Density of wash after being Run

[shadow74]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

[howard]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

never heard that question before :?
going back to your "low yield", are you stripping your wash first then doing a reflux run?

[The Stig]

What are you calling low yield ?
If your comparing a TPW to a turbo with 8kg sugar then naturally your going to get a much lower yield

[shadow74]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

never heard that question before :?
going back to your "low yield", are you stripping your wash first then doing a reflux run?

I am lucky to get a total combined 2ltrs of 92%out of the PD reflux , i Have tried TPW , 2 TFFV, And a PD yeast run, Tried variable water flows , cooling the water with a bag of ice even though its not really warm to start with, power controller, also repacked and cleaned the column.
I have a turbo wash and a TPW ready to go , every was i put down fermented out to .990 from a starting sg of 1.065 ish ,i was just trying to see if i can identify a problem before i run them.

[shadow74]

What are you calling low yield ?
If your comparing a TPW to a turbo with 8kg sugar then naturally your going to get a much lower yield

I am lucky to get a total combined 2ltrs of 92%out of the PD reflux , i Have tried TPW , 2 TFFV, And a PD yeast run, Tried variable water flows , cooling the water with a bag of ice even though its not really warm to start with, power controller, also repacked and cleaned the column.
I have a turbo wash and a TPW ready to go , every was i put down fermented out to .990 from a starting sg of 1.065 ish ,i was just trying to see if i can identify a problem before i run them.

[howard]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

never heard that question before :?
going back to your "low yield", are you stripping your wash first then doing a reflux run?

I am lucky to get a total combined 2ltrs of 92%out of the PD reflux , i Have tried TPW , 2 TFFV, And a PD yeast run, Tried variable water flows , cooling the water with a bag of ice even though its not really warm to start with, power controller, also repacked and cleaned the column.
I have a turbo wash and a TPW ready to go , every was i put down fermented out to .990 from a starting sg of 1.065 ish ,i was just trying to see if i can identify a problem before i run them.

are you following the PD instruction manual?
just to be sure again, are you doing a stripping run, then a spirit run?

[shadow74]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

never heard that question before :?
going back to your "low yield", are you stripping your wash first then doing a reflux run?

I am lucky to get a total combined 2ltrs of 92%out of the PD reflux , i Have tried TPW , 2 TFFV, And a PD yeast run, Tried variable water flows , cooling the water with a bag of ice even though its not really warm to start with, power controller, also repacked and cleaned the column.
I have a turbo wash and a TPW ready to go , every was i put down fermented out to .990 from a starting sg of 1.065 ish ,i was just trying to see if i can identify a problem before i run them.

are you following the PD instruction manual?
just to be sure again, are you doing a stripping run, then a spirit run?

Sorry for the confusion i am doing a spirit run , everything goes as the video , sits at 78degrees happily it just seems to jump through.the 81 degree mark to early in the run , when.the tower top takes off and you shut the valve to minimise the product , i then charge the jars and collect that separately and keep collecting to the tower top.goes into the 90 degree mark , i only did it this way so i could learn what the dog smells and tastes like , i do follow the instructions written and on the video except for that final bit that would have normally gone down the drain

[howard]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

never heard that question before :?
going back to your "low yield", are you stripping your wash first then doing a reflux run?

I am lucky to get a total combined 2ltrs of 92%out of the PD reflux , i Have tried TPW , 2 TFFV, And a PD yeast run, Tried variable water flows , cooling the water with a bag of ice even though its not really warm to start with, power controller, also repacked and cleaned the column.
I have a turbo wash and a TPW ready to go , every was i put down fermented out to .990 from a starting sg of 1.065 ish ,i was just trying to see if i can identify a problem before i run them.

are you following the PD instruction manual?
just to be sure again, are you doing a stripping run, then a spirit run?

Sorry for the confusion i am doing a spirit run , everything goes as the video , sits at 78degrees happily it just seems to jump through.the 81 degree mark to early in the run , when.the tower top takes off and you shut the valve to minimise the product , i then charge the jars and collect that separately and keep collecting to the tower top.goes into the 90 degree mark , i only did it this way so i could learn what the dog smells and tastes like , i do follow the instructions written and on the video except for that final bit that would have normally gone down the drain

i'm pretty sure the PD instructions and video have been dismissed as mis-leading before, and are primarily for the turdbo user, who has to carbon filter all the crap out.
the basic method, most folk use, is to ferment about 4 x 25L washes, then strip each wash to collect 4 x 6l of Low Wines at 40%abv
then combine the Low Wines (4 x 6L = 24L) and do a spirit run.

[BigRig]

I also wouldn't hang my hat on the 78deg figure. With this type of still you will get a quick spike in temp before it equalizes. When the temp equalises, let it sit for 30mins in full reflux to stack the column. Then slowly open the valve and collect in cuts jars. Once you have had a change in temp of 1deg you a re in tails so shut it down and start again.

