Distillation experiment

A few days ago a friend and I set out to do an experiment in distilling alcohol from a fermented sugar solution.

On 2019-04-13, I put the sugar ferment together as follows:

Yeast starter:

• 1l water
• 100g sugar
• 12g yeast nutrient (voedingszout)
• 5g yeast

Sugar solution:

• 2l water
• 2kg sugar
• 3g citric acid crystals
• boil 10min and let cool

Add yeast starter, sugar solution and 7l of water to a bucket of 20l. Close lid and add airlock. Leave the vessel to sit in the living room. No additional temperature control.

Aerated at 2019-04-29 and again at 2019-06-11.

On 2019-08-19 the solution gave us an alcohol reading between 9% and 10%. The next step was to start distilling it.

We kept records of the kettle and column temperature as well as note the amount of cooling liquid we used and the amount of distillation liquid we obtained.

Measurement of the final result yielded 75% alcohol.

Measurement of the volume of distilate.

Here is a detailed table of the measurements:

Time	Kettle (°C)	Column (°C)	Volume (ml)	Remarks
14:50	24.0	22.6		gas op 80%
15:00	30.0	23.2
15:05	38.0	24.1
15:10	46.0	24.9
15:15	52.5	25.8
15:20	59.0	27.6
15:22	62.5	28.1
15:25	66.0	29.3
15:27	69.0	30.7
15:30	73.0	35.2	0	eerste druppels
15:31	77.5	50.7
15:33	80.5	52.6		gas klein
15:35	81.5	50.7
15:37	82.5	49.2		gas iets hoger (65% max)
15:41	86.0	57.2
15:45	87.0	64.8
15:48	88.5	70.8		regelmatige druppel
15:53	90.0	79.1
16:00	91.5	86.2	57
16:10	92.0	87.6		10l koelvloeistof
16:20	92.5	87.3	147
16:30	92.5	87.1
16:40	93.0	87.9
16:50	93.0	86.0	297	20l koelvloeistof
17:00	93.0	86.2
17:20	93.5	84.2	410
17:40	93.5	81.5	463
17:50	93.5	79.4
18:00	93.8	78.0	508	gas uit / 40-45l koelvloeistof