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Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 7:36 pm
by Professor Green
scythe wrote:It is also why absinthe burns as it is usually around 50% ABV (brand depending), when the flame dies out its back to around 40%.


Absinthe ranges from 45% to 75% depending on the type and brand and is thoroughly ruined if set alight. Blanches are made across the whole range but vertes generally tend towards higher end as it preserves green of the naturally coloured ones.

Cheers,
Prof. (the so called absinthe flame ritual is a modern abomination) Green.

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 9:12 am
by Ronker
Interesting thread, I've only single distilled twp, good cuts n put on bourbon staves to age.
If I was to double distill with my PD reflux, I'm asssuming the routine would be :-

Run 25ltr TPW wash taking cuts as normal.
After airing, decide hearts to keep, heads and tails store for future run.
Dilute hearts to 40% and re distill this, cuts keep hearts to dilute n drink, discard rest.

Would this be correct?

My concern would be the 2nd distillation would only be about 3ltrs, would this be ok in boiler, or do I need multiple first distills to get more volume to double distill?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge... :sad:

cheers

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 10:01 am
by Peregian
Ronker wrote:Interesting thread, I've only single distilled twp, good cuts n put on bourbon staves to age.
If I was to double distill with my PD reflux, I'm asssuming the routine would be :-

Run 25ltr TPW wash taking cuts as normal.
After airing, decide hearts to keep, heads and tails store for future run.
Dilute hearts to 40% and re distill this, cuts keep hearts to dilute n drink, discard rest.

Would this be correct?

My concern would be the 2nd distillation would only be about 3ltrs, would this be ok in boiler, or do I need multiple first distills to get more volume to double distill?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge... :sad:

cheers




I double distill to collect a very clean neutral.

I place the fermented wash into the keg boiler, about 44 liters, then to a fast pot still stripping run discarding the first 300 - 400 ml and then collect down to about 25 ABV, this gives about 8 - 9 liters.

Next, take the 8 - 9 liters water down to 40 ABV and re-distill in a smaller boiler using a reflux still, all the cuts are done on the second run and after the jars have aired for a day or two.

The final product is very clean and excellent for gin. The final product is distilled a third time for the gin run.

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 10:22 am
by EziTasting
:text-+1:

We've taken to fermenting large volume of TPW, taking a large first cut which is your main nasties and early heads anyway, the rest goes straight into collection (low wines) for the second 'stripping' run.
We have a bubbler and have not found any benefit in triple distilling...

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 11:00 am
by Ronker
My concern would be the 2nd distillation would only be about 3ltrs at 40%, would this be ok in 25ltr electric boiler, or do I need multiple first distills to get more volume to double distill?

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 11:18 am
by Doubleuj
No, don't do cuts on your first run, expect taking off some fores.
Strip the whole lot into one vessel.
For a 25L spirit run I would strip 4 washes. Each 25L wash should produce about 2.5L of low wines at 90% or so.
4x 2.5L low wines watered down to 40% is roughly 25L.
If you take cuts on your first run you'll lose some hearts that are mixed in the heads/ tails.
If you only run 3L you would probably run the boiler dry and that's not good

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 11:26 am
by Ronker
Doubleuj wrote:No, don't do cuts on your first run, expect taking off some fores.
Strip the whole lot into one vessel.
For a 25L spirit run I would strip 4 washes. Each 25L wash should produce about 2.5L of low wines at 90% or so.
4x 2.5L low wines watered down to 40% is roughly 25L.
If you take cuts on your first run you'll lose some hearts that are mixed in the heads/ tails.
If you only run 3L you would probably run the boiler dry and that's not good


ok thanks, good info, so I shall do 4 x runs b4 spirit in future.
looks like I need a bigger fermentation bin, or more 25ltr ones!

Cheers

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 1:30 pm
by Ronker
Doubleuj wrote:No, don't do cuts on your first run, expect taking off some fores.
Strip the whole lot into one vessel.
For a 25L spirit run I would strip 4 washes. Each 25L wash should produce about 2.5L of low wines at 90% or so.
4x 2.5L low wines watered down to 40% is roughly 25L.
If you take cuts on your first run you'll lose some hearts that are mixed in the heads/ tails.
If you only run 3L you would probably run the boiler dry and that's not good


Would that give a final double distilled 2.5ltr @ 90% (roughly) or does the double distilling give a better yield?

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:16 pm
by Plumby
I have found that the alcoholic % is the same but tastes much better.

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:24 pm
by Doubleuj
Heaps more yield as your starting with 25L at 40% abv vs 25L at 9-10%.

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 3:29 pm
by Plumby
:text-+1: forgot to mention that part

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 5:17 pm
by 62woollybugger
I'm just doing my first lot of double distilling TPW in my T500 & there's one question I can't find an answer for.
As per my normal practice, I've held the first runs at close to full reflux for around an hour, then slowly drawn off 150ml of foreshots, then collected the rest at around 55C. When I do the second run do I need to collect & discard any foreshots, or will all the nasties be taken out in the first runs?

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 5:34 pm
by Lesgold
Hi 62

I’m new to the game as well and learning at a rapid rate. I will strip a TPW tomorrow and pull off Foreshots. Once you get them, they are gone. No need to do it twice. Don’t forget that on your spirit run you will be cutting heads and tails and only keeping the hearts or the good stuff In the middle of the run. If you didn’t catch all the nasties in your Foreshots of the stripping run, the cuts in the spirit run will solve that problem.

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:16 pm
by RC Al
Best practice is to always discard the first bit of any run, even including a hearts run and restarting an interrupted run, 150mls is into the extreme end on a t500 sized boiler, 50mls would be safe :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:07 pm
by Guyross
Jumping in an old thread. I have a sixty litre boiler, at @40% = 24 litres pure. Now, that is a lot of grog. Say perhaps even 15 litres after its - probably get more with the bubbler. That is over 40 standard bottles of gin, etc. Lots and lots of grog. Plus it takes up a lot of room/bottles.

I am also concerned about keeping the elements covered - if I run say only around 40 litres at 40% the top element will be uncovered. Not a problem if I remember to turn it off. But stranger things have happened, and as I get a bit older seems my concentration isn’t what it used to was. Umm, what was I saying? Oh, right.

So my plan is to run 2 60 litre batches of TPW, and strip run those to say 10 litres, or 25 litres at 40%. And add to that the neutral I have gathered -already double distilled - from previous runs to add back into the spirit run. Basically I will do generations of neutral distilling. So half of the spirit run will effectively be double distilled, and half or so will be triple or even more distilled. Over time I will get neutral that is increasingly heavily distilled. There will be some loss of course.

That is my plan, anyway. You experts flaws in this plan?

Re: double distilling a TPW

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:17 pm
by The Stig
Sounds perfectly clear to me Guy.