Home Distillation of Alcohol (Homemade Alcohol to Drink)
The First Run
Before you use a still for the first time, be it made or bought, make sure you have cleaned it well -
get all the grease, solvents, polish residue etc off it.
To clean a new still, Ted advises :
- For stainless steel use a 3% sodium hydroxide (called NaOH, lye or caustic soda) solution at 180 deg. F. Red Devil
lye - 1 tablespoon for 2 liters of water works great...NaOH is basic
old lye. You can get it at the drug store, the cheaper the
better because many expensive brands like Drano have zinc in them to help
raise the temp in the drain pipe.
- For copper use a 1.5 to 2% solution of mild acid (nitric, phosphoric,
muratic, strong vinegar) at 150 deg. F.
Use lots of hot water to rinse these chemicals out and you should have
very clean surfaces.
The first run should be a water-only occasion. Put enough water in it to
prevent it boiling dry, and let it rip. The steam will :
- help remove any remaining dirt/grease etc,
- give the expansion fittings a try-out (does everything still fit well once its hot/expanded/softened ?), and
- is a safe way of finding leaks.
If you have used stainless steel scrubbing pads as the column packing, you will probably
need to first boil these up in some water by themselves, to remove any residue left over on
them when they were machined (or else you'll get a nasty taint to the flavours).
Finding Leaks
Do not use your still until you are sure it is leak-free & clean.
Other ways of finding leaks are to :
- completely fill it with water (to the top of the top), or
- fully immerse it (if small enough) in a bucket of water, and look for air bubbles
Once you have spotted them, mark them with a water-proof permenent marker, so you
can find them again later.
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