smell!

[kakoljunior]

hey guys hows it goin,wow a site just on the air still SAWEETT,seems all the other sites just have the air still haters:(,anyway ive bought one of these off a friend,i made a wash 6kg sugar,turbo yeast,and i used the turbo clear,let that sit in the wash for 48 hours,then destilled it,i ended up with like a 60% batch,only problem being the smell,its like really strong ay,even with essence,now i didnt throw the first 50 ml out of each batch wich im spewin about,tho the lady at our brew store said there was no need to!!anyway is this the reason for the smell? the guys at work are reflux kings so they reckon!! and say it shouldnt smell at all,so now im sorta like GULP should i drink it lol...any who just today i ran it all through the still agan this time throwing the first 60 ml,also i didnt mention i filterd as well through a EZ filter,which its filtering through a second time now as i type,tho the smell is still there,is this normal? thanks guys....... just another thing,wen i put the wash into the still it wasnt the clearest ay like maybe i should of sat it for longer? it seemd clear,but yer just was a bit cloudy,weather this is normal or not?

[HangOver]

hi

been a fw days for your reply huh lol

anyhow if you didnt take the heads off (first 50ml or so) dont drink it.

if its watered down it probably wont exactly kill you but you might not feel well.
my advice is to re-distill you spirit, just throw it back in the still if its 60% now whater it down half water half spirit. for each pot you distil throw away the first 40-50ml
then carbon filter it at least twice but best three times.

you should notice a real big difference.

once its filtered water it down again till its about 40% and have a smell and taste, it should be fine then.

if its still really bad distill it again then filter again, it should come good.

[bluecap]

Just like to second Hangover’s advice re-distil the lot and take the first 50ml of poison off and chuck it.
And shoot the lady at your homebrew shop for giving such bad advice.

[optic]

i dont throw away any heads now as i have found it makes no difference IMO ,perhaps its because i only run it through once,everyone who has tried it gets no hangover at all,and i know that if i drink the same ammount of a shop bought spirit,next morning i have a hangover.

[HangOver]

the thing is its not all just about taste and smell.

you get different types of alcohol at different temperatures from your wash as it distills.

The first bit of the distill process distills spirit that isn\'t good for you. If you mix a small amount of metho or turps with your spirits you would hardly taste it but you could imagine what it will do to your insides.

[optic]

what i dont get is on the still spirits web site it says for the reflux still which takes 25ltrs of wash to throw away the first 50ml as heads,if you work that back to the 4ltrs that the smart still takes it works out to 8ml for heads,that amount must be so minimal that there is probably more methanol in a couple of litres of orange juice,which i have read contains high levels of methanol,maybe thats why they say only to use triple distilled turbo yeast with the smart still because it makes such a pure alcohol, what would be good is to find out the exact truth about heads not just someones personal opinion

cheers optic

[bluecap]

The reflux still will spit the heads out a lot more pure i.e. a lot less water in and it’s the first 100mls not 50mls that is discarded.
All 50ml is, is an average pub double a tiny bit in the bottom of a glass why risk your health for such a minuscule amount when you have so much good stuff in abundance.
If you really don’t want to waste it give it the misses, it makes good nail varnish remover, or you can even use it as paint stripper.
Just don’t drink it.

[optic]

it deffo says 50ml on the still spirit website,so you can see what i mean about the tiny amount that works out in the smart still,and working on the principle that a pot still is very inefficent in comparison to the reflux any heads that may be there would be even smaller than 8mls,another thing why dont still spirits say to discard heads,surely they would be breaking health regs if there was any danger,we are at the end of the day all just making a wild guess at the answer,would like to know from someone who can give the answer backed by science.

Time for a drop of whisky i think (heads in)lol

cheers optic..

[Phantom]

Still Spirits aren\'t just selling a still, they\'re selling a still, their \"system\" and method, as a nice straight forward \"product\".
If you read over at homedistiller, they will discard between 50 and 200mls as \"foreshots\". Don\'t forget, these guys are making wash/mash from raw grain etc, so there\'s likely to be more foreshots/heads in it.
We, as a rule, use sugar, which as already been refined.
I tend to take between 25 and 50mls from the \"airstill\", but 50 to 100 mls from my reflux still. That\'s not just to extrapolate the 25mls from the airstill. it\'s because the reflux still is more efficient, so it gets it out quicker.
Either way, if there\'s any smell of foreshots/heads, it should smell like acetone/nail polish remover/pear drops. If there\'s any other smell, then just water it down to below 40% and redistill it.
If it\'s smelly, or cloudy, or has essence in it, or if you\'re distilling some wine/cider/etc etc, I would recommend that you make sure that you\'ve got a handful of rashig rings in the bottom of the boiler, and that you get a bottle of \"distillers conditioner\" and put a capful in with every batch you run (I do this with all the runs I do, irrespective of airstill or reflux still).
Also, go over to homedistiller main site and read up on technique, as they suggest about doing a \"stripping run\", then I dont\' recall whether it\'s water it down and add some sodium bicarb, then leave it a couple of days, or whether it\'s add the sodium bicarb leave it a couple of days and then water it down, all before redistiling for a \"spirit run\".
Read up the info and do whichever seems best for you...
Either way, the product should be neutral alcohol, with no smell and the only thing that you can describe as taste is the vodka/alcohol burn as it hits your throat and you get that alcohol vapour effect in your mouth. Anything else and it should be re-distilled.

[kakoljunior]

thanks for the replies guys,i ended up re-distilling it,1200ml came out at like 80%hey,so yer bonus,guys go take a look at my airstill mod post,i think this chick was right ay...no offence to anyone!!

[optic]

Phantom

thanks for the info i found when i removed 50mls as heads,then collected another 700mls the smell of both was pretty much the same just the heads where not so clear as the 700mls.

[kakoljunior]

oh so you saw a difference in color? hmm maybe that is the bad stuff,man i bin hounding this Einstein guy that comes into work,im thinkin that even if it doesn\'t come out till it drips out around the 72c mark,the steam of the bad stuff may of built up in the stiller,and drip out with like the first bit?,shourly wouldnt be 50mls worth tho,its a hard one.

[Phantom]

It is possible to get cloudy distillate, but it\'s not normal.
All of the non-alcohol stuff, should pretty much stay in the still.
You wouldn\'t normally see any difference i.e. it should all be clear, it\'s the smell that gives it away i.e. foreshots often smell like acetone etc

[optic]

I have just done a run and kept the first 50mls seperate,this time it was just as clear as the rest ,and smelt ok,i was this time thinking of running the 25ltrs of wash through my Z filter as i had just finished running some spirit through it and wondered about giving it a go before i threw the carbon away,but never had time,will give it a try sometime,it sure wont do any harm,should think the clearer and more pure the wash the better,suppose its a bit like you cant put a pigs ear in and expect a silk purse out?

[kakoljunior]

lol haven\'t heard that one before yer that\'s what i tried on this run as well,i left the wash for a extra few days after adding the turbo clear,was a lot clearer then my first attempt that\'s for sure.i rkn it seems the longer its left it just gets better...kool idea man,even if ya just try 4ltrs to start with as a test...well off to work agan!!