Problem stripping the ABV from commercial liqueur

[babelfish06]

Wow Mash...what a read! Sadly, more talk about bicarb in the wash than soda ash in the low wines. It got into some complicated (for me anyway) chemistry and it went off topic a lot too, although I did see at least one positive comment.
My idea to do a side by side comparison didn't pan out because, with or without the soda ash, the musk taste persists. I have redistilled this about 8 times now (cleaning the saddles and column between each run) but the taste will just not go away.
I ended up finding a voltage controller on ebay H12pro, so when it gets here I will do one more slow run to see if that makes a difference but I'm about ready to give up on it all.
So who knows how to calibrate one of these things? (Search is not much help here) My boiler is 1800 watt, do I simply switch the regulator from 220v to 110v to get my boiler from 1800 watt to 900 watt? Any discussion on how to relate the voltage to the wattage would be most welcome.
Easydrinker...cool ya jets big fella, no-one's 'having a pop' at you.. I was simply remarking (in a humorous way - you saw the winky thing right?) that although you responded too, all you added to the conversation was a whimsical comment about ancient measures. I had said that I couldn't find it, not that I didn't look, so your advice to simply look, like I hadn't, came across a little condescending. Doesn't seem to take much to get on your shit list

[H12rpo]

My voltage regulator control arrived and I’ve used it on a spirit run. The way I used it was by basically ingnoring the markings on it but only starting with under half power sort of thing and seeing if I could steady the temp at th3 top of the lyne arm. And keeping the temp steady until pretty much the product stopped coming out, then turning up the dial slightly and doing the same again, if that makes sense.
I found I was able to make decent cuts by this method. In short it was a great tool for me for the pot still attachment on my T500. And it stopped the product just rushing out at full blast.

[Mash]

So who knows how to calibrate one of these things? (Search is not much help here) My boiler is 1800 watt, do I simply switch the regulator from 220v to 110v to get my boiler from 1800 watt to 900 watt? Any discussion on how to relate the voltage to the wattage would be most welcome.

You could plug in of these and read the numbers.....and you know where to set it next time too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Plug-Plug ... SwRJxZiZCl

[Myles]

I am assuming Myles that here you are being specific to a fermented out wash?
I routinely add Bicarb of Soda to my neutral washes on day 3 or 4 after ph testing.
This I find helpful, not derogatory.

Robert.

That was a good catch Robert, thanks - I was not being specific enough. This is one of those situations that is not black or white.

As you stated you can use bicarb in a wash to moderate pH. Most folks thinking of Bicarb do so wrt tidying up cuts. When added to low wines before a spirit run it helps to prevent the formation of ethyl acetate.

The flip side is that if you add it to the wash after fermentation AND you have excess nitrogen remaining in the wash AND you have copper components in the still - it is possible to reduce the acidity of the wash too much.

If it gets towards a neutral pH you can (if you meet the conditions above) generate ammonia gas which is very corrosive on copper and produces blue crystals and blue booze.

If your still is all stainless you probably won`t notice anything unless you smell the ammonia.

Also those folks that do add it to low wines are probably adding a lot more than they actually need. In reality you only need to add enough to get to about pH 8. The ammonia is not an issue with low wines as the excess nitrogen stays in the boiler on the strip run.

[Easydrinker]

babelfish06, well done for coming back at me.
Let you and I start again. Winky thing. See what I did there?
There really is NO definitive guide to using a power controller.
Mash is correct in pointing you at an electrical energy meter, to plug your controller into.
What you need is a recordable number that you can replicate on future, similar runs.
An energy meter will give you this in Watts.
Depending upon where you live you may need to buy a model aimed at a 110 Volt rather than the 220V version linked to.
Other than that,I think the rest is down to you experimenting and making copious notes.
The numbers that work for me certainly would not work for anyone else.

Robert.

[Myles]

The numbers that work for me certainly would not work for anyone else.

Robert.

Now that is a point worth emphasising. Even when you have the numbers dialed in for your still you may find there is a difference between if you use it in summer and mid winter when the ambient conditions are a lot colder.

Also it may change between recipes. Don't expect to run it the same when you are producing rum and grappa.

Repeatability is the key and that means you need to take note of the conditions each time. That way when you get a product you like you also know how you got it.

On the old big pot stills they used to be really particular. Run the same recipe, blend the boiler charges so they were always the same ABV on both strip and spirit runs, and use the same power levels at each phase of the run. That way they got consistent product between runs.

However, they probably spent a long time trying variations until they got to where they wanted to be.

Keep a diary of fermentation and distilling conditions. One day you may end up with a combination that will be an award winner.