Personal still with a personal issue lol but really help!!!!

[Chronical]

So I build this

It’s got a nice stream like so

But it’s has been cloudy even after a water/vinegar run and sacrificial run?

No it’s not 55 gallon I’m still in the rule limit and it’s personal I just don’t get it though why is it cloudy I didn’t use water soluable flux but cleaned with degreasing cleaner and boiling water also to remove the cleaner out of the worm and still after rinse water was crystal clear clean and I rerinsed the worm with high pressure water hose after water/vinegar run till it was clear I’m still having problems

To top it off it’s coming out at 120 proof and cloudy like wtf );

[Chronical]

Also anyone that has kept up with my journey I’ve finally completed my build but I am trying to complete my last hurdle

[shadylane]

It’s got a nice stream like so

Maybe it's almost puking, try running it slower.

[Pure Old Possum Piss]

If that's a 2 inch riser, your running it way too hot and hard. That stream looks like the size of a pencil, not a pencil lead.
Its OK for a stripping run but you'll have to re run the low wines in a spirit run with the heat turned down a lot lower.
Basically what Shady said.
When you run it that hot not only do you need to worry about puking but you'll have a lot of smearing from start to finish.

[Twisted Brick]

Nice boiler.

[Chronical]

If that's a 2 inch riser, your running it way too hot and hard. That stream looks like the size of a pencil, not a pencil lead.
Its OK for a stripping run but you'll have to re run the low wines in a spirit run with the heat turned down a lot lower.
Basically what Shady said.
When you run it that hot not only do you need to worry about puking but you'll have a lot of smearing from start to finish.

That was the water run in the picture and for the cloudy run it’s running at less than a a quarter of that run, for a reference the tubing is 5/8 i.d. And 3/4 o.d. So the stream of the spirit run is probably a 1/16th of a inch at most probably a toothpick or less to be honest

[Chronical]

Nice boiler.

Thank you I have spent months trying to get everything in working order while trying to not break the bank lol it has been a great accomplishment for personal use but I really want to get a license and a commercial address to get full permits for a legal distillery but I can’t do anything until I get my first small batch, aka. test still, stabilized. So if anyone knows what i could do please help!!

[Chronical]

If that's a 2 inch riser, your running it way too hot and hard. That stream looks like the size of a pencil, not a pencil lead.
Its OK for a stripping run but you'll have to re run the low wines in a spirit run with the heat turned down a lot lower.
Basically what Shady said.
When you run it that hot not only do you need to worry about puking but you'll have a lot of smearing from start to finish.

So if that is rerun at low temp I could clean the cloud out of it? If it was just ran too hot?
If that is the case I’m gonna catch all the tails too before I end up with any off flavors and get a double distilled final product without cloud cause other than the cloudiness, this distillate has had a really good taste and I am surprised if I could fix this one issue

[Yummyrum]

I also think too much heat and it’s puking .
How full is the boiler ?
Best to only 2/3 - 3/4 fill allows head space to better cope with foaming . Or add a few table spoons of vege oil . It stops foaming .

As mentioned , if this is just a stripping run , a bit of puke in it won’t hurt at all . As long as you run it slow on the spirit run , it will come out Crystal clear ..
What was in the boiler , a sugar wash or something more foamy like a grain mash .

[Chronical]

I also think too much heat and it’s puking .
How full is the boiler ?
Best to only 2/3 - 3/4 fill allows head space to better cope with foaming . Or add a few table spoons of vege oil . It stops foaming .

As mentioned , if this is just a stripping run , a bit of puke in it won’t hurt at all . As long as you run it slow on the spirit run , it will come out Crystal clear ..
What was in the boiler , a sugar wash or something more foamy like a grain mash .

