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TCA contamination of equipment


aardvark

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Hello everyone,

I am looking for a bit of advice.  I am considering buying a few items from a distillery that recently had some problems with TCA contamination.  They say that none of the items that i am interested in, had come in contact with contaminated spirits.  They also say that they have been very diligent in their subsequent testing and all tests have come back negative for TCA.  Have any of you had experience with TCA?  Can i clean/sterilize these items and be sure that the TCA is not issue?  The items are pumps, hoses, a filter housing, and a bottler.  I really don't want to risk contamination before i even get up and running, but it could be a good deal.  Thanks for your help.

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TCA normally is a flaw that affects wine, i had never heard of TCA affecting spirits. Simply because I managed to distill it out in the past and for the most part a lot of flaws that normally would destroy a wine will come out in the head of the distillation run. I can not see how TCA could affect your hose, pump, or anything like that. Anytime you buy a used piece of equipment, you should always have a detergent cleaning and this can be achieved by running detergent that is food safe through the hoses until they are clean. A remedy to eliminate TCA is to put a piece of polyethene plastic, so if you have any affected product just store it in a polyethene tank and the problems should vanish. TCA is a fungus and cleaning is a great prevention and at times a great cure. 

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Is this the same TCA as in using Trisodium phospate with chorine or TSP-C and getting some residual in the bottle which causes skunking? 

Sounds like not using chlorinated products and a really good acid rinse should start the product off on a safe foot.  Most wineries now use quarternay ammonia.  It used to be common for chlorinated products to be used but the wine skunking of the cork caused quite a bit of research which led everyone to steer clear of chlorinated products in the production pathway.  Its only used on floors, etc.  

Someone with some out of date methods likely had this equipment.  Sounds like if its stainless a good "pickling" of the stainless is probably in order anyway with nitric acid and then should be perfect again.  You want to passivate your stainless steel parts from time to time to avoid any chemical gouging and rust.  Probably right before starting production would be a perfect time.

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TCA absolutely affects spirits. Anyone who's taken one of Nancy Fraley's nosing classes knows this. While it can come across the lyne, it's typically in tails not heads as Mike thought. Bigger risk is exposure post distillation though. Pumps, hoses, filters, and of course barrels. I'd personally keep chlorine far away from these things.

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My guess is that you will be ok. With hoses, wadding up some PE film and pushing it through the hose slowly can remove TCA taint. On a pump, I'd replace any elastomer parts...same with bottler. Hitting stainless with steam and a passivating concentration of citric acid would be beneficial. Good Luck!

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