Basics of Distilling, Your First Run – Lesson 4

The first time you distill your own liquor is exciting and a little nerve wracking but with some direction it’s not that hard.  I’ve only been in the hobby for about 2 years, so I can still remember what it was like for me.

The goal of this lesson is to walk you through the process from start to finish, from making your first wash through blending and filling your first bottle of moonshine.  I’ll share some tips and some things I did wrong so hopefully you don’t do the same.

Step 1 – Your First Sugar Wash

For your first run I suggest a simple sugar wash.  With a sugar wash you won’t have a big investment in ingredients, and they are the easiest to make.   

One of my favorite sugar wash recipes is called Teddy’s Fast Fermenting Vodka.  This recipe can be found on many YouTube Videos and floating around distilling forums online.  I’ll share the version I made here, but feel free to try other variations.

Teddy’s Fast Fermenting Vodka (FFV) Ingredient list:

Here is the ingredient list for a 6-gallon batch, this should be perfect for the 8 gallon still I suggested in lesson 3. I suggest doubling this to get 2 stripping runs, but you can scale it up or down or split it into 3 or 4 runs in a smaller still.

• 9 lbs White Sugar
• .5 lb Wheat Bran
• 1 Multivitamin Tablet, crushed
• 1 Pinch Epson Salts
• ½ tsp DAP
• Citric Acid as required
• 2oz DADY (Distillers Active Dry Yeast) or 4oz Bread Yeast

You might have most of these ingredients in your pantry already, but I’ll clarify a few of them just in case you don’t.

• Wheat Bran – Not the cereal, you’ll find this in the baking isle at your grocery store.  Bob’s Red Mill Wheat Bran is a common brand or you can order it on Amazon.
• Multivitamin Tablet – Really anything will work here, just some extra nutrients for the yeast.
• DAP – DAP stands for Diammonium Phosphate.  This is more nutrients to keep the yeast happy and healthy.  You might have to stop at your local home brew store for this one.  If you can’t find it locally it is available on Amazon too.
• DADY – Distillers Active Dry Yeast, this strain of yeast if very fast to ferment and has a high alcohol tolerance making it a good choice for distillers.  Again, your local home brew shop or Amazon are great places to find DADY.  If you are in a pinch, baker’s yeast will work, but it might take a little longer to ferment out and could stall if your wash is too strong.

Making the FFV Wash

1. Start with a large pot, at least 1.5 gallons, and heat about ½ a gallon of water to a boil
2. Add the ½ lb of wheat bran and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the grain from burning to the bottom of the pot.
3. Add 4 gallons of warm water to the fermenter and stir in the sugar.  The water should be warm enough to easily dissolve the sugar, but not too hot to put your hand in.
4. Add 1-1/2 gallons of cool water along with the nutrients – Crushed Vitamin Tablet, Epsom Salts and DAP.
5. Add the pot of hot water and Wheat Bran to the fermenter.
6. Add about ½ tsp of citric acid to lower the pH, if you have a pH meter were shooting for a pH of about 5.
7. Use your hydrometer and take a specific gravity reading.  Make sure you adjust your reading for the temperature.  This recipe should result in a SG of about 1.070, or a potential alcohol by volume of about 9%
8. Check the temperature to make sure the wash is below 90 deg F then add the yeast.  If the mash is over 90 deg F allow it to cool or you may kill the yeast.  The ideal range is 80-90 degrees for DADY.
9. Stir well to blend and aerate.  A mixing paddle or paint or drywall mud mixer on a cordless drill works great for this. 
10. If you are using a sealed fermenter install the lid and airlock.  If not loosely cover the fermenter to keep bugs and other debris out during fermentation.

Step 2 – Fermenting the Wash

After fermentation finishes the wash should be left for another week to clear.  During this time the solids in the wash will settle to the bottom of the fermenter.  Keeping the solid particles out of your still will help you prevent burning and scorching the wash.  If you want don’t want to wait, go back and check lesson 2 for some other ways to clear a wash faster.

