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Did a spirit run with my reflux still about a month ago and blended about 3 quarts of good stuff. I then diluted one down to 90 proof to drink, and left the other two full strength. Everything was clear, including the diluted stuff. Tonight I broke into the second quart and diluted it down to 110 proof and it turned cloudy. I used the same bottle of distilled water for both dilutions. I know hard water or fusals will cause this but since it was a blend, and it didn't cloud to start with, I'm at a loss. Any suggestions? V

Hi vicrider,

I had a problem like that,mine had fore-shots in the distillates

did you try to run to fast? doing so can carry over tales.

Have you tried watering down from 110 to 90 proof to see if it clears.

Also where these quarts sealed or were they airing out. Just thinking that airing out may change the amount of fusels that can be held in suspension.

when you "air out" your mostly getting rid of lower alcohols (fore shots/heads) (56-77c)not tales/frents/fusel oils (higher alcohols) they come off at 90c-160c

Shouldn't have any foreshots, I tossed the first 250 ml before I started collecting heads.

I don't think I ran it to fast. I ran pretty slow into 200 ml lots, and made cuts by taste and smell. I pushed it pretty hard towards the end but that all went into the feints jar. I then blended all the small lots together. Thats what gets me. The jar I diluted down right away never clouded.

I have not diluted this batch below 110 yet. I may water it down further and just see what happens.

Also, those two quarts were sealed right away and never aired. Would airing this long after the fact still be a benefit?

Thanks, V

whenever it is in a seald container not much can git out,but it can change some with o2, so airing can be beneficial at any time, both wine and liquors they recommend to let it "breath" before drinking.

Dnderhead wrote:when you "air out" your mostly getting rid of lower alcohols (fore shots/heads) (56-77c)not tales/frents/fusel oils (higher alcohols) they come off at 90c-160c

You are right about what is lost in the "airing out" of spirits. I wasn't trying to say you loose fusels what you loose would be acetone, ethyl acetate, aldehydes and even a little ethanol. As I understand it these are what keep the fusels in suspention (clear booze) and when the % drops (watered down or in this case loose some of these) the fusel cannot be held in suspention and it clouds the spirit. Like the louching when preparing absinthe.

Maybe suspention is the wrong term but I can't seem to find the word that describes what I'm trying to explain.

Edit- @vicrider airing out is beneficial at any time as long as there is something in the spirit that needs to be aired out. Ofcourse the things that are lost with airing out don't cause clouding. Also seeing that the other two quarts that you had had been sealed my theory would not apply in this case.

OK, I tried diluting to 40% and airing but with no luck so I thought I would try a sample from the third jar. Diluted to 40% and guess what? Clear as a bell. I'm usually pretty careful, but the only thing I can think of is that I somehow switched a feints jar and a jar of the good stuff. Guess I'll just toss the cloudy stuff in with the next run.

I have the same problem now,i found that the first tree half bottles that i distilled was clear,but as i ad the water it became cloudy.the next catch up was clear after adding water.so i re distilled it with some feints ,and the cloudiness came out again, then the clearness came out last