Also, these types of stills need to be run slow. Like drip drip drip. If it is coming off in a stream its too fast. the alc will come off higher abv so will look like a small return but it is high. Dilute it down to drinking strength and you will have more.

[shadow74]

I Know this is probably a silly question , TPW wash starting sg is 1.70 and finished at .990 what would you expect the wash sg to be after it has been run, if all alcohol had been removed.
The reason i am asking is i have a pure distillation reflux column that i picked up second hand and trying to diagnose my low yield

never heard that question before :?
going back to your "low yield", are you stripping your wash first then doing a reflux run?

I am lucky to get a total combined 2ltrs of 92%out of the PD reflux , i Have tried TPW , 2 TFFV, And a PD yeast run, Tried variable water flows , cooling the water with a bag of ice even though its not really warm to start with, power controller, also repacked and cleaned the column.
I have a turbo wash and a TPW ready to go , every was i put down fermented out to .990 from a starting sg of 1.065 ish ,i was just trying to see if i can identify a problem before i run them.

are you following the PD instruction manual?
just to be sure again, are you doing a stripping run, then a spirit run?

Sorry for the confusion i am doing a spirit run , everything goes as the video , sits at 78degrees happily it just seems to jump through.the 81 degree mark to early in the run , when.the tower top takes off and you shut the valve to minimise the product , i then charge the jars and collect that separately and keep collecting to the tower top.goes into the 90 degree mark , i only did it this way so i could learn what the dog smells and tastes like , i do follow the instructions written and on the video except for that final bit that would have normally gone down the drain

i'm pretty sure the PD instructions and video have been dismissed as mis-leading before, and are primarily for the turdbo user, who has to carbon filter all the crap out.
the basic method, most folk use, is to ferment about 4 x 25L washes, then strip each wash to collect 4 x 6l of Low Wines at 40%abv
then combine the Low Wines (4 x 6L = 24L) and do a spirit run.

Ok that makes sence , but it brings me back to the low yield , i would be struggling to get 4 L of low wines , thats why i was curious about the sg of the wash after all the spirit has been removed, so i could try and isolate if it was the wash or the still or the tool operating it :-D

[howard]

i've been wrong before about running these types of stills :smile:
but maybe if you stopped taking notice of temps on a stripping run (surely they don't matter, even on a PD?)
you are just raising a 10%abv wash to 40%abv low wines after all.
personally on a stripping run with 25L of 10%abv..........
i discard 100-200ml (personal choice)
collection starts at around 65% at the spout.
i collect down to 15% at the spout.
this means that my low wines are about 40%abv average (without the need to dilute anything)
for a FFV sugar wash, this means i collect about 5.5L- 6L on a strip.
are you stopping earlier, then diluting?

[Wellsy]

Shadow I am not sure your yield is low. I am just looking at the maths mate no idea on how to run the still as I have never used one like yours. 2 ltr @ 92 is getting very close to 5 ltrs @ 40%. Going a little deeper into tails on the stripping run and you are very close to the “people usually get around 6 litres per stripping run”.

Sorry if my maths is out but I think you stressing over something that may not be a problem

[RuddyCrazy]

Shadow as your still learning here are a few tips to help you understand.

When you start your ferment take a SG reading and mark it down, now when the ferment reads the same 3 days running it's finished if close to 1.000 or lower and that is your FG so mark it down. Simply use the calculator on this forum and you will get the % of the wash and then simply workout how much alc can be gotten from the volume you use.
I will give you an example I did this this morning, I had roughly 10 litres of wash left over from last nights run and I did figure there was atleast a litre of 90+% there to be had. After a small foreshot cut I took 1.150 litres to 40% where the very last 50ml cuts were below that 90% and all the site glass's were totally fogged up.

Came down to the house and plugged my SG and FG into that calc 1.087 to .998 comes out to 11.480% so in real life and that calc the yield is pretty well spoton. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

[shadow74]

Thanks everyone for the great advice and help, i know the offtake was definitely running faster than drip, drip drip , probably more like pissing with a prostrate problem and getting it on your boots :-D , so there video maybe s little misleading , i will be paying a lot more attention to the sg,s .
Today i filled the cooling water condenser with water and then chased it through with compressed air a couple of times , and the amount of black snot that came out surprised me , maybe thats normal with a still this age , but figured it couldn't hurt,
Once again i really appreciate the advice and i think i may have over indulged last night with my products.
Cheers

[B-Man]

whats your efficiency? I aim for about 90% collected then I take less that that as hearts.

First you need to work out the SG of the wash before and after fermentation to know the alcohol %
from that you can work out hte pure alcohol in the wash.
then when you still it you can work out the pure alcohol collected (you will never) or more so don't want to collect 100% of the alcohol.
If you are collecting around 90% of the pure alcohol back out you are not getting a low yield.