Projectile Vomiting from the first run

[coppertopper]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

So I have finished my first run of juice and after taking one shot of the hearts, got violently ill about 2-3 hours later. I am very confused as to why and cannot find any literature on this site or others to explain what the problem could be.

Here is what happened:

I got my still, all copper, lead free from the whiskey still company. Here's a link to the image for those of you who would recognize it. (http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0118/1 ... 1349492133" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)

I first cleaned this still as described in the instructions then ran a vinegar/water 50/50 mixture through the still to further clean it.

I rinsed everything and poured in a strong apple cider to distill. I ran the still up to boiling for the methanol, got a little bit and dumped it. When it got up to boiling out the ethanol, I dumped the first 2 ounces to be safe and started taking the heads. I swapped jars (collection container) for the hearts and again for the tails and turned off the heat to let everything cool down.

I capped the jars as soon as I finished the collection of each cut.

After about an hour or so, I decided to take a swig of the hearts and opened the jar, poured about an ounce and drank it. I only had the one shot and it didn't taste off when compared to other alcohols and I thought everything was fine. (it should be said that it doesn't smell funny either) Soon after, I started getting pretty bad stomach cramps and within a few hours began vomiting for the rest of the night.

My question is: what could have gone wrong?

A few notes:

The hotplate I have does cycle, it didn't seem to cause any problems as the liquid remained well within the desired temperature ranges at all times during the runs.

While I did clean out everything thoroughly, my condenser did contain water while doing my vinegar run so the result was a liquid drip rather than a steam. Not sure if this matters, but I thought I'd mention it.

All my jars were clean. I did not dilute any of the alcohol. The "mash" was an apple cider that I made a few weeks back and was fully fermented. The ABV was about 7% pre distillation.

Please help as I am now pretty worried about going forward.

Thanks

[granddad]

here is a simple test fill a shot glass 1/4 with distilled product then add same amount of bottled water if it is an off color or hazey/ cloudy you did some thing wrong add it to feints run or delute to 45% run it again or dump it good luck

[LWTCS]

The cycling can affect any gradient that may have been established.

Your temps seem stable to you but the cycling definitely caused some smearing.
What proof did you drink?

[bearriver]

Correlation does not infer causation.

You might have ate a bad samich or your mother in law poisoned you...

Science would say to repeat the results but that might not be good for your health.

[NZChris]

The advice on the forum is to do a sacrificial alcohol run and throw it out. You drank it.

[BoomTown]

The advice on the forum is to do a sacrificial alcohol run and throw it out. You drank it.

+1

Caution in this hobby is a demonstration of wisdom gained. While much can be gained, the route to the victory cannot be a short cut.

My advice, Toss the whole mess, or flush it. And start your actual 1st run. And on your next test, try .5 oz and wait 2 hours.

Better yet, oak for 2 weeks, then try .5 oz and wait 2 hours. Keep in mind, your 1st batch is not likely to taste at all like your 10th, nor have the same physical impact.

Boom

[bearriver]

The advice on the forum is to do a sacrificial alcohol run and throw it out. You drank it.

Spot on

[coppertopper]

Thank you everyone for the input. While I will take the advice and dump the first batch, I am curious as to the science behind this. There has to be something in there that caused this reaction and my concern is that it might not have been eliminated by simply doing one sacrificial run.

[LWTCS]

Oh dear you must have consumed some lovely machining oils ,,,,and flux(acid) and who knows what else?
Thankfully your body was smart enough to repel the foreign invader.

[FullySilenced]

Gooooo Puke!!!

[bearriver]

Vinegar does not have the same solvent properties as ethanol. Its an acid, but not a superior solvent like water or alcohol.

You drank flux my man.

[BoomTown]

yep. Flux flushed your system....your actual system....

Luckily, by the time you've worked through your next mash, your physical system will most likely have reset.

Good luck.

Boom

[acfixer69]

You can cut that 1st run down below 40% and run it again and clean it with vapor thru the condenser too clean it also. Venting those flammable vapors.

AC

[T-Pee]

To add insult to injury, the OP is likely crapping his brains out for tonight's finale.

tp

[Johnny6]

Any chance that his problem was the proof of his shot? It was likely somewhere North of 150 proof. That could be tough on the stomach.

[Antler24]

Any chance that his problem was the proof of his shot? It was likely somewhere North of 150 proof. That could be tough on the stomach.

