Off flavor on 5 plate column

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RockinRockies
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Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by RockinRockies »

My buddy and I've been running on his 4 in, 5 plate column. He's already got it dialed in where we can consistently produce around 90% through most of the run. What I can't figure out is why we're getting tails funk almost from the beginning. Now he's got chloramines in the water and has been treating it with Camden and an aeration tool for about 2 weeks before he uses the water.

I've only ever run a pot still and haven't used my new setup yet, so I'm very concerned that this refluxing with a deflegmator is not fractionating like it's supposed to.

Could it possibly be the Camden tablets breaking down the chloramines and having off flavors? Highlands ranch CO has awful water. It destroys the gaskets in sprinkler valves much more rapidly than anywhere else in the city. My concern is I want to make a proper vodka and I'm thinking of running it in my bigger diameter setup, then collecting enough after cuts to then dilute and run through his, so we can effectively get 10 plates total... but I'm concerned about that funky, almost chemical - not quite wet dog, off flavor.

I boil my water to get rid of the chlorine before I make my mashes and I haven't noticed it but I again I haven't run my reflex yet
NormandieStill
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by NormandieStill »

Camden is generally regarded as a no-no for distilling. Not played around with it, but I've read enough warnings to not try. Could you distill the water to clear the chloramines? Or just buy in bottled water for wash making?

If he's never managed to get a clean taste it's possible he's just running too hard. You can pull 90% off the spout but still be driving tails up the column. I made that mistake on my first CCVM run. I got a consistent 94%+ off the spout even as I increased the power, but when I tasted my jars afterwards they were all tailsy. I was just running too hard.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by Saltbush Bill »

RockinRockies wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:44 am My buddy and I've been running on his 4 in, 5 plate column. He's already got it dialed in where we can consistently produce around 90% through most of the run.
As above , your running to hard " take off speed to fast".....or "to much power to boiler"......or both.
Flooding of plates from to much power or bad downcomer design will also cause a drop in abv and tails to smear when using a plated column, is it home made or a bought one ?
A four plate runs happily at 92% early in a run and drops away to 89%-90% toward the end.
A 5 plater should be doing better than that "slightly higher "ABV if its run correctly.
an indication of how many Litres an hour your trying to pull would give a better idea of what your doing right or wrong.
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Yummyrum
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by Yummyrum »

+2 , too much power . Takeoff too fast .

And yes , the tails will be dragged through and be more acrid chemical taste , not damp dog like from a Pot still .

Try limiting the power to around 2.5 - 3kw and take off at around 2 -2.5 litres an hour max ….. then go from there . If that has not fixed your problem , I’d be very surprised.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by Saltbush Bill »

RockinRockies wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:44 am He's already got it dialed in where we can consistently produce around 90% through most of the run.
If your only getting 90 from 5 plates , your not " Dialed in"
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Yummyrum
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by Yummyrum »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:48 pm
RockinRockies wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:44 am He's already got it dialed in where we can consistently produce around 90% through most of the run.
If your only getting 90 from 5 plates , your not " Dialed in"
Agreed
RockinRockies
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by RockinRockies »

It's a 26 gallon boiler, 11k watts, we refluxed for 30 minutes before starting to collect,
He ran it at 30 amps total, 15 each, and we were only filling a liter in 45 minutes...

I definitely hear you guys with running too hot because the middle two plates were flooding a bit, but then we dialed it back. Head temp was 169 and equalized, so it seemed to us it's dialed in.

Now we're going to have to revisit this and run even slower. I thought 4" columns should produce much faster
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by Saltbush Bill »

A 4 inch column with 4 plates will run easily at 2 - 2 1/2L an hour........some folk try to run them faster. Personaly that is where I think they run best.
Again if your only getting 84 ABV from four plates,. Something is wrong with the still or the way it's run.
RockinRockies
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Re: Off flavor on 5 plate column

Post by RockinRockies »

Thank you everyone for your input.

SBB- it must have been a typo cuz I meant to say 94%.

This was an attempt to salvage just a subpar collection of homemade wines and Brandy. I'm almost certain that I included at least one store-bought bottle of wine which tainted the back end of the flavor profile. But we're running everything definitely softened that so I'm excited about it.

I read my buddy the comment thread today when we were making our cuts and he agrees he was running it too hot. Interestingly I had an edge jar that had significant blueberry in it and when I gave both samples to my wife she said the one with the edge jar was much better. So I'm going to bulk age this in a 3 gallon carboy and let it sit for 6 months.

The other thing I wanted to mention was I think my nose wasn't quite recovered and so I was going off with my buddy was saying was tails the whole way through. Today when we did our cuts I didn't pick up on any of that so, I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here but I just don't understand how this stuff changes so drastically within 48 to 72 hours. Heck even since the 8 hours it's been in the jars I can notice subtle changes from when we blended earlier.

Anyway I appreciate everybody's input. thank you so much! this is such a valuable asset
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