concerned about lead

[mountaindewer]

Hi
I have build my reflux still from a metal cooker an a copper 42mm x 1100mm pipe. i had some problems wit soldering as I dont have any expierence, also I have used old solder and don't know if it contains any lead. Also i have used a high temperature resistant silicone over the loldered joints as I am shure the soldering is bad and there may be leach...
after all mu still works well and I have distilled some amount of alcohol, also I discarded first 100 g
But I am very concerned about solder may containing lead and that silicone used.. Just want to know is there any way to test the alcohol to know if I can drink it.
I have heard about testing with light the spirit up: fom wikipedia
A common folk test for the quality of moonshine was to pour a small quantity of it into a spoon and set it alight. The theory was that a safe distillate burns with a blue flame, but a tainted distillate burns with a yellow flame. Practitioners of this simple test also held that if a radiator coil had been used as a condenser, then there would be lead in the distillate, which would give a reddish flame. This led to the phrase, "Lead burns red and makes you dead."

so I tested mine and it was like blue at the base but then goes yellow up (no red)
Please let me know what should I do, is there any way to filter alcohol for heavy metals, does polishing with carbon help?

also my distillate comes very cloudy when diluted with water (i have tried tap and bottled water) shall i use spring watter?

also i tried to drink my alcohol (about 300-400 grams 40%)and i had some hangover next morning

[blind drunk]

Sounds like you need to start over. I would.

[Prairiepiss]

I'm not following you here? You soldered it with old solder you don't know if it contained lead or not. The you covered the joint with silicone? Like gasket maker or calk silicone? That silicone could ne as bad as the lead?

Please clarify what you did.

There are lead test kits available at most hardware stores. They are used for testing paint to see if it contains lead. Get one of these kits and test your solder.

The burn test won't tell you anything but how much alcohol is present. ABV.

Did you make cuts? Fores heads hearts and tails? If its clouding up on you it sounds like you have tails in there. And if your getting a hangover it sounds like you have heads in it to.

Read up on making cuts in the the distiller reading lounge.

You said you built your still with a metal cooker? What kind of metal is it made of?

Can you post some pics of your still? This would help us understand what you have going on.

I would say not to drink anymore of what you have until you are sure of what you got.

[Coaster]

@ mountaindewer,

Welcome to the Forum.

From the information provided in your initial posting it appears that you should discard whatever contraption you have managed to assemble and do some serious reading concerning distilling. The Home Distiller Forum contains a wealth of information concerning Distilling. You should take advantage of the information contained in the Forum before attempting to assemble any distillation device or attempt to distill any sprit product – your personal safety mandates that. You are strongly encouraged to totally discard whatever type of distilled sprit you have managed to produce in your highly suspect distillation device – your health safety mandates that.

Regards,
Coaster

[Samohon]

Welcome to the forum...

I'll cut to the chase...

Heres Rule 8.

These forums take a very strong negative view on the usage of plastics/ synthetics in distilling. It simply is not safe to use in any area of hobby distilling (however HPDE buckets are acceptable for fermentation.) There simply are too many types of plastics and lack of reliable information about plastics, for us to reliably advocate their use anywhere in the distillation apparatus. Also, from past posting history, this topic seems to quickly boil down into an almost religious flame war. Thus we simply will not put up with it, and posts about any form of plastic use will be edited, deleted or locked. There is a forum for proven info for or against any material (material/safety.)

And Rule 9.

It is the hope of this forum to promote the legislation of home distilling as a legal hobby here in the United States. One of our goals, is to prove a quality product can be done safely by the home distiller for personal use only. So any discussion of selling bartering or trading any distilled liquor unless by a licensed distillery will not tolerated. Such post will be edited, deleted or locked.

You need to clean up your act by dismantling that potential deathtrap before you hurt someone.
The information on safely distilling a high proof beverage is all here and some reading (studying) is involved to get to the artizan levels that some of our members currently enjoy...

If you do not follow the advice given then I see no future for you here at HD. Promoting the hobby in the hope that our relevant governments will one day change legislation to reflect legalising home distillation, as is the case in New Zealand, is of prime concern to the Admin and members alike on HD. We therefore back all proposals to see this through to fruition. One way that HD can help to promote this, being the largest community on the planet, is to show that the hobby can be performed safely by the common man/woman, given a little training.
Your post certainly does not endorse any proposal to move forward...

I don't mean to start a slanging match over this. But we see new members all the time with some of the observations you have made in your post. Most of them are directed to the relevant information where they can then proceed to make a better beverage, safely. This does not happen overnight. Sometimes its takes a new distiller a couple of months before he sees his first drop of alcohol and 9 out of 10 of them never look back, they only go forward to better things.

Hope this helps...

[mountaindewer]

[quote="Prairiepiss"]I'm not following you here? You soldered it with old solder you don't know if it contained lead or not. The you covered the joint with silicone? Like gasket maker or calk silicone? That silicone could ne as bad as the lead?

HI, i used gasket maker as I couldn't mannage to solder properly. I aplied it on the top of all soldered joints.

