First batch

[joemik]

So after reading up on distilling alcohol I finally decided to try to make my own.

Right now I have 3 gallons of apple juice, cranberry juice, peach juice and mango juice all mixed up and fermenting with turbo 48. It smells like bananas right now. What is causing this and is the banana smell going to be in the finished product?

Also i made a keg pot still to distill this stuff. Is it ok to heat the keg with an open fire? Also what is the best way to attached the copper column to the stainless steel keg without cutting the keg?

Thanks.

[Trapperjones]

Did you add any sugar? What was your intial SG? As far as I know you always cut the keg so you can access the inside for cleaning. Maybe try removing the ball and attaching the column using a triple clamp?

[Godstilla]

I've never tried a apple juice, cranberry juice, peach juice and mango juice ferment, so I can't advise. Why not try wineo's or birdwatcher's sugar wash recipes??

[Hawke]

As long as you aren't distilling with solids in the keg there's no need to cut it. Just get a tri-clover clamp and flange. It will clamp directley to the sankey fitting. (with the internals removed)

[BW Redneck]

The banana smell is the result of ester formation, and it usually occurs when the yeast is stressed. This may be from several factors. High initial sugar content, excess nutrient, high fermentation temperature, and using some turbos can sometimes cause this, and there may be other factors as well. If you distill and cut properly, it won't be a problem. However, if it persists in your first run distillate, add some baking soda or washing soda to it, let it sit for a day, then run it again.

[trthskr4]

The general concensus of the board is it's esters causing the banana smell. Do a search for "banana smell", you should find one of my topics I started and went through pretty good. It will come over in the finished product and stay there for a while but will air out and taste fine later after aging. I don't know for sure if there's any real harm in the esters being present.

[joemik]

Ok so the fruit juice wash has finished distilling after 36 hours. I used turbo 48 and I dont taste any sweetness now. I put in 5 pounds of sugar for 3 gallons total. Did the fermentation get stuck?


Also the banana smell is gone after the fermentation stopped and I am letting it settle outside. It smells really good and the cloudiness is going down.

Any tips for me at this point?
Did the fermentation get stuck?
Whats the best way to siphon it out once it clears?

[junkyard dawg]

Thats a pretty foul sounding wash... Theres a lot of things you should read about. It takes a while for it all to soak in, so read read and read. This forum and Homedistiller.org Get some proper tools like a hydrometer and you can tell how much potential alcohol you have in a wash and when its done fermenting. Its a pretty basic tool of the trade... so to speak.

so, you made three gallons wash and plan on stilling it in a keg potstill... over open flame? Good luck. I recommend you learn a little more and revise your plans a little. No offense, just sounds like your getting on to that big learning curve... everyone's been there.

noone can tell if you have sugar left in your wash.

siphon with a hose and gravity. winemakers have some cool tools to start siphons, but you just need a hose.

[rad14701]

As junkyard dawg stated, there is no way to know whether fermentation completed or stuck without hydrometer readings... If the wash tastes dry rather than sweet then I guess you could assume that it is done... At this point I'd just let it clear, rack, and run... It's all a learning experience and we can't be of much help if you go off on your own with recipe development...

Your best bet, for future reference, is to start out with Tried and True recipes until you get the hang of things... That way you will at least be able to get more beneficial answers to your questions along the way...

Good luck and welcome to the forums...

[joemik]

foal sounding? its just a bunch of fruit juice mixed up and its clearing to a nice cranberry red color.

and i dont think this would really be called recipe development, its just fruit juice and sugar which many people have posted recipes about.

but getting a hydrometer is on my list of things to do.

[junkyard dawg]

yeah, sounds pretty gross. maybe good to drink with vodka, but I wouldn't ferment those together and expect much from the distillate. Its good enough to start on tho... I'd go with wineos sugar wash or some of those other simple recipes next. dwwg or ujsm. How big is your boiler?

[minime]

The general concensus of the board is it's esters causing the banana smell. Do a search for "banana smell", you should find one of my topics I started and went through pretty good. It will come over in the finished product and stay there for a while but will air out and taste fine later after aging. I don't know for sure if there's any real harm in the esters being present.

I tried a turbo rum just last month and thought it was garbage so re-cycled it to the feints jug(had that banana smell really strong). I did keep one liter back to age. Turns out the banana smell is already gone and the rum is pretty good. Not as good as Pugi's recipe but momma thinks it drinkable. Aired out for two days in wide mouth mason jar and left the bottle open for a couple of weeks. I never would have thought that smell would go away but it's completely undetectable now.


StillLearningAsIGoAlongMinime