Tough on the stomach, yes. I really doubt 1oz of 150 proof made him sick 2 hours after ingesting, let alone violently ill for the rest of the day/night.

[Chroi]

You can cut that 1st run down below 40% and run it again and clean it with vapor thru the condenser too clean it also. Venting those flammable vapors.

AC

I'm really not sure what you're suggesting he do here....but I'd keep it since there will surely be physical modifications to the still along the way, and a new cleaning run is required anytime you flux and solder. Treat it like a brand new still. Water run, vinegar run, sac alc run. If that seems like too much work for modifying a single spot, you're in the wrong hobby.

OP, I'm sorry for your experience, and I dont mean to be an ass, but I followed this forum members instructions and advice to a T and my first run was better than 90% of store bought spirits I've had. You've discovered the price of venturing off the beaten path.

The size of the joints and amount of flux due to the nature of the design of that still surely exacerbated the situation. Wonder if they use acid or H2O based flux..?

Sorry for your troubles, hope you're feeling better.

[IrishEnigma]

if there's stainless soldered to copper than most likely there's both acid and H2O based solder. I will not be sipping off my sac run lol

[BoomTown]

simply put...he drank diluted flux. It took a while, but he paid the price.

[T-Pee]

Man, that had to suck...or blow in this case.

yp

[rad14701]

Any chance that his problem was the proof of his shot? It was likely somewhere North of 150 proof. That could be tough on the stomach.

Tough on the stomach, yes. I really doubt 1oz of 150 proof made him sick 2 hours after ingesting, let alone violently ill for the rest of the day/night.

Don't be so sure about that... It could easily flare up an ulcer or other GI affliction... It's the amount of alcohol at strength, not being adequately diluted... Think straight acid instead of a solution of acid and water... It would also explain the length of time the affliction persisted...

[BoomTown]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
... Here's a link to the image for those of you who would recognize it. (http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0118/1 ... 1349492133" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)

Boy, I'm not sure what went wrong, but that is one beautiful piece of art. I'd purge the hell out of it with a sugar head mash, and try again. and again. and again.

Boom

[Jimbo]

Boy this one sure is an enigma.

Did you taste the cider before you ran it. Did it taste like a typical hard cider, tart and dry? How did you come about your cider? Press it yourself, were the apples in good shape? wash them first? Any oils or shite or old molds on your grinder or press equipment?

My vote after reading this whole thread is with beariver, your mother in law poisoned you man.

[coppertopper]

Thanks for all the input. The cider was good. I've already drank two gallons, but my next batch is coming out and I needed the bottles so I decided to do my sac run with it. I didn't realize that the hearts of the sac run could still contain so many bad things. I'm wondering now if I should do another sac run since it wasn't a high ABV juice starting so not much alcohol vapor ran through to really give it a good clean.

No diarrhea by the way, in case that helps further diagnose the cause. Only vomiting and lots of it.

As for the sugar wash cleaning, is there an amount of alcohol that should be run through the still before it's considered clean?

Boom: I agree that it is beautiful, it was part of the appeal of the move from just brewing to distilling. Unfortunately all beauty comes at a price, but I have learned a valuable lesson from it all.

[Jimbo]

It's not the still. There's something weird we haven't figured out. 20 years ago I built my first still and made my first brandy without so much as a rinse. (no HD wisdom then) I didn't puke. And drank lots of it in the glee of my new found hobby.

[scree]

A little over priced for me, but it does look like a piece of art. Not a cheap import.
Looking at the manufacturer's website, he does appear to take pride in his work.
Unless you have some sort of extreme sensitivity, I can't believe there was that much flux present.
I'd take a hard look at the mother in law. no pun intended.

[BDF]

Coincidence?

What else did you eat that day? Did other people eat that same food?

[Rivver]

To the OP. I built a new copper 2" column head myself. Cleaned with hot water and a rag that I pushed through. Then ran a vinegar/water run, lots of stuff came out. Ran a sac alc run, more stuff came out. Ran a second sac alc run, again more stuff came out. Finally the third sac alc run came out clean, but I tossed it anyhow, just to be on the safe side. Now I use a an electric element and I shut my condensor down during runs where I was venting pure alchohol vapor (of course it was outside and no where close to flame or spark), but this really seemed to help out, and I did this on the second alc run.