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First run today
Ifired up the reflux still and about 10minutes later the temp hit 78°c and she started to run
It set there for a good 45 minutes but it didnt seem to do much when I tried to adjust the water flow It kept a good stream of distilit flowing no matter how I adjusted it
total run took about an hour with 3 gallons sugar mash Ikept 3 1/2 pint of distil
Does this sound right ??
Also why wouldnt it flow slower seems like it should have taken longer to much heat ??
I checked it with alcoholmeter and it red 90% on what I saved
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Congeatz!  The speeds you mentioned makes it sound like you put quite a bit of heat to it. The faster you run your still ,the more heat you put into it, the more tails you will get in your distillate. With the rates you mentioned, getting an end product of 90% sounds like a pretty good accomplishment. Your quantities sound about right as well. Working with a 14% wash, you could have distilled another, roughly, 200 ml. As for your water-cooling. If you really did run the still very hot, water-cooling would have done very little to help you. The gasses at the top of your column would have stabilized at around 78c one way or another ,the moment your still reached its equilibrium and all the higher gasses depleted,. Are you using a propane flame? Sounds like you need to run your still much slower, with home sized stills, 3-5 tsp a minute is a usually a good running speed. Hope this helps!
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I keep the 90% as heads and wait until the spirts reach about 80% then I start collecting the middle until the alcohol reaches below or at 60%. Then I start collecting the tails. I have wonderful spitits. I think you ran too fast and you should dilute and run again. What you did at first is called stripping. That is a process where you run the first distilates at a high temp to remove all alcohol. In this process you are really not getting smooth alcohol, running the second time will give you a better product and alot smoother.
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Thanx guys
I ran another batch thru and run the heat alot lower It took close to 40 minutes to get up to temp ,3 gal,and most of the time I was getting a 1/4 litre every 15-20 minutes
Maybe a stupid question but is this stuff suppose to have a real strong alcohol smell and what should it taste like
using turbo 48 and surgar
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Hey c....fb,
How do you measure your proof during distillation?
Do you have a bubbler basin rigged into your dripper?
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by vapor temperature i believe... i found/find this helpful: http://homedistiller.org/howitworks.pdf
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Interesting, never though of using a temp ref.
Is it really that accurate in practicality?
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i have yet to see/read anywhere that says it didnt work. however, i have only read about a reflux still ,made a short stab at building one, but i now just use a version of the amazing still.
others on here who frequently use a reflux or pot still would be better able to say how accurate it is.
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Hey Phill,
As for your question, yes. Freshly dripped alcohol at +90% smells like a kick in the mouth.
Hopefully the smell itself is pretty 'clean'.
As for flavor, with sugar and turbo I usually get a very neutral flavor, with a bit of vanillaish undertones.
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Thanx Alex Sounds like I must be on the right track It seems after a few day the smell seems to mello out some and mixed with water you cant taste any thing but water thats 2 shots uncut in 500ml water Buddy drank a half pint or better the other night and didnt get any hang over
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Hey, if you water it down to 40% and get that 'Is this really alcohol' kind of reaction, you got yourself a pretty damn good Vodka!
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