Question about new still - too much copper surface?

Simple pot still distillation and construction with or without a thumper.

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GentleHippopotamus
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Question about new still - too much copper surface?

Post by GentleHippopotamus »

Hi all. I just bought my first still with a 30 lt. boiler two weeks ago. I am posting the pictures. As it can be seen , it has a simple cooling pipe, another cooling unit which the manufacturer calls as the "simple reflux unit" and a jar below it filled with copper springs.

After cleaning with water, soaking the copper springs in vinegar for 16 hours till they are shiny clean, doing a water run, then a vinegar run and finally a sacrificial run, I made my first brandy using 45 lts of homemade merlot wine with 14.5% ABV. For that, i did 2X1 stripping runs (each around 22.5 lts) and a spirit run. After making cuts and diluting, I got 4.5 lts of brandy with 62% ABV. It is getting oaked now. I got heads around 92 - 90 % ABV, hearts around 85 - 90 % ABV. To my surprise, taste is pretty clean and it seems drinkable right at the moment. I am planning to age it properly and look into ways of getting more aroma in my following runs.(first step will be bypassing the so called reflux cooler for that).

But I am worried about whether this design gives too much copper surface area to the steam, compared to other designs like copper meshes or copper cooling units. Springs got a darker color very quickly while distilling. Is there something as "too much copper contact" in a still, which can cause health issues and / or strip aromas from the final product? Do you think my still is safe for those issues?
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