Home Distiller

So...
I'm working with a 33l pot still, cork gasket and clamps to seal lid, with a 3/4" riser (about 2 ft high), a 16" lyne arm, and a worm tank condensor.

Rum washes work out fine, but my all-grain barley wash foams like crazy.

Does anybody have any tips on controlling/mitigating a foaming wash? Any magical technique I've missed? It seems like the only trick is to not fill your boiler too full.

Thanks!
S

I run mine at full blast until the first drops are about to come out (worm gets hot) then power down - or as you stated leave more head room - or bigger still

All grains foam more due to proteins and maybe some residual sugars. The best thing to do is heat it slower. Maybe heat it fast 'till ya know it's near the boiling point, then cut the heat and bring it up slowly. (learning curve..)
There are also anti foaming agents you can buy from homebrew supply shops that will help. Here's one....http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermcap-s-1-oz.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Try this.

Bring it to boil with the still head off.

Keep the heat on until the foam rises to the top of the still, then turn the heat off and spray the foam down with water mist.

With a bit of luck, it won't foam up again.

Or..

Some put a bit of oil or butter on top. I haven't tried that one

Thanks guys,

Frunobulax - that anti-foam stuff looks pretty great. Anybody else out there use the stuff? I'll have to pick some up next I get nearer to civilization.

Wouldn't putting butter on the top reduce the effeciency of evaporation though? I'm thinking it'd make it harder for vapour to escape, raising the temperature at which ethanol boils off, and carrying more water (and butter?) with it.

S

snusmumriken wrote:Wouldn't putting butter on the top reduce the effeciency of evaporation though? I'm thinking it'd make it harder for vapour to escape, raising the temperature at which ethanol boils off, and carrying more water (and butter?) with it.

It probably would if you put several kilos in it

You should only get puking on the stripping run. I used to get all upset when it happened, but now I just turn the heat down and carry on. The spirit run will tidy it up, and if you are diluting the low wines with saved mash, it'll make no difference you'll ever notice.

I use Foamsol (FDC 511), a drop or two solves the foaming. Just finished the first batch of cherry-pálinka made from Bigarreau Burlat, without it is almost impossible to make a good stripping run. Cherry foams like... well, just like the oat or wheat foams. A lot.

Oh, and on puking stripping runs: just place a little shard of a rooftile in the pot under the fruitpulp/mash. It gets rid of the puking. Miraculously. With it's different density and texture it balances the boiling to make it less tempestuous inside the pot.

I've thought about getting a protein skimmer made for aquariums. You could run it on the wort before fermenting. As an added bonus it would also aerate the wort before pitching the yeast. Maybe one day I'll give that a try. For now I power down just as the temperature starts rising to a boil and I also add a couple of drops of an anti-foam agent that I purchased from the local brew shop. When that runs out I'll try the butter trick.

I had this issue just today, and the only solution was to run it super slow. AG corn & rye, so I expected foaming and used the proper amount of foaming agent, to no avail. Puked right off the bat, and turning off the flame when I saw it start to bubble up through the sight glass did nothing--it just sat there and puked for a full minute after the heat source was turned off. Took about 10 minutes for the foam to subside. For the next two hours, it would try to do it again any time I ran faster than about 3 drips per second, and even then it would occasionally threaten to do it for no reason I could tell; I just sat there with my hand on the regulator. It finally calmed down & was able to run at closer to regular stripping speed, but in all it took 4 hours, double the time for a normal stripping run for me. Next time I might try charging the pot to 30% or so, instead of 60%.

I hope it turns out great, because it was a pain in the ass.

I've used a teaspoon of coconut oil for a long time...leaves the boiler smelling nice, is anti fungal too!

What DAD said. I use a little olive oil, it's what we have around. Feed it to the wort in place of oxygen if I don't want to aerate too, good stuff.
Coconut oil does sound like a nice still run smell.

During my last run I transferred the wash from from the fermenter to the still using a couple of 5 gal buckets. I sloshed the wash back and forth aggressively between the two buckets to degas it. It foamed up quite a bit during this process and I scaped the foam off and discarded it. It took about 2 minutes worth of time.

Between that, charging the still to 60% of maximum volume and adding a few drops of an anti-foam agent I was able to do a quick stripping run of my all barley wash without any puking.

NZChris wrote:Try this.

Bring it to boil with the still head off.

Keep the heat on until the foam rises to the top of the still, then turn the heat off and spray the foam down with water mist.

With a bit of luck, it won't foam up again.

Or..

Some put a bit of oil or butter on top. I haven't tried that one

When I make jelly I add butter and it stops the foaming cant see why it wouldn't work.