New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

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Mynameis905
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New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Mynameis905 »

Hi, I’ve run a batch of FFV in my pot still (the wash had bran in it) and what I’ve distilled has these small brown flecks in it. I had some distillate in a glass and some of these floaters were in there and when I touched them, they just turn to a smear of grease basically. I don’t mind to filter the floaters out at all, my concern is that it is either flux or something left over from the manufacturing process of the copper. I had previously done a sacrificial run of the same stuff with the same results and prior to that had run boiling water for an hour uncondensed and prior to that I had run boiling water and vinegar through uncondensed. I might add that my wash was quite cloudy and also I have an electric element inside the boiler. Not sure if the element has any part in it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Also, would soaking my pot still in citric acid effectively clean any flux off without mechanical abrasion? If so, what would the ratio of citric acid powder to water be? Thanks for reading.
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HDNB
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by HDNB »

i'd suggest mebbe slowing down and/or parking for just a moment and read up in the novice section, cranky's spoonfeeding post is a good start.

you got some tails, and some very late ones at that.

read and understand kiwistillers guide to cuts. also in novice.

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Mynameis905
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Mynameis905 »

Thanks for replying. Those particles were present almost right away (after I had thrown out the foreshots)
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Truckinbutch
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Truckinbutch »

I'd do another full cleaning cycle . When your rig is right you shouldn't need to be filtering your product . Whatever that is , I wouldn't drink it .
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NZChris
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by NZChris »

If you did good vinegar and sacrificial alcohol runs, it should be ok, but don't expect that it will be drinkable after only a single run through your pot still. A second run should clean it up just fine.

There are a lot of people on the interweb who say they make nice drinking likker in one run, but they could all make better product if they double distilled.
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Truckinbutch
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Truckinbutch »

NZChris wrote:If you did good vinegar and sacrificial alcohol runs, it should be ok, but don't expect that it will be drinkable after only a single run through your pot still. A second run should clean it up just fine.

There are a lot of people on the interweb who say they make nice drinking likker in one run, but they could all make better product if they double distilled.
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HDNB
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by HDNB »

the greasy oily and cloudy gives it away as tails. but if you had bran in the boiler, you may have scorched some too and put some charred bran up the pipe too.
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Mynameis905
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Mynameis905 »

You think if I filter it and run it again with other stuff it would be ok? I don’t care if it’s tails etc I just want to be sure it’s not a bad chemical.
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NZChris
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by NZChris »

I doubt there is any need to filter it before running it again.

When I built my pot still, my research told me to double distil, so I got me a fermenter that holds enough for four still charges so that one ferment filled my still several times and made enough low wines for a substantial spirit run. Thirty years later, it is still my most used fermenter.
Old Town
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Old Town »

I had some floaters in one of my stripping runs over the summer. After doing some reading and asking some questions I came to the conclusion my still puked on me. Try not filling you're boiler to high and using some marbles in you're boiler.
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Cu29er »

.

If clear when you first got the foreshots then it clouded up, was it coming out like a gusher, much faster than the foreshots did? Then it's like OldTown's suggestion that it probably puked some. This can be a dangerous situation that you'll eventually get scalded badly when the lid blows off your pot -- the material will plug the pipes and pressurize and then you'll be right in front of it trying to figure out what is going on while the pressure is still building -- in such a situation kill the heat and then assess and trouble-shoot the system.

When you fill the boiler you need to make sure you have 15% open space the boil can expand into while it's boiling. Measure your pot and make a mark.
Is all the starch converted to sugar? More starch is more foam and puke potential.
Lauter or screen out the big stuff, you want thin and watery in the pot.
Don't run a packed column on fresh from the fermenter, pot still it first. The packing will plug.
If you puke a packed column, remove all the packing and clean it.


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sltm1
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by sltm1 »

When I fill my boiler, I hang a hook-ended piece of copper wire over the edge and when the wash is up to the long end of the wire in the pot, I know it's full enough. BTW, I also attached a fishing bobber to the hook end incase I accidentally knock it into the wash while filling the boiler....only had to do that once to learn my lesson LOL.
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Antler24
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Re: New to distilling, issues with particles in distillate

Post by Antler24 »

NZChris wrote:If you did good vinegar and sacrificial alcohol runs, it should be ok, but don't expect that it will be drinkable after only a single run through your pot still. A second run should clean it up just fine.

There are a lot of people on the interweb who say they make nice drinking likker in one run, but they could all make better product if they double distilled.
Don't expect drinkable product after a single run? They'll make better product with double run?

We both know you CAN make drinkable product with a single run. Taste is subjective, as is better/best. What you think is better might taste like shit to me, my favourite bourbon might be rotgut to a rum guy. I know you much rather double distilled and that's great. Myself I prefer single run as do alot of people, doesn't necessarily mean your whiskey is better than mine, it's all about what the distiller likes. I'm not trying to not pick here I just think we should encourage to try different things and find what that individual prefers.

To the OP, try it both ways. Single slow run or strip and spirit, hell even doing combination (6 gallons wash + 6 gallons low wines for 12g boiler charge). Experiment, find what you like.
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get a brix reading on said ball bearings and then you can find out how much fermentables are in there
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