first timer wash wont go over 9%vol

[dids]

hello ive just recently bought a smart still and what i need to make the wash. Any way ive started of a batch of wash using alcotec tripple distilled yeast 21 litres of water 6 kg of suger and a 25 litre bucket ive had it on for 11 days now and it wont go over 9% vol on my abv hydrometer and its just under the 990 marker on my gravity hydrometer and its been like this for a few days now can some one surgest anything thanks in advance for any help.

[Andy]

At 990 she's all done.
Just clear it and start running.
Next wash go with 8kg sugar if you want higher ABV

[MrCat]

ABV hydrometers don't really work on wash properly.

Did you take the Original gravity of your wash with your gravity hydrometer before it started fermenting?

If you did there is an easy calculation to work out how much alcohol is in your wash

OG (original gravity) - final gravity (from your message that is 990) / 7.6

Typically my sum work like this

(1073 - 990) / 7.6 = 10.92% in the wash

Does that make sense ? Hopefully with 6kg of sugar you will have more alcohol in the wash than you think.

[alan]

Hi dids, as Andy said your wash as finished and ready to run.I'm just running my last 4.litres of a 30.ltr wash using 1/2 packet alcotec 48 an6kg sugar
alan

[dids]

Thanks for all your replys ive just put 24 turbo klar in it.

[dids]

Ive just looked to see how its doing and its quite clear but all the carbons settled at the bottom is that normal is that why the say syphon the wash in to another bucket. thanks for any help

[Andy]

Yes everything should be settled at the bottom.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Dids, as far as clearing goes here what I've experienced.

A cool location in better for faster clearing

If you rack the wash off the sediment into another bucket and de-gas well by stirring until all the CO2 is out before adding the clearing agent it will end up much clearer quicker than leaving it on the sediment.

24 hour clearing agents will clear ok in 24 hours, give it 3-4 days and it will be much better.

I've had good results using much cheaper generic wine finings - don't get hung up on a particular brand. Part A is Kieselsol to help with degassing, and part B is chitosan you may be able to pick these up cheaper in bulk with a little searching.


and finally you can ignore everything I've said, and just leave the wash for a couple of weeks to a month if you have the time, it will clear as long as it's been well degassed, even leaving it on the lees. - the best thing is not to mess with it, leave the lid on to avoid infections. - I don't use finings much these days unless I'm in a hurry to run something. keeps the expenses down too.

[dids]

Thanks for all your advice use have been really helpfull. its a really good and friendly site. well after 24 hours it was clear i could see the bottom of the bucket so i run it through the smart still with a cap full of conditioner. I was runnin of 800ml at 60% and then throwing what wass left in the still away. thats what a was told to do who sold me the still reading through the forum. i dont no wether thats the best way. Plus i had to throw away about 2 litres of wash what was left at the bottom because the syphone was sucking up the carbon. any way i got 6 litres of spirit out of it so am happy with that. ive also got another wash on thats been on for a few days now. Thanks again for your replys.

[Jimmy]

Quality not quantity mate, one of the first lessons I learned (the hard way) was that being a cheapskate and trying to wring every last bit out of a wash/run led to off-tastes in the whole batch. Carry on as you are, making a reasonable quantity of a high quality product - then you can begin to experiment with pushing the limits until you know where to draw the line. First step though - a clean, well distilled spirit done in a recorded (and therefore repeatable) fashion.

PS - thanks for the comments about the site, there are a good bunch on here and the credit goes to them!

[dids]

So is that ok takin 800ml from a 4 litre wash because ive been readin the forum an some people are only takin 700ml from what ive read. All so im goin to try redistilling see how a get on with that. will it be ok if i get say 4 litres of 60% spirit cut it to 40% throw it back in an take 2 litres of 75% spirit all tho ive not got drunk of it yet a give.me mate a litre bottle first lol to test what a made up with malt wisky essence. an he said it was great an he didnt even have a hangover in the mornin. Im goin have a good drink of it friday night a made some absinthe up so a might get smashed of that lol ill let ya now saturday mornin how i feel. lol

[Jimmy]

Yeah, the lack of hangover is a good sign you're doing pretty well! Probably your best tool is your nose, you do learn to detect the off-smells in the spirit very well with a little practice - ideally it should smell of nothing at all (for a neutral like vodka) - it's funny but now I sniff every bottle of commercial vodka I get chance to, and some of them I would pour back into the still if I'd made them myself!