Did you make cuts? Fores heads hearts and tails? If its clouding up on you it sounds like you have tails in there. And if your getting a hangover it sounds like you have heads in it to.

I had like 6 liters of mash, discarded first 100ml, then cut about 250 heads, i got for about 500ml middle and 100ml tails.

You said you built your still with a metal cooker? What kind of metal is it made of?

Can you post some pics of your still? This would help us understand what you have going on.

I bought the cooker at the households shop, don't realy know what kind of metal, but it's definately for preparing food.
here are some pics.

[blind drunk]

The plastic product output hose should be changed for copper or stainless.

[mountaindewer]

The plastic product output hose should be changed for copper or stainless.

hi, thanks so much! I was thinking i should change output hose. I just have seen other still with copper output and then plastic tube attached...
but what do you think of the rest of the still?

thanks

[Prairiepiss]

Ok you did use rtv to seal your solder joints. Wow. That stuff is not food grade and defiantly not safe to use in a still where hot alcohol vapors and liquid alcohol will come in contact with it.

IT IS NOT SAFE IF THAT RTV IS IN THE ALCOHOL PATH.
Don't know how to say it any clearer? Do a lot more research before you proceed.

Edited spelling.

[bentstick]

Moutaindewer
Head advice, listen to the others here with far more experience, please go back read, read and reread.Lead test are sold at hardware stores.NO plastics what so ever are not suppose to be in vapor path or I will add near any where there is a chance of leaching, and don't piss off the natives here they are here to help and keep you and the others that will partake of your product safe. Once again read ,read,and reread until it sinks in and the reasons for not doing certain things are crystal clear. Keep safe and learn it is not kids play, fun but not to be taken lightly. Shit happens

[rad14701]

Moutaindewer, set the parking brake on that rig and start doing what we consider mandatory research, both here in these forums and on the parent site... It almost looks like you are trying to see how shoddy of a still you can build, whether on purpose or because you truly are not prepared to embark on this journey just yet... What concerns us even more than what you have described and what we have seen is what else you may not know that could be dangerous or downright deadly to yourself and others...

Your concerns about lead are the least of your worries... Looks like you tried putting lipstick on a pig...

Slow down and do your research... We can't stress that enough in your case...

Now, hold out your hands so we can give you a good rap across your knuckles...

[mountaindewer]

thanks to all of suggestions and criticism! I have done some research prior of building the still, but it was more regarding the plans of how to build the still, not the safety of the materials. regardless i started to understand and research about dangerous materials just after i have build my still.

seems I have to start from zero.

Thanks anyway!

[Braz]

Everything you have been told up to this point is good advice so I'm not going to pile on.

I am going to tell you that soldering copper is not brain surgery. There are lots of informative videos on YouTube that show how to sweat copper. So what you are going to do is take that rig apart, salvage what you can and start over. Pitch whatever you have soldered up and make it over. I know it will be hard, but just suck it up and do it. Get some LEAD FREE solder, watch some videos and practice on the parts you are going to scrap.

The pot looks like stainless to me, so I think you are OK there (once you get all that RTV cleaned off).

Slow down, take a deep breath, read a lot and you'll get there.

[mountaindewer]

Thanks @Braz

think I can just cut the top part just below the output off and make next still shorter. without any syntetics this time!

I would be verry happy on some advise on how to safely attack 42mm (about 1.65") copper pipe to the lid of the cooker?

thanks

[Prairiepiss]

Give this a looky.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =17&t=5829

[mountaindewer]

Give this a looky.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =17&t=5829

wow, that's one nice solution to the problem Thanks!

[mountaindewer]

I'm not following you here? You soldered it with old solder you don't know if it contained lead or not. The you covered the joint with silicone? Like gasket maker or calk silicone? That silicone could ne as bad as the lead?

HI, i used gasket maker as I couldn't mannage to solder properly. I aplied it on the top of all soldered joints.

Did you make cuts? Fores heads hearts and tails? If its clouding up on you it sounds like you have tails in there. And if your getting a hangover it sounds like you have heads in it to.

I had like 6 liters of mash, discarded first 100ml, then cut about 250 heads, i got for about 500ml middle and 100ml tails.

You said you built your still with a metal cooker? What kind of metal is it made of?

Can you post some pics of your still? This would help us understand what you have going on.

I bought the cooker at the households shop, don't realy know what kind of metal, but it's definately for preparing food.
here are some pics.

OK - This will be an example for newbies, HOW NOT TO BUILD A STILL !!!

[USACelt]

I kinda like looking at posted pictures,
Ya I would'nt drink anything out of that still
but your top shelf on the cabinet I find interesting?

[Prairiepiss]

Good eye usacelt.

[Ayay]

Mountaindewer your are nearly there. You got a stainless boiler and a copper boka. As you say the soldering is the problem.

Soft solders start at 50/50 tin/lead and go up to 97/3 tin/copperORsilver known as 'LEAD FREE'. They are all soft solders and they can be treated the same way. Even 100% pure tin can be used.

Clean the metal to be soldered. Arrange the parts to be joined so that they are positioned correctly, and the smaller the gaps the better it will go.

