need help on re-distilling

by **stillgavin** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:24 am

Hi guys, i have 8.5 litres of 40% that has been flavoured with essences and just taste plain wrong! i would like to know how you guys deal with making it neutural again??

Thanks.

by **Kimbo** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:00 am

Try running it thru your reflux still again and see how it goes.
you can just keep doing that till your happy with it ;-)

by **stillgavin** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:07 am

thanks Kimbo but was wondering how u go about it? ie how much water u put back in the boiler with the 8.5 litres of 40%??

by **Kimbo** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:13 am

40% is fine to put into your boiler, but no higher.
If you want to dilute it down a bit more you can :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **stillgavin** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:16 am

thanks heaps Kimbo i was just worried about it running dry.. thanks again im off ro reclaim some alcohol.. :D

by **Kimbo** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:24 am

stillgavin wrote:thanks heaps Kimbo i was just worried about it running dry.. thanks again im off ro reclaim some alcohol.. :D

No worries mate, just make sure you have sufficient liquid to cover the element :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **Linny** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:10 pm

so you do have to water down after a strip run ... here i was contemplating just chucking 5L of 90% in LOL .... :naughty:

just to hi-jack abit,,,, is it better to try to slow down the distilling ? i have a small 5 L reflux that has no valve ( sort of pot looking but with a column ) and after a couple of runs following the manual the first collections smelt like rocket fuel.... after a bit of reading i insulated the boiler, reflux column and condenser, and while it ran i tired to run more water through the condenser to try to slow down the collection. i dont know if its me but to me this newer collection seems much much cleaner ? and nearly the same amount of alcohol collected. Im still trying to finish the wash so i can then start double distilling for a final product..... having such a small still has made it labour intensive, but i am able to try different things quickly ( so as a learning tool i think its better )...

by **Kimbo** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:37 pm

If your stripping- do it fast
if your re distilling- do it slow :handgestures-thumbupleft:
( and at 40% abv)

by **Lupus** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:56 pm

Again, apologies for hijacking the thread. However, I have seen the warning about not running spirit runs above 40% abv.

However, I have not seen the reason why. Anyone care to enlighten me? :)

by **googe** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:58 pm

Kaboom!!

by **Lupus** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:06 pm

Googe,
Suspected that, but why? Specially if you are not using flames?

by **Kimbo** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:12 pm

Hi Lupus,
Alcohol at 40% can still ignite ( remember the flamin lamborginis?) :drool: :drool:
alcohol at higher ABV we treat as extremely volatile. Whether we are using a LPG burner or electric element we still dont put anything higher than 40% in out boiler. Think of it this way, you are Boiling a volatile substance and safety comes first. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **Lupus** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:16 pm

Limbo
Thanks for the explanation

by **Kimbo** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:21 pm

Thats cool mate,
I would hate to see something bad happen to one of our members :handgestures-thumbupleft:
There is no such thing as a stupid question, especially if it will avoid a stupid mistake ;-)