Slight vomit smell/taste

[moeredSide2]

Hi!
I've been distilling for a while, but this is the first time I've had this problem.

Simple sugar wash. Wash tasted fine, but end product has what I can only describe as a slight "vomit" flavour/taste.

Was it my cuts, or something else?

[Pikey]

I've heard tell of that "vomit smell" in infected washes - but not the way round you describe - I can only think left overs from last stilling - ie mucky kit - is that a possibility ?

[NZChris]

It will be butyric acid from an infection in the ferment. Use the HD Google Search for vomit and you should get a quite a few hits.

[Shine0n]

But the butyric acid I had in my dunder smelled of pineapple (slightly) Once distilled and never any vomit smell in the final distillate, only in the dunder itself.

This a first I've heard in a sugar wash, it's possible that the fermenter had some contamination from a previous ferment?

[NZChris]

But the butyric acid I had in my dunder smelled of pineapple (slightly) Once distilled and never any vomit smell in the final distillate, only in the dunder itself.

That is because it has been converted to the ester, Ethyl butanoate.

[Shine0n]

Now that would stand for the op as well wouldn't it?

If it were an infection in the ferment and was distilled it would then create the ester as well, no?

I'm looking up the term for distilling on Google about Ethyl Butanoate.

[NZChris]

It needs acid for the reaction, so it is best to allow time for that to happen in the wash, rather than distil it and be stuck with it.

[HDNB]

It needs acid for the reaction, so it is best to allow time for that to happen in the wash, rather than distil it and be stuck with it.

it does modify after distillation, but 3 years later...it's still modifying (it's still pukey, but interesting) but the distillate was vomitorium bad when it went on the wood in march 2014

[NZChris]

There are components in the wood that help, but the OP has a sugar wash and is probably wanting some quick drinking likker.