StillSmart

Its been a hell of a week, one I'd rather forget. Due to a bad back complaint the doctor had to come out and basically knock me out !!. Slept for three whole days and don't really remember much apart that my wash has been clear for over a week.

Today I managed to start the process of distillation. Remembering that I had chucked out my out of date conditioner, I raided the penny jar and gave half a mug full of pennies a good wash and placed them in the air still with four litres of wash and a teaspoon of normal veg oil.

Considering that I have never done it this way before, I was slightly cautious while it was going through the process of collecting 1.5 litres of distillate, so I gave it a bit of a wide berth. Shouldn't have worried as the coins did its job and could hear them moving slightly while it was happening. Once collected I opened up the still to empty it and found that the resulting liquid was very copper looking. Is this normal or I am doing something wrong.

The first 1.5 litre batch is now in a small fermenting bin waiting for the next batch which is going through the process as I type. One thing I did forget to do was to add the veg oil. Will this make much difference.

After the dregs of the first batch were emptied circular marks/stains from the coins were made on the bottom of the still. Is this normal.

Hopefully I'm doing my first stripping run right, please tell me if I'm ballsing it up from the start. Will the distillate be ok in the small fermenting bin or should it be in glass.


Cheers all.

The darker colour of the spent wash and the circular marks on the bottom are normal. Barkeeper's Friend will quickly clean them up should you ever feel the need.

The distillate should NOT be store in plastic. Get it into glass now.

One teaspoon of oil in the AirStill is too much. Use 1/8 or 1/4 at most. Omitting probably won't hurt, you will soon see.

Thanks for the quick reply Chill.

I have a half gallon bottle in the shed, so will get it out now and give it a good wash out and transfer it straight away.

The second strip I did without the oil was fine. It looks like it was just the cleaning process of the coins as they are now looking brand new !!.

Thanks mate.

Neil

All three litres of stripped wash now in glass. Looking forward to doing the rest tomorrow and then graduating to the next stage.

Thanks for the help and advice.

It is just what we do here,helping out anyone that stumbles in.
To the best of our abilities.
Hoping that your efforts reap rewards for you.
Welcome aboard the crazy distilling roller-coaster,nothing is set in stone,innovation is IMHO the way forward.
Although previous experiences posted here should not be dis-regarded.
Some of us have learned a few hard lessons.


Robert.

Seems we might have a convert
I keep my coinage clean by soaking in citric acid.
Test them with a magnet they must be copper. That seems to make a difference too.

Don't need oil or conditioner imo.

If you bend your copper coins they won't sit flat on the bottom of the still and won't leave marks

What's left in your still after a stripping run is very acidic so it will keep your copper bits nice and shiny but don't use them in your Spirit Runs.

AidanMac

You certainly have a convert to the right way of doing it. Even though I'm using an airstill, I really don't mind the extra effort and time involved with the process.

Another lesson learned this morning regarding whether the penny coins I was using were magnetic. At the time I couldn't find a magnet but my boy brought a piece of his Magnetix game downstairs which has a magnet each side. We have just tried all the copper pennies and found that 110 are magnetic and only 43 were copper !!. I'm surprised the still didn't blow up all over the kitchen.

My boy and myself have just gone through the penny jar and tried every penny with a magnet. Turns out we now have 163 pennies which are copper. Is this enough for the air still or do we need any more before I continue with my third stripping wash.

Just seen your post about the spirit run Ade. I have only really glanced at the way it is done but just to clarify, is nothing added to the still on the spirit run.

Cheers

AidanMac wrote:If you bend your copper coins they won't sit flat on the bottom of the still and wthey don't leave marks

They wouldn't mark but they also don't work in the same way. The anti juke effect is caused by them being flat.

Sorry Mashy but not so! I've no idea what an "anti juke effect" is but the purpose of copper pieces or caramic saddles in the boiler is to prevent surge boiling and puking.

Caramic Saddles are round and crushed copper pipe offcuts are not flat either. The effect of boil enhancers is achieved by having an amount of small objects moving around the floor of the boiler thus preventing the formation of super bubbles that occur in surge boiling. Flat objects tend to stick to the floor of the boiler, hence the marks where they resided during the boil, and their efficacy in preventing surge boiling is severely limited.

AidanMac

I will not correct the anti-juking typo - else this thread might become unreadable.


It is superheating that causes pukes.
The science behind the effect is that a thin membrane of boiling liquid underneath the coin - heats up and in doing so tips the coin slightly when the bubbles escape. It is this movement, which ripples through the liquid, that stops superheating of an otherwise stationary fluid. Saddles and bits of copper pipe also do this, but in a less effective way due to the reduced surface area.

Perhaps I should have said is that by bending the coins you reduce their effectiveness.

That should be enough pennies. I only have a small handful in mine (along with some crushed granite pieces). The non-magnetic ones won't cause a problem but as they only have a thin cover of coppers will soon become ineffective.

Thanks guys.

Third strip is now half way through. Bottles and jars of stripped wash now decorate the kitchen worktops but the wife doesn't even batter an eyelid.

I'm reading up as much as I can for the next stage so no doubt there will be more questions to follow once the wash is completely stripped.


While I remeber, where do you all buy your Vodka Star yeast and clearing agent from. Do you also use the packets of activated carbon from Still Spirits in your wash or is it a waste of time. I want to get another wash going asap so I obviously want to keep the costs down as much as I can.

Also, is there any real advantage in adding more sugar to the wash compared to the 6kg that I have been using previously.

If you use Vodka Star you won't need the carbon in the wash - bloody awful stuff anyway The Lentil wash recipe is cheap, simple and clean for making neutral spirits.

For clearing agents you could use Turbo Klar, most of the online HBS stock it, such as http://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/turbo-clear/ or http://www.creativewinemaking.co.uk/spi ... at_16.html Alternatively you could try getting Sparkolloid (best of all IMHO) which I buy from here http://www.brewhaus.com/Clearing-Agent- ... -P853.aspx

Most agree here that it's best to strive for quality rather than quantity so 6Kg is probably the upper end of the scale. I personally use 5kg in my 25Lt Lentil Washes. Fast and dry finishing. High sugar levels stress the yeast and can produce less than ideal results.

It's worthwhile remembering that we end up making a standard bottle of spirits for less than £2 so don't worry too much about you recipe costs. You'll still be saving a bundle

AidanMac

Still Brewing wrote: Turns out we now have 163 pennies which are copper. Is this enough for the air still or do we need any more before I continue with my third stripping wash.

Just seen your post about the spirit run Ade. I have only really glanced at the way it is done but just to clarify, is nothing added to the still on the spirit run.

Cheers

I know that I am a little late responding,but that is many pennies,you have to leave some room for the strip in there!
Your pennies will come out of there nice and clean,rinse them and add them to the spirit run,they will come out of that dirty,having collected Sulphites.
Put them with some Citric acid to clean them up again.
Aidan has answered your other points,so I will leave those.
Ex'ing a Turbo supplier,(try and resist it,lentil,[TP,or many others] is cheaper and cleaner).If you don't have a local HB shop,you could do worse than here http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/ellie-claire? ... 1543.l2754
ATB

Robert.

Sorry,my ISP is messing around again tonight,and I seemingly can't post links,so that is a copy and paste jobby to your address bar.