turbo 500 reflux still distillate tastes / ideas
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:59 pmhey guys first post on this forum, did a first run on a turbo 500 reflux still, used 25 litres of store baught wash, only has 1 thermometer at the bottom ( why they removed the top thermometer i dont know) and i ran it at about 59 degrees ( water outlet temp)
took me about 4 hours once it was at boiling temp, got around 4.15 litres of 91.5% alcohol. throwing out 80 ml of foreshots, it had a definite YEASTY taste and smell to it, even after trying to filter it out, people on forums said i ran it to quick / let tails in to much, / wash i used was shit etc etc.
so i re ran that 4 litres again a week later ( watered down to 40%), this time getting water outlet temp to like 40 degrees to let it sit at 100% reflux for 10 mins then slowly lowered the water rate to increase the temp, til i started getting 1 drip a second, around 45 degrees, collecting cuts at 150 ~ ml a jar, got to around 500 ml for heads, then speed up a slight bit, was going really slow though trying not to make any mistakes, collected 700 ml jars for 2.5 litres then started doing fine cuts again, ended up putting around 500 ml of tails into my feints jar with the 500 ml of heads, final 150 ml tails jar had that definate " wet cardboard" smell to it, rest smelled pretty similar but was keeping in mind DONT BE GREEDY, so threw in another 400~ ml also of end tails into jar END temp was around 60 degrees on the water out temp before i stopped.
anyway took about 11 hours to do it all this is ridiculous time I know but i was going extremely slow trying to keep lowest temps possible ( i figured this would give best result) without ever really letting the distillate stop flowing at less than a drip a second until the end were the tails were, that slowed a bit to maybe 1 drip every 3 -4 seconds.
anyway let it all sit for a day with paper over the top to let it breathe, tasted the next day, to me its fine, its quite " neutral vodka ish with a slight sting / kick" to me with a taste of ... " candy sweetness? my brother said its a sweetness like a yeast sweet." even though it doesnt smell or taste of any yeast at all its just that type of sweetness.
Came out at 92.5% , slightly sweet smell / taste, AFTER carbon filtering twice it took away alot of that slight sweetness that was there, made it more neutral and smoother, still has a slight harshness on tounge / kick to it.. but not too bad compared to other 40% vodkas etc imo.
took a bottle of unfiltered round to friend who has a t500 still and been using for 3 years, they said to them it smelt like meths a bit.. i tasted theirs and it was distinctly different taste / smell. was more pleasant / smooth and had a different type of sweetness to it.. im not sure exactly what i should be aiming for, ive done a bit of research and they dont make ANY cuts on their runs, so just wondering what i should be trying to get in my neutral spirit here.. long read sorry bout that but thanks for responses in advance!
took me about 4 hours once it was at boiling temp, got around 4.15 litres of 91.5% alcohol. throwing out 80 ml of foreshots, it had a definite YEASTY taste and smell to it, even after trying to filter it out, people on forums said i ran it to quick / let tails in to much, / wash i used was shit etc etc.
so i re ran that 4 litres again a week later ( watered down to 40%), this time getting water outlet temp to like 40 degrees to let it sit at 100% reflux for 10 mins then slowly lowered the water rate to increase the temp, til i started getting 1 drip a second, around 45 degrees, collecting cuts at 150 ~ ml a jar, got to around 500 ml for heads, then speed up a slight bit, was going really slow though trying not to make any mistakes, collected 700 ml jars for 2.5 litres then started doing fine cuts again, ended up putting around 500 ml of tails into my feints jar with the 500 ml of heads, final 150 ml tails jar had that definate " wet cardboard" smell to it, rest smelled pretty similar but was keeping in mind DONT BE GREEDY, so threw in another 400~ ml also of end tails into jar END temp was around 60 degrees on the water out temp before i stopped.
anyway took about 11 hours to do it all this is ridiculous time I know but i was going extremely slow trying to keep lowest temps possible ( i figured this would give best result) without ever really letting the distillate stop flowing at less than a drip a second until the end were the tails were, that slowed a bit to maybe 1 drip every 3 -4 seconds.
anyway let it all sit for a day with paper over the top to let it breathe, tasted the next day, to me its fine, its quite " neutral vodka ish with a slight sting / kick" to me with a taste of ... " candy sweetness? my brother said its a sweetness like a yeast sweet." even though it doesnt smell or taste of any yeast at all its just that type of sweetness.
Came out at 92.5% , slightly sweet smell / taste, AFTER carbon filtering twice it took away alot of that slight sweetness that was there, made it more neutral and smoother, still has a slight harshness on tounge / kick to it.. but not too bad compared to other 40% vodkas etc imo.
took a bottle of unfiltered round to friend who has a t500 still and been using for 3 years, they said to them it smelt like meths a bit.. i tasted theirs and it was distinctly different taste / smell. was more pleasant / smooth and had a different type of sweetness to it.. im not sure exactly what i should be aiming for, ive done a bit of research and they dont make ANY cuts on their runs, so just wondering what i should be trying to get in my neutral spirit here.. long read sorry bout that but thanks for responses in advance!