needmorstuff

Can i jump in on this thread? I can start my own if required. I am using distillamax SR, full molly wash (81 litres molly, 160 litres water, 40 litres backset) and distillavite gn. I have thought many time, the distillavite gn smells just like yeast.. Now at the end of my ferments i have a good bed of settled slurry that I dispose of. I ferment for about a week to 10 days and by this time the slury is thick and settled. I also use around 15% backset in the next ferment. I add the backset to the cleaned fermenter right after a distillation, so its screaming hot... Would it be enough to retain around 500gm of slury (i use around 120gm of fresh yeast) , dump in the hot backset on top of the slury to kill the yeast and not use any added nutrient? the distillavite sr is quite costly. I think I'll give it a go.

I have carbon filtered by white rum with good results. I am running 300 litres through 4 plates a mix of 200 litres rum beer 11% with low wines of 100 litres @ 50% Collect around 92% throughout. heads around 20 litres, hearts around 40 litres, i continue to collect some tails but it's a long day so don't take it all. I proof the white down to 50% repeat the process until I've 200 litres or so then carbon filter with an amazon filters 10" cart @ 5 micron on a loop for about a couple of hours at 4 litres per minute. The carbon filtering gives good results, it improves the nose and the taste. It doesn't strip flavour - just improves things. I plan to put some liquid into ex 1st fill bourbon quarter casks soon @ 60% or so. Would it be advisable to carbon filter before going into casks? anyone have experience of that.

I have fermented 2 x 275L washes and distilled them in pot still mode, collected 110L around 100 proof - giving me 54LPA I fermented a 3rd 250L of wash All fermented to around 11% abv (calculated from the stripping runs) I didnt bother with SG or FG I used dunder in all my ferments, didnt adjust for ph at all, was around 4.5 fairly consistent through the process. Ferments start at 30c, end at room temp, ferment dry in about a week I added the 110L strip + 200L of the fermented wash to a 300L (i know 110 + 200 isnt 300 😉 still and collected through 4 8" bubble cap sections, collecting at 92% to 92.5% abv. Altogether i calculate there is around 70LPA in the still at the start, or 77L @ 92% abv. I switched the still of as i ran out of time after collecting around 57L at ~92%, I think I could detect tails at this point. Next time I will manage my day better to recover all tails. I collected in the following amounts : 10L - figured this was all heads 5l 2.5l 2.5l 1.5L 10l 12L 1.5L 1.5L 9 x 1L It's all been airing for a few days and i have samples of each fraction collected above, watered down to 35% abv. The cuts guides i have found to date are all when using a pot still, I am just wondering the best approach to determine cuts with what i have and any other threads that have been created for cuts when running through 4 sections. Also when using 4 PLATES/BUBBLE sections how this affects the cuts and the smearing. I am after what others have experienced also in terms of %%% of heads/hearts/tails. I know mine will be different, I'm just interested in other peoples journey and what they have found. any guidance greatly appreciated.

I am getting more people tell me they use a cartridge, on and off this forum. Some just loop the liquid and pump it round a circuit for a few hours at a slow rate to increase the contact time.

I am hearing back from a few suppliers (amazon/fileder) that they have customers doing this and the key is very low flow rates. Good to hear from an actual person and not a supplier.

So the takeaway here is that cartridges are not the best solution and that contact time is key. How I do that is secondary. I already have the tri clamp spool, adaptors, the bigger filter and bags. So it all comes down to process, ease of use and cleaning. I think filling the bag will be much easier that a narrower tube and the bags are ready made filters/housings for carbon. On the downside that's a whole lot of carbon.. Does carbon have to be food grade? Because a quick search leads me to lots of aquarium type granulated activated carbon on the UK.

Thanks, I thought that might work, good to have confirmation. Just need to find a UK based supplier of carbon now

Not following that. I just googled #2 steel filter housing and it got me to a bag filter housing. Now, I already have a ss bag filter housing and bag filters.. is there an option there for me? Or am I missing your point? This is my housing, I've got 1, 2 and 25um filters. https://www.gapswater.co.uk/acatalog/Spectrum-Inox-Size-1---2-316-Stainless-Steel-Bag-Housings-SBH_SPC_112.html

Doesn't anybody use a cartridge then?

Yes its made of SS. But this is only for small volumes.

