Home Distiller

brought over from the old message boards:


from: Mr_T
12/14/02 05:22 AM
subject: Bad taste

Hi everyone. I recently built a pot still using copper as the condenser and what i would guess to be steel to hold the mash as it boils. After puting anything through it including water it tasts quite strange. Could someone sugest anything i might be doing wrong?

Thanks

Mr T

from: Anonymous
12/14/02 06:06 AM
Re: Bad taste [re: Mr_T]


could it be soldering flux ?? What was boiling pot used for before the still. What about gaskets and
sealers . Could thay be leaching flavor? Try scrubbinng with baking soda ,sodium bicorbonate.
More details are needed to help.
Make a couple of runs with an inexpensive sugar wash or buy cheap wine to run through to help
season pot, my still is one year old and seems to get better with age.





From: Mr_T
12/14/02 08:18 PM
Re: Bad taste [re: Anonymous]


Thanks for your help i'll try scrubbing it agian. The container was used to hold industrial soap before i got it but i washed it out with metho and then water a couple of times. I didn't use any soldering for it so i dought that would be the problem.

Mr T

From: Peter
04/28/03 11:20 AM
Re: Bad taste [re: Mr_T]

try distilling water and see if you still get the taste. at least then you will know if it is the wash or the still

The soap may have had chemical in it to make it smell "sweet", which has adsorbed onto the metal and into the cracks between the metal crystal boundaries. Can you heat it higher than 100C for a good bake? No need for a condenser, its not like you want what comes off. Or maybe soak with acetone which will dissolve just about anything.

But it reminds me of a funny story about a guy who bought a piece of cheap marble and decided to make a bar out of it. So he polished it up and mounted it and it looked very good and he invited some friends around. So they spill some beer and stuff on it and it starts to smell. After a while they realize why it was so cheap - it had been taken out of dismantled urinal.

That original post is 12 years old...

Silly me. That should have given time to sort the problem out! I wonder what happened?

Wow! The forumn has come a long way in the last 12 years.