First liquids out of still . 40C to 70C

[No eye deer]

I get alot of pre-cum from my refliux still. Sometimes 300mm of smelly alcohol.Mostly between 40 and 70C
What use is all this stuff? Can I use it?
Its a 5 litre still, and using TPW. Its usually a lower rate of alcohol too.
Oh. I am going to re-still the stuff I get. Maybe twice.

Thanks!!
Mark

[Andy]

The stuff that comes out the still first will be methanol. It has a lower boiling point then ethanol, thus will vaporise first.
running a reflux you should dispose of the first 50ml of liquid per 20L wash, with a pot still its more like 150ml per 20L. DISCARD THE METHANOL- or clean your windows with it. just do not drink it or re-distil it.

Next coming out of the still will be what's called heads, then hearts then tails. I suggesting looking at the cuts guide located on the forum.
Novice%20Guide%20for%20Cuts%20(pot%20still).pdf

[Sam.]

You will have a mix of all the lighter compounds than ethanol so acetone etc. it won't be pure methanol (if any at all).

Here also might be some water that was still in the head evaporating off.

Either way ditch it or like said use as window cleaner :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[No eye deer]

Thanks fellas,

I am a bit unsure about the amount of liquid coming off. I try to maintain full water flow. But it runs till it reaches 70C odd.
I do 4 lots of 5 litres. My current wash is a little low at 10%, and I'm getting product at 60-70 %.

Mark

[wynnum1]

Have you given the still a clean out it may have corrosion.

[SBB]

The stuff that comes out the still first will be methanol.

Sugar washes like TPW should produce very little if any methanol. Grain washes and things like grappa, fruit washes that may have woody stems, stalks, and seeds in them are a different ball game. Remember also that not all of any of the compounds in your wash will leave the still at its known boiling point. Those boiling points are for pure substances. None of the compounds in your boiler are pure, they are mixed with water and other things, which changes it all quite a bit.
The following link will explain it in better detail than I can.
http://homedistiller.org/theory/theory

[No eye deer]

Stills nearly new. No rust. I always wash it out afterwards.
I usually chuck about 150 mm off each load. The stuff I get between 40 and 73 or there abouts.

Mark

[SBB]

Its an old story, but one i find holds true the more I play with stills. Less time worrying about temp gauges ( within reason) and more times using the nose, taste buds and other senses.

[gad]

I get alot of pre-cum from my refliux still. Sometimes 300mm of smelly alcohol.Mostly between 40 and 70C
Mark

You did let it clear before puting it in the still didn't you?

I put one in early & had pink froth coming out at about 35C, turned it off & left it for another week .... all good.

[znipa-x]

Its an old story, but one i find holds true the more I play with stills. Less time worrying about temp gauges ( within reason) and more times using the nose, taste buds and other senses.

we need a "like" button, did my first ever feints run today, think that's what it's called, mixed all the tails I'd been collecting from the last few runs with water and ran my little 5l reflux, normally I watch the temp gauge, but today I was in unknown territory with feints (they used to go straight back into the collective wash), the thing started at 77.8 as ususal and after taking 100ml from the start I used my medicine cup to catch 5ml and smell taste it was all good and settled in at 78.2, usually this reflux will step up in predictable increments and is well into tails at 0.8 after the methanol, not this time, it sat at 78.2 for 800ml (out of 4ltrs) with no "noticeable" change to smell or taste across that even though I decided to take cuts at 50ml (hey I've only just started cutting as it is), then it hit 78.3, .4, and .5 in quick succession and I reckon I smelt it before I saw the temp, still ran it through to the .8 differential but the smell.taste was interesting... oh and it was probably my last ever turbo, I'm running my first TPW tomorrow, though I'm doing it the way I used to do a turbo, that's, catch the first 100-150ml, run to .8 differential and then catch tails, no cuts, will do that for each 5ltr run as I just want to get a chalk and cheese baseline :teasing-tease:

[Sam.]

The like button is the yellow one up the top :handgestures-thumbupleft: