Greetings from Northern Victoria.

[Ned]

Hoping to learn a wealth of information from the forum.
I have just done my 1st Malt Whiskey and it has not worked out as expected
Running an Alembic Still on a Grainfather.
I used one of their grain kits, but could not get final gravity. (O.G. 1.069 should have got 1.012 only got 1.025)
Vigorous ferment and lost a lot of wort under the lid of the fermenter.
I though I would do a stripping run and my issues continued. (I thought it would be a good oportunity to up my skills)
Only had 19 litres in the boiler. (no where near enough.
I got 4 litres of spirit out of the stripping run, temp at 98 deg and I went to about 18%.
I have now measured the spirit for the spirit run and its just below 40%, so I have only 4 litres of spirit to do my cuts. (no dilution I think that is correct)
I still have about 15 litres of wash in the boiler.
Is it worth while doing 4 litres as I would imagine I will only get 1 litre of spirit.
Any reason I only got 40 %. It started out at 80% should this have been higher ?
I did take out the first 50ml (55 deg to 75 deg I think.
Can I use the 15 litres on the next stripping run ????
Any help would be appreciated.
My guess would be one the volume and the final gravity as I would have had under 6%
:angry-banghead:

[crow]

g'day yep pot still , those abv readings would be about right for a single run. You do realize you got low wines / singlings there and its not going to be drinkable. You will need to collect enough strips to do a spirit run with cuts. I think bin ya instructions and don't pay any attention to your thermometer as those readings are all but useless in a pot for determining fractions. Take a look at the beginners reading lounge and there you will find almost all you need to get ya started. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Plumby]

Welcome mate, :text-+1: on everything Crow said..

[hillzabilly]

G-day mate ,just wondering what power ya throwing at the still ,from my experience and others I would not be too critical on ya first few batch's as with more runs and experience your results will improve,going all grain is not an easy thing for beginners and is the more chalenging end of the hobby ,be patient grasshopper and I am sure you will get it down pat.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

[bluc]

Welcome ned and yep your output and abv sound about right. Most do 5 or 6 strip runs then a big spirit run.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Professor Green]

Welcome to AD Ned.

You've come to the right place for advice.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

[woodduck]

Welcome mate. Sounds like you've thrown yourself in the deep end to start with but sounds like your swimming along just fine. There's alot to get your head around to start with but you'll get the hang of it :handgestures-thumbupleft: