"hey from the midsouth,
what is the best temp for fruit brand from wine?

thanks,
tecjr"

Question sound like it could be interesting. Lots of us do brandy. Please clarify your question--The answers are probably here somewhere. :)


WELCOME TOO

While ethanol may boil at 173º its a common mistake to use that as a goal temp for distillation. If you have ever boiled water you know that steam starts forming long before you reach the boiling point. Also the placement of your thermometer can give you drastically different readings. Another point is you are not actually boiling pure ethanol, you are boiling an ethanol/water mix. The alc% of your wash will determine what alc% of vapour you are creating as well as what temp your wash will boil at.

Monitoring temp is useful during distilling as it will let you know whats left in your boiler and give you and indication of when you are starting into the tails. On a pot still run your temp will likely stay fairly steady through your hearts run with just a little bit of creep. Once the temp starts to rise rapidly you know you are pulling tails and most of the alcohol has boiled out of your mash.

Everyone will have their own way of heating up their still. I like to give about 20 minutes of half power at the beginning, then crank it up to full power until take off has started. At that point i will back off the power until i get the stream/drip rate i desire. Collection starts using pint masons with each 6-8oz collection getting tested with the alc meter. Experience with different washes gives me a good idea of what alc% to expect from a specific wash so the alc meter is used to determine the heat level. If i know i should be collecting at 65% for example and im down at 60% i know i am going to fast and will back the heat off to reach my target.

Sorry if i was a bit long winded and hope this helps.

This needs to be underscored and repeated over and over. Once it sinks in an awful lot of things start to make more sense.