PeteB Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classick Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 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" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classick Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 oh right.. good question. I always forget there are distillers out there that have to make stripping runs (our still is single pass) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteB Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 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} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradocaster Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 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) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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