards

Ian..

[HangOver]

I'd like to help but not really sure if you HAVE to have 4L in or not?

I just figured more wash & distillate = higher alch content.

I just always fill the still to about 1" below the fill line.

[Jimmy]

It's a percentages game - what you have in there is a certain percentage of alcohol, and the rest being other stuff. In order to get the most alcohol out, it helps to maximise the amount that you have in there, so that the cutoff point is more gradual. Think about it - if you have 800ml in there, then it is hard to find the point where alcohol stops coming out - it's possible, but you need to be measuring your output quite precisely because it's going to be a matter of ml. With 4 litres, even if you've topped up with water, providing you know the strength of what is going in you get much more of a 'window' in which to stop collecting before you start really diluting.
The benefit of topping up with water is that you know the properties of it are quite different to those of alcohol so it should stay put in the still compared to some of the fusel oils etc that share characteristics with the ethanol. It seems counter productive somehow, making it stronger and then watering it down, but it's purely to make a bigger divide between what comes out and what stays in.
So, in a nutshell - you don't HAVE to, but it makes it easier!

[umpa]

Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me so close to crimbo its appreciated..
Ian..

[quietman]

I think I'll stick to distilling once for now lol
Q

[Jimmy]

Christmas is for drinking, don't worry about it!

[goinbroke2]

I ALWAYS do a stripping run and save them up and then do a spirit run.

If you do the first run it might come out at 50%ABV and taste "ok" or "good". The same stuff if you run it again will come out around 75% or so for example, and yes you will add distilled or bottled water to bring it back to 50%ABV, BUT (big but) It will taste SO much better/cleaner.

Basically your doing all the extra work to get more and more crap out so all that is left is alcohol/water.
I am making this because I want something good to drink, not because...well ok, because it's cheaper too..but I'm not going through all this work to make swill with alcohol in it that I must choke down to get drunk. Ferment without turbo's, let it sit for a month or so to clear, do a stripping run, do a spirit run, enjoy excellent tasting whiskey. (or even add StillSpirits Rye flavouring to fool even mama and the inlaws hehehe)

Of course with a few batches going at the same time every couple of weeks I can run a batch off.