So I had a brown sugar that is 70% sugar 30% cereal grounds and I noticed it had some kind of chocolate color on top of the mash. It was like a chocolate pudding cap and when I poured it in, it had ground up lucky charm marshmallows, it smelled like a deep red chocolate wine whenever it was mashed in, but since the sugar was combined with the serial grain, and the grains were so finally ground. I probably should have used less, but I figured when it puked it would be more of a brownish tent, but since it wasn’t, I will rerun at a lower temp. I thought of getting another element so I can space the heat out in The mash because 6500 Watt at 90% was a little higher than I probably should run to warm it up cause until I get the temp up to 155 degrees and try to regulate I drop the 6500watt element down to 45% and it took almost 2 hours to get to 181 degrees when it started to stream very lightly

[Salt Must Flow]

So it appears you did a water/vinegar run and sacrificial alcohol run. When I do a vinegar/water cleaning run, I like to let the hot steam blast completely through the entire still. Either set it up outdoor or direct the vapor out a door or window. That ensures every bit of the still gets cleaned out.

You say the product that exits the worm is still cloudy after both cleaning runs. What does your boiler charge consist of and what volume?

Is it a stripping run or a spirit run?

How are you heating the boiler? How much power?

Do you know what your take-off rate is? It's always a good idea to measure your take-off rate for your notes and for repeatability.

I see you have a sight glass. That would help to see if it is puking or not.

[Yummyrum]

If that is the case I’m gonna catch all the tails too before I end up with any off flavors and get a double distilled final product without cloud cause other than the cloudiness, this distillate has had a really good taste and I am surprised if I could fix this one issue

Another reason for cloudy spirit is running too far into tails . There are a lot of oils in tails . On a stripping run , this does not matter as you are collecting it all in one vessel .
When you do the spirit run , you collect every thing in about 20 seperate jars . Then you blend the jars .

Running slowly ( it should take about 6hours to to fill all 20 jars ) the still will seperate with minimal smearing .

The very last tails jars will have the cloudness in them .

[Yummyrum]

Note , at no point have I mentioned temperature . Temperature has nothing to do with running a still . Power does . Power cintrols the boil rate . Boil rate determines how fast the product comes off and also how smeared it is ….or isn’t .

[Pure Old Possum Piss]

If that's a 2 inch riser, your running it way too hot and hard. That stream looks like the size of a pencil, not a pencil lead.
Its OK for a stripping run but you'll have to re run the low wines in a spirit run with the heat turned down a lot lower.
Basically what Shady said.
When you run it that hot not only do you need to worry about puking but you'll have a lot of smearing from start to finish.

That was the water run in the picture and for the cloudy run it’s running at less than a a quarter of that run, for a reference the tubing is 5/8 i.d. And 3/4 o.d. So the stream of the spirit run is probably a 1/16th of a inch at most probably a toothpick or less to be honest

[shadylane]

So I had a brown sugar that is 70% sugar 30% cereal grounds and I noticed it had some kind of chocolate color on top of the mash. It was like a chocolate pudding cap and when I poured it in, it had ground up lucky charm marshmallows,

Maybe dye from the lucky charms is carrying over.

[Chronical]

So it appears you did a water/vinegar run and sacrificial alcohol run. When I do a vinegar/water cleaning run, I like to let the hot steam blast completely through the entire still. Either set it up outdoor or direct the vapor out a door or window. That ensures every bit of the still gets cleaned out.

You say the product that exits the worm is still cloudy after both cleaning runs. What does your boiler charge consist of and what volume?

Is it a stripping run or a spirit run?

How are you heating the boiler? How much power?

Do you know what your take-off rate is? It's always a good idea to measure your take-off rate for your notes and for repeatability.

I see you have a sight glass. That would help to see if it is puking or not.

I leave worm completely empty so the pipes get completely flushed with acidic steam then and on sacrificial I only had half way full so it cleared out any trash in first half of worm

30 gallon and about 8 inches from top and if it would’ve been over filled and piled it would’ve been a darker tannish to a more brown color but it was a cloudy white

And for power it’s a 5500 watt that I run around 90% till 135-140 degrees then I drop it down to about 25-30% a nice tooth pick or smaller stream but all of it still had cloudy but clean all 5 gallons including 140 proof foreshots, 130 proof heads, 120-105 proof hearts, and the finishing of tails

[Chronical]

If that is the case I’m gonna catch all the tails too before I end up with any off flavors and get a double distilled final product without cloud cause other than the cloudiness, this distillate has had a really good taste and I am surprised if I could fix this one issue

Another reason for cloudy spirit is running too far into tails . There are a lot of oils in tails . On a stripping run , this does not matter as you are collecting it all in one vessel .
When you do the spirit run , you collect every thing in about 20 seperate jars . Then you blend the jars .

