"first effort was to distill a batch of hard cider and it came out great at 140 - next 2 efforts were all grain - one with flaked maize and one with cracked rye -- followed the recipes I found online and both times was disappointed with the end results - pot still and the max output came in at 80 proof -- didn't play with specific gravity or any metrics but surprised that the proof was so low -- what am I doing wrong???

with the maize I used a high proof liquid yeast and thought that was my problem - on the rye I used an ale yeast, it bubbled well and I thought I would be good -- but it also came out at 80 max?? I suspect not enough sugar, but wanted to go all grain??

new batch is 25 pounds of a peach/nectarine mix, 5 lbs of sugar and water to 25 liters -- this time I checked and the SG was at 1060 -- so thinking I'll be ok - pitched 1118 and under the house it went. Gotta love the ""over ripe"" fruit they wanted to throw away at the farmer's market today!!"

doing just a single spirit run -- wondering if my expectations are too high - with a 5 gallon batch I was hoping to get a quart, maybe 2, of something in the 130 range without the use of sugar in the mash... too much to ask? Should I be doing a strip run? how much should I expect from 5 gallons??

so, when you start out reading it sounds like the 25 ML batches are the way to go and its all good from there -- been reading a lot this weekend - including the book "how to make corn whiskey" and have learned all the things you don't get at most sites - seems my first 2 batches which I thought failed were not failures and instead the low wines of a stripping run - ah how much I've learned this week and how many more questions I have -- next questions are on stripping runs - but going to start a new thread -- thanks all