Blue Booze...WHY?

[Kenster]

I have read a few times that some of us get this occasionally...i stumbled across this explanation...hope it is of some use

Why? Yeast and yeast nutrient both contain lots of ammonium salts (like DAP), which are very stable under acidic conditions, but which release lots of ammonia as they approach neutral conditions. Actually, you will start getting ammonia at about pH 5! Ammonia gas is very corrosive to copper, and you will find your condenser coil packed up with blue crystals after such a run (and blue alcohol too !)

Schweitzer's reagent is cuprammonium hydroxide, and is formed when copper hydroxide dissolves in a dilute ammonia solution). It is a deep blue colour, and is particularly known for its ability to dissolve cotton. The chemist who first discovered this property was Eduard Mathias Schweizer (1818 -1860), so it seems that it should really be called Schweizer's reagent.

It forms in stills when ammonia released from alkaline washes (nitrogen source may be plant material or yeasts) reacts with copper hydroxide formed by the action of steam on copper oxides coating the inside of copper columns or components. It may be avoided by ensuring that the liquid in the boiler is slightly acid (pH less than 7).

[Sam.]

That's all well and good...but I have yet to seen anyone actually replicate this under those conditions.

Only time I have seen blue distillate is from a dirty .

Fermentation naturally drops PH anyway so the only way you are going to get a wash near nuetrel is adding a shitload of something to it, which a member here tried and could not make blue distillate.

If you can do it and prove it I would love to see it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[TheMechwarrior]

Blue is more common than you might think and isn't anything to worry about.

It appears in your tails once you get over about 96oC. You're not drinking that stuff anyway so I wouldn't worry about it.
When you throw that into your next run when you strip you'll find it will produce fine hearts and if you find the fermentation issue still exists you'll once again see the blue spirit appear in your tails around 96oC.

The stills I've seen this produce some bloody good product so I'm not too concerned by it.

[Sam.]

I ran a pot still for a fair while with vapour temp going well beyond that at the end of runs and never had blue distillate :-B

[coffe addict]

I've had blue twice. It's only ever ended up in my collection in the first 100 ish ml. Its been disgarded with no issues.
I'd guess the corrosive situation was only noticed in the downward path as a result of it not being able to carry over.

[andybear]

Like mech says,that blue stuff appears at tails for me virtually every run. I only do rum and cfw through my bubbler so not sure what other washes would be like. I usually filter through paper and put it in the next run with no problems. Cheers.

[Sam.]

Like mech says,that blue stuff appears at tails for me virtually every run. I only do rum and cfw through my bubbler so not sure what other washes would be like. I usually filter through paper and put it in the next run with no problems. Cheers.

How blue are you talking? Blue tinge or full on fluoro blue? :-B

[TheMechwarrior]

Faint blue hue, nothing hardcore.

I've never had it either but I know of others that have it routinely.

[TheMechwarrior]

I usually filter through paper and put it in the next run with no problems. Cheers.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluc]

Same had a very faint blue hue once, now bath the pot regulary in citric and havnt seen it since.. have seen some real hardcore blue results online, i wonder if its a type of infection that produces amonia that causes it. Have read high amonia can do it..

[andybear]

Like mech says,that blue stuff appears at tails for me virtually every run. I only do rum and cfw through my bubbler so not sure what other washes would be like. I usually filter through paper and put it in the next run with no problems. Cheers.

How blue are you talking? Blue tinge or full on fluoro blue? :-B

It's a faint blue but easily recognisable. When left to settle most will drop to the bottom but it quickly remixes when I start pouring it into the paper lined funnel.

[Toddles]

lol

[Sam.]

lol

Got anything better to add there?

[Toddles]

lol

Got anything better to add there?

Sure do.

If your spirits are coming off blue then maybe you should consider learning what you are trying to accomplish or give up trying to accomplish "it".

[Zak Griffin]

Or you could ask a group of people who may have encountered the same situation, and see what they think caused the issue and what they did to remedy it.

In fact that's probably not a bad way to learn!

[Kenster]

Funny, that...
the reason i put up this post was, in fact, just that...a bit more INFO.... thats all. Not to incite WW3.

[Toddles]

Funny, that...
the reason i put up this post was, in fact, just that...a bit more INFO.... thats all. Not to incite WW3.

Check your ph so it does not react against your metal.

[Zak Griffin]

As mentioned above, people have tried to replicate the supposed conditions required for blue distillate and come up empty handed. Using methods that you would never get anywhere near with a normal wash...

It's not purely a pH thing.

[maddogpearse]

I've never experienced it, but i saw a drum of low wines at a craft commercial distillery once that had a blue tinge.
I thought it was the formation of copper sulfate that caused it. From wiki, "Copper sulfate is produced industrially by treating copper metal with hot concentrated sulfuric acid or its oxides with dilute sulfuric acid"
I thought that a finished wash, being slightly acidic, when heated would make a little bit of copper sulfate on your copper, and if not cleaned properly/regularly enough, could potentially run through into your product. Because you know, everyone always talks about "copper removing sulfides from your wash"

[Petulance]

Hi,

The attached photo shows the result of an alkaline wash. Notice that it is bright blue. I think this is copper sulphate.

It only appears on the bottom down-comer. So the alkaline properties are removed by the first contact with copper.

Of course this means that my first copper plate and downcomer is gradually being eroded away.

OK ... time to pay more attention to the pH levels in my wash.

I probably shouldn't be pissed when mucking about with my washes and distilling runs..... nah ... that'd not gonna happen!!!

Blue Downcomer.jpg