StonesRyan Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 About half way through my first spirit run the distillate began coming over with a greenish hue while still at about 184 proof. I'm doing vapor infusion in a botanical basket just before the condenser. Is this perhaps a sign of tails, did I use too much botanicals, or is it indicative of something else? I hadn't ever seen this before on my small still during recipe development so needless to say I'm confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.T. Wood Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Try slowing down your distillation, and make sure your return is unobstructed. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Ryan, Take a small amount of this distillate and add baking soda to it. If a bright baby-blue precipitate forms you have copper contamination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StonesRyan Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Thank you both for the feedback MDH, what do you mean by contaminated copper? And is that something that can be remedied with a caustic or other means? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Typically there is no distillation in conventional alcoholic distillation strong enough to bring over color from the botanicals into the condenser. It's more likely that blue color is due to soluble copper salts forming at some point during the condensation stage. If you dilute a a small amount of this colored distillate and add baking soda it will react to produce copper carbonate which is distinctly bright blue. If you do not see this precipitate it is something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StonesRyan Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Thx, MDH. I tried the baking soda and the color didn't change. It also occurred to me that when the distillate started coming over green I bypassed the botanical basket and the distillate went clear again. Also, the distillate has never been green during stripping runs so I'm thinking it was in fact the botanicals causing the color. Would you agree with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I'm not certain what specific setup you have, but if the basket is very close to (or aligned with) the condenser and you distill very vigorously, you may be getting color. At least copper is no longer a worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StonesRyan Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 Thanks - I'll try as P.T. Wood had also suggested and run slower next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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