In yesterday’s episode we fermented a pure sugar wash using turbo yeast and refined white sugar. In the second part today, we’re going to take the partially cleared wash and distill this in a stock pot still. If you missed our episode on stock pot distilling please click HERE before continuing.
Here is the sugar wash from yesterday’s episode. The wash has been partially cleared by refrigeration and is ready for distillation.
In place of the plain ice blocks used in the stock pot distilling video, I have made up about 45 small ice packets by heat sealing water in small bags and then freezing them. This makes the cooling process much easier as when the ice melts you simply swap out the melted packets for more frozen packets. The added bonus is that these ice packs can be reused many times.
Pour the fermented sugar wash into your stock pot.
Place an upturned colander into the wash.
Place a large jug or bowl on top of this to catch the distillate.
Place the upturned wok lid on the pot and you’re ready to go.
Set your heat source to 80c or 176f. This is just 2 degrees higher than the boiling point of ethanol.
Fill the upturned wok lid with the ice packs and lets process take its course.
As a heat source, you need to use something controllable like an induction cooker, or what a digital pot like this one.
And now it’s time for some calculations. 5 liters of wash at a 15% alcohol content will give us a total alcohol yield of 750ml of ethanol.
The first distillation of the wash will only yield an ABV or alcohol by volume strength of around 50%.
This means that to obtain 1.5 liters of 50% ABV vodka, you need to collect 1.5 liters of the distillate.
If you want higher alcohol content, you can continue with a second distillation of the distillate which will give you an alcohol content of around 80 percent ABV.
As the wash approaches the target temperature, you will notice the condensation on the chilled lid, running down the curved surface and dripping into the cat bowl.
Swap out the ice packs as necessary.
Empty the catch bowl or jug periodically to keep an eye on your progress.
Once you have collected 1.5 liters, the run is complete.
Here is the absolutely clear distilled 50% ABV vodka. At this stage it can be cooled and consumed, you can dilute it slightly to the standard 43% ABV, or you run it through the distilling process a second time for a much purer, stronger liquor.
