Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi,

I want to ferment some potato vodka but I'm unsure how to run the distillation with my T500. I have both copper reflux still top and the copper alembic dome. It seems that I have to either remove the copper & SS saddles in the column (to avoid stripping out too much flavour) or run with the alembic dome. My HBS seems to think it's ok to remove the saddles, but I'm concerned about the plastic top at the top of the copper column. If I use the alembic dome, the alcohol level will be lower and I'll be taking cuts? I don't think this is correct for Vodka.

What do people think please? Am I right in thinking that a basic distillation with the column and the saddles in (producing 92% abv) will strip out the mouth-feel I'm looking for with the potato and probably most of the flavour?

Cheers,

JT

Hi Jaytee, I'm not confident the T500 should be used without packing. Too much potential for plastic to melt.

So, if your looking to maintain some of the flavour, maybe remove a portion of the packing. This should result in a lower abv and a product that isn't completely neutral.

A word of warning though. If you haven't had a close look at the potato vodka mashing process, perhaps you should. It looks to be a lot of work/mess to get to the end product!

Either way, good luck :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Don’t remove the packing at all J, the plastic top will over heat, deform and leak. The fact that the hbs said that is another proof that none of them know about stilling, even with the product they sell :angry-banghead: and I bet when it does deform they won’t honour the warranty.
From what I’ve read about potato vodkas is like elvis said, pain in the arse and gives a pretty shitty neutral, if you’re after something with a good mouth feel, try the wbab through your t500 with all the packing.

Where are you going to get the potatoes from i think a potato is 80% water and need a large quantity so not cheap if have to buy and have read some where that they have a lot of sulfur if brewing and probably need the copper.

Just for interests sake: http://www.instructables.com/id/Potato-Vodka/

Many thanks guys. Confirms my concerns about the plastic too. In time I will upgrade the Still but it's proving to be a good learning introduction into this great art! :-D