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Spirit run proof safety or quality ?

When doing a spirit run is proofing down just for safety

Or

Does it change final product quality ?

I have seen boiler charges from 20 to over 50 proof reading around.

Comments

  • The safety benefit is a myth that won’t die.

    At boiling, all low wines would be equally flammable.

  • edited January 2019

    I dilute my still charge to achieve bottling proof coming out of the still. I believe diluting down to bottle proof after the final distillation run mutes the flavors in the finished product. The effervescence produced by dilution drives off desirable volatiles - IMHO.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • @Kapea said: I dilute my still charge to achieve bottling proof coming out of the still. I believe diluting down to bottle proof after the final distillation run mutes the flavors in the finished product. The effervescence produced by dilution drives off desirable volatiles - IMHO.

    How is that achieved ? Do u go by starting proof of the charge ?

  • edited January 2019

    Calculating the Output ABV @ AD

    There's a quiet little thread on Artisan where that idea is explored.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I just did it by hit & miss. I played with the still charge proof until I achieved the bottle proof I was looking for. @punkin's link above should help you get close. Each still, and how you drive it, is different, so you will need to fine tune yours to get to where you want to be.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • edited January 2019

    the reason to dilute your low wines / gas down to under 30% is to take advantage of Hydroseparation.

    Read this thread ;)

  • edited February 2019

    @grim, you not 100% right, it will not explode there is no oxygen present, however an overheated coil could brake and you could in theory (if not grounded properly) have an issue. Electrical shocks...

  • If there was no oxygen present (which there is), @grim would still be correct as he said "At boiling, all low wines would be equally flammable.".

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Stoichiometric combustion in the kettle is not the issue, it’s what happens should the kettle lose its contents unexpectedly.

    20% alcohol is equally as flammable as 90% alcohol once you get them to boiling.

    Low wines, even dilute, will happily flash and put you in the hospital.

  • edited February 2019

    I'll post a hypothetical.

    Guy running lower proof low wines in a crude packed copper pot column still, electric elements.

    Must have puked, filled the column with crud, something. Kettle went overpressure and popped the sweat seam.

    Boom, low wines run out all over the floor.

    My best guess, the exposed element surface temperature skyrockets, and ignites the low wines and vapor. Although it's possible that there may have been some other ignition source, spark from a plug that got pulled when things fell over, etc.

    Up it goes.

    Equally as easy, hose or cord gets wrapped around the drain valve, same issue, kettle contents get dumped quickly. Liquid is going to very easily spread over a large floor surface, emitting a tremendous amount of vapor, in the presence of plenty of oxygen.

    Distiller thinks oh crap, goes to pull the plug to protect the still.

    Up it goes.

  • edited February 2019

    image

    The fire point is the temperature at which the liquid will sustain burning for at least 5 seconds.

    Really, you don't even need to get to boiling, but at boiling is usually where you'll have your catastrophic failure. All you really need is hot.

    I put this table together when we were talking about what temperature to collect distillate at. So I was looking at it from the opposite direction, how do we use the flash points to our advantage. You can collect distillate at a temperature lower than the flash points, which ensure that you aren't liberating vapor, and reduces the risk (barely though) of flash if there were some sort of spillage.

    However, the benefit is minimal at best.

    Right now at my place, I'm running some vodka, so I have some distillate sitting in a tank at about 50-55f - pretty cold in my shop. If I dropped a match in, theoretically it shouldn't light up. Not that I'd be so dumb as to try - there is probably plenty of vapor in the tank headspace.

    But I did try it with a glass of neutral out of a freezer.

    Doesn't light up.

    95% close to 0c is less flammable than wine dumped onto a hot pan when cooking.

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  • Yup, LEL or lower explosive limit for ethanol is just 3% ethanol in the vapour/air. This is very easy to achieve with any spill.

    That's why we either eliminate all electricals/ignition sources as per the standards in the USA, EU, AUS/NZ and many other places around the world. If electricals must be in that location then they must be IECEx or ATEX certified to be safe in those zones.

  • That said, the myth of low wines dilution safety needs to die.

    If anyone ever says low wines and safety in the same thread, you tell them they don't know what they are talking about.

    Kill this damn myth forever.

  • edited February 2019

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

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