Soapy taste in my product.

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

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Kareltje
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Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Kareltje »

This summer I made three runs of birdwatchers. Each in 2 30-L tanks and run in a 80-L potstill.
So I collected 3 5-L samples in between 4 500 mL samples in each run.

I wanted to run the low wines in my 10-L boilers to strip them to 80 %ABV neutrals to play with in the coming winter.
But all the 80 %ABV-samples had a very soapy taste. Horrible!

I collected some and ran these again in a boiler through a thumper filled with water. I read somewhere this would clean the taste. It did not. Not enough, at least.

Then I added carbo animalis to the distilate, hoping this would absorb the soapy taste. I activated the carbon by heating and rinsing it. According to the Compleat Distiller.

After filtering and diluting I ran the distillate. I collected the first 4 part in 100 mL samples, then 2 samples of about 500 mL and then again in 100 mL samples.
After 2 days airing I collected the hearts from 82.5 dgr C (about 80 %) until 90 dgr C (about 60 %) as most soapy and put them aside. The parts that are commonly considered heads and tails are less soapy and I collected these together.

So the most soapy part seems to be between 83 and 90 dgr C and 80 to 60 %ABV.

Does anybody have any clue about the nature of this soapy stuff? And how I can get rid of it?
The Baker
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by The Baker »

'Does anybody have any clue about the nature of this soapy stuff? And how I can get rid of it?'

Use it as a body wash in the shower?

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thecroweater
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by thecroweater »

am I reading right that use were hoping to get neutral in two runs in a pot still?
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Are you sure you didn't distill artooks soap wash ?
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NZChris
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by NZChris »

What were the final pHs of the washes?

Had you done anything to raise pH?
jb-texshine
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by jb-texshine »

Wash your collecting jars and storage vessels with water good and rinse with water then alcohol to remove all traces of soap.
Remember not to blow yourself up,you only get to forget once!


Deo Vendice

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NZChris
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by NZChris »

I never use soap in my distillery, but soap does come up in my run notes a couple of times. Small experimental runs fortunately. Never in a birdwatchers.
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Kareltje
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Kareltje »

thecroweater wrote:am I reading right that use were hoping to get neutral in two runs in a pot still?
I did not mention that in the stripping run I used my spiral riser and ran slow. Althuough the riser has a small ID of 12 mm, it is 2 m long so I can run 80 %ABV starting from 30 or 40 %ABV.

:ebiggrin: I hope the sky does not fall on your head. :mrgreen:
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Kareltje
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Kareltje »

NZChris wrote:What were the final pHs of the washes?

Had you done anything to raise pH?
Did not think of measuring it, as I found this problem after distilling.
No, I did not. And the only things I ever used to correct pH are lemon juice and egg shells.
But I collected all the heads and these are sitting with washing soda.
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Kareltje
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Kareltje »

I did not want to bend over to pick up Artooks soap :oops: and I never use soap or detergent to wash my still. Sometimes I use detergent to wash my glasses, but I make sure I rinse very good with clean water.

Funny thing is: after the last run I tasted the backset and it tasted very clean. So all the soap was either destructed in the backset or distilled in the product.

In an article I found that ethyllaurate is used to train taste panels for soap. Lauric acid is in coconut and palm kernel oil, but also in human, cow and goat milk. Apart from the cows milk I never had any of these near my house, let alone my still.

Thanks for thinking with me, I will go on trying to remedy it.
But I rather know the source, so I can prevent it next time.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Kareltje wrote:I did not want to bend over to pick up Artooks soap :oops:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Kareltje
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Kareltje »

I had 4 liter of about 80 % sit on 250 gr carbo animalis and leter diluted it to 8 liters of 36 % and added some Norit.
Today I smelled and tasted and it was sharp but not soapy. The upper layer was uncolored, but when I filtered it through paper, more and more of the Norit came over and blackened the filtrate!
I suspect it is not wise to still the low wines with the coal, so next project is to remove as much of the coal as possible, without losing too much ethanol.
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Kareltje
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Kareltje »

Today (or rather yesterday!) I ran the collection.
Could not completely filter out the carbon, I guess especially the Norit particles were so small that they went through the coffee filters and did not precipitate.
I was afraid that the soapy smell would be released by the distilling, but I never smelt it in the result.
The wash tasted sharp, not soapy. As far as I tasted the distillate until now, it was a bit sharp, but not soapy anymore.
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Re: Soapy taste in my product.

Post by Pikey »

NZChris wrote:What were the final pHs of the washes?

Had you done anything to raise pH?
I think maybe I see where NZC is coming from - "Saponification " ?
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