Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

hey guys, another couple of noob questions..

I use a pot still & TPW.

#1: ok, so some background for my question: I did a spirit run some weeks ago, I took off the first 80ml's & tossed it, did everything I usually do that gives me a smooth, nice drop of clear spirit. I added my water to get to my 40%, sat it on carbon for about a week or 2, was ready to bottle, but found it had a different smell to it.. I thought it was from a new carbon I was using, but when it came to drinking it (& unsure if it was the spirit or something else) hubby found he became real sick with stomach pains & vomiting. We didnt put the alcohol & getting sick together until later on when someone else ended up vomiting after drinking it, so since then, we havent touched the spirit in case that is the culprit.
so my questions are; do I put it through another spirit run, or do I just chuck the whole lot? does it sound like the cause of the sickness came from the spirit???? if so, what do you think may have caused it???

#2: Im looking at buying a T500 head, do I still do a stripping run then do a spirit run??? Also, is the T500 easier to use then a pot still??

Did you make it with a pot still? Did you double distill with cuts? Sounds strange :-B :think:

bluc wrote:Did you make it with a pot still? Did you double distill with cuts? Sounds strange :-B :think:

yep, always double distil with cuts using my pot still.. its never happened before, so Im really stumped why it came out with a strange smell & if it is the reason hubby & his mate got sick.. just to clarify, they havent gotten sick since they've stopped drinking it, hence why we think its the cause..

If you used different carbon could that be contaminated.

Good point where did carbon come from. What did spirit smell taste like?

I've never heard of this type of thing. Did they drink alot, get really drunk? Only other thing is maybe too many tails?? Could the fuesel oils cause a problem? I don't imagine you would, but do you store in plastic? Or did you store it differently this time?

I would turf it out if it were me and I wasn't game to try it again to make sure it’s the culprit. I would then do a acid bath, vinigar run and sac run on my still and boiler. I would also clean the carbon.

Sorry to hear your problem, hope you work it out.

Yea doesnt make sense :think: any other way the wash or spirit could have got contaminated?

bluc wrote:Good point where did carbon come from. What did spirit smell taste like?

it was a new carbon & not what I usually use.

woodduck wrote:I've never heard of this type of thing. Did they drink alot, get really drunk? Only other thing is maybe too many tails?? Could the fuesel oils cause a problem? I don't imagine you would, but do you store in plastic? Or did you store it differently this time?

I would turf it out if it were me and I wasn't game to try it again to make sure it’s the culprit. I would then do a acid bath, vinigar run and sac run on my still and boiler. I would also clean the carbon.

Sorry to hear your problem, hope you work it out.

they dont drink alot or get drunk, so it wasnt that. I stripped down to about 10% as Ive always done, so there was no difference there so the same amount of tails would have been in it like always. I store my spirit in 30L Demijongs (glass) so no plastic used there..

I have since run another 2 stripping runs (no changes in regular routine) & a spirit run, result was like every other one Ive done, a smooth, excellent quality clear spirit.. only difference this time was the carbon, I didnt use the same carbon as the contaminated spirit...

Im thinking since seeing some of these comments, maybe the carbon was the culprit.. we are going to do an experiment and use about 500ml with the possible bad carbon see what the result is going to be, then we may know they reason..

Was it from a reputable source wasnt potted plant carbon or something homemade was it?

Sounds very odd and never heard of this situation before :think:
Surly your not adding 10% abv tails into your keeper demijohn......

Sounds like they were drinking bundy rum :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

On a side note... have you thought about trying a CFW or WBAB wash instead of a TPW? I just think you wouldn't need to filter then to get the tomato taste out. In saying that you should look into doing "cuts" too as that will make your spirit 100% better and ensure you are only drinking the best :handgestures-thumbupleft: (there's a link in my signiture below)

woodduck wrote:On a side note... have you thought about trying a CFW or WBAB wash instead of a TPW? I just think you wouldn't need to filter then to get the tomato taste out. In saying that you should look into doing "cuts" too as that will make your spirit 100% better and ensure you are only drinking the best :handgestures-thumbupleft: (there's a link in my signiture below)

:text-+1:

:text-+1: for WBAB as a vodka base. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

the carbon must be ACTIVATED carbon, not stuff used for fish tanks or the like as they have too many serious impurities. Activated carbon is usually from coconut husk/shell and is much dearer than the stuff you get on fleabay. As mentioned previously, if you do PROPER CUTS on your spirit run, the need to waste time and money on filtering will be avoided completely. Also, other washes produce a slightly cleaner aftertaste to TPW, wheat bix, Kale is very good. If you store all your output in a 5lit demi, it sounds like you are mixing all the components in together.... ok for the strip...NO GO for the secondary spirit run... cuts isolates the good from the not so...You will get a cleaner neutral from a reflux (T500 head) but they require a fair bit of stuffing around to get the water flow and temps via touchy needle valve. If yr hubby is a bit handy, a Boka is a good (cheaper) option. Otherwise the T500 is OK. There is a comprehensive link on how to correctly run the T500...compliments of WJ..

Here's the Running the T500 the proper way thread.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.