Slight vomit smell/taste

Sugar, and all about sugar washes. Where the primary ingredient is sugar, and other things are just used as nutrients.

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moeredSide2
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Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by moeredSide2 »

Hi!
I've been distilling for a while, but this is the first time I've had this problem.

Simple sugar wash. Wash tasted fine, but end product has what I can only describe as a slight "vomit" flavour/taste.

Was it my cuts, or something else?
Pikey
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by Pikey »

I've heard tell of that "vomit smell" in infected washes - but not the way round you describe - I can only think left overs from last stilling - ie mucky kit - is that a possibility ?
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NZChris
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by NZChris »

It will be butyric acid from an infection in the ferment. Use the HD Google Search for vomit and you should get a quite a few hits.
Shine0n
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by Shine0n »

But the butyric acid I had in my dunder smelled of pineapple (slightly) Once distilled and never any vomit smell in the final distillate, only in the dunder itself.

This a first I've heard in a sugar wash, it's possible that the fermenter had some contamination from a previous ferment?
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NZChris
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by NZChris »

Shine0n wrote:But the butyric acid I had in my dunder smelled of pineapple (slightly) Once distilled and never any vomit smell in the final distillate, only in the dunder itself.
That is because it has been converted to the ester, Ethyl butanoate.
Shine0n
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by Shine0n »

Now that would stand for the op as well wouldn't it?

If it were an infection in the ferment and was distilled it would then create the ester as well, no?

I'm looking up the term for distilling on Google about Ethyl Butanoate.
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NZChris
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by NZChris »

It needs acid for the reaction, so it is best to allow time for that to happen in the wash, rather than distil it and be stuck with it.
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HDNB
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by HDNB »

NZChris wrote:It needs acid for the reaction, so it is best to allow time for that to happen in the wash, rather than distil it and be stuck with it.
it does modify after distillation, but 3 years later...it's still modifying (it's still pukey, but interesting) but the distillate was vomitorium bad when it went on the wood in march 2014
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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NZChris
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Re: Slight vomit smell/taste

Post by NZChris »

There are components in the wood that help, but the OP has a sugar wash and is probably wanting some quick drinking likker.
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