"Since this is my first post on this forum, I feel that a introduction is in order.

Maybe a year or so ago I saw a documentary on Marvin ""Popcorn"" Sutton and have been thinking about the history of moonshine for a while. I came across plans to make a still, considered building one, but then found that stills were available to purchase at a price equal to or less than what it would cost to build one. So, after some consideration, I decided to buy a Brewhaus high capacity still.

I have done some turbo washes, as most beginners do, and I have stripped them. I have a couple Of carboys filled with strippings, but I have not yet done a spirit run. So, I'm still quite the novice. Heck, I didn't even know that home distilling was a hobby until two or three months ago.

My question is about the stripping runs. I've used turbos with 6kg of sugar in 25 liter washes. I've stripped until the ABV dropped to 10%, which for me is 210F, and I got a little under two gallons of strippings. My first jug was around 60% ABV, and the second was around 30% ABV. Three strippings gives me under 6 gallons that I've put in a glass carboy with 4 tbs of baking soda per gallon. I'm guessing that the final ABV in the carboy is around 45 %.

I stripped down to 10%, although I think that some may not go that far, because I saw no real down side other than a bit more time and electricity. I run electric and electricity is cheap around here. I figured that I might as well run low as long as I didn't collect more than two gallons since I wanted three stripping runs to fit in a 6 gallon carboy. If I had stopped sooner then I would just have to add distilled water to bring the ABV down before doing the spirit run.

So, my question is, ignoring the time and cost of running down to 10%, am I better off stopping sooner and adding distilled water, or should I keep running as I have?

I'm done with turbo washes and plan to do some Gerber washes next. After that I'm going to try Uncle Jesse's Simple Sour Mash, and then head toward making a 100% corn mash. I want to do this for historic reasons. Then I will likely try more complex grain mashes.

Thanks for your input.

Rob"