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OK, I'm relatively new to the TPW game. I stripped one 10 gallon batch a few weeks ago, and I've got 2 10 gallon batches of TPW in the fermenters at the moment.
The first batch I put in the primary fermenter, racked it off about a week later and then didn't get around to stripping it for about a month. It was super clear by the time I ran it and came out very clean.
How long do you usually allow for fermenting and clearing?
The 2 batches I have fermenting are 5 and 6 days old and both fermented quickly down to .990. I don't actually know how fast as I had broken my hydrometer and just picked up 2 new ones yesterday. They both read out at .990 at 4 and 5 days old, which is awesome compared to what I'm used to with brewing beer. Must have been some happy yeast.
I racked one of the batches to carboys yesterday to get it off the trub and have time to strip it tonight, but should I give it more time to clear? Does clearing more really make that much of a difference for neutral that will be stripped and the run through a hybrid dash?
Last question... How many batches of stripped product do you combine for your spirit run? I was thinking of combining 3, but even with watering it down, I should be able to fit 4 strip runs in the boiler and not run the element dry. Does adding more or less water for the spirit run make much difference in the final product?
Comments
There is a theory and practise called hydroseperation where a spirit run is watered down below 28% in order to allow easier and better seperation of the alcohol from the water.
The theory goes that ethanol and water joints are much easier to bust than ethanol/ethanol ones and so the lower the abv the more ethanol water ones you have from memory.
Somewhere in Harrys Tastylime Library is the process, but i don't remember where.
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Wow, that's an awesome resource. Thanks.
28% or lower seems doable. Under 40% seems safer anyway.
Thoughts on letting it clear substantially or just settling things out for a couple days first? Obviously I'm anxious to run, but I'm willing to wait if I'm going to get inferior product.
So I had the time and was already set up, (and it would have been at least a week or more before my next chance) so I ran the batch. A fair amount settled in the 1 day rest in secondary so I figured what the heck.
After setting aside the first 500ml, I collected 10 liters, from about 130 proof (at 35C) down to 60 proof (19C).
Now I lost my notes on the last batch I had run, so I'm not sure all of the specs, but I'm pretty sure I used a different yeast on the two runs(current run was just active bakers yeast we had around). This round had a sharper taste and simply wasn't as smooth as the previous, but as they're hot and fast stripping runs, I'm hopeful they'll clean up nicely with a slow, careful spirit run.
Would the sharper taste be from having not cleared it for as long and the stuff in there scorching on the element?
What happened to that library? The link is broken. Does anyone know where it is now?
It appears Harry has closed the library down.
It's from the Whiskey Technology book, you can read the whole section as part of the free preview.
@punkin you are missing one piece, and that's to discard the top layer of the low wines prior to distillation.
Jung, it would make sense that the more "stuff" that you have in suspension, the more flavor carried through. I have found that the clearer the TPW, the cleaner the spirit. Of course you can always redistill to remove whatever you don't like.
Yes mate, top and bottom layers. Harry posted a keg design that drew from a few inches up from the bottom in order to leave the taily settled stuff and leave the top stuff as well on Artisan a few years ago.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
@jung It depends what your process is, unless I am making a flavoured product I don't go out of my way to ensure that the wash is cleared. Stripping runs will remove all the yeast from the product, if you are having issues with scorching I would look at your element, I have ultra low density elements and have never had any issues and never worry about the clarity of the wash unless I am making a flavoured product.
Most of my distilling over the years has been on a VM/LM hybrid that I made and its pretty tough to get the thing to do anything other than Azeotrope, that said I have noted a wider hearts cut when I filter my washes with a 1 micron absolute filter. This indicates to me that the yeast has an effect on the quality to some point, but due to this being a hobby for me I don't care about wasting a little bit and taking a smaller hearts cut.
Lastly what sort of water are your cutting it with? When your tasting a vodka product which is essentially water/ethanol, than the water really needs to be a factor. Municipal water to my tastes varies considerable, my personally favourite is the earthly flavours of dirt! YMMV
Here is a link with some conversation on water.