BEGINNERS GEMS #11: More Distillation Hints & Tips
IN OUR 11th Beginner’s Gems for Home Distillers, we explore a few more hints and tips to help you in your distilling processes.
Our previous Beginners’ Gems posts containing helpful hints, tips and techniques for home distillers, include the following:
- Beginners’ Gems #1: Basic Knowledge to Help Home Distiller Beginners
- Beginners’ Gems #2: More Basics to Help Home Distiller Beginners
- BEGINNERS’ GEMS #3: The Finer Points of Fermentation Temperature
- BEGINNERS’ GEMS #4: Solutions for Fermentation Problems
- BEGINNERS’ GEMS #5: Even More Solutions for Fermentation Problems
- BEGINNERS’ GEMS #6: Finally Taming the Yeast Beast
Why is My Distillate Blue?
The surest way to prevent this is to use Global Express Fast & Clean Distillers Yeast. If you insist on using one of the turbo yeasts, make sure you have used high quality products (some brands produce a blue spirit due to an imbalance of nutrients).
Use only one yeast sachet per 25 Litre (6.6 US Gallon) wash — if the fermentation sticks, never add another yeast sachet, as this will result in an imbalance of nutrients.
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What if My Distillate is Cloudy When it Comes Out of the Still?
The wash has probably frothed and come out the condenser with the distillate. To avoid this you can use clearing products or distilling conditioners prior to distilling, but why would you? Why not save your money and use our Global Express Fast Distillers Yeast?
With Global Express you don’t need to use clearing or conditioning agents, so you save money on those.
One of our customers has contacted us to tell us that since he started using Global Express Fast & Clean he now saves $10 on every run because he no longer needs to buy clearing and conditioning agents.
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My Distillate is Clear When it Comes Out of the Still and Has Been Filtered. But it Goes Cloudy After a Few Days?
This can be caused by mineral salts being washed out of the carbon filter and reforming in the distillate.
These are harmless but unsightly. This problem can also appear as coloured sediment when a poor quality flavour essence has been added, as the salts pick up the colouring from the flavouring.
To prevent this, use only Global Flavors Spirit Essence Flavours.
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But if you do get this problem, wash your carbon cartridge more thoroughly with water by running at least 2-300mls of water through, before using it for spirit.
Also during fermentation, ensure the temperature is kept as close as possible to ideal fermentation temperature.
Another solution is to chill the spirit containing the sediment, as it may drop to the bottom.
You can then decant it into another container, leaving the sediment behind.
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My distillate comes out of the condenser discolored or has dark flecks in it?
If the condenser is used for the first time then this could be residue from the manufacturing process.
Soak it in white vinegar to clean this away, then rinse it with a weak solution of dishwashing liquid and warm water.
If this has not occurred the first time the condenser has been used but occurs on subsequent uses then it may be traced to collecting too much distillate.
This will result in the problem showing up next time the condenser is used. Clean as above and then only collect the correct amount of distillate.
Before distilling, make sure that the SG is down to 990 or otherwise make sure that you do not distill above the temperature limits of your condenser.
Until next time… Happy Distilling!
Cheers
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