Cleaning Equipment After Gin Run

[KBFreeRange]

We are looking for a reliable way to clean our distillation equipment after producing gin. Our pot still, still head, condenser and all piping are also used for the production of other distilled products (whiskey, vodka). We are looking for experiences with different cleaning agents and/or cleaning or flushing regimens. We are running a 300 gallon Vendome system.

[Denver Distiller]

We are looking for a reliable way to clean our distillation equipment after producing gin. Our pot still, still head, condenser and all piping are also used for the production of other distilled products (whiskey, vodka). We are looking for experiences with different cleaning agents and/or cleaning or flushing regimens. We are running a 300 gallon Vendome system.

Put in a call to Five Star Chemicals, and tell them what you need. They'll help you out. Small company that's been working with breweries, wineries, dairies, and distilleries for quite a while. You need something caustic, followed by something acidic, and that's it.

Make sure you clean after your whisky distillation before you switch to gin. Going from Gin to Whiskey shouldn't be your problem---- emphasis on shouldn't. If it has anise it the charge, be absolutely sure to clean it before making a different spirit.

Happy Holidays!

[BWFiggins]

Put in a call to Five Star Chemicals, and tell them what you need. They'll help you out. Small company that's been working with breweries, wineries, dairies, and distilleries for quite a while. You need something caustic, followed by something acidic, and that's it.

Make sure you clean after your whisky distillation before you switch to gin. Going from Gin to Whiskey shouldn't be your problem---- emphasis on shouldn't. If it has anise it the charge, be absolutely sure to clean it before making a different spirit.

Happy Holidays!

Hey Free Range,

Our caustic agent is potassium hydroxide, a more environment-friendly alternative to sodium hydroxide (lye), and our acidic agent is citric acid. Just drip dry, and your copper will be shiny and new, ready for the next batch of anything that you're producing.

Just one producer's perspective!

Best wishes to you at Christmastime,

Rusty

[KBFreeRange]

Hey guys, another question - how to move the cleaning solution through the system. Cleaning the pot is a slam dunk, but saturating the head plates and circulating liquid through the condenser and piping is another matter. Thoughts?

[coop]

Hey guys, another question - how to move the cleaning solution through the system. Cleaning the pot is a slam dunk, but saturating the head plates and circulating liquid through the condenser and piping is another matter. Thoughts?

If your still does not have a CIP system then you are in for a lot of elbow work. We clean our still EVERY 12 uses. It is a 16 plate still and takes about 1 and 1/2 hours including heat up time and about 2 cups of coffee. Coo[

[Denver Distiller]

Hey guys, another question - how to move the cleaning solution through the system. Cleaning the pot is a slam dunk, but saturating the head plates and circulating liquid through the condenser and piping is another matter. Thoughts?

Did you already buy your still?

[Denver Distiller]

......our acidic agent is citric acid. Just drip dry, and your copper will be shiny and new, ready for the next batch of anything that you're producing.

Respectfully, you really need to rinse that acid off if you are circulating your CIP solution. The acid gets the inorganic material off the still and circulating throughout the range of the CIP sprayheads. If you don't follow that with a rinse, the minerals etc. will just dry right back on to your still surface. It's certainly ok to leave an acid rinse on the still, but only if you aren't circulating the cleaning solution. In other words if the rinse is going straight to drain and not simply being pumped around in a loop, you're fine. But and those soils have to have to exit the still at some point.

Happy Holidays.

[KBFreeRange]

We are looking at a CIP system now. Probably the best thing at this point. Thanks for the advice.

[KBFreeRange]

Yes, we've been up and running for just over a year and a half now, using Vendome equipment. We're just starting our first gins and are wanting to have a good plan in place once we start pumping botanicals through the system.

[Denver Distiller]

Ah, ok. So does this mean that you don't have sprayheads in your still?

Do you have a way to clean the entire product path, including the worm/condenser setup? Are you making anything with corn?

[KBFreeRange]

We don't have spray heads in the still head, and we have not used corn - yet, but soon. We are distilling off of various varieties of wheat right now. If it would be easier to chat this up over the phone feel free to give me a call, we might save some time. 206-855-7900.

[JohninWV]

To chime in here with a question of my own.

We don't have a way to clean the pipe going from the pot (or columns) to the condenser or the condenser with CIP.

We do a boil out frequently with just water. Do you think that's enough to get it clean or should we look into a better way to do that? And if so, how?

As Todd knows, we use a bunch of corn.

EDIT: I want to add that my piping and condenser is all stainless....and a visual inspection of all of that shows that they are very clean.

