My rig is a boca 1.5 inch 24 inch column with 1 foot codenser on top. The
boiler is almost 4 gallons. It has about 6 copper scrubbies in the column. Im shooting for the best nuetral I can make at this point.
So I was wondering if someone could check my logic on this?
and yes, I am going back for even more reading...
I ran water to clean it up , then some water and vinegar. Came out nice and clean. No tastes afterward but a VERY slight taste of copper.
( Good to check the still, clean it and see how it goes. Seems simple....right?)
So then I grabbed roughly three gallons of heads and tails from various experiments and proceeded to run them through. I figured they were pretty much already at 40-50 % so I just left them as is and ran them.
( I think this is where my logic breaks down. I mixed UJSM feints with nuetral feints and did not treat them with any carbonate or anything else. Just straight through.)
So I ran the column, got it to where it equalized and was stable at 172.4 , then started bleeding off spirit. The first three small samples were all very "banana mixed with acetone", then it dropped away, but I could still smell the USMJ and the Tomato wash in it. It tasted fine, but I could still smell just the faintest echo of it, when I diluted to taste, there it was, two very seperate and distinct flavors in the finish. I decided to run with it anyway and try to search some asnswers when it was done. All told it was about 2 and a half hours of dropping for nearly a gallon of nearly pure and some feints for the next time. I watched the temp rise slowly as I collected and then stopped when the distillate started to remind me of old dried mushrooms.
( Hmmmm. what the hell is that doing there? Too greedy with the cuts last time? In theory ( please dont shoot me ) they should have come out to almost nothing if they kept going. Is something wrong with the column? Is it not refluxing properly? Is this just a "learning to drive" thing? Maybe I took too much too fast? )
The odd thing. When I dropped all the feints in, they were cystal clear. After the run, when I opened the lid, it looked just like I had just done a run of UJSM and it SMELLED just like a straight wash of it as well. I mean it had a yellow tinge to it and it smelled old and sour. Another interesting thing is that the "stainless steel" balls I was using for boiling chips had turned a really odd brown color. Obviously they were not SS. Next time I will be throwing in some mismatched SS spoons to take their place. Im thinking they may have had something to do with it too. Perhaps THEY are where the yellow tinge came from, in which case, All my low wines are now suspect. MY copper packing needed to be rinsed out as well, as it smelled of UJSM.
So this is my thinking:
Next time I run, I should make it a point to include more water in the run, make sure I dont play with the temperature ( I changed it by a few degrees two times) and possibly use some carbonate to clean the Feints/low wines with. I should also start with a wash more suited to actual nuetrals. I particurly like my version of rice nuetral based on the gerber wash.
If I was going to clean this last gallon, I would add it to the pot with at least two gallons of water, maybe some bicarb/carbonate. Also I need to replace the balls with something that I can gaurantee is non reactive like glass or even stainless steel spoons and such.
Might be time to build a parrot as well.
Need an alcometer.
Any feedback would be appreciated....and Yes, I will be reading even more.
ScottishBoy
BTW, did I mention that I will be reading some more?
