Molasses and sugar wash distilling blue?

[Repeatpete]

Why is my molasses and brown sugar distilling blue?? Never seen this before. I've tried to attach a photo but it won't take.

[Ghost]

Did you do a cleaning run on your still? What process did you use? List out the recipe in detail as well as the process you used during the run.

[Repeatpete]

6 pounds brown sugar
2-12 once jars mloasses
5 gallons of water
rum yeast

made a run last week and everything was fine. I wshe it out last night using small amount of bleach, less that a cap full. i put a gallon of water in the still this morning, steamed everything for a few minutes. put the wash into the still, brought it up to 180 as slow as possible. and boom..... light blue rum. only thing i have seen remotely similar is jet fuel. i work at a checmical plant and have seen all kinds of things but this takes the cake the still was clean as a wistle.

hmmmmm. hopefully the photo worked.

[Ghost]

Ok so let me ask this another way - did you use the vinegar and water clean out? a saccrifical run of alcohol to start with? And why in the hell would you use clorox for a cleaning run?!?! Sorry but never heard of that and I am guessing it could have cause a chemical reaction with the still - but I will let other chime in.

[Repeatpete]

Bleach was NOT used as a cleaning run. It was used to wipe down the inside of the still the night before. I the. Rinsed it thoroughly. Yes a sacrificial run was done, yes I did a viniger water run. I followed all the rules. I steamed this morning with water, no bleach.

[Ghost]

Im still leaning towards a chemical reaction with the bleach and the copper.

[Repeatpete]

The bleach was diluted with about three gallons of water. So bleach should not be the issue. After that it was hosed down inside very thoroughly.

[Repeatpete]

In fact, I have done the same routine every other time I have used it. Never happened before. It's got to be in the mash some how, my experience with discoloration due to cooper reactions is that it goes away eventually. This has not gone away. Did not use charcoal is the wash, yuck!!!

[DuckofDeath]

Too high a PH in the wash? ammonia formed maybe?

[Repeatpete]

That's a possibility. I did not check ph as usual. I used store bought distiller water for the wash. I'm on the 6th pint and it's still coming out as blue as ever. Obviously not goig to drink it. In fact I'm considering stopping the whole thing and dump it. I swear to got if the kids are messing with me and their food coloring!!! I'm going to &$%#£€!!!

Good question, would food coloring go thru? When i poured the wash into the still it was very low lit so it's possible I didn't see it. This could be the ultimate practical joke by my kids!!!

[Ghost]

Didnt think about Ph levels - I think its been mentioned here before.

[Prairiepiss]

rum yeast

Please elaborate on what kind of yeast you are using?

Save the distilled water for diluting the final spirit. Not the best for a ferment. Regulations bottled water if your tap water is undrinkable. Or just dechlorinate your tap water.

[DuckofDeath]

After my cleaning runs I had blue product for 3 more cleaning runs. Now its all good and no more blue.

[Repeatpete]

I just did some dumpster diving and could not find the yeast package. It was not that god awful turbo!! I hate turbo!! If I were to hazard a guess, it was "still spirits" rum yeast. Got in Houston a few weeks back. It fermented for 6 days, in a temperature controlled room at 80 degrees. I checked the specific gravity before and after and showed approx 9% abv.

I'm on pint number 7 and the light blue is is still there, not as dark as as fists pint. I used a different set up this go around, no thumper, I checked the thumper copper and it all looks good. Clean clean can get. I'm at a loss.

I called a metallurgy guy at work. He said that undiluted bleach if allowed to react could cause an off color. But this was less than a cap full in a sink full of water. I washed down the inside and rinsed. So he didn't think it was a reaction with bleach. The only reason the bleach was used is we are on well water and we do that anytime we do dishes.

[MDH]

Blue is almost universally copper unless somehow you managed to get nickel salts, or iron sulfate taint.

Don't throw your blue distillate away. Clean your still entirely out, add a tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in water to the blue distillate, then distill it again. It should come out perfectly clear.

[Prairiepiss]

Still spirits? I thought all they make is turbo crap. How big was the package the yeast came in. And for how big of a wash was it? if I'm not mistaken? That yeast has an over abundance of nutrients in it. These nutrients react with the copper. Still spirit stills are all stainless steel. But if that package of yeast had more the say a tbsp of yeast in it. For a 5 gallon batch. It had extra nutes in it. And I bet that was your problem.

