Green Spirit

[Urrazeb]

The first two were rum the last three were uj variant :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The only thing that changed is the boiler sat with backset for a week after running. There are absolutely no other variables.

I will inspect after running this 4L test batch. Couldn't surely be possible that two completely different washes have produced the same odd result on their own consecutively after each other

[SBB]

Sure I read somewhere about blue spirit causes by excessive amonia...are you over doing the DAP ?

Ive read similar stuff Yummy, I cant be bothered looking around for it right now, from memory it has to do with to much nitrogen in the nutrients used. Or maybe that's just to many nutrients in general.

[MacStill]

Running a test batch now..

Cleaned boiler out and put in plain water to cover, added 4L of clean feints not related to the colour runs.

So far so good. 2nd jar in, no colour and clean heads.

I think maybe the moist environment is allowing the rust to develop and this is coming through when I run? :?

Nar.... not likely through all those caps n plates, reckon your boiler would just about need to be cast iron for that colour to come through from rust & you'd notice it on the plates.

:think:

[Sam.]

Sure I read somewhere about blue spirit causes by excessive amonia...are you over doing the DAP ?

Ive read similar stuff Yummy, I cant be bothered looking around for it right now, from memory it has to do with to much nitrogen in the nutrients used. Or maybe that's just to many nutrients in general.

Nah don't think this is the path to take I have seen it before once and it was literally flouro blue and stank like ammonia, it was pure poison :scared-eek:

Maybe the boiler needs a good clean :think:

[pulsetech]

It's sounds like there is a manky old bit of sulphide saturated copper some where. Have you opened all your joints for a quick peek . Dunder is pretty corrosive isn't it? What could it have attacked in a week ?

[northernbrewer]

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4717 mentions green distillate. Also tap or bottled water, water corp could have changed chemicals or just dosages and could be chlorine problems I guess.

[Urrazeb]

Pulse the whole still was dismantled and throughly cleaned, can't be any of the components. Every piece was inspected and as mac says it'd be pretty easy to fault find on the still.

It's been running in 4 plate mode with no extra copper other than the plates. Though I did try stuffing some clean mesh above the rc to grab some extra sulphides but that was promptly removed after it failed to do so.

I suppose if it was iron oxide from rust it wouldn't smell rotten would it? :angry-banghead:

So far the feints test run is going sweet as. I'll take a few snaps of the inside of the boiler after this run

[MacStill]

Postby pintoshine » Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:06 am

Most likely there was a lot of tails still in your column and it did a number on the copper from the previous run. It is always recommended to at least flush the whole thing between every run. Sometimes I will run a weak solution of caustic through the column to remove any off smells, left over acid or oils.

I have had bright green spirits come through anyway because of distilling wash that still had a lot of CO2 in it. The CO2 makes bright green copper carbonate.

Postby Victoryrider » Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:34 am

I think pintoshine has the answer. I rushed this ferment and there was definatly co2 still comming off. I flush the still out very well with water after each use, never had a problem before. BNet you nailed the problem!
Thanks!

:think:

Thanks for the link northernbrewer :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Urrazeb]

Ok so the test run went great. No bad smells no colour.

Put another 30L uj variant in and straight away it came out green :angry-banghead:

So I think it may be the wash... but as bad timing would have it there is a chance the still needed a clean after the initial rum?

The only things different in the uj is I added 2kg of pilsner malt and ground the corn to a flour.

Could any of these have an impact on colour/smell?

[northernbrewer]

When you put your wash in do you splash it around or syphon it in gently? You need to splash it around to remove as much of the dissolved co2 out as possible (that's what they were talking about in the bits Mac copied over)

[Urrazeb]

My wash gets pumped into the boiler and is agitated a lot due to this movement through an impeller pump.

[P3T3rPan]

Surely if it was rust you would more likely have brown to light yellow colouring
Green means copper to us plumbers

[Urrazeb]

Could the corn I am using be treated with a sulphuric preservative? I usually get cracked corn and have had no issue but this time I got whole corn and ground it myself

[1 2many]

Maybe your batch of corn was contaminated some how but this question hasn't come up before from any other guys crushing there own corn. The plot thickens :think:

[MacStill]

didnt read back over everything, just the whole corn caught my attention.

feed corn or seed ?

[Urrazeb]

Feed corn mac :think:

[bt1]

I've been caught with discoloured spirit from one of my pots I use very infrequently. A yellow green tinge.

I understood it to be copper acetate which forms in the presence of acetic acid = vinegar clean wash. Don't get sucked in looking for a green tinge ...when combined with patenia it can be a dull brown colour.

A long steam clean after a vinegar clean run is my normal practice as a result. Collect to steam periodically by turning on cooling and dip in a white tissue to see any colouring. I add some bi carb to the boiler but otherwise it's tap water.

bt1

[Urrazeb]

But would this carry over for this many runs? I have done 5 or 6 runs through it now and it's still coloired :angry-banghead:

[Sam.]

Well isnt this coincidental. Charge the boiler with a standard whisky wash I do, put the still on, think to myself gee it's been a while since I used this and it was left wet with some water in it last time. Ah doesn't look too bad in there :?

Yep, you guessed it, green fucking spirit :angry-banghead:

I know this is not the wash, it is the copper plates, I will persist for a bit and see if it cleans up by itself otherwise it will get stripped out.

Urrazeb, after cleaning yours last time did you dry the parts before putting it back together? Leaving them wet is the killer I reckon, especially water. From now on in winter I am going to do as BT1 suggests and blow dry it out after flushing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[7evan]

Well isnt this coincidental. Charge the boiler with a standard whisky wash I do, put the still on, think to myself gee it's been a while since I used this and it was left wet with some water in it last time. Ah doesn't look too bad in there :?

Yep, you guessed it, green fucking spirit :angry-banghead:

I know this is not the wash, it is the copper plates, I will persist for a bit and see if it cleans up by itself otherwise it will get stripped out.

Urrazeb, after cleaning yours last time did you dry the parts before putting it back together? Leaving them wet is the killer I reckon, especially water. From now on in winter I am going to do as BT1 suggests and blow dry it out after flushing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Or move further north where it actually gets above 20 degrees :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

I'll take the green FSW off your hands though :greetings-waveyellow: