Home Distiller

I recently bought some bottled distilled water to proof with because my well water makes my shine a little bubbly and cloudy when you shake it. It will settle out but you don't get that quick disbursement of bubbles followed by clean and clear white dog. Anybody else run into this and care to explain?
Thanks,
Rain Distillate

I havn't personally, but it could be minerals in your well water.

I always proof with distilled water and have thought about running an RO system in the house for this. As far as cloudy... minerals would be the culprit if it were related to the water.

rgreen2002 wrote:I always proof with distilled water and have thought about running an RO system in the house for this. As far as cloudy... minerals would be the culprit if it were related to the water.

Maybe the distilled water i purchased had minerals added? causing it to do the same as my well water

I just found the bottle. It says steam distillation. Filtered and ozonated. whatever that means. maybe thats what causes the cloudyness? like I said it does settle out but when you shake it up it doesnt look like clean likker.

Cloudy booze after proofing is only one of two things... tails ir impruities in the proofing water. If you are using distilled water i would say tails. But......
If its setteling out and looks like beads of water in solution or like bubbles,then im guessing you add water to your alcohol,or its tails. Try only proofing it to 95-90 and see if you have the same problem. If not its probably tails. If so and you like the taste,fuck it.you aint trying to sell crystal clear shine(are you?),your trying to satisfy you.

What jb said. And if you like how it tastes, don't matter if it's cloudy. Some of the best scotch in the world will "mist" as they call in when water is added (cloud a little). There can be good flavor in some of those tails, but may cause it to cloud.

I also used to add water to my alcohol to proof. It would sometimes cloud. Tested it once. Did half and half. The half where I added water to the alcohol slightly clouded. The half that I added the alcohol to the water stayed crystal clear. I dunno why . . . there's probably an explanation here somewhere . . . but either way, they both tasted the same. I'm making it for me, nobody else, so if i share and they don't like the cloudyness, they are welcome to a jar of heads that sure won't cloud.

rain distillate wrote:

rgreen2002 wrote:I always proof with distilled water and have thought about running an RO system in the house for this. As far as cloudy... minerals would be the culprit if it were related to the water.

Maybe the distilled water i purchased had minerals added? causing it to do the same as my well water

Maybe I misread you original post. I thought you were saying you now used distilled BECAUSE when you use tap you get cloudy. Cloudy shine is one of those topics here covered about a thousand times too... (I have participated in at least 3-4 that I can remember). Like jb said.... 2 main causes are water impurity and tails with tails probably being more the issue than you think.

Other reasons that have been mention that I can remember offhand:
adding water TO alcohol (instead of alcohol to water)
residues on the glass (collection or proofing - like soaps from washing)
oils in the distillate (like tails but also if you have tried to "flavors")

impurities in the vapor path - this is a big one too. Clean the still and boiler, check for residues, plastics, etc in the vapor path


here is a quick link to the last time I got into this mess; http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p7381220

If the cloudiness bothers you then look through the still for issues (clean it, remove questionable materials, etc) and run it again. Make tighter cuts and see what happens.

Adding water to alcohol causes an exothermic reaction whereas adding alcohol to water, slowly, does not...

rad14701 wrote:Adding water to alcohol causes an exothermic reaction whereas adding alcohol to water, slowly, does not...

guess this was my problem then. I added water to the alcohol and not slowly haha.

I use s distilled water because the well water minerals will cloud it. I did get one jug of supposed distilled water that clouded up some neutral. Switched to a different brand of water and didn't get any clouding with the same batch. Guess the water wasn't really distilled in that jug....

Hound Dog wrote:I use s distilled water because the well water minerals will cloud it. I did get one jug of supposed distilled water that clouded up some neutral. Switched to a different brand of water and didn't get any clouding with the same batch. Guess the water wasn't really distilled in that jug....

thats what I was thinking hound dog. I bought the store brand (cheeped out). Will try a new brand and will also try adding likker to the water instead.

The ozarka brand distilled is good to go. From personal experience.

rad14701 wrote:Adding water to alcohol causes an exothermic reaction whereas adding alcohol to water, slowly, does not...

Interesting. Thanks rad! I was just watching something else about this about mixing chemicals, and why you do it a certain way to avoid an exothermic reaction.

I used distilled water and boiled water there is no differece for me but I read that you should add product to the water not water to the product.

papapro wrote:I used distilled water and boiled water there is no differece for me but I read that you should add product to the water not water to the product.

It all depends on how hard your water is really.
For me personally, i like to blend in some tails for the flavor. If i proof to 84-85 itll cloud up even with distilled water. But thats MY aging blend.
If i keep it white the cuts are ruthless and i can hit 80 pr no problem with distilled,but my tap water will cloud between 105 and 100 pr every time regardless on the cuts. Then again i have VERY hard water

I am on municipal water that water is from the near lake what I read municipal water is treated to be ph close to 7.0 to protect water pipes. When I boil it there is no scaling on the bottom of catle. Maybe that is why there is no difference. I also read that fine scotch wiskey are using water from local creeks with specific ph levels and minerals.

initial guess is that we're talking oxygenated water and not ozonated. many modern taps (faucets) and pumps will do this and the water will go cloudy/white then clear. This applies to mixing with alcohol or other water.