info please

[Rewam]

Hello
I was recently having a discussion with an old European gent who was telling me about distillation in Switzerland. Distilling fermented fruits and herbs and then "cooking" it yo make snaps.
Some very interesting stuff but ....he mentioned something about making poisonous alcohol.
He called it "blue" something and apparently it was caused by burning the wash or burning the fruit in the wash.
there was a bit of language and accent difficulty so I was unable to get much more information.
Has anybody heard of this?
can someone give me more information or details?
Thank you
Rewam

[NZChris]

Was he teetotal?

If not, how much had he drunk?

[still_stirrin]

...fermented fruits and herbs and then "cooking" it..making poisonous alcohol.
Has anybody heard of this?

Well, with as little information as you gave, I can only "speculate". And what I suspect is that he was referring to methanol. Fruit musts do produce more methanol during fermentation than other washes or mashes (sugar and all grain, respectively). Notably, wine does contain a small percentage of methanol in the bottle...it's the nature of the product.

So, if the old European gentleman was referring primarily to what he knew, distillation of brandy (a product of grape ferments), then indeed there is a greater opportunity for these alcohols to occur in the bottle.

But understand that distillation won't "create" poisonous alcohols (other than the fact that ALL alcohols are toxic), but they will strip away constituents which would otherwise dilute the poisons. Fermentation will produce other chemicals which are poisonous and undesirable in a drink, various keytones and aldehydes for example. But they are very small proportions in a ferment. But, distillation will "concentrate" them and depending on the constituent, they may end up in your product jar.

I suggest reading the New Distiller forum for a better understanding of the processes and products of hobby distilling. This will help answer your questions even before you ask them. Knowledge will set you free!
ss

[Rewam]

Hello SS
thank you for the reply.
"I suggest reading the New Distiller forum for a better understanding of the processes and products of hobby distilling. This will help answer your questions even before you ask them. Knowledge will set you free!"

I remember reading the new distiller forum sometime ago but I do not recall seeing anything relating to my question.
What I was looking for was information on poison created by "burning" the fruit in the wash or "burning" the wash.
Perhaps I missed it.

It may sound strange that you could "burn" a wash but recently I made a wash from whole mandarins and then distilled everything, including the skins.
As an added bonus I collected about 50mm of pure mandarin oil that floated to the top of the distillate.
Unfortunately some of the solids sat at the bottom of the still and actually burnt, much like stewing fruit on a high heat.

so, with a little more background, have you ever heard of anything that would suggest this old gent could be right?
R

[NZChris]

I'd guess that the language was the problem. Perhaps the 'blue' was related to methylated spirits being died blue.

The best person to ask for proof for outrageous claims is the one making them, but that's a bit difficult if you have a language problem.

[Pikey]

You cannot "make" alcohol of any kind - nor change one form to another by the distilling process. whatever "alcohols" come out of the distillation were already in the fermented wash. burnt or scorched ingredients will transfer taste across - but I don't know whether they woud be any worse than a burned stew ?

"Blue" out of the still has been mentioned a few times and afaik - usually resolves back to copper sulphate due to putting the copperwork away dirty or wet (usually around the condenser) (Copper Sulphate is indeed poisonous - but to what extent I don't know)

[Kareltje]

Once or twice I got a blue distillate. Coloring soft cobalt-blue.
Nothing to do with methanol, but a sulfate-compound.
It has something to do with high pH, but I forgot the details, as I never had the problem again.