Hot dammit

[Alchemist75]

Did my spirit run today but I had to stop because I noticed I was getting cloudy product well into hearts. It's copper smut in there. I noticed when I was collecting early heads that there was a brown deposit showing up on the inside of my steel funnel but it cleared up about 400 ml in. When I stopped the run I took a sample of the new make and set it afire on a spoon. Sure enough, it left a brown deposit behind. I took a little taste and it left a lingering bitterness on the back of my tongue. I cleaned all the plumbing out some way as I always do before I run but apparently I either missed a spot or something is off somewhere. I'll re run everything tomorrow but that's really frustrating.

[fizzix]

Brown has me concerned on a spirit run.
Sounds like hot patina. Maybe just too hot, I'm guessing.

[Alchemist75]

I was running her as slow and low as ever, keeping the off take nice and easy. When I broke her down I noticed a distinct deposit of verdigrease where the cooled liquid flows down and out of the condenser. Not clear what happened but everybody is getting a good hot bath in vinegar, salt and citric acid tonight. I'll put all the new make back in with the remaining low wines and run it again tomorrow. Typically the only time I've ever seen something like this is when I strip on dirty gear. Just a waste of 4 good hours. Shoot.

[NZChris]

When I stopped the run I took a sample of the new make and set it afire on a spoon. Sure enough, it left a brown deposit behind. I took a little taste and it left a lingering bitterness on the back of my tongue.

That sounds a bit like caramel. Could there have been any residual sugar in the charge?

[Alchemist75]

Does sugar come through on a run? My product is usually pretty sweet, sugary almost. Granted it was obvious upon examining my gear that some corrosion had occurred which could have resulted from some acidity in the low wines. Chris, this was that batch I made with the maize flakes that I asked folks to vote on. Hopefully I don't lose anything by distilling it one more time.

[NZChris]

Does sugar come through on a run?

It shouldn't, but if it might if the riser is narrow and stuffed with enough scrubbies for vapor speed to prevent puke from falling back into the boiler.

[Pikey]

" Cherchez la merde" !

[or is it "le merde" ? ]

[Fiddleford]

" Cherchez la merde" !

[or is it "le merde" ? ]

Don't know what that means but I recognized merde from a langue my friend spoke. Shit?

[Pikey]

" Cherchez la merde" !

[or is it "le merde" ? ]

Don't know what that means but I recognized merde from a langue my friend spoke. Shit?

Correct - the rest means "Look for..."

Somewhere - something is mucky ! imho of course

[Fiddleford]

I would suggest to take something that reacts with copper and add it to the brown gunk, if Alchemist isolated it that is.

[Alchemist75]

I did, I tried adding vinegar to some of it and let it set up over night. It didn't go blue. I find the puking scenario unlikely as the boiler was only half full. I'm wondering if it isn't rust. Very occasionally I've found a small piece of scrubby with traces of rust on them. Knowing that stainless steel isn't truly rust resistant this doesn't surprise me and I do put a small piece in my condenser. The presence of verdigrease in the condenser still has me thinking it's copper however.

[Alchemist75]

Gonna set up and re run here in a bit. The parts look like brand new, shiny, bright copper, even the outsides. I stay on top of cleaning but I guess sometimes you gotta go the extra mile with it. Nary a trace of patina inside the plumbing.

[Alchemist75]

One thing I did differently this time is that I alcohol dried the parts with 90+ ethanol rather than using foreshots and it did a much better job of removing trace amounts of moisture. I notice when I dry with foreshots that it'll leave a patina behind that then has to be removed prior to running. I haven't proofed my foreshots but I suspect they're in the 60-70g% range. Too much moisture in em' to do the job right.

[Alchemist75]

Yeah, it had to be the copper, it's running off crystal clear now.