'Silverish' residue inside the still.

[sciezyna]

Hello,

My setup: S/S boiler, s/s column, s/s scrubbers, copper head and coils.

I noticed that after mu runs there is a little, powdery silver in colour (or s/s) residue (like metallic paint?). It is easily taken off with my fingertip. Has anyone an idea what it could be? I ran the apparatus first time with vinegar. Now after 5-th run the residues is still there.

I clean all well after each run, wash the removed scrubbers in water till there is little smell only, scrub the boiler clean. No cleaning liquids use.

I have a photo of it if needed.

Thanks
Jules

[Dnderhead]

could it be minerals or something in the water ? try boiling some down to nothing and see if anythings in the bottom of pot.
what is the pot? ss/copper/ other. I just have to ask.

[absinthe]

i have noticed this in my still too... and i think its fusel oils dried on the inside... i only notice it at the end of the run and if I'm going really deep into the tails

[Dnderhead]

I run every thing you can thank of and non in mine and run deep into tales. I was thanking more in the line of minerals in water?

[minime]

I recently dis-assembled a copper 2 inch offset that was a couple of years old. It had only ever been rinsed from the top with fresh water for cleaning purposes. There was a very uniform layer of black or dark silver coating through the entire length of the column and head also but only where the vapors were prominent not the liquid. Never did have any color or flavor in the distillate so I'm thinking maybe sulfur compounds or something along that line. If your distillate is not affected I wouldn't be concerned. Your column is just doing it's job

[sciezyna]

Thanks, thanks for your posts.

I have - S/S 50L keg, S/S 3" kolumn, S/S scubbers, copper Bokakob ('model5') soldered with silver. I use bread or flour for seals.

For a moment I thought maybe scrubbers scrubbed themselves and left something or maybe an original cutting, shavings but they would disappear after couple of runs.

absinthe mentioned going into deep tails and that could be a clue as I am not noticing it every time...

Last strip run went through to 30% and I had some murkiness in the 40%-30% tails. I ran honey + sugar wash and it is quite heavy to ferment and who knows what is there...

minimie describes it right: "uniform layer of black or dark silver coating through the entire length"

I will run water to dry and see. I am not worried about it, but am just asking in case it is something to worry about.

Dankon
Jules

[Brewin'Jack]

Dis boys i can tell ye whas tis. You see in dhe makin of modern copper more zinc id used then ever before. Id is proper alloy form bud over time with use an heat exposure the treatment coating on dhe inside of dhe copper weres away an flows down hill and gets stuck in the traps of reular plumbin'. Dhis is also true in yer still. Zinc is a common meddle we all inges everyday as a meddle an dhe body don gid hurt by dhat, but mad'n sure you clean id out everynow an dhen. Zinc oxide if it accumlates can cause some odd blood born infections. Other dhen dhat your not haven a thing of trouble. Oh an to add somit else, you do na gid id yer use refrigent grade copper because she stuff is treated so yer dont because it would clog up dhe filters and blow dhe head. I been an A/c man fer 30 yers an i knows copper. Me wife says das alls i knows, but dhat neider here nor dhere.

May yer drink always flow from yer own pot

My friends call me Brewin Jack, Lors knows why.

[punkin]

A bit of learning on the spelling front would help, i'm not gunna pick anyone for being uneducated.

We all like to type as we speak, and but your posts are almost unreadable and if that's some kinda accent or patios you're trying to represent, i think you'll still get your point across if you were to ease up a bit











AndWelcomeToTheForumPunkin

[Brewin'Jack]

Point taken bud dhis just taint how i's speakin, tis how i'd Tinkin. I'd take no offence. if yer don unnerstan dhen i'll translate fer yah if i can.

May yer drink always flow from yer own pot

My friends dhey call me Brewin Jack, Lors knows why.

[punkin]

No worries, jack.
I'll just skip over your posts till i get used to it.

[Brewin'Jack]

Dwell Hows yer gonna gid used too id if yer nad gonna read id???

May yer drink always flow from yer own pot

My friends dhey call me Brewin' Jack, Lors knows why.

[punkin]

Dwell Hows yer gonna gid used too id if yer nad gonna read id???

May yer drink always flow from yer own pot

My friends dhey call me Brewin' Jack, Lors knows why.

IGuessIJustAin'tPunkin

[sciezyna]

Well, I didn't intend to create debate about talking/spelling/thinking in written lingo.