Does anyone carbon filter vodka using a cartridge? Volumes are very low, probably no more than 50 litres per run. Being suggested the attached would work at a rate of 4 litres per minute. CleanPore-Carbon-Datasheet-2.1.pdf PVI range - Industrial housing 10 inch single cartridge.pdf

@Silk City Distillers i couldn't wait 😉 I have made a healthy additional heads cut of 7 litres. I used a sample from much further into the run as a test sample, comparing heads to this for taste and smell. When there was less of a smell in the earlier portion of spirit i made the cut (7l). I did this test with other people. Interestingly, most noticed a more caramel type odour from the sample further on into the run (11L) than when i made the cut. I also detect this. With the cut sample having less odour. I have probably cut too much, and may cut more tomorrow, but i'd rather that than introduce anything that's going to influence the end result.

running it now, im about 15 litres in. Far less heads, collected first 10l in 1l jars, took next into 2 x 5l tubs, after that switch to 1l again (sooner if i detect any tailsy smells. Seems far cleaner, but ill leave it until tomorrow to be subjective... will water down samples with some warm water in a nosing glass, and have a taste also. Being the first lot i will sell, ill still send it to the lab.. I'm certainly getting good at mashing now 😉 Just need to get a better pump so i can get the temps down quicker and better through this counter flow chiller.

stripped 3 ferments (56kg wheat in 260l total volume). start temp for all was 27c i measured and when i did ferment had climbed to 33c stripped through my 300l still each time through 4 plates quite fast on around 10kw of power, collected at around 90 down to 40% abv cut heads (200ml) and tails on each strip and collected around 16 litres of pure alcohol (20l @ 80%) each run. switched off after 20L collected and measured 40% abv Now charged my 100L boiler with 100L at 50% abv and running that, heated up on 12kw, running at 6kw. Collecting at 3L per hour. abv between 95.56% (calibrated snap 41 at close to sea level, 12m) I'm collecting at 4l per hour because at this speed it will still be a 11 hour day, (1 hour to heat and 7.5 hours to collect 30 litres of liquid). If i can't fit this into a day then there is something fundamentally wrong with what i am doing or my kit. I had a play around with speeds when collecting. start this after collecting 4.5L, so well into the run. at 2.8lph i get 95.8% at 3lph i get 95.56% at 3.35lph i get 95.69% at 4lph i get 95.57% I'll make my cuts tomorrow and send off to the lab for analysis again.

36 hours in and fermenting away still, temp has climbed to 33c.

Mashed in again yesterday, 56kg wheat, total volume inc water around 230 litres. My target was a good conversion and a pitch temp of 26c. To aid this i bought a counter flow wort chiller https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/counterflow-wort-chiller-tri-clamp-304-stainless-steel/?v=79cba1185463 All going well until my crappy pump quickly exposed itself as a weak link, flow was so slow https://www.polsinelli.it/en/electric-pump-for-beer-novax-20-b-P1041.htm This thing started to smell of burning and flow rate was terrible. I eventually went back to my immersion cooler (also rubbish) and ended up having a very late night getting pitch temp down to 27c. I had to dump ice into the wort to get it to that. It's fermenting nicely today, sweet smells of bread and molasses and a rolling krausen on top. Thinking back, i did take ph reading prior to adding AA and GA, but i should have taken a ph reading AFTER dumping the ice in.. but it seems to be doing its job and ph was 5.1 today. The counter flow wort that was exiting was around 24c at the start so it seemed to be doing its job well with a water inn temp of 17c... just need to invest in a mash pump now.

this was analysed at 80 proof so my ethyl acetate would be around 250 at 200 proof. So bad. Honestly i was mostly concerned by furfural because im at 200mg/l at 200 proof and the EU spec says "not detectable" which i interpret as you cant have any! also the GNS COA i added has no value next to furfural. moving forward I could run my stripping still through plates to get the abv higher, to allow a higher abv boiler charge for my spirit run. at present it was around 65 proof. If i strip through my plates i could charge way above any safe limit.. so could maybe settle on 80 or 90 proof in the boiler at 100L. Does that sound like a plan? I am aligned with you on 100L boiler on a 4" column with 20 plates... that's a lot of volume for my boiler, this is why i was thinking a shorter column with SPP would be considerably less volume to fill and perhaps offer a more balanced rig.

