Stopping and resuming a spirit run

[brissybrewer]

A big howdy to all members ! First time poster

Something happened to me twice now which has me scratching my head a bit. The first time was a reflux spirit run with a TPW, got pretty late at night so packed it in and resumed in the morning. After re-heating up to temperate the spirit coming off the pipe had a bitter metallic sort of taste even after 15-20 minutes of running. Was happy with the amount collected previously anyway so ditched the remaining wash and chalked it up to something funny with the yeast being cooled and re-heated.

But did a spirit run recently which was the product of two stripping runs (so pretty clean wash to start). Same thing, got late at night, thought i would pick it up again in the morning. Heated up to boiling temp and noticed the same thing, except this time it had more of an ... acetone.. kind of flavour to it. Collected for a while to see if it would go away, but it actually intensified, so have pulled the pin on it.

Was just wondering if there was any known reaction to heating/cooling/heating like that which would produce off flavours in the distillate ?

Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers!

[hillzabilly]

G-day mate ,what sort of packing are you using,dodgy stainless scrubbies could be the cause,I like ta use only copper mesh.cheers Hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Doubleuj]

Hey mate, generally speaking if you have to stop and restart a spirit run just take another feints jar and dispose of that jar.
Ideally though you should plan the spirit runs earlier and then you won’t have the issue.
Post up a thread in the welcome centre and show us some pics of your still and how it was built (materials etc) might help answer some questions :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[scythe]

Could be that oxides are forming on your still overnight (after the RC, or down hill side of of a pot still) and when you restart it you are washing them out.
Ethanol is a good solvent.
Refluxing for a good period to re-stack the column and ditching the first jar off the still after a restart is a good idea.