"Hey everyone, ran my essential pro extractor series II for the first time the other day and got 92% out of it! Strong stuff right there, but sure is smooth, pretty much flavorless just a whole lotta burn going down. My question to anyone and everyone is, if I have 5 gallons mash at around 15-17% how much 'drinkable' liquor should I get? I know the whole fill a bunch of jars with 200-300ml of produce let it sit a day and then start in the middle and work outwards, I was just wondering how much I should get that's good to drink after one run? I've heard 1/10 of your mash will be drinkable, but just thought i'd ask.

Next, when do you stop the run? As long as my head temp stays around 172-180 should I let it go until nothing comes out? It's in full reflux mode, packed with copper mesh and all, so I assume leaving it until nothing comes out anymore would make sense since only certain alcohols evaporate at those temps? I will disregard what smells bad/ off taste but I also want to get as much out of the mash as I can and I plan on just stocking up on heads and tails and running them again later, that's why I want to know, to make sure i'm not wasting potential alcohol in my mash!"

Toward the end of a run I start checking the abv. When it gets down to around 70 proof I quit and collect a little while longer into a container that I pour back into the next run. I have never use temperature for a guideline on pot still mode. I guess if you are referring to a reflux operation my advise is kaput.

I am running full reflux, so i thought temp would be a good indicator, but I for sure think I stopped way too soon. Even if I'm not going to drink what comes out towards the end I plan on collecting it anyways, setting it aside, and re distilling later. I stopped when I was still get 90%abv because I had collected so much and I don't know why I had it in my head you only get 1/10 of the mash into alochol, but that's what I thought. So I figured what I was getting wouldn't be good anymore. I'm going to run it tomorrow and let her go as long as she'll pump stuff out. As for temp. in general though, by adjusting water flow and hotplate temp. it will never go over 180 (assuming I'm paying attention) so I figure i'll just let it run between 170-180 until I'm not getting anything, mathematically that makes sense to me since only certain alcohols evaporate at that temp, eventually if I keep the temp correct I shouldn't be getting anything....right?

I have a hydrometer and alcometer. My wash was 17%abv when I ran it, I frequently was testing the produce as I stored it in 200-300ml mason jars, I understand that and the process. My question, mostly, was if stuff is still coming out, irregardless if I'm going to drink it (which I obviously wouldn't drink the end stuff) should I keep running it just to stock up heads and tails to re-run again later?

thanks Bayou! That link actually did help, given some of the math formulas I think I can better figure out how much I 'should' expect and then go from there if it's still coming out and do the whole let it sit a day, start in the middle smelling and tasting while working outward to find my hearts. Thanks for the help.

Just a note...I read where someone stated that I will let it run between certain temps and then when it stops producing i'll turn it off. Well the temp will infact continue to rise and lots of times continue to produce well past the temps you have preset in your mind. Forget that mindset of I'm only gonna collect at a certain temp. Really you miss alot of good hooch if you say I'm gonna turn it off at a certain temp. Remember, you can collect down into the tails -- or should I say UP into the tails (up into higher temps is where the tails live). As you continue the run the temp goes up and the proof goes down. Thats just the way it is -- laws of physics I guess.

The fellers on that site are the experts no dought in my mind, and if we were vaporizing JUST ethanol we could leave it at a certain temp between 170-180. BUT with all the temp ranges, WE KNOW WHATS MOSTLY coming off at a specific temp. --- no what i mean. If the water to ethanol ratio is not even so to say, it takes more heat to get the product we are after. Also every distillation unit works juuuust alittle bit differently. So where mine might sit at 178 for 3 hours before starting to climb yours might sit there for 6 hours. What if my wash is 8% and yours is 18% and each have different amounts of water to make a boiler fill, well I'm pretty sure it would take diff. temps to capture whats inside. After you've made 5-6 runs you'll see what I'm saying.

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I believe you reflux at around 180 degrees or so. If you are spitting or surging out of your condenser then you have a low spot in your coil that is filling up and then when a little pressure builds it will spit it out."

Well the boiler was only half full or less. It seemed to reflux fine in the 16o's and started production when I cut back on water to the column and hit 177 or so. Nearly sure had it been allowed to get to 180 it would have not done much refluxing.

Havent got brave enough to try fermenting in the boiler yet..lol. I will put that on the to do list for one of these days.