Home Distiller

Hello, I'm new to distilling and have been fermenting some potato mash for distillation. After fermentation I used a brew bag that I think was around 200 micron filtration and the resulting product was very cloudy. I distilled anyway and noticed that the internal heating element in my still collected particles and burnt it on the element to a thick shell I had to remove afterwards. Obviously this is not good for the product, bad flavors imparted.

I was thinking about trying to hook up a home water filtration system and pressurizing a tank with the mash in it to push the mash out through the filter. I am thinking of a standard 10" sediment and particulate filter that has 20 micron filtration. They are very inexpensive at the home improvement store. I read that potato starches run about twice this size so it should be adequate. My fear is that it will clog long before I am able to get 5 gallons through it, and maybe clog so fast that it isn't practical. The filters are cheap and so if I had to go through a couple per 5 gallons, not a big deal. Anyone try something like this?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Go to a steam stripper for the most efficiency but I wouldn't be fermenting spuds that's just me.

If there was still starch is the wash, it would burn even if it was filtered.

How did you convert the starch?

Did you do a starch test before distilling?

There are a number of reasons that 99% of the worlds vodka is not made from potatoes, You've just found one of them.
This is the short list of potato based spirits......there are better ones out there from memory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vodkas
Having said that ....... , if you search around there are threads posted on the forum by some of our more experienced distillers who have successfully fermented and distilled taters, they say , the end result was worth the effort and they would do it again.

ethanol_eth wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 5:30 pm I was thinking about trying to hook up a home water filtration system and pressurizing a tank with the mash in

A potato sugar wash makes a nice neutral but requires some extra effort similar to use rice..

Your filtering idea will not work well, but using a geotex fabric to filter out the fine sediments, along with clearing time, will do the task..

viewtopic.php?f=83&t=58545&hilit=geotex ... +filtering

Any liquid that is not fully cleared of sediments will be attracted to an electric element, unless your are setup properly to run such..

Mars

NZChris wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:20 pm If there was still starch is the wash, it would burn even if it was filtered.

How did you convert the starch?

Did you do a starch test before distilling?

Sorry, misspoke. I used malted barley and it was converted, as near as I can tell, fairly successfully. Did not starch test but did measure the SG to be about right, and upon distilling the volume calculations worked so I'm pretty sure I'm doing pretty good with that.

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:30 am There are a number of reasons that 99% of the worlds vodka is not made from potatoes, You've just found one of them.
This is the short list of potato based spirits......there are better ones out there from memory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vodkas
Having said that ....... , if you search around there are threads posted on the forum by some of our more experienced distillers who have successfully fermented and distilled taters, they say , the end result was worth the effort and they would do it again.

Potatoes are what grow well where I am, I have over a half ton in storage. I am not interested in buying things from a store to ferment. I am fully prepared to have this project end without having a product suitable for anything but tractor fuel. Thank you for the response regardless!

This is how I have my set up for filtering my mash:





I use a 300 or 75 micron bag (which ever is easier to grab at the time) and they both do a great job - solids act as their own filter too. Its normally left overnight to 24 hours and by the time I get around to it, the stuff in the bottom bucket is really clear.

Though I haven't done potatoes yet, I haven't had any problems with scorching so far.

I haven’t tried filtering fermented solids . But we have a 5micron sediment filter on our rain water filter and it doesn’t take much to clog it up . If you are saying that starch is 200microns , I can see you getting very frustrated as it quickly clogs ( obviously doing its job) and you need to constantly stop , dismantle and clean filter before continuing .

I would agree with earlier poster that you should consider Steam stripping . It has worked very well for me with Rice slurry .

Two ways you can do it .
Build a steam generator that feeds your boiler via a thump tube , or use your electric boiler as a source of steam and get a second boiler to load your potato slops and feed steam from your electric boiler via a thump tube .

The first method is best as it means you are making steam within minates of switch on and it never boils dry .

Second method is cheaper and easier , …..but …..it take longer . You have to wait fir the electric boiler to start making steam ( maybe 60-90min depending on power) before it starts to heat the Spud juice .

Second major problem with this method is that you risk boiling the all the water io and burning out the element before the spud strip is done …. unless you have a level sight tube on the electric boiler .

Having said that , its a great way to get cracking and you won’t risk scorching spud on your element .

renedox wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:09 pm This is how I have my set up for filtering my mash:
...
I use a 300 or 75 micron bag (which ever is easier to grab at the time) and they both do a great job - solids act as their own filter too. Its normally left overnight to 24 hours and by the time I get around to it, the stuff in the bottom bucket is really clear.

Though I haven't done potatoes yet, I haven't had any problems with scorching so far.

Thanks for this, might try it. Looks like one could figure out a way to put some weight on top as well to squeeze out. Where are you getting 75 micron bags?