Yellow RUM

[jdetechguy]

I made a few 60 gallon batches of rum. We ran them hard in the pot still. We ended up with about 24 gallons of 75 proof low wines. Although no puking, the pot still is known to bring over a little yellow color.

Next day, we put the low wines, watered down to 50 proof in the column still, very, very short packed. We do this because the still keeps most of the flavor profile, but does a better job of compressing the heads and leaving the cloudy tails in the tank.

The issue we have is that the liquid is coming out a little yellow. We have never had this issue. The head was thoroughly scrubbed and we have never seen this before.

Any clue why we are getting a slight yellow tinge? The still is run very, very slow.

[fizzix]

A little research and I see at least 6 main causes:

still needs cleaning
puke (ruled out)
foam (tab of butter fixes that)
scorch (especially heater element)
dirty collection jars
tainted packing

Time to put on the Sherlock Holmes hat and send Dr. Watson in for a look.

[Fiddleford]

Maybe I'm missing something but is your product condenser in the head?
Is it possible you didn't clean your condenser/product lines proper, that's the only think that comes to mind when it comes to yellow distillate after a rum wash going in

[jdetechguy]

A little research and I see at least 6 main causes:

still needs cleaning
puke (ruled out)
foam (tab of butter fixes that)
scorch (especially heater element)
dirty collection jars
tainted packing

Time to put on the Sherlock Holmes hat and send Dr. Watson in for a look.

Yup. The packing was fresh, but, ya never know. I will post my results when we solve it.

[jdetechguy]

Maybe I'm missing something but is your product condenser in the head?
Is it possible you didn't clean your condenser/product lines proper, that's the only think that comes to mind when it comes to yellow distillate after a rum wash going in

The previous run was vodka, but we did clean the head. It's like a Nixon Stone style. The color comes from both the LM and VM side. We are breaking down the head today to reinspect.

[HDNB]

turn off the tapatalk ad. it is done in the app settings.

the still puked during the rum run, moleass is cooked onto the metal of the head. you need to acid or caustic the whole thing, the yellow ill come over for a long, long time if you just use alcohol.

[Max_Vino]

Three things come to mind:

Contamination:
Break down the still and clean

Entrainment:
The slower you go the less entrainment you will have. If you are using the same still under the same conditions you did in the past then this isn’t your problem


By products of fermentation:
I have experience this before, where the heads have a slight greenish or yellowish tint. This goes away as you move towards the hearts. I associate this with the amount of sugar and type of yeast you are using.

Cheers,
Max

[iwine]

I do a lot of rum. On stripping runs I get yellowish distillate, it happens when you run fast. predominantly I use a pot still with a thumper and it's a non issue. basically the thumper acts like slobber box.
If it's a stripping run it doesn't matter, it will get cleaned up on this Spirit run. If you're doing a run that is one and done put some butter in the wash when distilling. or slow down a little. That works for me every time

[Bombo80]

I just had this happen this weekend. It finally did clear up, after collecting over 2 gallons of distillate.
I think my problem was that I had too much wash in the boiler.
I started with around 13 gallons of wash in my 16 gallon keg still.

My jars started about 175 proof all the way down to about 88 proof. The majority are in the 120's.

I was wondering about re-running this, but am unsure how to move forward.

Should I add the distillate back into some of the dunder and run it again ?

If so , how much dunder ?

[NZChris]

Any clue why we are getting a slight yellow tinge? The still is run very, very slow.

It's your punishment from the Rum God for not running it in a pot still.

[Saltbush Bill]

the still puked during the rum run, moleass is cooked onto the metal of the head. you need to acid or caustic the whole thing, the yellow ill come over for a long, long time if you just use alcohol.

This sounds most likely to me

[Bombo80]

My rum puked too. Not fun having to break down the whole still and scrub the oily crap out of the condenser, column and still.

I'll probably run a quick vinegar wash just to make sure everything is clean.

[LWTCS]

Any clue why we are getting a slight yellow tinge? The still is run very, very slow.

It's your punishment from the Rum God for not running it in a pot still.

Doh!!!