Distilling Wine

[pistagain]

Hi Guys
I have 40lts of red wine to distill and need some advice on how to go about it. I distilled 30 odd lts a month ago using 5 plates and ended up with 2lts hearts @ 94% ABV (I find this quite amazing because I'm hard pressed to get that alcohol content when I use 4 plates and an 80cm packed column, charged with 40% stripped wash.) However, it seems to me that a lot of flavour was stripped out. I may add some of the tails to supplement the flavour.
So, this time around should I use less plates or just straight pot still it in an attempt to keep more flavour? It's my intent to leave it on oak for a while and end up with a poor man's cognac/brandy.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Cheers

[bluc]

Can you elaborate on your run strategy. I easily hit azeo with 4 plates 600mm packing...

[Wellsy]

If you leave the packing out you will retain a lot of flavour.

I had some red wine that I ran over 3 plates which kept a lot of flavour and aged nicely on oak for 2.5 years.

[Wellsy]

If you leave the packing out you will retain a lot of flavour.

I had some red wine that I ran over 3 plates which kept a lot of flavour and aged nicely on oak for 2.5 years.

[pistagain]

Bluc
I have tried a couple of run techniques for neutral.
Equipment 4 x4" plates plus 800ml packed section
1. Turn controller down, adjust RC to slow dripping, increase power until desired stream is attained (for me that is about 1.8lts/hour).
2. Leave controller at full power and adjust RC until desired stream is attained.
Neither of these methods get me more than about 92% ABV, which is why I was so surprised to get 94% from 5 plates and no packed section with the wine.

[pistagain]

Wellsy
I didn't use any packing for the wine - just the 5 plates. Can you tell me what the ABV was when you ran through 3 plates? One of my worries about my previous run is that not only do I think I lost some flavour but, as it came out at 94%, I am going to lose even more flavour when I water it down to 40%.

[Wellsy]

Mine came out at around 90%

[The Stig]

For flavored spirits one should always use 4 or less plates and aim for around the 85% mark by running a little faster

[motley]

My Dedo (grandfather) and I would pick grapes and do the crushing and ferment not adding anything to the grapes, but with him now in his 80's it's a bit difficult.

Have now made a good friend at a winery in the south who supply the wine for us to run. The set up we use is nothing fancy and probably the same age as me!! Once we collect it's around 50% and may drop to 48% but pretty tasty.

The heart of a Mulberry branch 15cm long and wide enough to just fit in the bottle. Gives a great colour and flavour. The photo below is one that we found start in the back of the cupboard for at least 5 years.

[B-Man]

Can you elaborate on your run strategy. I easily hit azeo with 4 plates 600mm packing...

What's your setup?
I have 4 plates and 500ml packing at max is 93-94

Bluc
Neither of these methods get me more than about 92% ABV

I'm the same. I don't have any more plates so I can't comment on 5 plays

I normally run at about 88% abv on 4 plates. Seems to be decent flavour

[chipboy]

Was that Mulberry wood roasted / toasted to give that lovely colour? Intrigued! I have mulberrry spirits to do this to and a tree.

[motley]

Was that Mulberry wood roasted / toasted to give that lovely colour? Intrigued! I have mulberrry spirits to do this to and a tree.

We put 3 or 4 pieces shown below in 2l bottles with them only dried out. Flavour of it is amazing too

[chipboy]

Thanks, I am amazed and will try this too!

[pistagain]

Thanks for all the responses. I took Stig's and Wellsy's advice and ran the wine through 3 plates @ about 80% and the flavour was much improved. I was surprised at how much flavour came through in the tales. Having mostly run neutrals I'm carefull to dilligently keep the tails separate from hearts but in this case I'll be blending a lot of the flavourful tails with the hearts. Is this normal procedure with flavoured runs?
Cheers

[The Stig]

It is to an extent . You will need to be very careful how deep into tails you go .
A very small amount of deep bad tails will kill a whole batch of good booze