Green or yellow for the first 1-2L

[B-Man]

I have been battling green and now yellow coming out the still on the fore's and the first few bottles.

I have done 12 TFFV 200L mashes total and the last 3 have all had the same problem except for #12 was fine for 2 runs and went yellow instead of green on the third run. Where as Mash #10 and #11 bother were green for the whole 3 runs.

I had the issue a while ago. I was getting a green tinge on all fores and maybe the next 500-1000mls it slowly tapered away to not being noticeable by the end of the run.

I cleaned the still and still had the issue. ran a different mash and was all good so its not the still.
Narrowed it down to 2x 200L TFFV mashes I done. I put it down to putting eggshells in there and reusing some of the backset. I had let them both sit for quite some time before running.

fast forward to today. I had done a TFFV 200L and already ran 2 runs through the still last week no problems but the third run was yellow. the still hasn't puked, Is recently cleaned and no signs of corrosion on the copper.
the bubble plate looks clean as and the reflux looks clear in the bubbler.

I'm at a loss as the last TFFV I made was fine for 2 of the 3 runs so makes me think something is happening in the wash once its done.
ran some through my alembic dome that I had just put some wine through with no problems and had the same issue. so its not the still and has to be something changing in the mash itself?
Is there something to do with the PH causing it or what?
Has anyone had green or yellow distillate?

anyone got any ideas?

[RC Al]

Are you peeling the inside layer of the eggshell off? Its got a bunch of protiens n stuff in it

Other than that, no idea

Tffv is neutral, backset while great for melting sugar, is only going to stack flavours in ?

[The Stig]

Tffv is neutral, backset while great for melting sugar, is only going to stack flavours in ?

And acids, the acids could be causing the colour to be coming from the copper in the still.
Colour can only really come from 2 things, puke or discoloration of the still on the inside.
Im no expert but stands to reason

[howard]

it would be interesting to know the PH of the wash before you strip it.
i've never used backset in this recipe, it gets thrown.
i strip down to about 15% at the spout, which makes the whole strip collection 40%.
no need for dilution that way.

i know when i've put my copper mesh into a white bucket with 50/50 water vinegar (acidic), the bucket is stained greenish/blue pretty quickly.
backset is recommended for cleaning copper mesh by some, probably because of it's acidity.
maybe the answer is in there somewhere?

[B-Man]

PH done by a cheap keg king/land PH Meter
Previous mashes with no issues
Starting PH is between 6 and 6.6
Final PH of 6.42 to 5.15


Mash 10

Backset
Eggshells
PH 4.04
PH Finish 4.81

Mash 11

Backset
Eggshells
PH 4.33
PH Finish 4.93

Mash 12

No Backset
NO Eggshells
PH 6.3
PH Finish 5.85

And acids, the acids could be causing the colour to be coming from the copper in the still.
Colour can only really come from 2 things, puke or discoloration of the still on the inside.
I'm no expert but stands to reason

Agree, Definitely no puke hence why I think PH but I don't use citric acid which would make it more acidic and the shells should buffer it keeping it less acidic?
I can run a different mash and its clear (ruling the still out or run it in a different still and it comes out the same colour (making it the mash that's the common denominator).

Are you peeling the inside layer of the eggshell off? Its got a bunch of protiens n stuff in it

Other than that, no idea

Tffv is neutral, backset while great for melting sugar, is only going to stack flavours in ?

No not peeling the eggshell layer off.
I was going to see the flavours the TFFV produced with some backset. its not bad through the bubbler so wondered if a generation or 2 changed the flavours from a neutral to a nice wheaty base.

it would be interesting to know the PH of the wash before you strip it.
i've never used backset in this recipe, it gets thrown.
i strip down to about 15% at the spout, which makes the whole strip collection 40%.
no need for dilution that way.

i know when i've put my copper mesh into a white bucket with 50/50 water vinegar (acidic), the bucket is stained greenish/blue pretty quickly.
backset is recommended for cleaning copper mesh by some, probably because of it's acidity.
maybe the answer is in there somewhere?

PH above

I have cleaned copper and have seen it turn a blue, this is more a green and then a yellow.

I haven't done a lot of mashes but have put a fair few runs through the still with no issue only the tffv. try to keep it around the 1.070 other than that keep it pretty close to the the std recipe without the citric. haven't changed any ingredients. all are the same batches from the first one to now.

[The Stig]

Stop doing TFFV or change how you mix it up .
Try no backset to start with

[B-Man]

Stop doing TFFV or change how you mix it up .
Try no backset to start with

I only done 2 with backset both done at the same time and both had the issue.
the next one is the only one I have done afterwards and didn't (I wont be doing backset again). and has the colour issue albeit yellow not green.

I run alot of wine so TFFV is /was my go to neutral. Might have to change if I cant solve it but would love to find the answer. hopefully no other mashes do the same thing if I make them.

the other thing was even on the double distill of the mashes that came out green and discarding the worst green bottles for the double distill it still come out green at the start and slowly tapered off.

[RuddyCrazy]

B-man show us a pic of your rig and that may help on finding out the problem mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: I made a copper bubbler and never seen any discolour output unless a puke happens

Cheers Bryan

[B-Man]

B-man show us a pic of your rig and that may help on finding out the problem mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: I made a copper bubbler and never seen any discolour output unless a puke happens

Cheers Bryan

https://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13545#p232144

Its only happened with the last 3 tffv mashes I made. Haven't done any other mashes since I been having this issue but done a rum, cfw and 9 other tffv that had no problems beforehand.

I've put wine runs through before, during and after with no colour problems.

Maybe I need to give the fermentors a real good clean out.

[The Stig]

How long was the still sitting before doing these 3 runs ?

[Garfield]

Are you certain it isn't puking? I used to get discoloured foreshots in my ghetto reflux still when I ran grain washes through it. Learnt the hard way to leave lots of headspace when protein is present. Blue, green, sometimes yellow. Went away after a little while.

What's the egg shell for btw?

[The Stig]

PH buffer

[B-Man]

How long was the still sitting before doing these 3 runs ?

3 runs per mash so had 9 runs to experiment (3rd mash seemed solved as first run was fine but subsequent run a week later had issues and ran the 3rd run of that mash straight after with the same results as the second run - green.

cant give an exact times
a few weeks and TFFV green
I ran a wine run the day before the TFFV and TFFV green
I ran a TFFV - Green wine run the next day (fine)
still was cleaned in between the first 2 mashes and still green


mashes 1 + 2 were sitting for just under a month after ferment and degas
Mash 3 about 2 weeks for first run 3 weeks for run 2 and 3

[B-Man]

Are you certain it isn't puking? I used to get discoloured foreshots in my ghetto reflux still when I ran grain washes through it. Learnt the hard way to leave lots of headspace when protein is present. Blue, green, sometimes yellow. Went away after a little while.

What's the egg shell for btw?

100% its not puking - glass bubbler I can see if it starts to puke. I have puked the wine a few times into the first plate when I didn't switch off the extra heat up element but never had an issue with the TFFV puking that just seems to flood the top plate if I im a bit slow on turning off the extra element.

Eggshells are PH buffer... added them when I was trying backset as that gives it a lot lower starting ph.

[B-Man]

Put 2 new tffv's on and didn't have an issue. The only thing I done different was not degas it until I put it in the still. Rather than degas it and let it settle in the fermentor