Step 3 – Distilling the Wash

Now that the wash is fully fermented it is ready to distill, this is the fun part!

With our 6-gallon wash at about 9% ABV we would expect to get a little over half a gallon of pure alcohol.  Of course, we won’t ever get 100% alcohol but this give us an idea of how much we will collect.

For your first run I suggest using a double pot distillation.  Double pot distillation means you run your wash 2 times.  The first time is called the stripping run and the second is called the spirit run.

Double distillation is used to increase the proof and purity compared to a single run.  Another reason to use double distillation would be if you made a wash or mash that is larger than your still, you can run multiple stripping runs and then combine them for the final spirit run.

The reason I suggest using a double distillation for your first run is simple.  It gives you a practice run. 

Most stripping runs are done hotter and faster than a spirit run, and the entire run, heads, tails and hearts are all collected together to put back in the still. 

The biggest mistake I made in my first couple of distillation was in the cuts and blending.  For your first run I suggest treating the stripping run just like a spirit run.  That means collecting into separate jars, smelling, tasting and even blending before mixing it all back together for the spirit run.  This will give you a chance to understand the different parts of the run and how they taste and smell without the risk of ruining your first batch of alcohol.  Let’s get started!

Setting up the Still

This step can vary depending on the type of still you are using, but here are a couple of items to keep in mind.

• Make sure you have a well-ventilated space, especially if using propane to heat your still.
• Connect the condenser cooling water and check for leaks before starting the run
• Make sure your collection jars have something to sit on that will keep them at a proper height close to the end of the condenser and that they are stable and won’t tip over as they fill with liquid.

Charging the Still

The first step is to transfer your cleared wash to the still.  Be careful not to stir up the yeast and grains that have settled to the bottom of the fermenter.  You can use any of the methods from Lesson 2. My preferred method is using an auto siphon or pump.  Just make sure to keep the suction line above the level of the lees (solids from fermentation).

Leave some head room in your still so that any foaming or bubbling doesn’t make it’s way into your distillate.  This isn’t a huge problem in as stripping run, but it does make cleanup harder.  Adding a little pad of butter to the still will break the surface tension and help prevent foaming and bubbling.

Once the wash is in the still you will want to release the carbon dioxide gas from fermentation.  This can be done by stirring with a paddle or mixer.

After filling the still, install the still head or column, and verify that all the connections are tight

Stripping Run

The goal of a stripping run is to reduce the volume and increase the ABV of a wash while keeping as much flavor as possible.

Warming up the still

You are finally ready to heat the still.

To start your run, apply medium-high heat to the still for propane or an SCR controlled electric still start at 80-90 percent of full power.  If you are using a PID controller I set the initial temp to 140 F.

As the liquid in the pot warms up it will begin to heat the still.  You can check the progress by touching your hand to the top of the column or head and working your way down towards the pot.  Once the temperature at the top of the column gets uncomfortably hot to the touch you are only 10-15 minutes away from first drips.  This is the time to dial the power back to 50-60 percent so you don’t get too hot and overshoot your target temperature.

If you are using a PID, once the temperature stabilizes around 140 degrees F, increase it slowly (about 5 degrees per minute) until you start to see drips from the condenser.

Collecting Foreshots

Foreshots are the first drips that come out of your still.  They contain higher proportions of things like Acetone and other more volatile chemicals we don’t want to drink.  For a stripping run it isn’t necessary to discard them, but we’ll be safe and toss them out anyways.  I keep them in a container in the laundry room for cleaning or starting fires.

Collecting the first 1-2 oz per gallon of wash is more than enough to remove the foreshots.

Collecting Heads

The next part of the run is called the heads.  While it doesn’t contain as many hazardous compounds, it doesn’t have the taste we are looking for either and could give you a headache if it ends up in your final blend.  Collect 4-8oz at a time smelling and tasting as you go.  Catch a few drops on your hand, rub them together and smell to get a good idea of how the run is progressing.  Switch to a new jar any time you notice a change in the distillate.  Once you think the smell and flavor has transitioned to hearts switch to another jar.

