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I really could use a little help if possible. I built a pot still for stripping runs and a 5 foot 2" boka bob which is fully insulated. Used copper scrubber's, stainless steel take off valve. Ran a vinegar run then a cleaning run with wines and left over booze. Worked like a charm.

I used Bird watchers mash and strip it down to about 40% for my low wines. I distilled the low wines at between 168-172 degree F. They came off with a sweet fruity type smell.


Reflux run:

Reflux 100% for approx one hour. I collected about 250 mls of foreshots at a drop per second.
I then collected about 500 mls of foreshots. Still had an odor to it. Then I started taking off about 6-750 mil in individual 800 Ml mason jars. The first two came off a little cloudy and still had an odor. The next 6 or 7 mason jars came off clear and the alcohol content in my parrot ran at about 95-97% according to my alcohol meter. I ran it until about 85% and then I shut off the still. I combined the last 6-7 jars in car boy let it air out for 24 and diluted it with distilled water to 40%. it is basically undrinkable. It has a funny after taste (hard to define, sort of chemically, metallic maybe with an underlying citrus) It is horrible. I and a couple of buddies can taste it even if you dilute with tonic or cranberry juice let alone straight. I watched all the temps and Abv as outlined in all the posts.

A little more information, I left the low wines in my keg a couple of months before I did the reflux run. It would seem to me that no matter what is in the low wines even if it did pick up a SS type taste ( and I am not sure that is the taste) the the distillation process would remove that. Is it possible that when I let the process distill down to 85% near the end that I got tail in the finished product. But even when I tasted the middle container which were coming out at over 95% I could pick up this taste and smell. I have been reading and studying this process for the past 9 months and I think I did everything correctly. I am just hoping that either I got some tails into the mix or maybe I was taking of the final product at too fast a speed. I just figured if it is coming off my parrot which is attached to my column at it is coming of at over 95% I was using the correct take off amount. I also did not use the reflux still for a few months between the cleaning run and this past reflux run so maybe some of the flavor came from the copper in the still.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. I am a little bummed. But I am not giving up. I just loaded by my 50L boiler with another charge of Bird Watchers. I am going to distill that with my pot still to low wines, throw back in my crappy tasting booze and reflux it all again. I am sure some of you have had the same problem or have a good idea what went wrong. I thank you all in advance for your time and consideration.


H,

sounds like you mixed the whole batch together after the run ? Re run it (properly diluted of course). collect in smaller increments like 200mil on the front end than 400 ml in the middle & back it down when you start to get into the tails. Don't combine your jars after the run. Dilute it to drinking strength in the seperate containers. Smell, taste,& feel with guide you to the good drinkin stuff. By combining the run, you mix heads & tails in with your hearts giving you the off taste & smell. Hope this helps, good luck

I did not mix in the 250 ml foreshots, or the 500 Ml of what I thought was heads nor did I mix the first two 600 mason jars. So basically I did not mix in the first 2000 ml. I would have thought after taking and not using 2000 mils of the front that I would be into the hearts. I only mixed the mason jars that had the 95% abv and the last of the run that went down no lower than 85%. Does that make sense. Thanks for you reply

What I find works the best is. Collect in 200ml jars through the whole run. After you throw out the fores of course. Then let it air for 24 to 48 hours before you make your decision on your cuts and blending. What you thought to be heads and hearts off the still will be completely different after airing.

Don't get discouraged by your first run. It gets better. You can't expect to do something like this the first go. Another nose and taster around to help. Is a plus to.

Because I am only interested in the cleanest center cuts that's where I start my sampling and blending... I never collect anything that might end up as keeper spirits in anything larger than 200ml (1/2 pint) volumes regardless of jar size... Heads and late hearts/early tails are collected at half that volume... When I blend I work outward from the center hearts, based on an initial smell, and alternate between the heads and tails sides until I decide to stop blending from each end... I'd rather toss an extra jar or two into the feints jar to be rerun rather than chance tainting my keeper spirits...

Practice, practice, and more practice, will result in making proper cuts and conservative blending... At first the greed factor will cause folks to blend more than they should but that bad habit wanes over time... And when in doubt don't hesitate to dilute and rerun... Stick with it and you'll get there...

Sounds like you blended some tails in.

Metalic taste could have come from your low wines sitting on metal. It would probably distill out of wash, but low wines could pick a bit up.
Might also be that there has not been much action in the stills. Might have got a bit of oxidisation since the cleaning runs. No patina yet.
I always rinse the still after a run. Well, maybe I might do it the next day.

Try doing some wide cuts on the low wines after the stripping runs. Toss the first and the last 2 jars from each stripping run into the feints jar for re-running later.

A little more information, I left the low wines in my keg a couple of months before I did the reflux run. It would seem to me that no matter what is in the low wines even if it did pick up a SS type taste ( and I am not sure that is the taste) the the distillation process would remove that.

I've had low wines sitting in corny kegs for up to a year and never got that metallic taste you've described. For what it's worth.

whats your water? iron? zinc? other?

Metalic taste I would go with water, I put 2 filters on my house system whichI (use to use for cuts) but my water has alot of iron in it,now i use distilled water or a better source of well water, helped out.

Don't get discouraged, when I made my first run, the taste wasn't at all what I was expecting either. There're so many more flavors that you pick up when that the commercial companies get rid of and make plain. Age it for a while and then try it again. And honestly, your friends aren't the best critics, because the only whiskey's they can compare your stuff to and the mass producing distilleries that please to serve the average drinker.


RB

Saying the same as previous replies...make your cuts by tasting each jar after airing and then decide what to add to the drinking bottle. You have done good except for the cuts where a small mistake is a big problem. You can find the best centre jar and start drinking while you wait another few days for the other jars to air more, but then your drinkin bottle will miss out on having the best in the mix, and your best jar would have tasted better with more airing. When tasting, dilute 1 measure of 95% with 3 measures of water for every taste. Be fussy.

Cleaning a new still goes further than the vinegar run and the sacrificial run. Your first proper run after those two runs can have a metallic taste throughout the run. This will make the cuts harder to determine, but if you can separate the metallic taste in your mind from the other tastes, the cuts can be made regardless of the metallic taste. In my experience the metallic taste disappears after the third proper run.

Now there are two paths to follow with the metallic taste:
1. Soak your hearts undiluted with 1 tablespoon of activated carbon per litre for a week. Filter and repeat if absolutely necessary or go straight to 2..
2. Treat your reflux run as feints, dilute to 30% and run it again. (30% means there is more water in the boiler to keep any nasties in the boiler).

And further measures to try...not ideal but can help:
Too much heads in your drinkin bottle can be removed by bubbling air through the bottle using a fishtank airator. Do it for 30 mins max per day for as many days as needed. (Running a fish airator for more than 30Mins can deliver a rubber taste into your alc).
Too much tails can be removed by soaking on activated carbon as in 1. above, or by ageing on oak for a few years.

I know this is an old post, but I just went through the exact same issue with my new still. The taste you are describing is polishing compound, probably up in the u at the top of your still, or possible inside of a shotgun condenser. Its a bitch to get out, I ended up using a can of carb cleaner and a gun cleaning kit. The original issue is probably solved by now, so I hope this helps someone else