Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Gents,

do you still collect into jars when you're running your plated still or removing fores and collecting everything until you start to hit hit tales

Do cuts like you would with any other still mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The requirement for cuts does not change depending on still design, you just get more defined cuts with a plated still compared to a pot still.

I take off the fores until I can detect no acetone and then run into a 25 litre demijohn and quit the run when it drops to 85% ABV. Anywhere below that is nasty tails which would ruin the run.
You have to get to know how your still behaves before you do it like this.
I get beautifully clean vodka from TPWs and the rum and brandy are excellent.

Guess I've been doing it wrong for a while now. Only just dawned on me after a bit more Reading. Still learning. (See what I did there)

Damn I wish there was a course for this stuff. Pesky tax department getting in the way of a fine hobby. You can brew beer and it's fine but somehow heat it up and run through a bit of copper and the revenue man wants your balls

YarraRanges wrote:I take off the fores until I can detect no acetone and then run into a 25 litre demijohn and quit the run when it drops to 85% ABV. Anywhere below that is nasty tails which would ruin the run.
You have to get to know how your still behaves before you do it like this.
I get beautifully clean vodka from TPWs and the rum and brandy are excellent.

No offence intended here Yarra but I wouldn't recommend to run like that. 300ml cuts max is the way to go. Not all runs are the same and abv shouldn't be the only thing you go by. I've been stilln for about 4 years now and I still use cuts jars. If your gonna use a big vessel I would use a few jars prior and after hearts at a minimum.

Just my take on it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I agree with wood duck. just when you think you know what your doing, this hobby teaches you that you know fuck all. Keep doing cuts the way explained on this site and then you can't go wrong. Most runs are the same but every now and then output is totally different to what you would expect. Its all about quality not quantity. there are no short cuts. Ha Ha

woodduck wrote: No offence intended here Yarra but I wouldn't recommend to run like that. 300ml cuts max is the way to go. Not all runs are the same and abv shouldn't be the only thing you go by. I've been stilln for about 4 years now and I still use cuts jars. If your gonna use a big vessel I would use a few jars prior and after hearts at a minimum.
Just my take on it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I've been working my 14 plate bubbler for at least 6 years and know how it behaves. It is quite consistent. If I do a cut its at the end when its really late and I fear I might nod off in the half hour timer alarm I use when I'm watching the still. I have found that if I go to 84% it adds tails and I have to do the run again. That's doing a TPW.
For rum and brandy I use 10 plates and I find 85% is still the value to not go below. I get so much good quality alcohol I gave up making cuts as a waste of time. I never found anything good below 85%. If I was using a pot still then that's a completely different story.

I'm glad that works for you mate but telling someone new to the game or new to a still type in this case not to do cuts isn't something I would agree with. You can run your still however you like mate, whatever works for you :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I would however avoid running your still if your that tired you might nod off, could get unsafe. I'm glad you use a timer at least.

Keep it safe

I was just saying what I do and I qualified it by saying you have to know how your still behaves before doing this.
Experience has to be learnt.