strange thing in my jar

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ratdog01
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strange thing in my jar

Post by ratdog01 »

Hi everyone
Got a bit of a odd one .

I did a mixed berry mash/wine (black currant and red currant) with the idea to bottle some and distill some to make a brandy
ended up with some nice stuff so rack off 10 bottles as wine and distilled the rest .
all went well got a good volume at around 65/70% ABV very clean good taste sweet smell
stood open for 48hrs (cheese cloth over top ) watered down to 40 % and carbon filtered all good .
next day had some clouding in jar just patches floating around so coffee filted it .
what was left in coffee filer was a film that turned blue
anyone have any ideas
and is it safe to use ?
thanks
RD01
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still_stirrin
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by still_stirrin »

You want to use the dirty coffee filters?
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ratdog01
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by ratdog01 »

no not really but could post it out if you want it

was thinking more about the brandy to be fair
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I usually do a double distillation to clean up the first run low wines. Activated carbon filtering probably removed a good bit of flavor. Not clear whether you did a one and done pot still run, plated reflux column run, or packed reflux column run - or a double pot still run...

Look up blue distillate or blue flecks in distillate using the HD google search function..

Cheers!
-j
————
i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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ratdog01
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by ratdog01 »

Sorry was single run on a pot still , the brandy was clear
what i got was like a sedament in it after a few days floating in patches like little clouds it went blue in the coffee filter but looked white/grey in the jar
its not come back

thanks
RD01
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by Saltbush Bill »

I have to ask why you carbon filtered a brandy ? brandy has flavour, and carbon removes flavour.
ratdog01
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by ratdog01 »

just a thing i have been doing to polish my product TBH did not think about taking out flavour
used the carbon on nentral spirit just to smooth it out

bad habbit thanks for pointing it out
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by jonnys_spirit »

First run on a pot still (this is called low wines) will have all kinds of fusels and sometimes oils and things in there.. I often see a film floating on top and have had some flecks of blue/green material on AG stripping runs. A second spirit run fractioned out into 20-30 collection jars cleans it up nice and great flavor too. No activated carbon filtering needed or wanted...

Volume is the issue because it will take 3-4 strip runs to get enough low ines @ about 25-30%abv to fill the boiler for a spirit run... For small batches I can do a single strip on the larger boiler (16 gallons) that will give enough low wines to do two spirit runs on the small still (2.5 gallons)...

Topping up low wines with fresh wine/beer/wash is another way to do say one or two strips and add some fresh ferment to get the volume in the boiler up to where you want it for a spirit run..

Cheers!
-j
————
i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
————
ratdog01
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Posts: 65
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:59 am
Location: nottingham england

Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by ratdog01 »

thanks makes sence

thanks
RD01
ratdog01
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Posts: 65
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:59 am
Location: nottingham england

Re: strange thing in my jar

Post by ratdog01 »

thanks to
jonnys_spirit

have been and look at the posts now i see , everydays a school day .
not done many double runs a strip then spirit run as my still gives a good product or so i was thinking .
going to double run my next lot of mixed berrys and see what the diferance is

i have never ran a AG with my reflux as my understanding was you loose your flavours with a reflux
but again this may be wrong just working on what i have been reading

thanks again
RD01
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