Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Putting older posts here. Going to try to keep the novice forum pruned about 90 days work. The 'good' old stuff is going to be put into appropriate forums.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
ghostfreak
Novice
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 5:07 am

Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by ghostfreak »

Used the triple distilled turbo & turbo clear mix, fermented out ok, cleared and left for 24hrs, syphoned off and left for another 24hrs. (Very clear)
Distilled 4 ltrs and threw the first 25ml. Ended up with a very strong nail varnish smelling liquid even after filtering??
This is my first wash through the Airstill system although I did flush it once with water.
Sorry for what seem like a boring old question..
Last edited by ghostfreak on Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
plonker
Swill Maker
Posts: 400
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:17 am
Location: West Oz

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Smell

Post by plonker »

Nail varnish? or nail varnish remover, aka actetone? I have had acetone on some washes, usually comes out first...

But varnish?? maybe the still needs a good clean???
ghostfreak
Novice
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 5:07 am

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Smell

Post by ghostfreak »

Its more like polish remover I think. :econfused: It is a brand new still.
plonker
Swill Maker
Posts: 400
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:17 am
Location: West Oz

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Smell

Post by plonker »

When you ferment sugars, the yeasts produce a number of alcohols, mainly ethanol, (The good stuff) but also a bunch of others including acetone (which IS nail varnish remover) and methanol, isopropanol, etc etc.. some of these are toxic, but in small doses they just give you a hangover.. :)

Have a look at this link to the parent site http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow for info on alcohols..

Having said that though, usually you dont get that much acetone in a turbo wash.. how much sugar did you put in?

In regards to washing your still, the guys here will run water and steam through a new still first, then put a wash through and throw the alcohol away the first time around... dont know enough about your particular still to comment though.. :)
ghostfreak
Novice
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 5:07 am

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by ghostfreak »

Ok thanks. I used 6kg of sugar. Started another with the same smell at the moment but am going to try double filtering it.
DrTorque
Swill Maker
Posts: 156
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:27 am
Location: Where distillation is legal and the wives don't nag

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by DrTorque »

I believe you're smelling ethyl acetate, and I had the same issue when I used turbo yeasts. You can't separate the acetate from the ethanol because the boiling points are too close together and they form an azeotrope. Before I realized what was going on, I even distilled some stuff 3 times, and the smell was still there. I used baker's yeast and it eliminated that problem.

Nail polish remover is either acetone or the "acetone free" which is ethyl acetate.
Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. W.C. Fields
rad14701
retired
Posts: 20865
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:46 pm
Location: New York, USA

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by rad14701 »

Attempting to use full dosage turbo yeast in combination with an air still is the crux of your problem, ghostfreak... You might be able to get away with using full dosage turbo yeast with a reflux column still but not with an air still... There's good reason why the brew shops recommend clearing agents and carbon filtering when using turbos - they want more of your money...

We have plenty of inexpensive Tried and True Recipes that don't require turbo yeast and will clear and distill quality spirits without clearing agents or carbon filtering... I'll stand behind Gerber because I've pushed it as high as 14% ABV using bakers yeast and it distills with no off flavor or smell... It's hard for some folks to believe that baby cereal + sugar + water + yeast can get you to almost turbo ABV but it can...

If you're going to continue using the air still, do yourself a favor and nix the turbo yeast... You won't be sorry... The time you save trying to clean up your wash and spirits will be more than offset by the relative ease of non-turbo washes, with only a minor reduction in spirits...
Rod
Swill Maker
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:28 pm
Location: Aussie

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by Rod »

You may find that breaking the spirit down to about 20%

and adding sodium bicarbonate or Sodium carbonate ( two schools of thought on this , do a search to get detail )

and the level of ethyl acetate will be reduced

the search will tell you what the level of addition is

and then redistill

my recommendation to do the search is for education , rather than giving you the answer
The Friendly Spirit
trulyfair12
Novice
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:53 pm

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by trulyfair12 »

Nail varnish? or nail varnish remover, aka actetone? I have had acetone on some washes, usually comes out first
User avatar
der wo
Master of Distillation
Posts: 3817
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2015 2:40 am
Location: Rote Flora, Hamburg

Re: Newbie Quesy: Nail Varnish Remover Smell

Post by der wo »

I have used the Triple Still a few times. It was the best one of the turbo yeasts. Btw it is no real turbo, because it does not ferment 8kg sugar per 25l, only 6kg. Surprisingly it was very cheap, less expensive as the Vodka Star without liquid carbon, so I bought it.
Yes, ghostfreak should read through the birdwatchers and other threads, we don't need turbo yeast. He will learn much and eliminate the mistakes he did with the Triple Still, whatever it was.

Btw I really would like to have once a bourbon-ferment with nail varnish remover or glue smell. I think, it's the last puzzle for an imitation of cheap commercial bourbons. :sick:
In this way, imperialism brings catastrophe as a mode of existence back from the periphery of capitalist development to its point of departure. - Rosa Luxemburg
Post Reply