Smell from a still?

Excaliber · Post by **Excaliber** » Sun May 08, 2005 6:13 pm

Im looking to build a still like this one:

http://img17.paintedover.com/uploads/17/8_fullsetup.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showth ... genumber=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

It looks cheap and simple. But I was wondering what kind of smell (if any) would be produced? I'd like to keep this relatively "undercover" and would like to not attract attention by making the entire area reek of alcohol. Will I be ok doing this setup? Is there some way to mask the smell?

Thanks

rectifier · Post by **rectifier** » Sun May 08, 2005 8:21 pm

No no no steel! Only pure copper or stainless for both the column and the packing! Steel will turn to a nasty, rusty mess.

That thread is full of misinformation. Read the http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow website. You can produce methanol, and other nasties from sugar - just not very much. They come off first, so you should throw away the first 50-100mL produced, otherwise you're looking at a ripper hangover. You can also make do with much cheaper yeast than the turbos by adding nutrients and things like molasses.

Smell? I'll leave that to the more experienced guys, i've yet to distill my first wash

But you shouldn't get much more than a little ethanol smell if you don't burn your wash, i don't think.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 08, 2005 10:10 pm

mine gives off just a hint of a smell. it just smells like u were cooking something

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 09, 2005 12:34 am

rectifier wrote:No no no steel! Only pure copper or stainless for both the column and the packing! Steel will turn to a nasty, rusty mess/

Heh, I was going to use copper over the entire thing anyhow, and copper pot scrubbers instead of steel wool (its a lot cheaper too).

Ill make sure to pitch the first bit to remove the methanol (dont want to go blind, eh

)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 09, 2005 2:06 am

very interesting...

Arnie_sla · Post by **Arnie_sla** » Mon May 09, 2005 2:42 pm

I sure it will work and it wont produce very much of a smell so you will be Ok there.

But I think you will quickly realize that the amount produced out of a kettle of wash will be quite small. If you have a 25 litre wash down (5 gal Approx) and a you are going to use a kettle as your still you will be filling it over and over as each little bit has finished. Also each time you start a new kettle you will need to collect the methanol before you start collecting the ethanol.

My first still was a small 5 litre "Stills Unlimited" reflux model, sure it worked fine and gave me about 80- 85% ABV but it took at least 6 runs, heat ups, to do the total wash. Thus it takes much longer to do the total wash as you have to bring each batch upto temp each time. I soon found this site and from reading and reviewing others pics worked out I could make a much better Still myself.

It is 15 litres in size with a 80cm by 50 mm tower, the condenser is a 12mm copper pipe passing through the centre of a 40mm poly pipe, which has cold water supplied by a small pump. Now I get 92-94% ABV and although it is still fairly small by comparison to some Stills made by others in this forum it suits me fine and now it only takes two runs to do the total wash.

So if you can make a bigger version of the same thing you have shown in your original post or make something like others have or I have, I think you will be much happier with the hole process.

Have a look at some of the systems at this link.
My systems is shown on page 5 .

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34

Arnie_sla · Post by **Arnie_sla** » Mon May 09, 2005 5:04 pm

I just had a bit of a read through the link the orginal post refers to and found this little bit of bullshit

Quote
"This vaguely ass-like taste is caused in part by the sheer strength of the alcohol, but mostly by various by-products of yeast fermentation that get concentrated during the distilling (Note: methanol is NOT one of these products, and is chemically impossible to produce through the fermentation of sugar). " unquote.

This is totally wrong and anyone who reads it should totally ignor it. METHANOL is produced during the fermentation process. If you fail to collectit seperately and throw it away it will not only make your product taste like shit it could do you serious harm. As a previous reply suggest there is a lot of misinformation in that link and this one is really dangerous information which I felt should be highlighted

Yttrium · Post by **Yttrium** » Mon May 09, 2005 7:11 pm

http://homedistiller.org/intro/methanol

Actually, the post is fairly correct. The key thing to remember is that the author said: fermentation of sugar, not the fermentation of molasses, or the fermentation of grain, etc. In a pure sugar wash the production of methanol is extremely small.

ricki · Post by **ricki** » Wed May 11, 2005 1:46 pm

I second that Yttrium.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Thu May 12, 2005 6:26 am

I'd be more worried about a "vaguely ass-like taste"!!

Excaliber · Post by **Excaliber** » Sun May 15, 2005 4:07 pm

Thanks all for the comments. I've done a lot more research and am in the process of building a spiral still. It suits my needs.

Question out of curiousity. My sugar wash/mash should ferment out to around 15-20 proof (iirc). Whats it taste like, exactly? I'm not going to drink it, but was just wondering what a sugar wash is like before distilling.

Thanks