You mite be best off doing another vinegar cleaning run followed by a water steam run and another sacrificial alcohol run. Not using that rum wash. Something else.

[Repeatpete]

Well, I did this run to prepare for an all grain mated barley run. I wanted the practice and experience so I didn't screw up the grain wash. I'm glad this happened now and not later.

I'm on the tails end now and it's still got that light bluish hue. I will do exactly as told to rescue the distillate. Same with the still.

The all grain wash isn't even in the pot yet, the barley is sitting in five gallon buckets.

Anyway... Ghost, prariepiss, duckofdeath, and MDH,hanks for all the help, it is very much appreciated.

I didn't mean to skip info, frustrate you guys, as I was running the still and dealing with a pissed off wife who is a school teacher, she needed something and I told her I couldn't bring it!! Wrong answer.

Again thanks to all.

[Ghost]

We all need help sometimes! Good luck on finding the culprit and update !!!

[Repeatpete]

After the run, I found a mysterious ring at the liquid level, on the inside of course. It was a deep blue color. Also on the inside top of the still, where the vapor would be funneled to the lyne arm, had a slight coating of a blue colored substance.

Of course I cleaned the snot out of it and steamed it with several gallon of water and one gallon of vinegar. Then steamed it dry with 2 gallons of water. Scrubbed it till it had as clear of water coming out as it did going in.

The lyne arm also had the bluish hue to it and it was cleaned. Now as for the culprit?

If memory serves me, the is the first time I have used "still spirits" yeast. Because it was a 5gallon wash, I did not use the whole pouch. Someone said that possibly the yeast was meant to be used in stainless, have not confirmed that.

Next possibility would have been some kind of reaction with the wash, and the copper, my metallurgy friend said that was not very likely. He said even if somehow the wash developed NH3, ammonia, it would take hours for it to react with copper at the levels it would be in.

I am leaning towards the nutrient and possibly over feeding the yeast for the amount of wash there was. I'm also wondering if the kids played a joke on me, but the blue food coloring was not opened.

I am at a loss. Perhaps it was just a perfect combination of events that will never be known. I will say this. The rum was very good as I dipped my finger. I will be doing the baking powder mix in with distillate run in the morning. I will let you know how it goes.

I tried to upload photos, but for some reason it wouldn't work. The photo was from my iPhone, downloaded to computer. Is there a trick to this.

[Repeatpete]

I think it's official. To much nutrient!! This causing NH3, this the ph level of the wash left in the siphon was an 8.

Ummm.... 8 is a lot high! Ammonia and cooper do not mix. Anyway, lesson learned. I will be adding lemon juice and let it sit for a week or two, run it again, and see what comes of it. It sure is taste when I dip my finger in it. But no more!! They say the blue is bad news. Looks just like a lighter colored windex. Pretty amazed. If anything will keep it and use it to start bonfires, cleaning spark plugs etc!!

Thanks again to all those who contributed. It's a team effort that will bring positive results. But to be part of this team I need to share my mistakes like anyone else. Obviously I used to much yeast with nutrient. I said it was distillers yeast, someone mentioned that distillers yeast quite possibly is turbo. I did some research on that and it's definitely a marketing ploy.

I've been researching the right yeast for an all malted barley grain wash and wonder if I should use any at all. I will let ya know the results if ya care.

Happy valentines day all. Take care of them wives/ husbands, so they don't get mad at ya, nothing worse than a pissed off spouse!!

[Repeatpete]

Copper sulphate is what it was. It happens when acids or NH3 react with copper. I'm no chemist so I may have it wrong. But the blue is copper sulphate.

[idahoarcher]

i had a batch do on me the PH was way too high. It smelled strongly of ammonia.

[drinkingdog]

I was under the impression that the run was trash when it came out blue. Now I'm reading there are ways to save it. Is this right?

[Prairiepiss]

You should do your own research on it. I would not save it for anything. Other then ant poison or fire starter. Coming out perfectly clear and coming out perfectly clean. Are two different things. Find somebody Dnderheads posts. He has explained it quite clear in the past.