by karl » Tue May 07, 2013 9:15 pm
Hey guys (onmeth & rbsiliva69)
I'm interested in your results.
I've Just finished a TPW vs Turbo wash of my own.
Workflow
2x 25L (One Macstills & One Turbo) both being held at 28 degrees using a temperature controlled fridge. The thermostat was taped to the side of the fermenter and insualted from direct air.
I run my Turbo wash through a washable 1 micron filter before adding to the T500 still. This has proven to remove much of the residual yeast thus minimising bad after-tastes. This tip alone means that I went from double distilling and double filtering workflow to a single distilling and single filtering method to produce a reasonable product.
I rinse the column between distils with water to remove any crap between runs.
With the TPW wash, it was so full of debri after almost 2 weeks (5 days of which were sitting in the fermenter waiting for the debri to settle after fermentation had stopped) that I could only filter with a muslin bag as it was blocking my 1 micron filter after just 3 litres of the 25 litre wash. I know people will say I don't need to but wanted to give the TPW a fair chance to compete with my Turbo wash via the 1 micron filter.
During distillation, I removed 160ml (to keep as acetone) and removed heads and tails that I felt needed removing.
Taste tests
1) Firstly, I read that you don't need to carbon filter a TPW. I tried the spirits straight after diluting to 40% and found it to have a slight sweet taste. The spirit at this stage was not as good as a Turbo wash in a T500 still and using a carbon filter (not via my method anyway).
2) After carbon filtering, the TPW spirit was just marginally better than the Turbo spirit which has also been filtered. The TPW still has a slight sweet taste still but seems smoother to drink and the sweet taste is slightly easier to ignore than the very marginal after taste I get with the Turbo wash.
So yes....My TPW tastes slightly better than my Turbo wash. If I was to score them, I would say Turbo 7/10 and TPW 8/10 (Marginal difference).
If I had any questions from this experiment, it would be how many of you carbon filter your TPW spirits and if none of you do, why do you think mine needed to be filtered? (I am seeking the easiest method to make a neutral spirit).
Cheers fellas