When I was yesterday brewin' a pure corn mash, was distracted by my daughter (age 12) for an "urgent to solve by dad problem"... that took me at least 15 minutes.
So the mash burned on the bottom of the keg... You may not imagine : the wash was boilin' and a deep blue smoke came out of the bubbles!!!
I stoped the heater, putted some cold water in the mash, and get the keg empty... The vision of the bottom was awfull : 5 to 10 mm of black burned corn charcoal!
Here's the meaning of topic's titlte : scrubbers are also usefull to...SCRUB! It took me 2 hours to clean the keg.
Today I'll make a new wash, and everybody at home is informed : Don't disturb!
I'm french speaking!
Boiler : 50 L (13 gal) beer keg, gas heated.
Reflux : 104 cm (41 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter withh SS scrubbers packing.
Potstill : 40 cm (15 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter without packing.
Finally, I saved what I could from this burned wash...
Added 2 kgs sugar... Pitched baker's yeast... Let ferment about a week...
It didn't smell very good (burn smell)... Tonight I'm distillin' this wash and the result is quite good : a little "smoked and burned" taste, I'm collectin' the tails at this moment. Final product seems to be drinkable, I'll age it on oak and will se the result in a few weeks...
Otherwise, my next batch turned better : pure oats mash that ferments well!
I'm french speaking!
Boiler : 50 L (13 gal) beer keg, gas heated.
Reflux : 104 cm (41 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter withh SS scrubbers packing.
Potstill : 40 cm (15 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter without packing.
I've burned a mash just like that so I am familiar with what a mess you are looking at on the bottom of the pot. I scrubbed as much as I could but it was burnt on good and my pot is so deep I could not really get a good amount of pressure on the crust. I soaked it for days but nothing worked. I could scrub the bulk of it off but still the black burnt stuff wouldn't budge. I took it to work with me and smeared on some pickling paste, let it sit for an hour or so and just wiped it off with a rag. I was so happy to finally be done with that and I'll make sure never ever to do that again.
... I say God bless you, I don't say bless you ... I am not the Lord, I can't do that ... Dane Cook
This could be another good reason to clear your mash befor you distill.
We spend a lot of time to get the finished product, a week or so ferminting 8 to 12 hours distilling a hour or two back flushing and cleaning the boiler to get things ready for the next run. so why not go that little extra step and try to eliminate that burnt mash in your boiler or the bad tasteing hooch that you spent all that time trying to make.
I guess I should have read a little more closely at what was realy being said. Sorry my screw up . I guess this is another case in point where I miss interpit the meaning of typed words.
It took me 2 hours to clean the keg.