"I'm a newbie to the wonderful world of distilling. I have an easy still. I'm making vodka and so far after two runs I'm disappointed with the final product. Here is how I have done it so far.
""grain bill"" white granulated sugar, distilled water, and black label turbo yeast (14-17%)
In the first run the mash after sg readings calc'ed out at 9% after five days. It was a bit cloudy. I did not do any cuts. So I know I'm wrong on that part. After using an alcoholmeter the numbers can back at 19% on a volume of 750ml.
In the second run same ""grain bill"" but let sit for 9 days. The mash was clear and I did not pull up the sediment figuring that was bad. The calc'ed sg was 9% again but I may have an wrong initial sg number. Using the easy still I did make the head cut measuring off the nose. I cut about a cup off. I got about 900ml out and estimated the tail cut by the first run volume. I do not know if that is correct? Again I ended up with 19% final product.

I ran both batches through activated charcoal. This is bought from Brewhaus. I did run warm distilled water (1 gallon) the first time and in the second run kept the same AC removed about half and replaced with ""fresh"" AC and rinsed again before filtering. The second run was filtered twice.

The second batch was very good in when comparing to the first but still had a very low alcohol %.

My questions are do I just get a PS II high capacity or work on my ""cuts""? I'm thinking that I have too much tail and would love to know when to do so? I"m thinking that I could keep the temp"s more in check with the PS II.

I'm at a loss on what to do from here.
Thank you very much for your help and advise."

"I decided to build micro batches of 6 liters of total volume due to the capacity of the easy still. I also used 37 oz of sugar and .55 oz of turbo yeast. I calculated these numbers off of the turbo yeast packets and reduced the numbers to fit the total volume. Would I be correct in thinking that since they are micro sized that the total wash size and the volume of distilled water equal each other?

My first sg reading was 1.62 and after fermentation it was .99 I used the calculators on Brewhaus to find the 9% abv.
Thank you for your help.
Chris"

"Well, actually another consideration. The turbo yeast mixture is formulated for a definate sized ferment. Cut to a small sized increment, isn't the yeast going to be anemic or stressed, or even gain the population needed to do the proper job, especially if you go over say 9%? I think you would be stretching the limits of the turbo, which wasn't designed for this. Balance is all important to have a clean, clear wort to start with. I just don't think you will have a totally balanced mixture. Perhaps, make instead the full ferment, and put balance into smaller secondaries until you can use them. If you don't wait too long, they will get cleaner and better, each batch.

/\Admin. correct me if wrong. Just seems to make sense, ph buffers, nutrients, and amount of yeast to start it all. Not sure it would scale down, just as some of them can't scale up."

Thanks I will change the grain bill. After that is done how do I find the heart the correct way? I thought that I could take small bottles and separate it out measuring each bottle for % abv. I'm guessing that anything less 40% is the tail.

"Brew is correct and have learned alot from him already.
I have only done a few runs but know almost exactly how long things will take. This is a great feature of easystill. I fill to the line or a tad lower, runs for about 1 hour before heads output start. I use a kitchen timer to remind me to take a look. I take out heads (50 ML) and discard. I then collect (2) 375 ML bottles - first one takes about 30 minutes and 55-60% ABV - second one takes about 40 minutes and is 45-55% ABV. Previous runs of brown sugar/molasses I continued to run and saved abou 200ML of tails to return to next wash run. Lately I am trying for a neutral and have stopped run after second 375 ml bottle and did not save any tails. Was at a party last night at my neighbor's house and did the run without a hitch - just went back home at the right times to switch bottles - very easy !!

I don't know about smell and taste - There is a similar odor throughout the process - Must be me but I cannot smell when tails are starting. Even the first drops of output heads do not smell that much different to me. Maybe with time ? I am happy to get 750 ML of drinkable per run so am not going to worry about it."

Keep close watch on any low wines. (30-40 ABV washes). Howie said he was correcting papers and they must have started running at 35-40 minutes. He noticed the smell after it was running all over the floor. He said low wines come twice as fast as regular 12-14 abv. I don't remember. Only played with it a little, when he was foaming and over filling, so there isn't any baseline for me to say one way or the other as to speed.

Just keep the fill to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch below the line and no problems.

I know Howie isn't cutting heads or tails right because he keeps asking me to ship him carbon. Remember that it is a self contained pot still so you need to develop good skills to run it properly. Real skills that take time.

