Possibly Blue Kirsch? Maybe Just Louching?

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Fernweh
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Possibly Blue Kirsch? Maybe Just Louching?

Post by Fernweh »

I made a kirsch with some sour cherries that ended up with some blue precipitate after a single pass. I ended up running it again, and this time there is no precipitate, but the spirit is somewhat cloudy and has a possibly-imagined blue tinge.

Should I be worried?

Thinking about taking a sample and adding NaOH to see what precipitates. Assuming any blue-causing material is Cu(II) salt, I should be able to tell that way AFAIK.
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NZChris
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Re: Possibly Blue Kirsch? Maybe Just Louching?

Post by NZChris »

Have you discarded the feints? If you haven't, don't.

Clean up the still to make sure that there is no verdigris in it and run it all again, slower.

Using alkali to clean it up will remove a lot of flavor.
Fernweh
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Re: Possibly Blue Kirsch? Maybe Just Louching?

Post by Fernweh »

NZChris wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:09 pm Have you discarded the feints? If you haven't, don't.

Clean up the still to make sure that there is no verdigris in it and run it all again, slower.

Using alkali to clean it up will remove a lot of flavor.
My goal isn't to add alkali to clean it up, but to see if this louching is because of copper or what. Only with a small sample.

The reason I ask about the copper is because this doesn't look like any copper salt precipitation I've seen before. I get some turquoise flakes or blue spirit if I'm running a really acidic wash, but even the first kirsch run just had a blue (not turquoise) tinge to some fluffy fatty acids that had fallen out. This second run is just kinda cloudy and might sorta kinda be blue if you squint. I'm looking for ways to test for copper. I wouldn't even be worried if the first run hadn't made me scratch my head.

For what it's worth I have used the still since then and gotten no blue spirit. I also rinse the still head between runs, and check to see if it needs more cleaning. It didn't after the kirsch run either time, for the record.
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