The cleaning run

[Crusty]

Ok. After a quick phone call this afternoon, I'll be doing this.
Single pass over 4 plates for my flavoured product. Keeping my feints to use as a neutral run over 5 plates with a packed section.
Feints will be stored in their own 50lt keg. Rum, Bourbon, & Whiskey feints will be kept separate from each other.
As I only have the pot still configuration at the moment, I have little choice but to do a couple of stripping runs to get my 40%, 40lt charge to do the product run.
Will I be losing a lot of flavour by doing this? I can't get any plates at the moment unfortunately.

[Zak Griffin]

Double distilling with a pot will give you plenty of flavour, mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sounds like you've got it sussed! :happy-partydance:

[Crusty]

Thanks Zak.... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Crusty]

Moving on from the cleaning runs & I ran my first strip of Mac's Rum wash today.
I charged the boiler with 30lt of wash & away we went. As previously discussed, the still ran like a dream, no problems at all & I ended up collecting 7.2lt of low wines @41% temp corrected. ( not sure if that's an average yield for a 30lt wash or not ) The collection started @75% abv & I collected down to 20%. I threw away the first 180mls of fore shots & have the low wines in a 50lt keg awaiting my next stripping run. The second gen of Rum wash is in the fermenter & has just started fermenting. It took around 3hrs to kick off but it's on it's way. Followed the Rum recipe to the tee again & added back 5lt of dunder to the lees. The low wines are quite tasty & I'm looking forward to having enough volume for my first true spirit run. I can really see the benefit of the plates after my first stripping run & the single pass sure is attractive.

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[rumdidlydum]

Well done mate you will have your rum shuffle on in no time :-D

[Crusty]

Well done mate you will have your rum shuffle on in no time :-D

Thanks rum.
Really enjoyed the run this morning but still a little nervous running it with gas.
I'll have my voltage controller sorted shortly & if the tax man is kind enough to me again this year, I'm going to order one of Mac's 100lt milk can boilers.

[rumdidlydum]

It is easy running elements. How come you are running gas? Dont you have 2x elements

[kiwikeg]

I do plan on running 4 plates for my coloured spirits but I'm still going to do a stripping run beforehand. I know it's not essential & you can get great results with a single pass with 4 plates which is probably why most people get a bubbler but that's the plan.

I wouldn't, you'd be stripping out flavour. For Vodka I'd say go for it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

For BWKO and UJSM I strip a few generations using the product condenser and other parts of the bubbler to make up a pot still.i then dilute the low wines back to 40% with another wash.
The reason I do this is I can get a larger heart cut of consistent spirit to age and I can quickly strip a wash after work and get another one going leaving the spirit runs for a weekend when I can give them the care and attention that they deserve.
This is probably a habit left over from pot stilling days but it works for me.
On one off seasonal fruit washes like Slovitz or Fejoia I just do a single pass through the bubbler.
I hope that this doesn't confuse people.

[Crusty]

It is easy running elements. How come you are running gas? Dont you have 2x elements

Yeah mate, got 2 of Mac's 2400w element kits.
I also purchased a 4" SGK & a 4" Ferrule to weld to the top of a 50lt keg boiler but trying to find a decent tradie in this town is as rare as rocking horse shit. I've pretty much given up on the 50lt boiler & a quote I got from the engineering bloke that tig welds was outrageous. For a bit more coin I can get the milk can boiler with everything I need already on the thing & it's 100lts.
On a side note, can anyone tell me if these SSVR's will enable me to see a zero value on my voltage panel meter & actually be at zero on the potentiometer, wound fully to off, & at full power, potentiometer is all the way on & max on the panel meter.
I've had a bad run with SSR's & Pots & want to get it right this time round. The pot is 2W but only 150K, bottom picture.

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_ ... cts_id=332

[Crusty]

I did my 2nd gen strip of Mac's rum today with a similar result as my first stripping run.
Everything went well & I collected 7.7lt of low wines. I now understand what that wet cardboard taste is like after having a little taste of the end of the run @20% abv. All done & dusted & my 3rd gen rum is now fermenting & under way. A very enjoyable way to spend the morning & a day off work.
As I'm only stripping with the pot, can I use the fore shots ( 180mls ) for fire starting, metho, or in my alcohol burner for my little smoker even though it's only 40% abv.

[Zak Griffin]

Your fores should be more than 40% ABV :think:

[Crusty]

Your fores should be more than 40% ABV :think:

:violence-stickwhack: Yep! They are indeed.... :oops: Temp corrected & I've got 180mls of 69.3%.
All good?

[Zak Griffin]

That's more like it, from a strip run :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[WTDist]

when double pot stilling does it matter if you take fores on the first run or second? or both?
I thought with a slower second run it could compress a little more with less smearing. Is this a personal preference thing?

curious for when i start pot stilling :D

[Zak Griffin]

I take a small fores cut (200ml) on a strip run, and another 300 or so ml on the spirit run.

You're only removing undesirables either way :handgestures-thumbupleft: