Cleaning Still After Construction

[byacey]

After scrubbing out column and condenser with hot, soapy water, I understand it should be washed with vinegar too. Should it be soaked submerged in vinegar, or just rinsed with vinegar, or should I distill some vinegar in the still as a first run before water? I was going to try and find a wire bottle type brush to run through the bore to help get rid of the flux and scale left after soldering.

[HookLine]

After scrubbing out column and condenser with hot, soapy water, I understand it should be washed with vinegar too. Should it be soaked submerged in vinegar, or just rinsed with vinegar, or should I distill some vinegar in the still as a first run before water? I was going to try and find a wire bottle type brush to run through the bore to help get rid of the flux and scale left after soldering.

Soak it overnight. And then use the wire brush (with vinegar) on it.

Then distill some vinegar. Then water.

[Woody_Woodchuck]

I read in other posts how folks did the first cleaning, I will use my old method on the new copper pot water purifier. I made a dilute solution of muriatic acid and sloshed it around the pot, slag box and through the coil. Did a right good job of taking off all the flux and shined up the copper nice. I toted it down to the creek and splashed it a while. Creek weren’t too awful deep being as it was late summer but I hollowed out a little area enough to get it wet. I powdered it with baking soda and did a good sponging and ran that solution through the box, coils and all. Did this a couple times till I used up the whole box.

As I recall it took a few runs to age it nice and find out how to properly clean it all. First run was blue tinged and smelled like something you didn’t want to sip on. In the P&P testing (proof and purity) it burned with a yellow flame also, not a happy sign. I scrubbed it clean as a whistle, all shiny and such before the second run. Second run was bluish also. For the third run I just sponged and rinsed it all out with a solution of baking soda. I left the copper aged, not all shiny. Run looked clear and smelled like something you might want to drink. P&P’d much better also. Had a flame so clear you had to pay attention so you didn’t get burned cause it wasn’t out yet.

Well, I dumped that batch into the truck also and mixed up another barrel of mash. Made the run and boy O boy did it have the sweetest smell that wafted through the basement. I was feeling brave and took a few sips off the spoon. Damn, wasn’t at all unpleasant. After that I took to leaving the old mash in the pot and back flushing the coil and slag box with water and leaving them filled with water until the next run. Before firing it up I’d drain the water and back flush for a spell. Never had a bad run after that… well, cept for the time we ran a nasty batch of peach wine that tasted like it had some road kill added. Yup, tasted exactly like the crappy wine only burned as it went down. Truck got most of that run.

Now, I do recall running a batch of wine that started to turn on me. Cleaned the copper inside, came out blue tinted and got me back to having to age the old pot all over again. Never ran a batch of wine or mash that started to vinegar after that.