Slightly continuous distillation

[PeteB]

Recently I ran a post called "Slightly continuous fermentation" Here is another of my techniques that I think is "outside the square" that others may wish to adopt if there are no negative replies.

Normally a whisky wash pot still can only be filled to around 85% of its volume to allow for foaming when boiling first starts.

Recently I produced too much wash to fit into the still and I didn't want to waste it.

About an hour after the foam died down I started to very slowly pump the surplus wash into the still through the drain valve.

Also as the spirit was evaporating out, the level in the pot kept dropping so I kept adding wash. There was only a slight amount of foam produced as I added wash.

There is a glass inspection hole in my still to watch what is happening.

I normally put 500 Litres in, but with this method I can do at least 650 litres of wash and get a much higher output of low wines and alcohol

PeteB

[Classick]

Recently I ran a post called "Slightly continuous fermentation" Here is another of my techniques that I think is "outside the square" that others may wish to adopt if there are no negative replies.

Normally a whisky wash pot still can only be filled to around 85% of its volume to allow for foaming when boiling first starts.

Recently I produced too much wash to fit into the still and I didn't want to waste it.

About an hour after the foam died down I started to very slowly pump the surplus wash into the still through the drain valve.

Also as the spirit was evaporating out, the level in the pot kept dropping so I kept adding wash. There was only a slight amount of foam produced as I added wash.

There is a glass inspection hole in my still to watch what is happening.

I normally put 500 Litres in, but with this method I can do at least 650 litres of wash and get a much higher output of low wines and alcohol

PeteB

Pete did you notice any discernible difference in the distillate of the "semi continuous " batch vs any previous batches you did? I think the only thing i might be concerned with was keeping the wort that was in the initial 500 liters in for a longer amount of time than it would have taken to "naturally" distill out all the alcohol. If i had to guess i might think that some lower wine notes would creep into the final product as a result.

Kudos to you though for the innovation and not being afraid to try something "new"

[Brian]

So was this a low wines run or were you making cuts? How close to the top of the pot did you fill your still?

[Classick]

oh right.. good question. I always forget there are distillers out there that have to make stripping runs (our still is single pass)

[PeteB]

So was this a low wines run or were you making cuts? How close to the top of the pot did you fill your still?

This is a stripping run so no cuts are made. I would not do it with a spirit run because a small amount of foreshots would get into the heart.

I usually start with about 10 inches of clearance for the foam. There is about 4 feet of space above the liquid but because of the unusual still design it is possible to get foam into the low wines at 10 inches.

{Thanks very much for that question. I have just thought of a reasonably easy modification that will reduce the possibility of foam boilover}

[bradocaster]

what are you running in one pass? i'd love to hear more about one pass distilling!

Brad.

oh right.. good question. I always forget there are distillers out there that have to make stripping runs (our still is single pass)