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I know this might seem like a stupid question. But her it goes. I have a Valor 3gal potstill and I wanted to make sure that the first few Ounces Are still going to be the methonal. Can anyone help?

Here is a link to the still.
https://vevor.ca/products/3gal-12l-moon ... n8QAvD_BwE

maxw wrote: ↑Wed Jul 14, 2021 7:34 pm I wanted to make sure that the first few Ounces Are still going to be the methonal.

Sounds like you have been reading or listening to people who believe in myths.
You are worrying about nothing really, its very hard/ almost impossible to produce enough methanol in a wash to be of any danger to you.
Sugar washes in particular contain very little if any, washes/ mashes made with fruits grains or other vegetable matter contain more.
To add to that the methanol wont all come off at the beginning of the run.....in will be present in some quantity all through the run.
The link below will lead you to pages and pages of Home Distiller discussion on the subject of methanol.
https://homedistiller.org/forum/app.php ... itesearch=

Hello, some consideration .. that's a "pot-still" configuration so it's good for some products while it is not suitable for others, for example if you want a neutral is not the ideal .. I tell you this because in general the pots still they don't have a very clear separation but anyway you can also make cuts, I advise you to smell and taste out the product coming out to decide what to discard and do not be based on the established quantities (every ferment will be different). Another difficulty I see (and I know a lot Well) is the reduced quantity of the boiler .. essentially a small boiler in Pot Still mode will be difficult to perform the cuts, but not impossible just to learn to conduct your petrolting. I often produce small lots so I know the problem a bit, the first advice I give you is to always run stripping (to concentrate your alcohol), the second is to make a second race very slowly, the third do the cuts using Taste / smell.

Thank you I did run an apply brandy I guess you could call it I did thow a the first really bad smells stuff away and then dubbed it just to be safe. I ended up with about 46% and its been aging on apply wood for about a week now. It is starting to smell good.

Maxw

Forget all the stuff you have heard about regarding methanol. I would not trust other info from that same source. The stinky stuff you smell at the beginning of a run is mostly foreshots (acetone) and heads (mostly ethyl acetate). Yes, you want to toss most of that.

Check out the “novice guide for pot still cuts” located at the bottom of this page, in the required reading section.

Otis

maxw wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 2:45 am Thank you I did run an apply brandy I guess you could call it I did thow a the first really bad smells stuff away and then dubbed it just to be safe. I ended up with about 46% and its been aging on apply wood for about a week now. It is starting to smell good.

Did you first do a vinegar run and sacrificial alcohol run? If not, you don't really want to drink your apple brandy as you probably just used it to clean out machining oil and flux residues from your still. I would absolutely not trust vevor to have adequately cleaned the still before shipping!