!!!Please Help with RUM!!!!

[rum is life]

Okay, I have a newbie question. I always read about people rack the wash to the still. What exactly does this mean?

[rubber duck]

It's a fancy word for siphioning. Don't ask me why.

[rum is life]

Can anyone tell me about how long it will take me to run a 5 gallon wash through a still pot?

[rubber duck]

There are way to many variables to tell. running slow, fast. heat sorce, altitude, condencer diameter and many more thing not listed.

Maby 2 hours start to finish, maby more.

[rum is life]

I have a 2" condenser. I'm planning on a slow cook.

I will be moving to an area where the altitude is approx 5000 feet above sea level. How much time will this add or subtract from the process?(so I can plan ahead for that.)

Thanks for the quick replies, sure helps out.

[rubber duck]

Every still is diferant so for your first run figure on half a day to set it up, run clean, and just general messing around.
After you know your still and you have made a few runs you will probably have the bug and you will be at it all day.
So for me stilling day takes all day. I like to do muliple runs the clean up time is the same and i hate clean up.

[CletusDwight]

Can anyone tell me about how long it will take me to run a 5 gallon wash through a still pot?

If you run a still flat out with the heat up full you can wring out all the alcohol real quick. Maybe an hour to warm up then an hour or so a gallon to still.

But if you do that, the thing is out of control. It's difficult to separate heads, heart and tails and they smear into each other.
You end up with either a small quantity of poor quality hearts or a whole bucket full of stuff that turns your stomach when you drink it. (At first you think it's OK - it's only after a couple of glasses you begin to think there might be something wrong)
You have to take it slow and careful, just trickling out the fractions and only opening up when you are sure of where you are.

A lot of the older stillers seem to take this for granted and don't mention it to us neophytes - It's taken me a few gallons of nail varnish remover drunk to work it out. And I still get it wrong.

[rad14701]

As rubber duck mentioned, it'll take a run or three to get the feel of your equipment... And to do that, for a pot still, you're probably better off doing a stripping run and then a spirit run... By doing this you'll be able to play with the heat and take off rate without worrying about the quality of the end product as that will be refined in the spirit run...

However, none of this topic has actually been related to rum, specifically, but, rather, to pot stilling in general...

Good luck...

[rum is life]

Well everyone I'll be able to start my Rum runs in about a week. Thanks to everyone who helped me come up with the final product of what I'm going to do. I'll keep everyone posted as to how things are going. I'm currently deployed and this was my gift to myself. Again, thanks for the help everyone and I'll be back to get more ideas and let you know how my results were so we can call learn together.

[Ayay]

I only read pg 2 of this topic and this may need sayin...

Stripping run = hard and fast with no cuts. Simply gets you an average concentration of 40% all alcohols ready for another run.
Spirit run = slow and careful, to get you around 55%(pot) or 95% (reflux) average good alcohols in the hearts after makin the cuts.

Mostly pot stillers do a few strip runs and then a spirit run. Reflux stillers can get away with a spirit run first-off one-time. Not to say a good pot stiller can't do it in one run; nor to say a reflux stiller will bet better results by doing a few strippin runs and then doing a spirit run

That's the fun of it. YMMUMFknVary!

[bronzdragon]

I very well may be the only one here that likes it, but i've used the Rum Turbo yeast many times to good effect. Usually when I do runs, I will get one package of it, and ferment 5 gallons ... then transfer and immediately put another 5 gallons on top of the yeast. I do this 4 times in a row. The only thing different I do, is after the first batch I use a little yeast nutrient.

About every aspect of making rum has been covered 100 times on this board, so it's all out there. Molasses has good nutrients already, I just throw a bit in extra.

I typically do 4 batches in a row using stripping runs. I come up with 4 gal of low wines, throw in a gal of water and run that off slow on the fifth run. The only advice I can give you is try and keep your wash at about 10% and if you like a strong flavored rum, run into the tails. The more you run into the tails, the stronger the flavor will be. Then throw it on some charred oak or sugar maple and you're set.

cheers

~bd~