what ABV Neutral do you charge your boiler with?

[needmorstuff]

I am at 30%, someone who is making stills atex rated is saying industry standard is 50-60% abv.

[DrDistillation]

Question isn't clear.  Are you trying to make Neutral or starting with it?  If starting with it what spirit/liquor  are you trying to make?

[needmorstuff]

apologies I thought that being in the Gin topic would be enough.

I am making gin, starting with 96% neutral spirit i buy in.

[Silk City Distillers]

We charge fairly low, so that our aggregate product proof is near bottling proof, with minimal water additions necessary to adjust to final proof.

Very much the opposite of many folks.

[needmorstuff]

I know you aren't in europe @Silk City Distillers but is your still rated atex or similar? 

[Silk City Distillers]

UL Class 1 Division 1 - Explosion proof motor. remote mounted controls w/ sealed conduit.  C1D1 temperature probes/housings, etc.  Steam-fired.  We were in a picky jurisdiction, however they were fine with the nameplate tags and didn't require any additional system documentation.  Would be the equivalent of ATEX Zone 0/1 I believe.

My point wasn't clear, but it was that pushing for higher proof still charges isn't the only way to skin a cat.  Realize all the cool cats and kittens over in Europe love that higher-proof multi-shot method though.  We charge lower than you, 20%, but this is 100% vapor distilled.

[needmorstuff]

thanks, I'm not in the high proof multi shot camp and never will be.

[adamOVD]

12 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

We charge fairly low, so that our aggregate product proof is near bottling proof, with minimal water additions necessary to adjust to final proof.

Interesting way to do it, does seem like it would speed up the proofing and resting process. When you say "100% vapor distilled", do you mean all your botanicals are in a basket?  If you did a macerated gin (soaking at a higher proof, and then proofing way down I assume) do you think you would end up with a larger "tails" cut doing a run that low?

To answer the original question, I do a macerated gin, soak the botanicals starting at 100 proof, and then proof down to 80 before the actual gin run.

[Triangle Distiller]

Maceration based on the type of botanicals seems to work best between 50-60%. However,  based on your formulation, you might want to test various ABV% in small batches to achieve your desired flavor profile.  While there are a lot of variables in making gin from GNS,  it's all quite standard....maceration, vaporisation, etc. Plus a lot depends on your set-up and how you run your still. 

 

[needmorstuff]

You didnt say what you charge your boiler with.. I'm after hard data

[Tim C]

we start our boiler pot up with 80 proof (40% ABV).   I macerate at a higher proof prior to the run and also employ a Gin basket.