My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

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snojean01
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My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by snojean01 »

I have been reading on this site for 3 days. My head hurts and I dream about stills and mash. But I have a question I can't find a definitive answer about. My husband and I distilled our 1st batch yesterday. We used a corn meal, yeast and sugar combo. It was about 180 proof, we got a blue flame ect. But it was slightly cloudy, so I strained through a coffee filter, a little less cloudy. I then cut it to 80 proof. My questions are is it suppose to be crystal clear and is there something else I should be using to filter it? I read about the charcoal, but don't want to lose the flavor. I truly looked for the answers to these questions. I also did find Spoon Feeding 101, it helped immensely.

Thank you,
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Kareltje
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by Kareltje »

Aaprt from the bleeding and the headache you and your husband seem to get along quite well.
Pikey
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by Pikey »

Cloudy @ 90 % abv - puking :(
zapata
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by zapata »

Agreed. Tails cloud or from proofing water wouldnt show up at high proof. Only solution is to re-run.

You could try chill filtering, but I doubt it'll do it.

And yes, crystal clear. Clearer than water. So clear it sparkles and looks magical.
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HDNB
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by HDNB »

have a look at kiwistillers guide to cuts again...in novice section.

you did collect in small fractions to blend the keeper spirit ....right?

also- was this a strip run or a spirit run?
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NZChris
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by NZChris »

Without any info on what type of still you have and how you ran it, I wouldn't have a clue what you did right or wrong.
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Single Malt Yinzer
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by Single Malt Yinzer »

Questions:
1) What type of still is it?
2) How big is it?
3) Did you remove the foreshots? Did you cut some of the heads/tails? If so how much?
4) Did you do the main part of your run into small jars or did you put it all in one big jar? It's best to have a bunch of numbered smaller jars to fill up in order to learn the smell/taste/look of the cuts.
5) Did you run the still in a closed room or did you have fresh air coming in? (Can cause some people headaches from pre-production fumes)

And what zapata said about the distillate being crystal clear to the point of sparking is very true. It's like the clearest water you've ever seen. Once you get through the hearts you'll notice it starts to get cloudy. Some tails are good for flavor, too much though can reduce the quality of the flavor. It depends on the style though. Vodka type spirits normally have little or no tails.
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raketemensch
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by raketemensch »

Also, did you do your 3 cleaning runs? Water, vinegar/water, and sacrificial alcohol? Not doing so could give you cloudy product.
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Truckinbutch
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Re: My eyes are bleeding and I have a HA

Post by Truckinbutch »

Stop ! Back up ! Look out for the edge of the Earth !
Welcome :wave: You got a start .
Now slow down and let us help you do it right .
You have to do your part by going back and figuring out just where things went wrong .
We'll help you with that as long as you help yourselves .
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