WHAT AM I DOING WRONG ?

I have tried several recipes, sugar wash, uncle Jessie's,etc, and the end result is always the same. After the wash is done fermenting and I try to distill it (5 gal pressure cooker with a reflux column)I get no alcohol under 198 degrees and over 200 degrees the distillate tastes watery. As a result of this problem I am only getting about a 20oz coke bottle of good tasting drinkable spirit out of 4 and a half gallons of wash. I am using a good turbo yeast and distilled water and I believe
that I should have a better yield than this. How much alcohol should I get out of this wash and why won't it start distilling at a lower temp?

First

I would slowly take a trip thru the processes to make sure I knew what I had along the way.

If you've got yeast and sugar and water, it's going to make alcohol. How much?? Get a wine hydrometer and make sure you are over 10 percent before you distill.

So with 4 gal of wash expect 0.4 gal of high percentage alcohol. We're talking ballpark numbers here.

As the still heats you shouldn't smell anything. And it doesn't take much of a seal to keep the vapors inside the still. Almost 0 pressure in the system.

Beforehand, check your thermometer in a pot of water heated on the stovetop so that it begins to boil at 212 deg.

a temp of 190 degrees taken near the top of the column inside the vapor stream should be producing condensable, (is that a word) ethanol.

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Correct me if I am wrong but isn't true that the nectar you desire boils at around 165 degrees or in that range? The bad stuff boils at around 150 degrees.

So it follows that if you wait until the temp get up to 198 degrees that your premium cache is already spent; gone to the spirits of distillation?

If I am wrong please correct my errors. I turn my still off at 195 – 200 degrees because I hitting tails for recycling at that point.

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I am bringing the heat up slow and the column won't get hot on top until I get to around 198deg. No steam or distillate will come out of the column until I reach that temperature. Column is not
packed too tight as I can blow through it very easily. It is lightly packed with part of a copper scrub pad. I am using cane sugar and the little bit of alcohol that I am getting is very potent. No meter but if I toss a shot down it takes my breath and burns all the way down

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Just a thought here to narrow it down to a wash of still problem. Go out and buy yourself a fifth of vodka and put it in your boiler.

Then add around 40 ounces water for cutting and run the still in the manner in which you normally do. This way you are sure there is ethanol in the boiler and you can check to see if it is a still problem.(thermometer, packing or seals)

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How much sugar are you using? Could be too much, or too little. Check the SG of the mash before you ferment, make sure that it is within acceptable limits.

Are you using yeast nutrient? Your yeast needs more that just sugar to live on. In the end, the best test is to smell and taste you fermented mash to see if it is sweet, bitter, or sour.

Ø If it is sweet, nothing fermented.

Ø If it is bitter, you just made some vinegar, and you either had an infection, or air got into you fermented.

Ø If it is sour with a slight bite to it, you have alcohol.

Once you have established that you did make alcohol, and you still are not getting enough distillate as you should be, then you need to look at your still for the problem.

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OK.. let's see...
3790 ml x 4.5 per gallon = 17,055 ml X 18%(assumption) = 3,070 ml (200 proof alcohol) X .90
yield = approx 2,762 ml (of 200 proof).

If you cut every 200 ml which measures out 95% then you would have 190 ml of 200 proof alcohol, etc.

You might want to check the thermometer placement or verify that the thermometer is even accurate. Do you have any leaks in your unit?