Hey gents, how's it going?

[Godzilla2456]

Hey all,

Thought I'd just introduce myself here before posting elsewhere.

I've been distilling for 2-3 years now and love every minute of it. I know that this will be a life long hobby (I'm only 20 years old).

I started with the little air cooled pot still from still spirits and got rid of it after a few months. I've now got the T500 reflux still from still spirits. I'm happy with it for the time being (and foreseeable future) but I will eventually get a big beautiful adjustable column condenser with a nice big copper boiler.

I currently do a TPW and double distill it. The first run I do without any cuts apart from the foreshore... Of course. The second time round I water the spirit down to approximately 30% then make appropriate 300-400ml cuts. Leave it to breathe overnight then give it a whirl a day or two later, once it's settled down. I keep the hearts and usually put a bit of tails in and then put it on bourbon staves for a few weeks.

Okay that was a random little tail of what I do. Anyway, I'm glad to be a part of the forum and look forward to communicating with you gents in the future!

-Godzilla

[Zak Griffin]

Welcome Godzilla! Good to see another young lad here looking for quality, not quantity :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sounds like you've got the right idea, a bit confused by your cuts though... Are you collecting in 300ml jars and then watering each sample down? You're probably better off letting the spirit breathe over night at >90%, or whatever it leaves the still at, and watering down a sample from each jar after airing.

You will probably find that the spirit pulls better flavour out of the oak at about 60% ABV, but I haven't tried oaking neutral so I don't really know.

If it's bourbon you drink, you'll be needing a pot still :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Woodsy71]

Welcome aboard Mate

Sounds like you have a pretty good idea about what your doing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

and with the help off this forum, before you know it, you'll have fine tuned your distilling skills and be kickin' back with some some mighty fine spirit 8-)

Enjoy the ride man :smile:

[Yummyrum]

Welcome godzilla .Sounds like your'e right into it.
Was doing the math in your first post.......bet you couldn't wait til your 18 th bday to get your first still.
You should get a bubbler for your 21 st :teasing-neener:

[Sam.]

Welcome aboard mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[tipsy]

You should get a bubbler for your 21 st :teasing-neener:

:text-imwithstupid: You'll get 20 more years out of it than I will with mine before passing it on to your kids an grandkids 8-}

Welcome

[SBB]

Welcome to the forum Godzilla, looking at your two posts so far I can see that your off to a flying start. You've obviously been doing a lot of reading and learned the right ways of doing things. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Godzilla2456]

Sounds like you've got the right idea, a bit confused by your cuts though... Are you collecting in 300ml jars and then watering each sample down? You're probably better off letting the spirit breathe over night at >90%, or whatever it leaves the still at, and watering down a sample from each jar after airing.

You will probably find that the spirit pulls better flavour out of the oak at about 60% ABV, but I haven't tried oaking neutral so I don't really know.

If it's bourbon you drink, you'll be needing a pot still :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sorry Zak, I should have worded that better. I do let it breathe at whatever it comes out of the still at generally around the 93 mark. I let the nuteural soak on the chips at 40%.

I've also got a pot still with a leibig condenser that I haven't got around to use yet. I've cleaned it up with a vinegar run, just gotta do a few spirit cleaning runs (gonna use the old left over turbo crap) then I'll be good to go!

I've had a UJSM in the fermenter for like 3 months, so it's like crystal clear and I really want to run it, but I'm worried that there may be some sort of bacteria due to the corn or something? It looks and smells fine, so I reckon it'd be all good... But I'm just a little pedantic with things, which isn't always a bad thing I guess.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes gents!

-Godzilla

[SBB]

It should be fine, run it.

[Zak Griffin]

If it smells and tastes fine, run it! Hell, if it's manky, run it anyway!

A real whiskey will blow your mind :)

[Godzilla2456]

Roger that!

I'll run it once I give the new pot still a good clean out (and finished all my darn assignments...bloody calculus).

How many alcohol cleaning runs would you suggest I do before I'm good do to my actual run? I'm thinking maybe 2-3 full runs?

-Godzilla

[1 2many]

Roger that!

I'll run it once I give the new pot still a good clean out (and finished all my darn assignments...bloody calculus).

How many alcohol cleaning runs would you suggest I do before I'm good do to my actual run? I'm thinking maybe 2-3 full runs?

-Godzilla

Hi Godzilla good to have you here, If you have already done a vinegar run one alcohol run will be enough. Then you should be good to go. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Godzilla2456]

Good to be here mate. Yep, sure thing! I'll take your word for it :-D

I should be doing my first run with my pot still either over the weekend or next week some time! Excited 8-}

[Roger]

Welcome Godzilla. Also just joined and have a T500 and after my first couple of turbo runs have done a couple of TPW which smell much better. Still experimenting with oak chips, essences etc and as suggested to me by some of the posters here, looking for better quality. Find that the T500 output doesn't change too much smell and taste when I am doing cuts so end up putting it all back together!! Are you noticing much difference in your cuts?

[Sinerjee]

Welcome Godzilla. Also just joined and have a T500 and after my first couple of turbo runs have done a couple of TPW which smell much better. Still experimenting with oak chips, essences etc and as suggested to me by some of the posters here, looking for better quality. Find that the T500 output doesn't change too much smell and taste when I am doing cuts so end up putting it all back together!! Are you noticing much difference in your cuts?

I found a fairly large difference after making cuts. I ditched about the first 5 bottles and the last 2. The tails weren't very noticeable but I doubted the last two so didn't use them. The heads jars were very noticeable though and were out straight away. Make sure you leave it for a day to air to make it easier to distinguish.

[Zak Griffin]

Roger, your T500 DOES produce heads, forget what the HBS bloke has told you. You will vastly improve your product by making cuts.

Do whatever you want with your own spirit, but please don't suggest to anyone here that they can make a quality drop without making cuts.

[Sinerjee]

Roger, your T500 DOES produce heads, forget what the HBS bloke has told you. You will vastly improve your product by making cuts.

Do whatever you want with your own spirit, but please don't suggest to anyone here that they can make a quality drop without making cuts.

I don't think he was suggesting not to make cuts. Just that he hasn't been able to distinguish the difference after making them.
I certainly struggled to smell much difference the first time around too.

[Roger]

Roger, your T500 DOES produce heads, forget what the HBS bloke has told you. You will vastly improve your product by making cuts.

Do whatever you want with your own spirit, but please don't suggest to anyone here that they can make a quality drop without making cuts.

I don't think he was suggesting not to make cuts. Just that he hasn't been able to distinguish the difference after making them.
I certainly struggled to smell much difference the first time around too.

Hi Zak, I wasn't suggesting not to make cuts, but did struggle to notice much difference after discarding first 100 ml. That was with the TPW. My turbo I did previously did have strong acetone smells. I mentioned it because cuts are a big topic and keen to make a quality drop!! Would be good to be able to have it demonstrated rather than reading about it. Maybe a long weekend across the big ditch

[TheMechwarrior]

Welcome oh great nemesis of Gamera. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Godzilla2456]

Hey Roger,

The heads/early tails may be initially a bit tricky to pick up, but if you leave the spirit breathe for a couple of days they will be far easier to detect!

I do my cuts in 500ml glass jars and usually swap the jars out when they are a little over half way (So about 300ml).

The first jar I'll let fill to the top (after the foreshots, of course) then from the second on in I'll collect at approx 300ml intervals until I get to my 7th or so jar, then I'll just fill as many jars up as I jars up with tails until the drop rate it not worth it. I generally get approximately 3.2L-3.3L of 93% spirit... that is including the heads and tails

Always label your collection vessels so you don't get confused with the order.