Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I have been reading up about adding sodium carbonate to the low wines prior to distilling i am just curious whats the benefits, also.wete do i get it from and how much to use

I have not heard of that being done, but there is plenty i dont know :)

where did yoiu read it ?

Some say it compresses the tails .
I’ve never tried it because I like keeping things simple and clean
Making good cuts is all that’s really needed

I have no experience using sodium carbonate in distillation. I was thinking of adding some to my rum muck to raise the pH.
It's also known as soda ash. You can get it from pool shop or the pool supplies aisle in the big green shed. It obviously won't be food grade from either of those places.

My understanding is Esters are formed by boiling different acids along with ethanol.
If you add an alkaline the acid is neutralised and the ester does not form. leaving a more neutral, "neutral."

indenial wrote:I have no experience using sodium carbonate in distillation. I was thinking of adding some to my rum muck to raise the pH.
It's also known as soda ash. You can get it from pool shop or the pool supplies aisle in the big green shed. It obviously won't be food grade from either of those places.

Sodium is salt. If you want to correct pH try using Calcium carbonate. It is available on the net as food grade and won’t mess with flavoring.

Not sure calcium carbonate is right(strong enough alkaline for this application but i think your right be careful with it like bicarb is a salt and may effect flavour.

It’s common limestone powder, chalk. Also in Tums. And egg shells (just remember to remove the membrane!). Adding CaCO to the wash gently raises pH. Adding eggshells moderates pH like oyster shell. Adding Tums is just silly :D

Yonder wrote:It’s common limestone powder, chalk. Also in Tums. And egg shells (just remember to remove the membrane!). Adding CaCO to the wash gently raises pH. Adding eggshells moderates pH like oyster shell. Adding Tums is just silly :D

Your thinking calcium carbonate, this is sodium, different things for different purpose

Understand. Started out pointing out it is not a great idea to salt your wash but use calcium instead. Sodium carbonate is an irritant o both eyes and sinuses so handle carefully. But whatever you use, use in moderation until you get a handle on the effects to you product.