Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Would watering down a 20l tpw to 40l do anything worth while?, make a cleaner spirit?.

A less alcoholic wash that takes more time to run to extract the exact same amount of booze? Can't see why you'd bother?

Yeah I know that mate,was just asking if it would be any benefit with refining with regards to more water bouncing around in a bubbler.

googe wrote:Yeah I know that mate,was just asking if it would be any benefit with refining with regards to more water bouncing around in a bubbler.

Actually the opposite, but we would need an expert. I had problems on the initial run with mine and I suspect the wash being light on for alcohol might have made the plate loading less effective. More water would be worse I would have thought, but I'm sure one of our experts will way in with a thought or two soon.

The only time Ive heard of watering down wasn't with wash its self, but on a second or third runs, Some of the neutral gurus on some forums claim it makes for a cleaner neutral. The theory from what Ive read is that the extra water retains more of the off tastes from the tails and other parts of the run in the boiler. I cant say it works as Ive never tried it, I do know these bloke a pretty fussy about their neutrals and vodkas.

Thanks byb. Thanks sbb, thats pretty much what I'm talking about, I guess the only way to know is to try it.

googe wrote:Thanks byb. Thanks sbb, thats pretty much what I'm talking about, I guess the only way to know is to try it.

...and report your findings.

;)

For what its worth from memory they are watering their still charges down to about 28-30%.,,,I think....dont quote me on that.

How important is it to let a TPW clear? I am thinking of stripping one tomorrow but it is still letting off a bubble about every 30 seconds or so.

Also I know it is not advised to reuse your lees but what about boiling them and using them as nutrients for the next wash.

Dominator wrote:How important is it to let a TPW clear? I am thinking of stripping one tomorrow but it is still letting off a bubble about every 30 seconds or so.

Also I know it is not advised to reuse your lees but what about boiling them and using them as nutrients for the next wash.

You will probably get some average flavours from the yeast through, depends on how nuetrel you want your nuetrel :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Dominator wrote:How important is it to let a TPW clear? I am thinking of stripping one tomorrow but it is still letting off a bubble about every 30 seconds or so.

Also I know it is not advised to reuse your lees but what about boiling them and using them as nutrients for the next wash.

Couple of issues here... I have run an unfinished TPW and the biggest problem was that I got a poor alcohol return... but was about to leave for a long holiday so I guess it was better than nothing. I did not seem to get much if any off flavours ...but there again I always strip the spirit run at at least 6 plates plus packed column for neutral so that is not too unusual. As for re-using lees on TPW I would not recommend it... By the time you have gone through a full fermentation, they will not have much goodness left and will acidify your next wash... Others may know more about this ...but I think it counter-intuitive to look to yeast waste to feed yeast... Take care.
Doc

Thanks fellas. Might just leave it for another week or so to make sure it is done. Will also stick to the proven recipe.

Been giving this a bit of thought because I wanna give atleast one all grain a go. But why don't commercial distillers make sugar washes like UJSSM I mean there all for making money with heads riddle drinks so why don't they do sugar heads?

They can probably get the grain cheaper than the sugar. Both come from a crop, but the sugar is then milled and refined so more costly.

Grain may be easier with freight & handling? No ants, no sticky slurry if it gets wet... ?

:law-policered: off topic :violence-stickwhack: Can't say its original recipe if they use a sugar wash

So I've embarked on the MacWhiskey train too. I'm running a 2 inch pot and here's my plan/what I could get from LHBS.
I've got 2 30l fermenters running as per original recipe but made following changes due to availability:-
Per fermenter
1x 1.7kg tin Coopers Real ale
1x 1.7kg tin caramalt liquid extract
4kg sugar. 20g yeast. Epsoms and citric.
My plan is to do 2 strip runs and use one fermenter for spirit run.
As tins were larger than original recipe I'm thinking that there will be enough flavour for multiple gens without adding more grain for my plan. Using about 10L of back sets to retain flavour also.
Any recommendations greatly appreciated

My recommendation is to stick with the original recipe, or start a new thread in the development section :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Please move my post then admin. Not all of us blessed with bubblers so gotta adapt

Cant see how bubblers has anything to do with it mate, it doesn't change the recipe depending the still type.

What bothers me is these tried n proven recipes get so far off topic it's hardly readable let alone understandable, then I get questions saying I followed your recipe to a tee but it didnt come out right..... then 10 PM's later it's revealed the recipe wasn't followed at all but the person based it on some other bastardised version posted in here, WHICH MAKES HELPING NEWBIES OUT NEAR FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE.