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Hello, I had this and attributed to puking when I ran directly from wash, but when I started running from low wines I was surprised it was still apparent. I have checked my SS 304 column and swapped out my SS scrubbers, scrubbers showed no signs of rust, there was something brown inside the column (very small quantity on the walls, not sure if it was rust or something else). My scrubbers are slightly magnetic, they show no signs of rust in a water bath for a few days, neither they show any signs in a solution with citric acid and water for a few days. They did however show signs of rust with oxiclean solution after some time. The rest of the still is copper.

The ball valve of my VM still is brass (NASA treated), and when I removed it to examine there were some concentrated alcohol trapped inside it leaking out, AFAIK I even left the valve open after the run (not 100% sure tho) before I took it apart which made me curious to why there were trapped liquid inside it. I fear this trapped concentrated alcohol over time might be the reason to the tint of the first jar? Could it dissolve the brass over time that is released when I run the still the next time?

If this is the case, do you guys think I need to NASA treat the valve again before I use it in the future and pay attention to not trap any alcohol? I dont want to risk contaminating the product. Thanks for any help.

Could have been some puke left on the condenser and your head's cleaned it out for you

That's my thought too. First jar got the results of high concentration alcohol cleaning out something leftover from before.

Typically the first jar is worthless and goes to fire starter anyway, so this wouldn't concern me.

Thanks Swedish pride and bilgriss, hope you are correct. I think I've had a few runs with low wines and there was this slight yellow tint with all of them, if I had a puke and ran low wines next and had a yellow tint due to residue from the puke, it would not follow with the subsequent runs after the first low wines run, what do you think? Could the remains of a puke linger for a few subsequent runs (maybe 2-4) with low wines if I had a puke. I did not see any evidence of a puke with cloudy product or something when I ran directly from wash, but I was just assuming a puke due to the colour. I will try some time in the upcoming days with a dried valve and see if the yellow tint dissapears.

It makes sense that the foreshots are cleaning out some sort of residue that’s been left from the last run, but given it’s an ongoing problem I doubt it’s from your previous puke.

In the first instance I’d suggest swapping out that brass valve for stainless. They’re cheaper than brass these days.

Maybe the oil from the end of the last stripping run got washed out and into the first spirit run jar.
If this is the case look inside the product condenser.

Excuse my ignorance please, but what is NASA treated?

Run into more jars. I only run gins that I've run many times before into four jars or less.

NZChris wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:42 pm Excuse my ignorance please, but what is NASA treated?

Me two.

What are you running. I’ve had little bits of brown left in the riser after stripping runs on rum. Could easily account for the color in the first jars washing it out. Not the easiest to see on a copper column. Just a thought.

shadylane wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2025 11:26 pm

NZChris wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:42 pm Excuse my ignorance please, but what is NASA treated?

Me two.

Waste a small fortune to go to a rock in outer space and not even bring back any cheese?

shadylane wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2025 8:35 pm Maybe the oil from the end of the last stripping run got washed out and into the first spirit run jar.
If this is the case look inside the product condenser.

I've got a separate stripper, my vm machine only does refluxing. Would fusel oils have a yellow tint/turn yellow? When I strip the product turn a little bit cloudy when I'm deep into the run, but never yellow.

NZChris wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2025 9:42 pm Excuse my ignorance please, but what is NASA treated?

Run into more jars. I only run gins that I've run many times before into four jars or less.

Thank you for the tip. have more jars. I'm usually running into 10-15 jars (these were just the first 4 jars of the run). And one big in the middle when I'm confident I'm in the middle of hearts (turns out I'm wrong sometimes anyway )

30xs wrote: ↑Sat Feb 22, 2025 1:03 am What are you running. I’ve had little bits of brown left in the riser after stripping runs on rum. Could easily account for the color in the first jars washing it out. Not the easiest to see on a copper column. Just a thought.

I'm running mostly Ted's FFV and lately only low wines from tffv. I thought clear low wines would have cleaned anything out by the first run. Maybe this is something being produced every run due to something wrong with my machine/something wrong I do.

How is the still heated? Is the element still fine if electric?