Another thing that I worried about with Howie was wandering off, in the middle. If the catch bottle is a glass gallon wine bottle it will run to the end and shut down on its own with zero danger. It ruins the run but it can be ran again. When we got it for him that was what sealed the deal, was the safety aspect.

Well I still fell like a newbee but I have been using the easy still for about 10 months. Lots of trial and error it seems. Have had fairly good results. Due to time I will give a brief rundown of what I do. The ingredients are on the yeast package too.

17.5lbs corn sugar (dextrose)
6.5 gallons (25L) water 90*-104* (10 gallon pail)
One package of turbo yeast 48 mix and cover (must vent)
5-7 days. 7-10 better, all fermenting must stop, hydrometer under.
995 (aprox18-20%)
Add sparkolloid per instructions let sit and clear 4 days (package says 24-48 hours)
If not clear sparkolloid again
Distill and run output thought 24" charcoal filter provided with Easy Still. Output about 1.4L per batch = 45-50%
Distill 2+ more times till near 80% (no filter) you should have about 1 gallon +/-
One last distill run and discard head 50-100ml (no filter) now 90%~
Dilute with distilled water back to 40-60%
Pour through finishing filter (I made a 48"x1.5" PVC filter filled with charcoal) ready filter by running 2L+ of scolding hot water through it first. This will dilute the alcohol content so plan for that. I use this filter only 3-4 times then recharge the charcoal.
Result is a neutral vodka.
(note: my most frustrating lesson. Re-filtering Higher % alcohol may dissolve the fusels out of the filter and back into your batch)

Well I wanted to add a couple of tips to this quickly written recipe.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]The key is reproducible results. When ever I think I am smarter than others and have a better way, well I don't. I get in to uncharted waters can be frustrating or fun.

I simplified the initial fermentation process by NOT transferring mash to remove sediment but by adding a spigot to my 10gal pail about 1"up from the bottom. Some sediment will settle in the spigot it so as the mash clears I run out a cup or two to clear the spigot and pour that back into the batch. No siphoning, slurping bottom, No hoses to fumble with. Open spigot and fill the still directly.

If not obvious add the yeast when water is close to about 102* but not over 104*. To well dissolved sugar water

Once you distill to a high ABV diluting and redistilling dramatically reduces the % of tail flavors and impurities as the dissolve back into the water you then remove.

Stopping the collection when dripping slows and taste is clearly water is important and can be a predictable 1.2-1.4 L. first pass. Subsequent passes I using the alcohol hydrometer I calculate what the output should be. IE: 1gal at 40% plus another 10% for water should = 1760 ml. So I start taste testing around 1600ml. and so on respectively

When distilling a high ABV % base the time it takes for output to begin is much shorter. If at 80% you will see dripping ion about 20 minutes or less

According to what I read when using dextrose and turbo yeast 48 there is so little methanol and other impurities that discarding the head is optional, still is good ideas as far as I am concerned. Tails and fusels is another thing. Multiple dilutions and distillations and finish filter should also remove these.

My finishing filer is different that I have seen in posts. I used a food grade 8L container and added a spigot with compression slip fit collect that accepts 1/4" Polly propylene hose (home depot). The 8L container is filled and placed on a 6'ft high shelf. From the 8L container the hose is connected to the bottom of the filter and fills from the bottom to the top and out another 1/4" hose which runs back down to the floor and fills the bottle on the floor. By filling the filter from the bottom to the top instead of straight down you can guarantees no air pocket thus maximum contact to the carbon, slow flow rate, all the carbon is wetted allows for a single pass.[/COLOR]

"I for one would be inclined to send Howie a care package if that's OK but would need an address for him.

My gray kangaroo order is on backorder status and no replies to my inquiries to customer support.

I am about half way thru distilling a neutral wash and have about 2.25 liters of ""hearts"" - getting about a 750 ml bottle of drinkable per gallon of Mash. I am ok with that considering the ease and safety of easystill - I would not be distiiling if I had to use a conventional still.

added some botlled spring water to a clear heart output to lower ABV a bit and noticed that it looked weird when going in the bottle - hard to describe almost like fat drops streaking - after shaking it up a bit and settling looks clear again but bubbles a bit if you shake it up again - this normal?"

No offence taken at all. He is a big boy, and too much help could spoil what he is trying to do, and that is living that life. I send him plenty of stuff to get by on.