In this lesson, we're going to go over the sacrificial wash. The Sacrificial wash is just a sugar wash.

The sugar wash is going to be for the sac run. So, if your still isn't new or hasn't had recent copper modifications and you don't need to do a cleaning run on your still then you can skip this lesson.

But, If you just got your still then we need to do some cleaning runs. One of the cleaning runs is called the sacrificial run or sac run for short.

Another thing to note before you make a sugar wash for a sac run is that you can use other alcohol for the sac run. If you have a few bottles of cheap wine or if you have a battle of high proof PGA you can ad 2 parts water to 1 part pga for your sacrificial wash.

The sugar wash for a sac run is really simple, but first you have to decide how big of a batch you want to make.

If you're running a still without an internal heating element then you really just need a few gallons so that when you are running the sac run you have enough to produce distillate for a couple hours.

If you are running a still with an internal electric element then you want enough liquid so that you can produce distillate for a couple hours and the level of the liquid remains above the element so that the element is always submerged. If you run your element when it is not completely submerged it will be ruined in a matter of minutes. It is better to error on the side of caution and use too more mash than you need rather than not use enough and ruin your element

You don't need a high gravity for your sac run so we are going to use 1 lb of sugar for every gallon of water that we use. We are going to make a 4 gallon wash so we are going to use 4 lbs of sugar.

We are also going to use this opportunity to use or triple scale and get a little practice calculating our ABV and yield.

-First we heat our 4 gallons to 95F or 33C

-Then we are going to stir in the sugar.

-Next lets take a sample of the wash and check the Starting Gravity

now lets make a temp adjustment to be accurate and record the SG. There are many phone apps that have the tools you need for these adjustments and conversions and formulas. I'll put a link to the one I use down in the written portion of this lesson

When the sugar is dissolved then we will transfer it back to the bucket and put in a couple tspns of DADY yeast, cap the bucket and wait.

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The sacrificial wash

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Choosing the right equipment

Making your mash

Preparing for your first run

Distillation

Blending and proofing your final spirit