First runs have problems

[HOUNDOG]

Hello,

I have been reading everything I can about distilling and have attempted my first two runs. However, I did have some problems. I am using a Brewhaus 15 gal pot still, a mash of corn and sugar fermented with turbo yeast. I usually extract the sugars from the corn using a mash tun (like an all grain beer batch) and add sugar to around 1.100 SG. The runs have fermented down to 1.000.

My first run was ok, but had a bad burnt popcorn smell as it came off the still. I aired the jars out for 24 hours and the smell went away. However, I made the cuts of the heads/tails (I collected 200ml per jar) and cut the product with distilled water (purchased). When I cut this batch, the product became very cloudy, still transparent but cloudy. Any ideas of why this happened. Note: I ran both runs at about 1-2 drops per second.

I ran the second run with the turbo yeast still bubbling on the top, however FG was at 1.000. The product is clear from the still but has a very sharp aftertaste. This taste is similar to vomit!! Overall the product looks good but it has the nasty aftertaste. I havent cut it to see if it turns cloudy because I am going to attempt to run it again and avoid the aftertaste. Note: Same collection method as before- 200ml per jar at 1-2 drips per second. This run took 20 hours to complete and I still had 50% ABV when I shut it down.

Any help would be great!

[Dnderhead]

burnt taste ,,,did you let clear?
cloudy after diluting,,,Tales?
vomit taste,,,turbos? or infected?

[NcHooch]

I'd recommend you always dilute your hooch using distilled water . It MAY still turn cloudy if you ran it too hard and smeared some of the tails into the hearts ...but typically distilled water won't cloud your hearts.

...You might wanna just re-run that second run

[rad14701]

I'd recommend you always dilute your hooch using distilled water . It MAY still turn cloudy if you ran it too hard and smeared some of the tails into the hearts ...but typically distilled water won't cloud your hearts.

...You might wanna just re-run that second run

To reduce the possibility of clouding, with or without distilled water, take a small amount of spirits and slowly add it to roughly the amount of water you'll need for diluting to the desired level... Then add more spirits to it or mix it into the remaining spirits... This helps keep the exothermic reaction between the alcohol and water to a minimum which in turn reduces clouding... Straight water with high proof alcohol creates a more violent exothermic reaction than high proof spirits mixed with low proof spirits...

I prefer to slowly mix higher proof alcohol into the diluted lower proof alcohol, not just rapidly dumping and mixing the two together... Think of it more as bringing water up to drinking proof than dropping high proof down to drinking proof...

[HOUNDOG]

Thanks! I will try that on my next run.