Running slowly ( it should take about 6hours to to fill all 20 jars ) the still will seperate with minimal smearing .

The very last tails jars will have the cloudness in them .

I have ran countless run between my 5 and 15 gallon setups but instead of running 2-3 times a month fi just wanted this one to run 4 times a year since it’s all personal use anyways

So yea I know tails get cloudy but my temp didn’t even get over 205 in my tails cause I was just done with this run cause of the cloudiness I’ve got over 6 months into building this setup so that why I was surprised considering it took a few hours just to warm up cause I didn’t want any bad off flavors from heating to quickly

[IMALOSERSCUMBAG]

Note , at no point have I mentioned temperature . Temperature has nothing to do with running a still . Power does . Power cintrols the boil rate . Boil rate determines how fast the product comes off and also how smeared it is ….or isn’t .

100% When I first started I was so focused on temp. What temp is the boiler? What temp is the coming off the dephlegmator? It was one of the old fellers on here that spent a good deal of time explaining temp is not my issue. I didn't get it, until I did.

It was amazing how much better things ran after understanding.

[shadylane]

That was the water run in the picture and for the cloudy run it’s running at less than a a quarter of that run, for a reference the tubing is 5/8 i.d. And 3/4 o.d. So the stream of the spirit run is probably a 1/16th of a inch at most probably a toothpick or less to be honest

Sounds about the right speed for your nice looking rig.
Here's a couple suggestions.
I'd install the site glass between the pot and riser so any sign of a foam up can be seen before a puke gets started on strips.
Definitely try fermenting something besides lucky charms, I suspect that's the original problem.
If the power is divided between two elements, a little more power can be run before the pot starts foaming up.
For the first several runs, observe the thermometer, but don't use it to make any decisions.

[Stonecutter]

Nice boiler.

Thank you I have spent months trying to get everything in working order while trying to not break the bank lol it has been a great accomplishment for personal use but I really want to get a license and a commercial address to get full permits for a legal distillery but I can’t do anything until I get my first small batch, aka. test still, stabilized. So if anyone knows what i could do please help!!

Good luck to you my friend! There’s a looong journey or a short road ahead of you! So awesome to see sound advice and big dreams Still coming out of this site!

The pursuit of a fine drop continues!!

[Chronical]

That was the water run in the picture and for the cloudy run it’s running at less than a a quarter of that run, for a reference the tubing is 5/8 i.d. And 3/4 o.d. So the stream of the spirit run is probably a 1/16th of a inch at most probably a toothpick or less to be honest

Sounds about the right speed for your nice looking rig.
Here's a couple suggestions.
I'd install the site glass between the pot and riser so any sign of a foam up can be seen before a puke gets started on strips.
Definitely try fermenting something besides lucky charms, I suspect that's the original problem.
If the power is divided between two elements, a little more power can be run before the pot starts foaming up.
For the first several runs, observe the thermometer, but don't use it to make any decisions.

I normally don’t someone gave a deal for 50 lbs bags of brown sugar for 30 each but they are 70% brown sugar 30% ground cereal grains only reason I said lucky charms is cause I could see the tiny pieces of marshmallow in it that were ground too but I’m gonna I run though my old small rig to see if it was from rig or mash

I did taste it though it does taste really good honestly it just has that cloud even at 120 proof

Nice boiler.

Thank you I have spent months trying to get everything in working order while trying to not break the bank lol it has been a great accomplishment for personal use but I really want to get a license and a commercial address to get full permits for a legal distillery but I can’t do anything until I get my first small batch, aka. test still, stabilized. So if anyone knows what i could do please help!!

Good luck to you my friend! There’s a looong journey or a short road ahead of you! So awesome to see sound advice and big dreams Still coming out of this site!

The pursuit of a fine drop continues!!

But yea thanks this is one of the reason I like to do this is just for learning a past time process that has continued through todays time