I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

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fizzix
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I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by fizzix »

Both stainless boiler and CM column with copper packing. Copper mesh has been cleaned twice, but not recently.
But I can swear "Shirley" is producing cleaner product than ever. Cuts are distinct and easy.
Hearts are luscious and full. Does seasoning happen like granny's old iron skillet?
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by zed255 »

I find every run is getting better myself. I think it is more about getting to know the proper protocols and ones specific rig. Maybe there is a little 'seasoning' effect but improving in skill is more likely.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by HDNB »

zed255 wrote:I find every run is getting better myself. I think it is more about getting to know the proper protocols and ones specific rig. Maybe there is a little 'seasoning' effect but improving in skill is more likely.
i agree with both, seasoning and hopefully i'm getting better!
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by cede »

Did you remove your copper packing to let it dry between each run ?
With my old bok, Iet them dry, and from time to time I washed the packing with citric acid when copper was too dark.
Well, was for tasteless vodka, don't know a lot about flavored products, I ran just a few times in pot mode.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by fizzix »

cede wrote:Did you remove your copper packing to let it dry between each run ?
No. Just drip dries in the column :lol:
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by Mike6090 »

fizzix wrote:
cede wrote:Did you remove your copper packing to let it dry between each run ?
No. Just drip dries in the column :lol:
Good to know. I wondered about this myself. Thanks.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by butterpants »

I would bet money it's skill and familiarity. Stainless might passivate but it doesn't season like you're talking. The copper in pot mode is there just to react with sulfur wash compounds or redistillaion sites in a column.... not sure how it would change over time, except getting dirty.

One thing I did notice using some fairly dirty (used in pot mode, sulfates... not true dirt) copper packing multiple times was that early heads and fores in subsequent runs could pull out/off copper sulfate giving distillate a blueish hue (not to mention it's poisonous). They just have better solvent properties than watery tails in the end of a run.

I clean all my packing now after a run. Few hours in hot oxiclean or PBW then hot rinse followed by a few minute soak in Star San or Citric Acid.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is

Post by HDNB »

butterpants wrote: Stainless might passivate but it doesn't season like you're talking.
after about 10 run the SS will develop a coating of baked on crud light gold eventually becoming brown that does not wash off in a dishwasher with extra detergent, it will come off with fores assisted with a scotchbright.

I call that seasoning, damned if i'm gonna work that hard to get it polished :ebiggrin:
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Re: I Swear My Still Is

Post by butterpants »

HDNB wrote:
butterpants wrote: Stainless might passivate but it doesn't season like you're talking.
after about 10 run the SS will develop a coating of baked on crud light gold eventually becoming brown that does not wash off in a dishwasher with extra detergent, it will come off with fores assisted with a scotchbright.

I call that seasoning, damned if i'm gonna work that hard to get it polished :ebiggrin:
Every 40-50 gallons wash run I overnight hot soak in oxyclean/pbw, hot rinse then soak again in Star San for 20 minutes (it's the best way to remove the oxlate formed by oxyclean that looks like you sprinkled baby powder on your stainless but won't wipe off). My still has run weekly for a year and still looks like it just came out of the box. Still learning but the product has created quite a few smiles. What you're describing is just filth. More power to ya if you like the results but as a brewer my metal can't look like that.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by kimbodious »

if it is calcium oxalate that is coating the SS then anything acidic will bring it off,
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Re: I Swear My Still Is

Post by fizzix »

butterpants wrote:I would bet money it's skill and familiarity. Stainless might passivate but it doesn't season like you're talking. The copper in pot mode is there just to react with sulfur wash compounds or redistillaion sites in a column.... not sure how it would change over time, except getting dirty.

One thing I did notice using some fairly dirty (used in pot mode, sulfates... not true dirt) copper packing multiple times was that early heads and fores in subsequent runs could pull out/off copper sulfate giving distillate a blueish hue (not to mention it's poisonous). They just have better solvent properties than watery tails in the end of a run.

I clean all my packing now after a run. Few hours in hot oxiclean or PBW then hot rinse followed by a few minute soak in Star San or Citric Acid.
I didn't want to be pretentious by exclaiming my "skill" but I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. There is a wipeable film in the boiler base.
Seasoning or not, I've got the boiler soaking in PBW overnight and will do a 20-minute StarSan after that. Already cleaned the mesh last night. It's just time to do it.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by Yummyrum »

fizzix
I think you are correct ...fresh clean copper does not produce the same product as Patenea'd ...is that a word :wtf: copper .

A freshly cleaned still won't make you sick but the booze from a blackened still tastes better .
Been a few years since I last cleaned my stills . Might be a few years before I clean them again . :thumbup:
I know Salt Bush Bill hasn't cleaned his in 5+ years ...his stuff is good
Guess'n a wad of copper wool in a staino still is the same . Don't clean it .
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by fizzix »

Yummyrum wrote:fizzix
I think you are correct ...fresh clean copper does not produce the same product as Patenea'd ...is that a word :wtf: copper .

A freshly cleaned still won't make you sick but the booze from a blackened still tastes better .
Been a few years since I last cleaned my stills . Might be a few years before I clean them again . :thumbup:
I know Salt Bush Bill hasn't cleaned his in 5+ years ...his stuff is good
Guess'n a wad of copper wool in a staino still is the same . Don't clean it .
I cleaned it this time because I'm still making Booner's (got a 10-liter barrel to fill) and will see how the CLEAN STILL Booner compares to the DIRTY STILL Booner.
The copper mesh after cleaning retained its patina, complete with blackened edges. Smells better, though.
Yes, Patenea'd is a word that works for me if it works for you.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by butterpants »

fizzix wrote:
Yummyrum wrote:fizzix
I think you are correct ...fresh clean copper does not produce the same product as Patenea'd ...is that a word :wtf: copper .

