Cloth filter at the spout?

[PalCabral]

Experienced guys,

I have seen quite a few videos of home distillers and pros having a cloth between spout from the PC and the collecting container, like a filter. What is that for?

The product is normally clean as a baby's bottom exiting the still, having just been condensed from being vapors, so why do some distillers feel a need to filter it? Is it to catch fusel oils from the tails or to catch residue brought with from the PC or the still head? If it's the latter, isn't it a sign the still needs to good clean? Is it some copper thing?

Do you use it and if so why? Should I?

[SW_Shiner]

Bugs. Not sure about where you are. But during summer we get tiny flies here that like to buzz around the spout, especially during the heads. I've use a bit of cotton as a filter before but decided that it was kind of easier to just filter the whole lot after blending. Couple flies aren't going to do much damage to 60%+ abv spirit. I've also seen people fill a cloth lined funnel with charcoal, claims its tastes better but if not been able to tell any difference. Ive also heard of it being done for the reasons you listed, particularly to remove oils during a stripping run. I used to do the same till i starting reading here and realised that what i was taking out, was good flavours that would clean up in the spirit run.

[OtisT]

I use a small square of paper towel as a filter off of the spout. It keeps small bits of oil and flakes from getting in the collection jar. The stuff that often comes out toward the end of a run.

[Stags]

I used to do something similar but with sugar maple charcoal in a stainless funnel. Worked ok. Did get tiresome. Coffee filters work well but can get plugged easy.

[NZChris]

Are these videos of stripping runs, spirit runs, one run and dones with a pot still and/or a thumper, plater? It all makes a difference. I never use a filter for any type of distillation, so I've never seen or tasted what might possibly get caught in a filter except for vinegar flies and fusel oils.

[bilgriss]

"Clean as a baby's bottom" is a dubious phrase. Most of the baby's bottoms I've interacted with have been because they needed cleaning.

I don't use a filter or cloth. I see no point in a stripping run, but I have encountered small amounts of matter in a spirit run, probably something being cleaned out of the vapor path from a previous run. I think it's mostly at the beginning in high proof heads, and ends up in the firelighter or feints jars, not in the product I keep.

[jonnys_spirit]

It’s probably going to end up in a barrel or on sticks with plenty of char-ticulate precipitating out as it ages and either settle for decanting or being run through a coffee filter into a bottle. Not too worried about a small handful of dead flies sitting in 60%abv for a year or whatever.

Cheers,
jonny

[PalCabral]

Bugs. Not sure about where you are. But during summer we get tiny flies here that like to buzz around the spout

That kinda makes sense. Here in the perpetual cold we don't have bugs, we have bears I guess I will find out if a need exists cum the two days of summer we have.

I use a small square of paper towel as a filter off of the spout. It keeps small bits of oil and flakes from getting in the collection jar. The stuff that often comes out toward the end of a run.

Why are you getting those things with your distillate? I've never seen it in my product - is it from the raw material you're distilling? I hope it's not rust.

Are these videos of stripping runs, spirit runs, one run and dones with a pot still and/or a thumper, plater? It all makes a difference. I never use a filter for any type of distillation, so I've never seen or tasted what might possibly get caught in a filter except for vinegar flies and fusel oils.

Mostly I've seen it with peeps distilling fruit brandies, and in those cases rustic copper pot stills, we're talking hungarian, balkan, and french eau de vie distillers. Not sure what type of run they were - sometimes I get the impression these guys only distill once.

But filtering in a stripping run makes no sense to me at all. All you want is to get as much alcohol out, why want to filter then. In the spirit run, I can understand it but besides bugs and the fusel oil film, I don't get it. And the spirits with the fusel oils will be in the feints jar anyway.

"Clean as a baby's bottom" is a dubious phrase. Most of the baby's bottoms I've interacted with have been because they needed cleaning.

It’s probably going to end up in a barrel or on sticks with plenty of char-ticulate precipitating out as it ages and either settle for decanting or being run through a coffee filter into a bottle. Not too worried about a small handful of dead flies sitting in 60%abv for a year or whatever.

