Funky funk funk funk!

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Dbrimer
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Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:02 am

Funky funk funk funk!

Post by Dbrimer »

Hey all,

I hope this is in the right subforum - novice is about as spot on as my situation gets at this point. I'm using a still spirits wine boiler and have tried both the alembic pot top and the refracting column with what I'd consider quasi-mixed success. My biggest question and mystery to date is this:

WHAT IS THAT FUNKY ODOR THAT COMES OFF OF EVERY SINGLE BATCH I MAKE?? :crazy:

I've tried some of my own amateurish recipes - sugar washes, agave (which turned out pretty good), some corn, and the Tried & True All-Bran/sugar vodka most recently. Fermentation always finishes up nicely both with a warming belt and at room temp. I've used turbo, plain old red star, distiller's yeast, and maybe one other. I've tried triple-runs with the pot top, single and double runs with the refractor (once just in a mad attempt to save some pretty rank stuff). I have diluted to drinking strength (80-90 pf) and I've double and triple filtered through a Brita pitcher. I've let the final product sit, open-air, for days to breathe - but it seems that no matter what comes out, whether it tastes good or not, everything has an odd funky "shine" smell to it. Most of what I've made, if you pinch your nose, is pretty good stuff - but its tough to get folks to try your brew if you tell them they can't breathe while they sip!

Anybody else have this issue or, better yet, found a way to mitigate?

Thanks!
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Single Malt Yinzer
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Re: Funky funk funk funk!

Post by Single Malt Yinzer »

Does it smell/taste like cardboard paper? If so you might have a build of tails in your still. Clean the inside of your still(s) with some PBW, followed by citric acid, then do a vinegar run, then a sacrificial alcohol run. Of these the citric is the most important, the PBW is the least.

If that doesn't fix it then you'll get some other suggestions.
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cranky
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Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Funky funk funk funk!

Post by cranky »

What are you doing as far as collection and cuts? Is there copper in there somewhere?
Dbrimer
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Re: Funky funk funk funk!

Post by Dbrimer »

Thanks for the advice Yinzer. I actually cleaned out the entire refractor column before running my most recent wash - the All-Bran vodka recipe on tried and true. I only used PBW though, so maybe not as thorough as might be necessary.

Cranky - The alembic pot still top is all-copper, no scrubbers or anything, just an old fashioned condenser tube. The refracting column is packed full of ceramic saddle scrubbers with a section of copper saddles nested all the way at the top of it. The column itself is 2-2.5' tall. I've tried to make a habit of making cuts after the first 100ml and have done so usually in 1 pint delineations. Temperature escapes me at the moment but I'll usually run the alembic till proof is low and things get that oily, card boardy odor. The refractor holds at about 185 proof all the way through. Those cuts are tougher to make given the high proof output from about 5 gallons of wash.
I've gone so far as to preserve the hearts from a few seperate batches and re-run those to get the hearts out of that as well. It produces a very smooth alcohol, things still have an off smell.

Thanks again guys!
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Swedish Pride
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Re: Funky funk funk funk!

Post by Swedish Pride »

you wouldn't have a plastic hose from the condencer or collecting your spirits in plastic or anything silly like that?
Don't be a dick
Dbrimer
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Re: Funky funk funk funk!

Post by Dbrimer »

Hah! Ya know, now that you mention it...Yes and no! I'm religious about using all glass vessels but never gave any thought to the pex-type plastic tube that came with the refractor column for collection...
Bagasso
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Re: Funky funk funk funk!

Post by Bagasso »

Dbrimer wrote:Hah! Ya know, now that you mention it...Yes and no! I'm religious about using all glass vessels but never gave any thought to the pex-type plastic tube that came with the refractor column for collection...
Well it has been 10 days and I'm thinking that a pex-type take-off tube wouldn't cause something that would make someone say "Funky funk funk funk!". Have you tried running without it? If you did, did it make a difference?
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