Stilldistillin

Thanks for the input. I also thought it might be temperature related. Two batches went through fine. Then the next morning the temperature had gone up 20 degrees so though that might be related somehow..

Quick question, I realize that proper distillation, etc. means activated carbon is not required. However, I have tried using carbon and wetted my carbon and have noticed something that has me scratching my head. If I put in 100 proof in at one end using a system with 2 4ft, 4" diameter stainless tubes I get 60 proof out of the other end. Any ideas or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have two hydrometers and they both read 198 at 70 degrees so that should be on par unless my math is wrong. I was always in the pass fail math class rather than the one where you're assigned an actual grade if that tells you anything.

I think I will try the Everclear approach. It came in a 55 gallon steel drum from a redistributor. Labeling refers to one of the large manufacturers and It measures 200 proof on hydrometer. Hopefully I just had two bad batches of water. Thanks for the input.

I have an issue I'm hoping someone can help me with. I received some 200 proof to experiment with and ran into some clouding issues when diluting. It happens between 80 and 90 proof which might indicate essential oils falling out of suspension, etc. I was under the impression that 200 proof was pure ethyl alcohol. Is this not the case? I also tried diluting with both reverse osmosis water and distilled water. Same problem each time. Let it set for a couple of days and tried activated carbon as well as chill filtering. Looks like a batch of my Grandma's lemonade. I guess it could be marketed it as Grandmas lemonade but I wouldn't want to get into a lengthy trademark infringement battle with Mike's Hard Lemonade. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the response. I had read that once 200 proof was exposed to air long enough it would gab water molecules out of the air and return to 192 so I assumed the only difference between the two was 192 still contained 4% water from the get go and wasn't dried any further. I guess it's just a matter of experimentation with filtering, etc to associate your own taste with NGS. Thanks again.

This is my first post so I hope it hasn't been covered before. If so please point me in the right direction. I have a question regarding 192 and 200 proof NGS. I realize a majority of Vodkas now days comes from NGS. I've noticed in sampling different brands of Vodka in a Head to head taste test they are distinctly different as far as burn and taste and I know for a fact the ones I'm comparing start out as NGS. If 200 proof is considered 100% and 192 proof is 96% which I'm assuming a majority of these distilleries use. Where are the major differences in burn, taste, etc. figured into the equation. Is it still necessary to polish 200 proof or 192 proof with activated carbon to further eliminate burn or is it related to oxygenation or something else? I'm just trying to understand what is done differently in some of these vodkas to take a little more of the bite out of them when they appear to come from the same NGS suppliers. Thanks for the help.