Early onset of tails

[mattyb]

Hi All. Am a bit puzzled. I am running 4 perf plates on a glasser. Have just started on a 150L rum wash and last night after only 1.25 litres I see the bottom glass fogging and then the taste of tails. I thought maybe bad molasses and not a high ABV so I figured switch to pot still mode to draw the last out however I got another 4.5 litres at 50% which would indicate still a bit of the run to go.

Same thing is happening now. 1 liter into the run and the bottom glass is fogging and shitty taste coming through. Has dropped about 2% from 94%. I will keep going for a while but tasting pretty bad. Running it as per Macs how to run a bubbler and have got about 6 runs under my belt with TPW and a smaller rum wash which worked out well. Any thoughts?

[bluc]

Has me stumped did you check for leaks on bubbler :think:

[mattyb]

No I Didnt. Wasnt any visual leaks of liquid and all the plates seemed to be running as they should. Just turned it off after only 1.2 litres as it was definitely tails. Maybe it is just a crappy molasses and didnt get the ABV. Doesnt taste any good either. The smaller batch I did had a distinct molassesy taste. This tastes pretty ordinary. Might just run the whole lot through in pot mode then put all of it in the boiler with the last wash and maybe some more molasses for flavour

It was a 40 liter boiler charge aswell

[Doubleuj]

We’re you running a bit fast? Or not enough refulx?

[mattyb]

no about normal, 2 litres an hour. Is there anything that can make a wash have more tails?

Maybe I will try another one next weekend and slow it right down. See if that makes a difference

[rash]

What size bubbler? 3" or 4"?
When i first ran my 3", tails came through real early, and lots of em!
Learnt through the forum that i was running too fast for a 3". Dumped the whole lot back into the mollases wash that was still sitting in the boiler the next day and slowed it down to around 1.5L/hr. Made all the difference. I now run it at around 1.2L/hr - 200ml per cut jar every 10mins.
Ash

[rash]

Ah, just noticed you have a 4" glasser... :doh:

[mattyb]

You might be right though. Will try slower

[db1979]

:text-+1: 2 L per hour may not be ideal for for that wash on that still. Don't drive them by output rate.

[woodduck]

How much power you throwing at it? Maybe back that off a bit. I have the same problem at times. Not sure what it is. I haven't found the off flavor though?

[mattyb]

Just one element at 2400 watt. Pretty much running as per macs how to run a bubbler thread. Will try a slower rate and see how that goes

[woodduck]

Rereading your original post, sounds like low yield from ferment. 4.5ltrs at 50% equates to about 2.5 ltrs of 92% so a total of 3ltrs total not including stripping tails so probably not far off the mark? Remember that you don't necessarily have tails coming out when the bottom glass fogs up. You may not get them till 2nd or 3rd. That doesn't explain your tails taste though I guess although that could just be the funky rum tastes of late hearts? Did you do a gravity reading at start of ferment? You may have bad molasses? Stock feed molasses can be problematic I've found.

[Lowie]

I had the same problem. Everything running well, replicating everything, then one day, it all went to shit. I ended up taking the remains of my 20L drum of molasses back to the supplier who then changed suppliers. haven't had an issue since...