[Classick]

We have found that with our gin runs... a 45-60 min steam run is all that is necessary to clean ( granted, we dont have any plates or scrubbers so that might make a difference)

We typically run vodka right after and would be able to tell if there were any flavor elements transfering... no problems so far and we've been doing it for about 5 years now

[Denver Distiller]

We don't have spray heads in the still head, and we have not used corn - yet, but soon. We are distilling off of various varieties of wheat right now. If it would be easier to chat this up over the phone feel free to give me a call, we might save some time. 206-855-7900.

Like all answers that pertain to brewing and distilling, I have to couch my response in "it depends".

In my experience, wheat isn't very aggressive in the pot. We use it for our vodka. We've found that of all the things that we've distilled over the years, Anise and Corn are the two things that are most likely to give you carryover in flavor if you do not clean. This is where the "it depends" comes in. It depends on what you are distilling. You could give it a go by following, say, your whiskey with you gin and see what it gets you. Maybe you'll like it. Maybe you won't have any perceptible carryover.

Cleaning the interior of your still is by no means mandatory. Many distilleries around the world prefer to 'season' their stills, and simply brush off excess soil with a good brush. This obviously reduces heat transfer, and also the contribution that the copper makes to the spirit. This can be a good thing. I will say, though, that most distilleries only make one type of spirit.... they'll only make rum, or they'll only make whisky.

I take the opposite tack. I want clean, repeatable flavors, and I also want intensive copper contact. If I do not clean that anise or the corn out, I can taste a bit of carryover. So I clean the still with Potassium Hydroxide followed by Food Grade Citric Acid. I have also designed the pipework on our stills for easy CIP....including the condenser and lyne arm. The easiest way to clean the pipework from the parrot back to the swan's neck is to have your still manufacturer weld a triclamp fitting to hold the parrot on. That way, when you're ready to clean, or even just to do a quick backflush rinse, you can pop the parrot off and away you go.

Everyone handles these things differently.

The soil gets heavier the closer you get to the heat source. So while if you want a spotless clean pot that's used for mash, caustic is pretty much essential. While your condenser, especially as you get closer to the parrot, will likely just need citric or even just water to get it clean.

Check with your still manufacture before you use live steam on your still. Live steam is/can be much hotter than alcohol vapor, and can ruin gaskets etc. if they're not the correct type.

KBFreeRange, if you don't mind a suggestion, I'd distill a few batches of your wheated whiskey, and then buy a drum of bulk GNS to distill right after several of those whiskey runs. If you're not happy with the taste of the GNS as it comes off the still, give R. Sherman a call about retrofitting CIP sprayheads in your still, or try Classick's steam method. If the GNS comes out smelling and tasting fine, well, you're all set to carefully do some production runs of your Gin.

Hope this helps.

[Denver Distiller]

To chime in here with a question of my own.

We don't have a way to clean the pipe going from the pot (or columns) to the condenser or the condenser with CIP.

We do a boil out frequently with just water. Do you think that's enough to get it clean or should we look into a better way to do that? And if so, how?

As Todd knows, we use a bunch of corn.

EDIT: I want to add that my piping and condenser is all stainless....and a visual inspection of all of that shows that they are very clean.

If you want, have a welder come in and weld a triclamp fitting between your parrot and the place where the parrot attaches to the condenser. You can then pump CIP fluid or rinsewater back through the still. You'll need to attach a small ball valve to the triclamp before you start cleaning so that the several feet of head doesn't come crashing down on you when you remove the hose.

Hope this helps, and Happy Holidays!

[delaware_phoenix]

I don't know how JohninVW's condenser and parrot attach, but for me, it's via a DIN connector. A good solution would be to have that welder make an adapter that connects to the condenser in whatever way, and then a triclamp fitting (a "T"). That way you can attach a ball valve at the bottom.

Another perhaps simpler solution, is disconnect the lyne arm from the condenser at the top (hopefully the condenser is supported some way to be free standing) and carefully pour your caustic, rinse, acid, rinse into a bucket or other container at the bottom. Funnel, gloves, goggles may be useful depending on your care.

Or take some spirits that might have been less than successful, load some into the still so you have a 40-50% ABV charge and run it. Alcoholic vapors and steam are excellent solvents and will do quite well I think in cleaning the stainless equipment without disassembly. Toss anything that comes out early with oils, save the rest as "still cleaning alcohol" for the next time.

Maybe everyone knows this already, sorry if it was redundant info.

[KBFreeRange]

Thanks for the response! We're rooting through all these responses and will make some decisions shortly, probably going for a simple to use CIP system that can handle different kinds of solutions. We will keep you posted!

I am very glad to see that most of the folks that responded to this topic are in the real business of distilling and not home/hobby distilling. This is the kind of input and information that will make this community a valuable resource!