I was wondering what the best method to clean a still was. I read the parent site and cleaned the boiler with a lye solution, then rinsed, then used my carboy brush to scrub it, then boiled water and rinsed again. It has a nice clean "metal" smell to it. For the column, I've run it first with water, then I've run 3 washes through it, rinsing with water after each. I recently switched out the packing to the copper gauze, so I installed the packing and poured ~2 gal. of very hot (140°F ish) vinegar water solution (2cups/gallon) through the column and rinsed. I then made a 2 gal. wash H2O with 4 cups vinegar) and ran the wash. A mild acetic acid condensate came out and continued to run until about ½ gal. was collected. Once the column cooled a bit I poured cool water through it to rinse. My column still has an odd smell I can't place which isn't the "smell" of copper, which I can recognize. Have I done something wrong during mfg. or is this a normal still smell? Also, would there be a better way to wash it. I don't have the tub cleaner mentioned in the parent site, but I do have some spic and span which I believe is a similar product.
