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Okay so i made my second attempt at liqour making the other day..( i have a 5L stainless pot still- Just bought the cheapest one i could get to see if this distilling thing's fun)

My fermenter had'nt cleared properly so i put it in the freezer and added some lemon juice i dont know why. I thought it might help keep bacteria levels down a bit or something silly anyway 4 hours later i distilled it got about 1.5L of reasonbly high proof spirit (burns easily with a flame). Next day when i got up the whole room stunk of sulfur. I smelt the bottle and almost threw up so i chucked it out. Can anyone tell me what i did wrong and how to make sure i never do it again.

The first brew i did was fairly good and by the time i carbon filtered added essence, glycerine and some oak chips it rivald anything shop bought and was a lot more smoother too.

Also the wash smelt healthy before i stuck it in the freezer but i never smelt it after i did that.
I used a turbo yeast + nutrient and 6KG of sugar in a 20L fermenter. (having to run off 5L at a time because of my filly 5L still also its not an airstill)


Thanx in advance

Welcome, poyboy11...

Please stop by the Welcome Center and give us an introduction, including what you are looking to make for spirits as well as any experience that you may bring to the hobby...

You never mentioned how much lemon juice you added but it may be part of the reason for the sulfur smell with the turbo yeast being the balance... The best advice you'll get here is to ween yourself off of the turbo washes and start using one of the many fine recipes in the Tried and True Recipe forum...

That's about as much help as can be readily provided without more information... Did you make cuts...??? Did you run as a stripping run or as a spirit run...??? Did you collect the spirits in small jars and allow them to air before blending...??? The list goes on and on...

Had you done ample research here in the forums before diving right into the hobby...??? There is wealth of information here, free for the taking, and all you have to do is take the time to read it... Don't toss another charge into the boiler before you have a full grasp of the overall process... And no more lemon juice in a fermented wash...

Just curious if you used lemon concentrate(Real Lemon) or the actual juice from a lemon. I know from making lemon wine that Real Lemon has a funky kind of sulfuric smell from the preservatives in it (sodium bisulfate and sodium benzoate), you can ferment it but you have to aerate it really well to get a yeast colony going. Adding after fermentation 4 hrs before distilling may be where the odor came from.

I used lemon concentrate so thats what it probably was.

I have 15L of wash left so i distilled some more today this time without the lemon juice and i am pleased to say that the sulfur smell is absent thinking about incorparating some copper into the still as alot of people seem to think it helps clean up the flavour abit.

think i might follow one of them recipes for a rum. . Since im using a pot still i dont think il do much good trying to make a neutral alcohol. .

Thanx for the responses as well people!

Copper DOES clean up the sulphur compounds in my all-stainless rig. It worked when I used lemon concentrate with preservatives to invert sugar. (I now use citric acid.)

I use ~30 short (1/2" - 1") lengths of 1/2" copper pipe in my boiler for all runs and strips in pot and reflux modes.

A further improvement I use when using the pot column is a length of copper pipe standing in the boiler, long enough to be exposed above the wash and poking up through the column as far as possible. A plug or two of copper mesh accomplishes the same in partial reflux mode. There is a definite advantage to having vapour in contact with copper if you can adapt it to your rig.

Never a hint of SO2 with this setup.

Hi Poyboy

One thing that you didn't mention is if you are stilling multiple times or not? Your purity can benefit a lot from doing two or 3 stripping runs - i.e. your first run. Then take your results make sure it is watered down to 40% or so and then run it a second time through the pot still. Do proper cuts on the output and you should be able to generate a more consistent and cleaner product.

Good luck.

likkerluvver wrote:Copper DOES clean up the sulphur compounds in my all-stainless rig. It worked when I used lemon concentrate with preservatives to invert sugar. (I now use citric acid.)

I use ~30 short (1/2" - 1") lengths of 1/2" copper pipe in my boiler for all runs and strips in pot and reflux modes.

I read something to the effect that copper in the boiler for the spirit run removes sulphur compounds but that copper in the boiler for the strip run is less effective.

http://www.scientificsocieties.org/jib/ ... 8-1104.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

jake_leg wrote:

likkerluvver wrote:Copper DOES clean up the sulphur compounds in my all-stainless rig. It worked when I used lemon concentrate with preservatives to invert sugar. (I now use citric acid.)

I use ~30 short (1/2" - 1") lengths of 1/2" copper pipe in my boiler for all runs and strips in pot and reflux modes.

I read something to the effect that copper in the boiler for the spirit run removes sulphur compounds but that copper in the boiler for the strip run is less effective.

http://www.scientificsocieties.org/jib/ ... 8-1104.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

From the above:

JIB 1140 wrote:The impact of the presence of any copper during distillation
was to reduce the DMTS levels in new make spirit
(Fig. 5A). However, it was found that the positioning of
the copper in the stills had a large effect on the ability of
the copper to reduce the level of DMTS in the new make
spirit and placing copper in any single section was unable
to replicate the effect of the full copper stills. There was
found to be opposing trends in the wash and spirit stills.
In the wash still, the pot (S1) was the least effective at
reducing DMTS whilst the condenser (S3) was most effective.
In the spirit still, the pot (S4) was most effective
and the condenser (S6) was least effective. The most effective
sections for reducing the DMTS level were therefore
the wash still condenser and the spirit still pot (S3
and S4).

I guess we're talking about comparative degrees of effectiveness for various placements of copper here. In SS stills we are limited as to where we can place the copper. A loose spiral of copper wire inserted into the condenser is another of my tricks which I forgot to mention in my earlier post. It also improves the comparatively poor heat transfer on a hot and fast strip run.

It all goes to support the preference for pot stills made of copper - which is what my first self-build will be. Copper everywhere might be preferable in a pot still, BUT.....

It is interesting to note that many Russians and Poles dislike the taste of product from reflux stills containing any copper. Another advantage of SS stills is that blue condensate is avoided when using sodium bicarbonate in the stripped wash - but that's a debate for another forum.

BTW JL, in this part of the world, some still say tomahto, but nobody ever says potahto.

Yeah, copper for pot stills.

Sounds like a stainless reflux still with removable copper inserts (packing, boiler chips, turbulator) would give the best of both worlds.

Can't argue with Poles on the subject of vodka.

The reason you got the sulfur was because you chilled down the wort and the yeast were still actively fermenting. Cold-fermentation results in sulfur compounds almost without fail. There are a few lager strains where this is not the case, but for the most part cold fermentation will result in a good deal of sulfuric compounds. By distilling the beer you probably concentrated the sulfur, too, but it was probably volatile enough that the compounds either broke down in the alcohol or simply evaporated over night.

The reason your fermentation had not cleared is because it was not done. From my experience as a home brewer, I've learned that patience is a virtue. I let my beers sit on the yeast for about a month before I rack them off the yeast, just to ensure that fermentation is complete and the yeast have had a chance to metabolize any undesirable by-products of fermentation.

I'm sure you are right about the source of the sulphur. Racking off the yeast before chilling would have made more sense.

I am never going to leave a whiskey ferment for a month. Scotch distilleries ferment for 3 days at about 85 oF.