At some point in the process that leads to consuming the product there will be a step of filtering/cleaning it. But the bug that was caught at distilling will probably be dissolved after 2 years of maturation, don't you think. Well, sanitized.

[jonnys_spirit]

It’s probably going to end up in a barrel or on sticks with plenty of char-ticulate precipitating out as it ages and either settle for decanting or being run through a coffee filter into a bottle. Not too worried about a small handful of dead flies sitting in 60%abv for a year or whatever.

At some point in the process that leads to consuming the product there will be a step of filtering/cleaning it. But the bug that was caught at distilling will probably be dissolved after 2 years of maturation, don't you think. Well, sanitized.

Personally, I rarely even use a coffee filter and usually take a thiefing off the barrel straight into my glass or small 250ml'ish bottle and top up with about 2/3 spirit to 1/3 water give or take for "bottle proof". I might take a few 750's or gallon jugs depending for longer term storage at barrel proof so I can revisit that draw down the road... If i'm bringing a bottle out to friends they might be picky in which case i'll run it through coffee filter but typically find no harm either way and prefer the dusting of char in the bottom of the bottle sorta like lumps and bits of bone in the gravy

Cheers,
jonny

[OtisT]

I use a small square of paper towel as a filter off of the spout. It keeps small bits of oil and flakes from getting in the collection jar. The stuff that often comes out toward the end of a run.

Why are you getting those things with your distillate? I've never seen it in my product - is it from the raw material you're distilling? I hope it's not rust.

I see the small black/brown spots when I run a lot of all grain batches through the still. Usually just at the start and/or very end of a run. They look like flakes that float on the surface, and they pretty much turn to mush when you touch them which lead me to believe they are some oil residue from the grains. When they get into a collection jar they will stick to the sides and will not rinse out easily so I use the paper towel filter to keep them out. Call me lazy.

I don’t use coffee filters for fear they won’t drain quickly enough. I’m sure they would work, but with one layer of paper towel working just fine, I’ve not even tried an alternative.

The green is not typical. I actually took that pic to discuss a separate issue causing the green, but it was the only pic I had of my paper filters so I used it here. Yes, it is a bit of copper corrosion. I had done a vinegar rinse of my copper shotgun PC after the prior use and I simply did not rinse things out with water well enough, so I got a small bit of corrosion that came out during a run. Just a sign to give the insides a light scrub and rinse.

Partials can also come through if your still pukes into the PC and it is not fully cleaned out. Not a frequent thing nor is it a big concern, but it happens.

[PalCabral]

The green is not typical. I actually took that pic to discuss a separate issue causing the green, but it was the only pic I had of my paper filters so I used it here. Yes, it is a bit of copper corrosion. I had done a vinegar rinse of my copper shotgun PC after the prior use and I simply did not rinse things out with water well enough, so I got a small bit of corrosion that came out during a run. Just a sign to give the insides a light scrub and rinse.

Well, good you had the filter. I know a lot of people freak out at the sign of rubber/silicone but for me rust is something I react to. My PC is SS but I am proper prom and proper mum when it comes to cleaning it. I bought a tiny brush to be able to scrub the tubes. Have a good WE, Otis!

[NZChris]

Are these videos of stripping runs, spirit runs, one run and dones with a pot still and/or a thumper, plater? It all makes a difference. I never use a filter for any type of distillation, so I've never seen or tasted what might possibly get caught in a filter except for vinegar flies and fusel oils.

Mostly I've seen it with peeps distilling fruit brandies, and in those cases rustic copper pot stills, we're talking hungarian, balkan, and french eau de vie distillers. Not sure what type of run they were - sometimes I get the impression these guys only distill once.

But filtering in a stripping run makes no sense to me at all. All you want is to get as much alcohol out, why want to filter then. In the spirit run, I can understand it but besides bugs and the fusel oil film, I don't get it. And the spirits with the fusel oils will be in the feints jar anyway.

I would only copy techniques from producers of fine products. If they are only doing one run and done, it might be good enough for them and their village, but there will be other distillers in their area who are double distilling and making nicer product.

