rtshfd

We are charging with 300 gallons of pot stilled low-wines at 40% abv. We have a 1 million btu boiler and the steam feed valve is just below halfway open at its max during the run so I would guess about 400k btu into the kettle when pushing it hard. I can stack the plates just fine with vigerous activity. I reflux for 30 mins or so and heads come over compact and cuts are clear and easy. Yet the flow rate is excruciatingly slow. I've tried to input a lot of heat with a tight dephlegmator setting, I've used little heat with a loose dephlegmator setting...I can't seem to get past about 5-6 gallons an hour of 190 without the proof getting wacky.

Steve has been a huge help. However, I'm looking for a general theory on maximizing flow rate. Figured a broad audience would be able to discuss it at length.

I have a 300 G artisan system that has a 16 plate column. I've ran 6 neutral runs so far and find myself pulling my hair out at the take off rate. No matter what I do I cannot achieve a run shorter than 20 or so hours. I'm charging at 40% abv. I am able to achieve 190 but no matter what I fiddle with (heat or deph) I can't seam to speed things up. Does anyone have any insight on running a vodka run as fast as possible while maintaining neutral? High heat, high reflux? Low heat with minimal reflux?

Might I add that the Whiskey, if cut soon enough, tastes great

500 G yeast with 1 cup ferm aid while rehydrating

So I'm having difficulty determining the onset of tails on our rye whiskey. I'm not getting the typical wet cardboard from a corn whiskey. What I am getting is gradually sulphuric and potently mash flavored. i can convince myself it tastes good till it's gradually very nauseating. Almost farty if you will. No wet cardboard or wet dog like I'm used to. Anyone else run into this?

I'm in a similar situation. I have 4 plate Whiskey column and a 16 plate vodka column. I'm running through the 4 plates till flooded then opening up the dephlegmator completely and stacking the vodka column. My problem is that the Whiskey column is drying up as there's zero condensate from the Whiskey deph. I'm still playing with my setup but I would imagine you'll get to a place where the first/pot column is set very high (200 deg f?), letting everything but the most watery vapors through. The second column would be set lower...maybe 180-185? This would sequester most of the tails laden vapor in this column. Finally I would set the third deph very low (100-130) to fully reflux the last column and stack the heads. Let it sit in this state for 30 mins to equalize and reflux. Then slowly raise the temp on the last column till you get condensate flow and collect the potent heads. I'm guessing here, and im still new to deph control myself. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. More experienced minds than I will probably chime in.

From my understanding, once the alcohol has picked up the aromatic oils from the botanicals, they're there to stay. You can probably carbon filter it out to temper the flavors, or redistill but I think it'll always be there to an extent.

From my understanding, once the alcohol has picked up the aromatic oils from the botanicals, they're there to stay. You can probably carbon filter it out to temper the flavors, or redistill but I think it'll always be there to an extent.

300 G

Thank you for the insight frh. We've done a piolet run at 300G of 40% and we ran into a scaling issue. The nutmeg destroyed our gin profile and the batch is a waste. I'm assuming there's no rerunning infused gin as a do-over so it would need to be destroyed, yes? Is there any way of recovering the batch? It's really bad and won't be used to blend with other batches.

Thank you all!

I was planning on running a rye whiskey from mash through 4 plates. I'm wondering if anyone can give some tips on dephlegmator temperature control? My plan was to run the deph temp low to stack heads and flood the plates with basically 100% reflux then slowly let off till heads come off. Gather heads till hearts and then raise deph temp a bit and gather till tails come through. Am I on the right track here? Should I set the deph temp a bit higher and let the heads through right away?

I'm curious what I should be expecting in terms of efficiency from a kettle full if 35% low wines on a spirit run through 20 plates. Anyone willing to share?

Yes both columns in series, there is a trap on the drain. I think I'm running it harder than I should be. I'm going to turn heat down and turn off the Whiskey deph completely once stacked. It's an artisan still. Wonderful piece of equipment, just need to become more comfortable running it.

I'm running a hybrid setup with 4 plate Whiskey column and 16 plate vodka column. I'm stacking the Whiskey column okay then releasing the dephlegmator to stack the vodka column. I'm ending up with a completely flooded top plate (on the 16 plate column) and completely flooded bottom two plates with the plates in between showing little to no bubbling action. The vodka dephlegmator is set at 105 and letting it reflux for at least 30 mins but the plates aren't flooding. I slowly release the dephlegmator on the vodka column and get some strong compact heads but its all at 186ish proof. Anyone willing to help? Am I running the steam heat too hard? I have it set to about 1/3 fully open which I feel is kinda low. The Whiskey column is bubbling away just fine. Fyi, The return drain is open at the bottom of both columns.

I have a single sight glass on my vodka column that just won't seal and play nice. It consists of two silicone gaskets, a sight glass and threaded frame that screws down on top of the glass which is sandwiched between the gaskets. Are there any tricks anyone is willing to share in order to correctly seal this setup?

I'm looking for the standard requirement for setting up controls, vfds, switches and outlets near distilling equipment. Basically what needs to be explosion proof and what doesn't. Our electrical inspector is throwing a fit about controls and conduit running near our fermenters and mashtun, nowhere near our still. From my understanding anything over 3 ft from the ground and outside a 6ft radius of the equipment isn't required to be explosion proof. Ideally it would be, but I'm looking for written regulation to bring to my inspector. Any help is appreciated.

What style pump is everyone using for low wines?

I'm having difficulty sourcing orris root and angelica root. Does anyone have a reliable source? Also, what vendors does everyone use for all things botanicals?

I'm debating a few options for process hoses. My hose rep is suggesting Eaton Chemcat hoses for mash, stillage and high ABV applications. Does anyone have experience with these hoses? I'm particularly concerned about the spec sheet stating the high temp range is 160 deg F. Vacating the still could certainly be higher than that. Should I get a set of high temp mash/stillage hoses and a separate set for high abv? Any suggested brands for each? Thanks!

Thank you all. Good insight.

Its an old milk tank so yes, its sealable, or can be made to be. Capt: what size batches do you blend in each? That is to say how much headroom do you leave?

Is there such a thing as a blending tank thats too big? We will be pulling about 100-120 gallons of 190 proof on spirit runs and diluting to 80 for bottling. That will end up at about 300 gallons of bottle ready spirits. Would a 500 gallon tank be too big in terms of headroom? I'm concerned about evaporation if the spirit needs to sit in the tank for a day or two.

What steps of the production process requires certified hydrometers? Can I use uncertified/cheap hydrometers for parrot and proofing low wines? Same with thermometers. Would one like this: http://www.novatech-usa.com/Products/Thermistor-Temperature-Meters/WD-35626-10 be sufficient for final proofing for bottling in the eyes of the TTB?