confusion about second run

[hic52]

Ok just to get this clear in my mind!
1) 4L of wash into still

1st Run gives me 800ml which i dilute to 1200ml (according to still instructions)

Collect enough of first runs to make up to 4L

2nd Run - can I run the still to say 2L then dilute to 4L?
I would not loose quantity if I did it this way.
Its just I don\'t normally do a second run but would like to improve the quality.

[hic52]

A further confusion as well, the more I read the more I get confused - If all is correct with my above posting.
I am left with what seems to be called backwash in the still.
I normally throw it all away!!
From reading postings in the forum do I simply collect the backwashes - ie: its hot pour it ALL in a bucket and collect enough to make up another 4L - Im talking now about the backwash from a second run, not the first run.
Am I right or totally off the mark?

[Ronbo]

Your wash will contain between 10 and 20% alcohol depending on what you fermented.

Throw away the first 20mL that drips out (or save it for cleaning liquid)
With a typical 5 day Turbo wash you may have about 18% ABV which will produce about 1 Litre of 55% on the first run. See my other posts for distilling records with the air-still.
You then have a choice:

(Always wait until you have 4 Litres at a time)
1) Dilute the 55% by half and redistill, you will end up with the same ABV (near enough) but it will be much cleaner (neutral)
2) Redistil as is, in which case you will end up with about 1.7 Litres of 80%
The advantage of 2) is less electricity consumed. If you dilute the 80% with nice bottled spring water, I personally can\'t tell any difference from method 1)
Either way what is left in the still will be about 2 or 3% very smelly and not worth keeping.
Regards, Ronbo.

[Phantom]

Hum ? hic52\'s got me confused now....
4 litres of \"standard\" wash into the still does, indeed (and according to the instructions) give 800mls of spirit at about 60% (give or take a few % points).
Rather than messing around with second runs etc, what I tend to do with my smart still is dump the first 25 to 30 mls, to allow for some heads, then take 800 mls, which in turn will be diluted with 400mls of water to give 1200mls at about 40% - that\'s kept for filtering, but then I leave the still running, checking periodically, the strength of the output and collect that until it gets down to about 10%, I conside those \"tails\", and that will go straight back into the next batch of wash that goes into the still.
The residue is then binned.
If you wanted to run the still so the output is down to 10% and all of the distillate is then retained, but then watered back down to about 40%, and that 40% mix is then re-distilled, when I do that, I end up with 800 mls at about 80 to 85 % - then once the strength starts to drop, I just keep collecting the tails and that goes back into the wash of the next batch.......