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Alcohol yields


Dfash

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This last weekend I toured a local Distillery and they have a 300-gallon Affordable Distilling pro series whiskey still. In the tour, they mentioned that they run the still for 8 hours and they end up with half a 53-gallon barrel so it is around 26 gallons. At first, I thought that that was low output but I wanted to see with a 300 gallon still would produce more than that in a run. I am very new into this process and I am in the learning stage. I would just like to know what is the magic number of the still to produce a barrel per run, because of half a barrel seems less efficient, but I may be wrong. Thank you! 

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You have not provided enough information for an accurate reply. First thing you would need to know is what is being distilled, at least the ABV of the beer, and is the still actually charged to 300 gallons. Nevertheless: Distillers beer can be as little as 10% ABV, assume into barrel at 60% ABV, and assume 50% efficient cut: 26 gallons x 2 x 6 = 312 gallons. So yes, that is not so far off, but if higher ABV beer or more efficient cut, you might expect a higher yield. But if you are using a wash like for malt whiskey, you could expect a much lower yield!

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Dfash

 

I am Affordable Distillery Equipment.   Our 300 gallon steam fired stills are capable of doing a whiskey run at 130 proof in 4 to 5 hrs including heat up to operating temp.  For a Vodka run the distilling time would be 7 to 10 hrs normally.  As far as how much spirits for the barrel: If the mash is 10% and the whiskey is proofed at 117 proof for the barrel then there should have been around 34 gallons for the barrel according to my calcs and that includes losses of around 20% for cuts etc

If a stripping run was done first and then a spirit run then it might take 6 to 8 hrs.  Also some distillers will stretch out there whiskey run by running with less heat, or it is possible that the distiller has a smaller boiler that takes longer or the pot was not fully charged.  

If the boiler is sized correctly, a stripping run takes 3 to 4 hrs and a spirit run takes 3 to 4 hrs, however whiskey can be made in a single run in 4 to 5 hrs.  . If a light whiskey or rum is being made the run can take 6hrs. Our baine maries stills are of course slower than our steam stills, but just as fast or faster than than the baine marie stills of our competitors  These are all proven run times.  Affordable Distillery Equipment has stills in over 300 US distilleries (1/5) and several other distilleries in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Israel, Ecuador, Peru and many other countries around the world.  We are known for the quality of our equipment, pricing and customer service.

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