Apply zinc chloride flux (also known as killed spirits, Baker's fluid and other names) over the joint area and it helps to paint on more of this flux during the heating and melting stage. (It boils and fizzes when applied to hot things and this is correct).

Gently heat all the parts to be joined so that all parts arrive at the melting point of the solder at the same time. The solder will flow onto the hotter part and not to the colder part, and you will see it and direct the heat to the colder part to make it right.

A big soldering iron is a good thing. You heat all the parts until a bit of the soft solder starts melting, then apply the hot soldering iron and run it along the seam while feeding in more solder onto the iron as you go. The soldering iron will boost the heat directly into the joint and deposit the solder into the joint. It may only go an inch before needing a recharge of heat. Dip the hot iron into the flux frequently so that it is coated with shiny tin, and yes it will boil violently when dipped in the flux and that's good.

The flux fumes are very corrosive. Any iron or steel tools within the vicinity will later be rusted. Clean the soldered areas with a brush dipped in baking soda and watch the soda fizz as it neutralises the remaining fluxes.

[mountaindewer]

Thanks Ayay!

I will try to rebuild my still before xmass, remove , clean all unwanted parts etc...
Also would come back with some questions and will post some pictures on my progress!

thanks to all of you!

[Samohon]

Thanks Ayay!

I will try to rebuild my still before xmass, remove , clean all unwanted parts etc...
Also would come back with some questions and will post some pictures on my progress!

thanks to all of you!

Thank you mountaindewer for heeding our advice and helping to make HD a safer environment by addressing your mistakes...
I'am not sorry for giving you a flaming as it has obviously had the correct effect on you...

Good luck with your modifications. Were here to help...

[mountaindewer]

Thanks Ayay!

I will try to rebuild my still before xmass, remove , clean all unwanted parts etc...
Also would come back with some questions and will post some pictures on my progress!

thanks to all of you!

Thank you mountaindewer for heeding our advice and helping to make HD a safer environment by addressing your mistakes...
I'am not sorry for giving you a flaming as it has obviously had the correct effect on you...

Good luck with your modifications. Were here to help...

It's cool, Samohon!

Thanks!

I am realy looking forward to start over again, still have to buy some parts. and thinking how to make a transformable reflux/potstill!

cheers!

[mountaindewer]

I kinda like looking at posted pictures,
Ya I would'nt drink anything out of that still
but your top shelf on the cabinet I find interesting?

haha, u mean that brokenback mountain bottle? It was a present from friends

[mountaindewer]

Hi guys, I am trying to find stainless steel rubbers, but all I can find are fake, they rust. I have tried about 4 diferent already. there is written that its steel or coperized. I have tried to let them in water for couple of days and there is rust after that. So I bet I can't use those? Is rust something bad for a still, if I use it and then take scrubbers out and clean etc...

tanks in adwance!

[kurgan]

If it's not stainless, or copper, don't use it. Copper mesh is easy enough to find and purchase online.

[Prairiepiss]

Hi guys, I am trying to find stainless steel rubbers, but all I can find are fake, they rust. I have tried about 4 diferent already. there is written that its steel or coperized. I have tried to let them in water for couple of days and there is rust after that. So I bet I can't use those? Is rust something bad for a still, if I use it and then take scrubbers out and clean etc...

tanks in adwance!

Carry a magnet with you. A magnet shouldn't stick to either copper or stainless. If it does don't buy it. Chorboy copper scubbers are pure copper. Walgreens in my area carry them and another cheaper one that are copper. Don't know where you are? Or you can order by the pound from mile high distilling.

[mountaindewer]

Thanks! I will keep looking or just order online probably. I'm in eastern europe, so the stuff they sell here is different!

[devotus]

mate, I'm in western Europe and finding 100 percent Stainless scrubbers 'Edelstahltopfreineger' is a mission and a half. I have yet to find ones that a magnet won't stick to but did read that some lower grades of stainless does have a magnetic pull. At the moment I have 3 different brands sitting in shallow saucers of water to see what rusts. Copper mesh is out of the question as here for a roll 100mm by 100mm was over 100€ so hopefully one of these 3 brands stands up. I also tried online but could not find any that had a decent product description apart from saying they are stainless. Quality assurance in europe is in the toilet.

[mountaindewer]

mate, I'm in western Europe and finding 100 percent Stainless scrubbers 'Edelstahltopfreineger' is a mission and a half. I have yet to find ones that a magnet won't stick to but did read that some lower grades of stainless does have a magnetic pull. At the moment I have 3 different brands sitting in shallow saucers of water to see what rusts. Copper mesh is out of the question as here for a roll 100mm by 100mm was over 100€ so hopefully one of these 3 brands stands up. I also tried online but could not find any that had a decent product description apart from saying they are stainless. Quality assurance in europe is in the toilet.

haha, I know what you mean, mate! I even can't find anything like copper mesh in our stores! I was even thinking to fill a column with stainless bolts or someting, but that would cost me a fortune, not to mention a weight of a still after that... another idea was to cut a 10mm coppper pipe in small pieces and use thes as a filling, but dont know if that will work... hope to hear from you back if you succeed to find any real stainless steel scrubbers!