Collecting Hearts

 Like heads collect in jars using your senses to determine when to cut to tails.

With this 6-gallon batch I would expect to get about 2-3 quarts of hearts in a final spirit run. For your first time I suggest collecting about a pint at a time so you can compare the changes.

If you are checking ABV during your run expect to run down around 70% abv or 140 proof before cutting to tails.

Collecting Tails

Once you cut to tails, you can stop collecting in smaller jars and switch to a larger container.  Our goal now is to collect as much of the alcohol left in the wash as possible to put into our spirit run.

If you have the patience keep collecting all the way down to about 5% abv before shutting down.

Stripping Run Summary

Now that you’ve completed your first run you should have a good idea of how to make cuts during your spirit run.  Before dumping all the jars you collected in this stripping run back together, go through them one by one smelling, tasting and even blend the ones you like.

Once you are done testing your blending skills, combine everything you collected and measure the ABV.  For safety reasons you shouldn’t start a run above 40% ABV.  Alcohol above 40% has a higher flash point and is more dangerous to distill.

Now, if you made a double batch of wash, you should start your second stripping run.  This time just collect everything in a large stainless steel pot and run it as hot and fast as your condenser will allow.  If you ever see steam or vapor coming from the end of the condenser reduce the power immediately!  Try to collect this run all the way down to 5% ABV again.

 Spirit Run

Once you’ve made sure the low wines are below 40% ABV add them back into the still.

If you are using an electric element in your still check the level of the liquid and make sure you are well above the height of the element.  If the liquid level drops below the element it will burn up.  Add water if necessary to get the level safely above the element.

For the spirit run go back to the section on the stripping run and follow the same directions we used on the first “practice” run.

Label each jar with a number as you change them out and if you have a hydrometer mark the abv of each jar as well.  This will help you identify where to look for changes in flavor.

Step 4 – Blending

The last step is to blend your final product.

Don’t try to taste and blend immediately after your run.  Cover the jars with coffee filters or towels and let them air out overnight.  The flavors will change and you want to give the spirit some time before making your final blend.

Start by picking one of the jars from the middle of your run.  This will most likely be part of the hearts cut.  Smell and taste it.  Don’t feel bad about mixing it with some water when tasting.  Just make sure the water isn’t imparting a lot of flavor, you might want to use distilled or bottled spring water.

Next work your way down the jars towards the tails.  If you find jars you really like mix them together into a large bowl or jar.  If you aren’t sure about at jar you can make a test blend with a little from that jar and some from the larger mixture and see if you like them together.  Remember you can always mix in ¼ or ½ of a jar if you don’t want too much of that flavor.

After you determine your tails cut go back to the middle and work towards the heads.  The heads are the highest proof and have the most abrasive taste and smell, that’s why we save them for last.  If you started with the heads you could overwhelm your senses of taste and smell and miss the subtle difference in the rest of the run.

In the end you will be left with your hearts cut and some other jars you didn’t use.  These other jars can be saved as feints to add back into your next run of the same product or you can collect feints from everything you run and make a Frankenstein run.  I’ve heard that sometimes those runs result in some delicious liquor.

Step 5 – Proofing

The final step is to proof your alcohol down.  The ABV you dilute to depends on what you plan to use it for.  Although it’s tempting to show off you skills and leave it at full strength, most people don’t enjoy drinking high proof alcohol straight and if you are going to be making cocktails there’s no need for the high proof.

Here are a few suggestions depending on what you plan to do:

Wrap Up

Congratulations, you just ran your still for the first time and made your own liquor!

From here there are endless possibilities to try.  You might want to try a Rum or maybe an all grain whiskey recipe.

Let me know how your first run went and what you plan to do next in the comments below!