New distiller

[bodhidq]

Hello all,
I am new to distilling and I just finished building a 5 Gallon all copper pot still. I was so fortunate to find this website with so many knowledgeable members. I'm sure this will prove to be invaluable. I just ran my first water only run to check for leaks etc. Everything worked great but the water tAsted like crap. What's the best way to clean the inside of the boiler and head? How do I get rid of that nasty taste before I run a real wash through there? Thanks for any tips and I look forward to learning from you all.

[beelah]

Do a water and vingar run next and then run a sugar wash and throw it away afterwards, as it will be full flux and ohter nasties from all the soldering and oxidization of the copper.

I know that you want a taste of your own first product, but patience is important as well as is safety and cleanliness. A simple sugar wash should cost you less than $5.00, and it is a good investment in producing good product in the future.

Ther are some threads that talk about how to clean your equipment, but basicly it is vinegar and water and hot alcohol that will clean up you new still.

Good luck.

[blanikdog]

What beelah said, BH. And welcome

blanik

[Kentucky shinner]

as blanik said +1 . one thing I will add, I like to turn off the cooling water for about 30mins and let it get really hot then turn the cooling water back on. I let the steam clean it out too.

[rubber duck]

welcome aboard.

+1 I'm kinda ocd so I do 2 alcohol runs, but 1 should do the job.

[LWTCS]

Welcome welcome welcome

What they said.

Piccies please.

And BTW,,,,,,,welcome

[bodhidq]

Thanks everyone. I'll do a vinegar run tonight and then a sugar wash as soon as I can. Great tip about turnng off the water and letting the steam clean!

[bodhidq]

Ok, I still have not done a plain sugar wash clean but I went back and did two vinegar+water runs and there was still a lot of sediment in the sution. Also it seemed like the amount of liquid coming out of my worm was not very much. I was collecting about 100 ml every 2 min. Is this slow, or am I expecting too much? The copper sediment seemed to dissappear at the end of the second run and the solution stopped tasting like metal. However, there are dark streaks on the walls of my boiler and head after the run is done. Does that mean the inside is still dirty? I used 5% silver/phospho rods to braze with so it should be pretty clear. I appreciate all the help.

-B

[Kentucky shinner]

I think you will find you get much better output when you are distilling alcohol than just water and vinegar. just clean the inside of your boiler like you would any other pot. Hot water maybe a little soap and your hand you dont want to use anything that will scratch your boiler or head.
I think your gonna be fine when you distill something with alcohol . My first still I went out and bought a liter of cheap high proof vodaka cut it 1 -1 with water and ran it also, I was just to excited to wait for my wash....
Good luck, sound like your on the right track.
Shinner

[bodhidq]

Thanks Shinner, I was strting to feel like my still was a total bust. Speaking of, "too excited to wait". Could you skip the whole fermentation process and just distill a bunch of cheap box wine or malt liqour (like king cobra or Olde English)?

[Kentucky shinner]

get you the cheapest liter of at least 80proof 40abv likker and cut it 1-1 with water and run it... You may still need to do a good water and sugar wash run though... be patient my friend you will get it clean..

[Braz]

Cheap box wine would work. Even better would be cheap bottled wine 'cause you get to keep the gallon glass jug. Beer or malt liquor won't work. The hops leave bad flavors.

Braz

[bodhidq]

Thanks for the tips, I'm a bartender so I can get really cheap vodka to try the cleaning runs. Will save me some time and money. After it is clean can you just take cheap vodka and run it through to get a higher proof liqour?

[bodhidq]

Ok, so I did a vodka cleaning run and everything worked great. I tried to make cuts just for experience sake but I have no idea what I'm doing. God thing was that the liquid was all sediment free and didn't smell or taste metalic. I sampled some and it tasted pretty good. I just cooked up a 5 gal batch of the Gerber from the Tried and True section and I. Ant wait to throw thatbin the still and see how it turns out. It is clear that I have NO idea how to make cuts so going to read as much as I can on this site and hopefully I'll figure it out. I'll probably lose some good product while I learn but I enjoy this whole process. I really apreciate all the help, I'm sure I'll need it again soon.

-B

[Braz]

Making cuts is more art than science and I am not very good at it yet either. I ask my wife to help as her sense of taste and smell is more refined than mine.

Here's a rough guide that works for me.

First 100-200ml is foreshots - throw it away or use for solvent;
next 20% is heads
middle 50% is hearts
last 30% is tails.

Now the cutoffs are never that neat or that hard and fast and you can use late heads or early tails depending on your own taste but I find it is a good starting guide.

Braz

[bodhidq]

Thanks Braz, I appreciate your input. Might ask my wife to help smell as well. My wife's getting her Ph.D in Nano-Engineering, maybe her lab could build some type of nano processor that would tell me the composition of the vapor in my condenser...Sounds like research her government grant would like to pay for I'll hopefully do the Gerber run on Thursday night so we'll see how everything turns out.

-B