If you did filter a stripping run and it did catch fusels, then there would be less fusels in your boiler for the spirit run and less fusels in your feints for an All Feints run or for recycling, similar to what happens when you take a foreshot from a stripping run and you start your spirit run with less nail varnish in the boiler.

[greggn]

I use a small square of paper towel

On the east coast, we call that round.

[shadylane]

In my neck of the woods a cloth covering the funnel is a necessity.
Other wise the damn fruit fly's aka Drunkards would get into the jug.
I use paper towels to wipe off any fusel oil that's floating on top the low-wines before re-distilling.

[OtisT]

I use a small square of paper towel

On the east coast, we call that round.

My bad. I forgot to rotate the picture.

[PalCabral]

If you did filter a stripping run and it did catch fusels, then there would be less fusels in your boiler for the spirit run and less fusels in your feints for an All Feints run or for recycling, similar to what happens when you take a foreshot from a stripping run and you start your spirit run with less nail varnish in the boiler.

And if you removed the heads while you’re at it, there would be only hearts and tails in the spirit run. If we go on like this we’ll be like those hungarians and distill everything in a one done.

[NZChris]

If you did filter a stripping run and it did catch fusels, then there would be less fusels in your boiler for the spirit run and less fusels in your feints for an All Feints run or for recycling, similar to what happens when you take a foreshot from a stripping run and you start your spirit run with less nail varnish in the boiler.

And if you removed the heads while you’re at it, there would be only hearts and tails in the spirit run. If we go on like this we’ll be like those hungarians and distill everything in a one done.

You can't remove heads from a stripping run. Heads is the name for the early distillate from a Spirit Run that doesn't make the heart cut, as chosen by the distiller.

[PalCabral]

Of course you can. That's just like saying you can't remove the foreshots from a stripping run. Heads is a fraction in every distillation, but it's too smeared with the hearts to separate if you run the still fast (like you normally do in a stripping run). Run the first part of the stripping run slower and put the first liter or two in the feints jar, then you cream on the power. I wasn't aware there was a minimum flow rate limit for a stripping run, Chris.

Not sure why I would want to separate the heads in a stripping run, however. Neither why I would bother about the fusel oils in a stripping run. The first couple of drops coming off the spout in the stripping run I collect and throw.

[NZChris]

The foreshot is also a name. It's the name for a small amount taken at the start of a stripping run. Like heads, it is not a specific compound that can be isolated or removed.

[bilgriss]

It's not an exact science, at least with a pot still. But I agree that starting a stripping run slowly and removing the initial stinky stuff will reduce the heads jars in a spirit run. Then run it as fast as your condenser can knock it down for the rest. I started doing it that way at some point just so I don't have to have as many clean jars lined up in the final run. Saves washing time. But it's not necessary to do it that way.

[PalCabral]

It's not an exact science, at least with a pot still. But I agree that starting a stripping run slowly and removing the initial stinky stuff will reduce the heads jars in a spirit run. Then run it as fast as your condenser can knock it down for the rest. I started doing it that way at some point just so I don't have to have as many clean jars lined up in the final run. Saves washing time. But it's not necessary to do it that way.

I am hiding all the jars I use for a spirit run from my wife. If she sees the sheer amount of jars she'll stop saying "more shit" to something a lot more obscene. My luck is that the smell from the distillery keeps her away.

[NZChris]

It is a science. To help understand it, look for graphs of the various components that come over during a pot still distillation. Some start low and finish high, some start high and finish low. Heads, hearts and tails all contain all of the various VOCs, it's their concentration in relation to each other and the ethanol that changes. If you successfully removed all of those nasty VOCs that you don't like, the ones that make heads taste like heads and tails taste like tails, you would have neutral, not whiskey or rum, whatever.

The art comes in when you have to decide which portion of the distillation contains concentrations of these various VOCs that are pleasing to your tastes.

[NZChris]

Tasting all of those bland middle jars, the ones that are obviously going to make the heart cut, wrecks my tastebuds before I get to sampling including the important jars near the ends, so I collect the bland stuff in demijohns to save on jars and tastings.