I got it all and it is helpful to know what the heck is there in the still. If it is zinc as Jack says then there is no big worries as long as the stuff that comes out of my still is pure.

I noticed that when I ran each second run (already stripped) there is no residue. It looks like there could be something in the sugar wash that does the 'zinc' trick...

BTW - there are other places where the purity of language is important; here the only purity we ought to care about is the purity of our product.

Thanks for the info. God bless, Jack, for yer good wish:

"May yer drink always flow from yer own pot."

I would add: may you always have mates to drink with.

Jules

[rad14701]

Thanks, Punkin, for speaking up... I've opted to skip posts by Brewin'Jack because I don't have the time to try to decipher his purposeful jibberish... I'll spend my time helping people who need help rather than those who just want to fu-k around... It's one thing to be functionally illiterate, but yet another to simply be trying to be a pain in the ass... I'm sure I'm not the only member who feels this way so if you're reading this, Brewin'Jack, knock if off, grow up, or whatever it takes, and we'll all get along a lot better and you'll receive a lot more help than you've been getting... It's just not cute anymore...

[sltm1]

I'm revitalizing this thread for those of us who seen this in their still. I agree with the post that say's I happens when you pull deep tails, as this just happened to me for the 1st time doing Pugi's Rum and pulling down to 20 for the "rum oils". Scared the bejeesus out of me when I saw it, until I read about it, figured I wasn't the only one so just sharing what I found on the topic.

[rager]

I'm revitalizing this thread for those of us who seen this in their still. I agree with the post that say's I happens when you pull deep tails, as this just happened to me for the 1st time doing Pugi's Rum and pulling down to 20 for the "rum oils". Scared the bejeesus out of me when I saw it, until I read about it, figured I wasn't the only one so just sharing what I found on the topic.

I read it could be because of over used DAP/ rum recipes . I had that happen a few times when I first started. I cut the dap down to a couple tbls of dap per 5 gallons of rum.

haven't seen it since. not sure if the dap was the culprit but I know I haven't seen it since

[buflowing]

Elemental analysis indicates copper and sulfur. Get at least a little on all my runs (AGs and UJs). Most noticeable on my pot still head to keg gasket.

[Stonecutter]

Just came across this for the first time. Stripping 6 gallons of SBB Rum. Ran till sweet water. Pulling apart the riser for rinsing and came across this silvery powder/chalk. I’ve not read about this before. Hoping someone has some current insight into this phenomenon.

[BrewinBrian44]

Same thing happened to me in June. I randomly got a very sulfury bourbon wash and this film was a result. Looks like the copper is doing its job. I just didn’t have enough of it.

I still have the sulfury low wines hanging out in a carboy. Gonna run them through a bunch of copper mesh to clean them up.

[Stonecutter]

Thanks BB44. Being this is my first time running all molasses I’m not sure what they’re “supposed” to smell like but the low wines don’t have a sulphur smell.
The silver shit rinsed and wiped off. BrewinJacks answer, while strenuous to read, seems plausible. If I got the gist of what he was saying. I sure hope it’s not leeching zinc from bad copper. I only noticed it at the bottom of my riser just past the sight glass on the boiler.

Edit: here’s a link to a more plausible cause

When I run rum I always get a silvery oil on my copper plates. I believe it is a mineral from the wash. I do not get it with other type of runs. Others have reported it as well.

[BrewinBrian44]

Thanks BB44. Being this is my first time running all molasses I’m not sure what they’re “supposed” to smell like but the low wines don’t have a sulphur smell.
The silver shit rinsed and wiped off. BrewinJacks answer, while strenuous to read, seems plausible. If I got the gist of what he was saying. I sure hope it’s not leeching zinc from bad copper. I only noticed it at the bottom of my riser just past the sight glass on the boiler.

Edit: here’s a link to a more plausible cause

When I run rum I always get a silvery oil on my copper plates. I believe it is a mineral from the wash. I do not get it with other type of runs. Others have reported it as well.

Your still probably did its job with all the copper cleaning up the wash. I believe the silver stuff is salts forming with the copper. My silvery gunk actually had a slight purple tinge to it. It was super easy to rinse off like you described.

[NZChris]

It's nothing you need to worry about. It's fusel oils reflecting and refracting light as does any oil film on water. If you don't flush it out with hot water, the next run will flush it down into the boiler with the passive reflux as the still head gets up to temperature.

I don't take my still head off, or clean the still, between successive stripping runs.

[LWTCS]

Low sulfur producing yeast and better fermentation care should minimize.