Sam. wrote:I personally think you are going a bit hard with the clarifying.
As long as the majority of the yeast and what ever other particles you have added has settled on the bottom and you siphon off the top that is more than enough.
If your making whisky and rum it can be argued it's better to have this go into the boiler.
Yes, if I was making a dark spirit that would definitely be the case, although then I would be using a pot still too.
I am making a neutral (Ted's FFV) and have noticed that the clearer I can get it the shorter the tails seem to be, in addition I am hoping to have less stuff building up on the elements.
I should reiterate that I am not after perfect clarity but I don't want totally opaque either and that's what I have at the moment.
This is a shot of what it looks like after > 2 weeks after fermentation and racking:
download/file.php?id=19650&mode=view(actually this from a previous wash, the latest is even more opaque for some reason.
This is what Ted's looks like after 24 hours
download/file.php?id=19649&mode=view...and I generally go on what's good for Ted is good for me.