Am I doing the right thing

[grasmere]

My wife has turned back to Wine because of the shit neutral spirit that I have been making for Gin and Vodka since turning from Still Spirits to TWP and Weetbix and I must agree.
I have no evidence of Emperors New Clothes on this forum, but I must be a bit simple because I have done a lot of research into Spirit Making and still can not make a decent neautral spirit.
The problem can only be with cuts that I can't get my hearts and how much heads an tails to include in it
I have two Ferments of TWA and Weetbix going on at present and intend to only include hearts to see if I can make a decent neutral spirit

[tipsy]

The problem can only be with cuts that I can't get my hearts and how much heads an tails to include in it

None

I have two Ferments of TWA and Weetbix going on at present and intend to only include hearts to see if I can make a decent neutral spirit

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

Distill some wine and give your wife the heads to try, she probably won’t drink wine ever again.

[VirtualT]

The problem can only be with cuts that I can't get my hearts and how much heads an tails to include in it

None

I have two Ferments of TWA and Weetbix going on at present and intend to only include hearts to see if I can make a decent neutral spirit

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

Whats TWA?

[db1979]

Whats TWA?

I think he means TPW.

[db1979]

I have two Ferments of TWA and Weetbix going on at present and intend to only include hearts to see if I can make a decent neutral spirit

Strip and slow spirit run with harsh cuts and you should be happy with what you make. Jars that just miss out on being in hearts can be rerun with later washes so you're really not wasting anything.

[db1979]

Also try carbon filtering of your hearts. If you don't have a filter just let it soak on the carbon for a while (day or two).

[woodduck]

Yep only drink hearts mate. One jar of heads or tails in neutral will ruin the lot. Be harsh on your cuts if you want nice booze. Like db said above, anything you cut out this run can be put back through with the next run :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Bents]

Guys I use a Z Filter but have found it cuts my ABV dramatically. Recently did a batch and diluted to 42% then through the Z filter a couple times, it came out at 20% any help appreciated???

[Chocko6969]

Guys I use a Z Filter but have found it cuts my ABV dramatically. Recently did a batch and diluted to 42% then through the Z filter a couple times, it came out at 20% any help appreciated???

Back in the bad old days when I used turbos, I'd dilute to about 45% and it would always only drop to about 40-41%. I assume you're rinsing the carbon well but even if you left the Z full of water it would still not drop it by half? What volume are you putting through your filter run?

All I can say is please persist and you'll probably be able to figure out yourself what's going on, as I can tell you myself swapping to TPW and now FFV, I no longer use a filter and gave away my stocks of turbos to a mate.

Chocko

[PeterC]

I don't know what your reflux still column is like but many of the type that sit on top of a brew boiler are quite short and can be quirky to run. I had something like this when I started and the results varied. I think it was too short to give good separation and had to be run real slow. I was always tempted to run it too fast and smear the heads and not get good hearts. Not saying this is your problem but just sharing my experience. I always double distilled by stripping and then doing a slow spirit run. My yield for clean hearts was about 50% of the alcohol present. Fores I ditched, heads and tails I put in the next run to improve yield and efficiency.
Cheers.

[RC Al]

:text-+1: on everything peterc says
How fast were you taking off at?
A column extension would help dramatically I believe

[db1979]

:text-+1: :text-+1: :text-+1:
Slow for neutral. Especially for short columns.

[warramungas]

Guys I use a Z Filter but have found it cuts my ABV dramatically. Recently did a batch and diluted to 42% then through the Z filter a couple times, it came out at 20% any help appreciated???

The z filter if its anything like my old piece of rubbish, is plastic mate. I'd stay away from it.
All the other advice is right on the money though.
Your column is only really short and i would be reluctant to run more than 2000 watts through it. Probably need less or you'll make snot for the entire run. Figure out the max power your condensor can knock down without flooding the column and back the power off a touch and run there if you have power control.
You can of course continue to make snot and clean it up with carbon (I still do sometimes for expediency) but to do it properly you'll need a good carbon filter which is NOT the z filter in any universe. You can do it in bottles (not plastic) but you'll need around 30-40 grams per liter of 45ish% spirit (absolutely no head cuts should be included in the spirit!) and it will take days to weeks with good occasional agitation. The more you agitate the quicker it is.
The filter does tend to drop abv depending on how much alcohol you put in it after youve rinsed the carbon out with water as it dilutes it when its displaced by the acohol and again when the equal amount of alcohol is left in the carbon at the end. Try filtering slowly until you can taste alcohol coming through then start to collect the product from there if you can to avoid this.
I insert my carbon dry into my stainless filter then put my spirit in without rinsing the carbon first. DONT do this in the z filter as it gets really hot! I then rerun the first liter or two that comes out through the newly rinsed out (with spirit) carbon.
Ive been in your shoes when i first started out and drank heaps of headaches and had alcohol tasting like nail polish or cardboard. Dont get discouraged as you just need to learn to work within the limits of your equipment.
Your equipment can produce good neutral but you just have to be a little bit clever about how you go about it.
And i recommend you have a good read up on the site before you buy any more equipment so you have an idea of what you need.
Good luck mate.

[Yonder]

Of course there is only one correct, true solution to your problem. Good ole American bourbon style whisky. Puts a smile on yer face an hair on yer teeth! Not that I might be a wee bit prejudiced.... :D

[Maxxx]

Hey grasmere
How long is your column.
What is it’s diameter
What is it packed with
How much heat (kw) are you throwing at it during a spirit run
Lots of things can effect neutral spirit ( cuts especially)
My neutral never really improved noticeably until I got real severe with cuts, got a long column, ditched the TPW and bakers for POSW and a couple handfuls grain, EC1118 and patience to wait for a complete ferment.

[The Stig]

What’s POSW.
Ever heard of that.
EC1118 is a champagne yeast normally used for wine or fruit and is SLOOOOOW to ferment

[scythe]

Plain
Old
Sugar
Wash

Maybe even Wino's plain old sugar wash (WPOSW)?

[The Stig]

That makes sense :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluc]

My 2c practice cuts. Start by removing anything with "flavour" other than ethanol. Also even though its neutral ageing and airing definately helps. If turbo was good and tpw wasnt. I dont know what else it could be. I have never tasted anything as neutral as tpw... :-B