by Woods314 » Sat Dec 15, 2018 11:16 pm
I have been brewing beer for many years with a break of about 6 or 8 years and I have found consistency was the go and I find it’s the same with what I do with distilling. This is not the same for probably most of the people on this forum as a lot, from what I have read, are always trying different things and have 2nd and 3rd generations etc. not to mention the fact that a 50 litre boiler seems to be a starting point giving a relatively large volume of distillate thus giving consistency by volume for want of a better phrase. But us t500 users need to be consistent to get the next 3 or 4 bottles tasting the same as the previous 3 or 4 bottles if that is what the aim is. So I have found that I use the same amount of boiling water to dissolve each wash, the same procedure for each wash and my small shed has an air conditioner to keep a steady temperature from start to finish of the fermentation process and I use whatever means necessary to keep my still running at a steady rate each time. And now I get to the point, I find the same thing that you do, Ravvin, the cuts are the same each time, the amount of distillate is almost identical each wash and if I keep the saddles clean, there are no off tastes in the hearts. On one occasion I went “tight arse” and used the cuts that were a bit iffy and realised my mistake the next day after a few too many the night before when I had flashbacks of the tastes that shouldn’t have been there and I had a similar experience by not cleaning the saddles. So when you get to where you want to be, be consistent and if you want to try a different flavour (read essence) in your neutral you can be sure that is the only change in flavour, not something else. It’s like tuning a carby, only change one thing at a time, otherwise you’re not sure which change made the improvement or made it worse. Finished my dribble, good luck!