A freshly cleaned still won't make you sick but the booze from a blackened still tastes better .
Been a few years since I last cleaned my stills . Might be a few years before I clean them again . :thumbup:
I know Salt Bush Bill hasn't cleaned his in 5+ years ...his stuff is good
Guess'n a wad of copper wool in a staino still is the same . Don't clean it .
I cleaned it this time because I'm still making Booner's (got a 10-liter barrel to fill) and will see how the CLEAN STILL Booner compares to the DIRTY STILL Booner.
The copper mesh after cleaning retained its patina, complete with blackened edges. Smells better, though.
Yes, Patenea'd is a word that works for me if it works for you.
I'd be interested in seeing a triangle test of Booners from a cleaned vs never cleaned still. Make it so!
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by butterpants »

kimbodious wrote:if it is calcium oxalate that is coating the SS then anything acidic will bring it off,
True but I'd rather have it come off cleaning than in product. Star San is quite acidic
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by corene1 »

Just sharing my experiences. With my all copper pot still I did notice that after several runs the flavor of the spirit did improve . The same with my stainless steel plated column. The plated column has a section at the bottom that is 4 inch by 8 inches tall and is filled with 3/8 inch copper tube pieces 3/8 inch long , these are for copper contact and the plates and downcomers themselves are copper. This is the only copper in the system except for the liebeg.
After the initial cleaning run I have never cleaned either still. My procedure for cleaning the still after a run is to take all the cooling water off and steam the inside with the tails. These have a bunch of oils in them and put a coating on the surface of the metals. I disassemble the rig while it is hot and let it air dry. When I make my next run the fores will strip off all the oil and all is good from there on. have never had a problem with the greenish copper sulfates on any runs and have inspected the insides of the still and have never had any copper sulfates forming. Both still have run well over a couple hundred gallons of washes and mashes each.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by fizzix »

When the Distilling Goddess speaks, I drop everything and listen.
Thanks for the input, Corene!
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by HDNB »

Right on Corene. not sure why i was thinking i should hook up to caustic and acid cip stuff.

the only time i got a blush tint was on the second run on a new PC i added to enhance cooling. after it patina'd up it has never been a problem (prolly 30-40 runs past that now)

i use copper mesh on top of a copper plate in a SS like you. the copper is just there to clean things up and it does work. The mesh gets black and silver oils on it by the end of every strip, i just run a bit of water to wash it down thru the down commers into the kettle, and off to the sewer.

After a spirit run and 5 strip runs later (before next spirit run) I have been tearing down for a soap and water clean up, more to make sure the DC's are clear because they get a lot of black soot in them. The rest of the still is just lightly washed with soap and a brush and then thoroughly rinsed with clean water. also gives a chance to inspect all the gaskets and such.

i never dry between runs, the oils keep everything well lubricated between runs and i never see any oxides...i run quite often though so maybe they don't get much of a chance to show, sometime i may have 10 days or so and no blues or greens. I find the patina when everything is as it should be are pink and yellow and brown. that is, plates get brown and yellow on top and the bottoms get pink.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by OtisT »

fizzix wrote:
cede wrote:Did you remove your copper packing to let it dry between each run ?
No. Just drip dries in the column :lol:
If I’m not running back to back (within a few days) I remove mine for a rinse and hang dry. My mesh would still be wet a few weeks after a run if I don’t remove it.

I am a believer in seasoning. It’s how I justify not cleaning it frequently. ;-)
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by LWTCS »

Yummyrum wrote:fizzix
I think you are correct ...fresh clean copper does not produce the same product as Patenea'd ...is that a word :wtf: copper .

A freshly cleaned still won't make you sick but the booze from a blackened still tastes better .
Been a few years since I last cleaned my stills . Might be a few years before I clean them again . :thumbup:
I know Salt Bush Bill hasn't cleaned his in 5+ years ...his stuff is good
Guess'n a wad of copper wool in a staino still is the same . Don't clean it .

Agree.
I think the only caveat to that is when you constantly dig too deep into tails and funk everything up every run.
Only ever hosed out here.

Pro distiller in my home state says he wants his plates clean as a whistle every run. Says the spirit ain't as good when the plates are "dirty"...Pretty sure I don't know what the heck he's talking about.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by Honest_Liberty »

so if I have a stainless steel column and I pack it with copper scrubbers, I shouldn't throw them out after each run? Man. I wish I would have known I could keep them before i threw out about 15' of copper mesh already. Just rinse and dry? perfect.

how many runs will it last?
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by fizzix »

Honest_Liberty wrote:so if I have a stainless steel column and I pack it with copper scrubbers, I shouldn't throw them out after each run? Man. I wish I would have known I could keep them before i threw out about 15' of copper mesh already. Just rinse and dry? perfect.

how many runs will it last?
Copper can last years. If it gets funky, soak or boil in a vinegar/lemon juice mix, rinse well and dry. But the copper industry thanks you otherwise for your indulgence.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by Honest_Liberty »

oh great! ha, I'm laughing at myself now. Thank you very much for clarifying.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by googe »

The rare occasion I clean my still, the first couple of runs just don't taste right.
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Re: I Swear My Still Is "Seasoning"

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Honest_Liberty wrote:how many runs will it last?
However long it lasts, when it looks all thin and flogged out I guess its time for a change.
Backset cleans copper really well.
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