thanks Silk, really helpful comments. I am presuming these numbers are bad in my analysis received back? I don't understand this "I'd be running that kettle completely full on a vodka run (I'm hoping your not)." - you are saying you would, but hope I'm not? what am i missing.. This run was combined from an atrocious ferment (300l of partially converted and started fermenting very hot, 35c, result 30 litres of strip at ~30%) and a hot ferment (300L great conversion but again started very hot 35c, result 70 litres at 33%) the end result was 100L @ 32% abv. Is there any hope for this liquid? I am more than happy to ditch it if not. Would carbon filtering help? Is carbon filtering an essential requirement? My problems here are down to two things 1, bad enzymes now resolved for second ferment. 2, Hot ferment - I need a better way to get to lower temps after my conversion, I'm on that - I am either going plate chiller or counter flow as my current immersion is terrible. Is my column, a 4" 20 plate column on a 100L boiler fit for purpose? I am happy to swap it out for 1.5m or so of SPP Thanks for the info on exsessive column refluxing.. i did hold it for at least 40 mins, in future i will not bother. This is a lot harder than I had hoped, but i love learning and the journey, and never give up. GNS analysis for reference

ran it all again, at 2L an hour, allowed much better separation. Some of it hit 96%, some didn't. On another topic, can anyone point me in the direction of a paper that shows what concentration of fusel oils are permissible in Vodka? acetone/methanol etc. *edit, think i found it https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2008/110#:~:text=This Regulation lays down rules,geographical indications of spirit drinks. Extract of paper Results of my analysis

I also agree with fermentation comments.. I need to pitch colder and get to pitching temp quicker! It takes hours with a crappy immersion cooler, so I'm currently looking at either a counterflow or a plate chiller. My wort is quite clear as I brew in bag but I'm still leaning toward a counterflow for ease of cleaning. For 170l something like a 250kw plate or a 9m steel counterflow. I'm 12m above. I'm not running any of those things, or at least I don't think I am. I was collecting at 3.2litres per hour. I have rerun it after ditching first 4.5L of the run. Even if I slow it down to 1.8LPH I only get to 95.85%

I do need to lower pitch temp, I was struggling with my useless steel immersion wort chiller. I'll get a counter flow to improve that. I've ditched the first 4.5L so I'll likely run it all again for the practice, this time slower to see if I can hit 96 %, if I can't then I'll look at packing in part if my column.

Distillamax HT, temp was early thirties at the start, ambient is 24c in my distillery. Ended at ambient, so 24c Yeh I measured every jar, I still haven't mixed them together. The antonn parr is new so was calibrated last week.

am I silly for thinking i didn't need to carbon filter vodka and white rum? is it absolutely essential? if you see my other thread i have spirit at 95.57% and it doesn't smell as clean as the bulk GNS, got a faint sweet odour.

I have a 20 plate still using "pro caps" charges still with 90L of low wines at 30% made from raw wheat and enzymes, stripped through a copper pot still. 75L of the low wines had a really nice clean ferment in 2 days. SG around 1065, finished dry. My hydrometer aint that good to argue a few points.. 25L of the low wines had a bit of a less clean life, they were from a 300L batch that didnt fully convert and my SG was 1060, it finished at 1030. The plate still works great, i heat up on 10kg and then switch to 5kw, open dephleg up full for 45 mins to stabilise. All plates loaded, none flooded i can see. take 4.5L off slowly take the rest at 3L per hour Took 16L in 26 jars at 95.57% (as measured with a SNAP 41) Head temp was 77.7 the entire time (not calibrated thermo) Left it all to air with a lose lid for 24 hours. The first 6L at least are unusable, acetone etc. the next 1L questionable as when i water it down i can still smell quite a strong sweet smell. Then all the rest of it still has a slight smell when comparing to bought in GNS. So It's not 96% is my first issue, and the smell is my next issue. It all tastes fine after that first 7L. I wanted to get it analysed so spoke to a guy at Tatlock and Thompson an analysis company who said i can't get 96% from a 3m column, I told him i had 20 plates and asked if he knew what a plate was? he lost his sh1t and hung up on me. D1ck. So how do i get that 96%? am i running it too fast? Should i swap out some plates and use some packing? (I've used SPP before with good results) The smell - is that an issue? (difficult one I know... hence why wanting to get it all analysed) Two steps forward, one step back!

i have repeated my process using the llalemand enzymes. from 100kg of wheat and 340litres total volume i got 300litres of wash. this fermented dry in 2 days stripped it and have 27.4 litres of pure alcohol (75 litres at 36% abv) meaning my 300l of wash was 9.1% abv. is it worth increasing wheat kg for increased yield? or are these numbers decent enough?